Ramblings of a Mad Man

2011-09-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Look In The Damned Mirror America!
By Karl Schwarz

Hello Jeff,

I looked at a link on your website titled "Why are some Americans so Shockingly Cruel?" The article was originally posted on VeteransToday.com, not exactly a site in tune with what is so shockingly cruel about America and its foreign policies.

I hoped that maybe the veterans would address the sins of America since 9-11-2001 because it as a nation has defined what shockingly cruel means.

Have you ever watched the movie 'My name is Khan'? If not, watch it. I was ashamed to call myself American after I watched it September 16.

That VeteransToday article focused on why so many Americans do not have health insurance but that is no cruelty at all compared to what America has done to peoples of other lands. That any American can think that no health insurance is 'shockingly cruel' while Americans blink idly and think that it is just OKAY and things are just hunky-damned-dory in La-La Land USofA while millions have been maimed and slaughtered on the basis of lies is truly incredible and shocking.

Is it so much worse to not have health insurance in La-La-USA while millions have been slaughtered or maimed based on lies but it happened far out of their sight? It was not their family, so that makes it all OK?

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2011-09-12T16:52:00.001-07:00

Paul Craig Roberts on the 9/11 10th Anniversary - GRTV Feature Interview 002 (4/4)

2011-09-12T16:38:00.001-07:00

A MUST SEE 9/11 VIDEO

2011-09-11T13:34:00.001-07:00

9-11-2001 to 9-11-2011 Ten Years Of Lies
By Karl Schwarz

Many are sending emails and asking if I have any comments about 9-11 and it now being the tenth anniversary of one of the biggest lies and con games ever perpetrated on this world.

Sure, I have some and will be brief.

First, the 9-11 Truth Movement self-destructed due to petty egos, mental midgets, failing to ever ask why 9-11 was done as part of a much larger agenda, and lack of ability to really investigate and prosecute. There are ways to get that done but the great majority of the 9-11 Emoters are akin to an ant walking up an elephant's hind leg with rape on its mind. Most of them need to go back to what they were doing before 9-11 because they suck as investigators, fact finding or connecting the dots. There are some good ones, about 1 in 10 and therein lies the reason for lack of credibility.

Second, the US government and real 9-11 doers did not have to marginalize the 9-11 Truth movement. It did so all by itself with so many tin-foil-hat folks it was never credible. Even when professionals came forward, the damage was already done.

Third, everything happens for a reason and 9-11 was no exception. I put a lot on the line at '9-11-2004, Confronting the Evidence'. That the rest of the 9-11 Truth Movement sat on their butts and failed to understand WHY 9-11 happened is their failure. They were so fixated on the minutia, they could not and would not see the bigger issues. Emoting over the big hole at Ground Zero is a waste of time. Americans need to come to grips with why the WTC towers became that hole in the ground. It was not 19 wily Islamic terrorists who attacked America. They had nothing to gain, while others have pocketed billions, tens of billions, hundreds of billions in the pursuit of tens of trillions and global US supremacy. We lost. America is in shambles and collapsing.

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2011-09-07T02:16:00.000-07:00

FedEx and Pepsi Are Top Defense Contractors? 5 Corporate Brands Making a Killing on America’s Wars

Learn which "civilian" companies are making big bucks on today's wars.

Chances are, if you’ve ever sent a package overnight, bought a PC or a can of soda, you’ve paid your hard-earned money to a major Pentagon contractor. While large defense corporations that make fighter jets and armored vehicles garner the most attention, tens of thousands of “civilian” companies, from multi-national corporations hawking toothpaste and shampoo to big oil behemoths and even local restaurants scattered across the United States, all supply the Pentagon with the necessities used to carry on day-to-day operations and wage America’s wars. And they’ve made a killing doing it since 9/11.

In 2001, the massive arms dealers Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman ranked one, two and five among Department of Defense contractors, raking in $14.7 billion, $13.3 billion and $5.2 billion, respectively, in contracts. Last year, Lockheed’s contract dollars were almost double their pre-9/11 level, clocking in at $28 billion, while Boeing’s had jumped to almost $19 billion and Northrop Grumman, still in the five spot, had more than doubled its 2001 take, with $12.8 billion in contracts.

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2011-09-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

Try To Get Your Head Around This - Sweden Is Gone, Sweden Is Finished

2011-09-06T04:20:00.000-07:00

How Dave Ramsey Made $55 Million by Being Good on Personal Debt, Naive on Business Debt, Lousy on Investing, and a Loudmouth Bully.
by Gary North

I have kept my mouth closed on Dave Ramsey for years, but no longer. I have finally had enough.

In a January 23, 2008 phone call, he excoriated Peter Schiff's book, Crash Proof, after telling the caller that he had never heard of the book or Schiff.

This was unconscionable. The rule is simple: if you attack a book, read it first.

The caller, a young woman, said that her father was worried about a coming stock market crash. He was buying gold and foreign currencies. Ramsey said this advice was "absolutely ludicrous."

On that day, the Dow was at 12,270. Gold was at $880.25.

Yesterday, the Dow closed at 11,240. Gold closed $1,884.50.

You tell me: Ramsey or Schiff?

But it gets worse. Ramsey's off-microphone research man told Ramsey that Peter Schiff is Irwin Schiff's son. Ramsey then went into a tirade over the father's tax protest advice. He then said this: "This kid's dad is a nutburger, which probably means the kid is a nutburger."

No, it means that Dave Ramsey is a disgrace. He verbally tarred and feathered Peter Schiff for a position Schiff personally opposes: the tax revolt.

The "kid" is three years younger than Ramsey. He runs a business. And, just for the record, he has never declared bankruptcy. Ramsey did -- and has become a multimillionaire by parleying that act of contract breaking into an anti-debt career. He is like the reformed alcoholic who says no one should take a drink. For the record, I hope he has long since repaid all of his former creditors with interest. "The wicked borroweth and payeth not again." (Psalm 37:21a).

On Irwin Schiff, I have been clear: http://www.garynorth.com/public/692.cfm. I was clear in the mid-1970s, when Schiff began his crusade against paying income taxes. I published R. J. Rushdoony's 1975 article, "Jesus and the Tax Revolt," in the Winter 1975/76 issue of The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, which I edited. The article was a refutation of the tax protesters. This was when Schiff had just begun his crusade. I knew who he was, and I joined with Rushdoony to oppose what he and others like him were doing.

In 1975, Dave Ramsey was 15 years old.

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2011-09-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

Central Banks, BIS and Goldman Sachs Coercion

“The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from it’s profits or so dependent on it’s favors, that there will be no opposition from that class.”
Rothschild Brothers of London, 1863

Did you ever wonder why countries allow private central banks to issue their money? Somehow, missing in the self-governing status of governments is the courage to deny the seduction or the threats of the global banking cabal, over the control of a nation’s currency. How did this obvious usurpation of independence become an unquestioned acceptance by the very governments who proclaim to be sovereign nations? The answer reveals that the right of autonomous government is now dependent upon the approval of the banking cartel. The myth that a historic country can exert their populist will and financial self-determination, when it conflicts or opposes the interest and objectives of the moneychangers, is outright fantasy.
In an Interview with Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB , conducted on 20 April 2011 by Mr Jorma Pöysä (Kauppalehti) and Mr Juhana Rossi (Helsingin Sanomat), published on 26 April 2011, the following makes it very clear just who is in charge.

Question: As you may know, a populist and euro-hostile party called True Finns won the general election in Finland last weekend, obtaining almost one-fifth of the votes. Are you worried that this anti-euro sentiment will grow in other euro area countries? Could it dampen the willingness of triple A countries to accept new rescue arrangements and therefore slow the gradual recovery from the recession and the debt/banking crisis?

Answer: As a central bank we issue a currency for absolutely all political sensitivities. We are the guardian of a public good – a credible and stable currency – and that public good is for the service of all our fellow citizens. We are, by construction, a multi-partisan and multinational institution. I will not comment on the functioning of our democracies. We fully respect the functioning of our democracies in which we have the fortune to live in Europe.

Translate for "our democracies" the vassal states of the usury masters. Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, p. 1336 reads: "When money is lent on a contract to receive not only the principal sum again, but also an increase by way of compensation for the use, the increase is called interest by those who think it lawful, and usury by those who do not."

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2011-09-05T12:37:00.001-07:00

There Are Two Big Reasons Why Goldman Sachs Just Got Sued For Fraud Again

The FHFA's massive bank lawsuit extravaganza is a reminder of the horrific behavior that took place inside the subprime mortgage machine: fraud.

In it's lawsuit against Goldman Sachs, the FHFA claims that Goldman directly committed common law fraud, and particularly claims that Goldman "aided and abetted fraud."

This is the second time a government agency has accused Goldman of fraud. It's a big deal.

The agency seeks to recover the damages it sustained as a result of Goldman's wrongdoing, including the amount it paid for the securities ($11.1 billion) plus interest, the amount the value of those securities have lost, and legal fees.

The most serious of the FHFA's 10 causes of action against Goldman is for fraud.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-fhfa-lawsuit-2011#ixzz1X6nMlLiz

2011-09-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

Full-Blown Civil War Erupts On Wall Street: As Reality Finally Hits The Financial Elite, They Start Turning On Each Other

Finally, after trillions in fraudulent activity, trillions in bailouts, trillions in printed money, billions in political bribing and billions in bonuses, the criminal cartel members on Wall Street are beginning to get what they deserve. As the Eurozone is coming apart at the seams and as the US economy grinds to a halt, the financial elite are starting to turn on each other. The lawsuits are piling up fast. Here’s an extensive roundup:

As I reported last week:

Collapse Roundup #5: Goliath On The Ropes, Big Banks Getting Hit Hard, It’s A “Bloodbath” As Wall Street’s Crimes Blow Up In Their Face

Time to put your Big Bank shorts on! Get ready for a run… The chickens are coming home to roost… The Global Banking Cartel’s crimes are being exposed left & right… Prepare for Shock & Awe…

Well, well… here’s your Shock & Awe:

First up, this shockingly huge $196 billion lawsuit just filed against 17 major banks on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bank of America is severely exposed in this lawsuit. As the parent company of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch they are on the hook for $57.4 billion. JP Morgan is next in the line of fire with $33 billion. And many death spiraling European banks are facing billions in losses as well.

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2011-09-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

Looking Back at 'The Good War' by Patrick Buchanan

In the early morning hours of Sept. 1, 1939, 72 years ago, the German army crossed the Polish frontier.

On Sept. 3, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, having received no reply to his ultimatum demanding a German withdrawal, declared that a state of war now existed between Great Britain and Germany.

The empire followed the mother country in. The second world war was on. It would last six years, carry off scores of millions and end with Germany in ruins, half of Europe under Josef Stalin’s rule and the British Empire on the way to collapse.

Looking Back at ‘The Good War’

2011-09-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

Nassim Taleb: The American Economy Will Transfer $5 Trillion To Banker Pay And Bonuses Over The Next 10 Years

For the American economy – and for many other developed economies – the elephant in the room is the amount of money paid to bankers over the last five years. In the United States, the sum stands at an astounding $2.2 trillion.

Extrapolating over the coming decade, the numbers would approach $5 trillion, an amount vastly larger than what both President Barack Obama’s administration and his Republican opponents seem willing to cut from further government deficits.

That $5 trillion dollars is not money invested in building roads, schools, and other long-term projects, but is directly transferred from the American economy to the personal accounts of bank executives and employees.

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2011-09-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

Gaddafi wanted to move away from the dollar to a gold dinar.

2011-09-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden (1899)

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!

2011-09-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

NORTH DAKOTA’S ECONOMIC “MIRACLE”—IT’S NOT OIL
Ellen Brown

North Dakota has had the nation's lowest unemployment ever since the economy tanked. What's its secret?

In an article in The New York Times on August 19th titled “The North Dakota Miracle,” Catherine Rampell writes:

Forget the Texas Miracle. Let’s instead take a look at North Dakota, which has the lowest unemployment rate and the fastest job growth rate in the country.

According to new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today, North Dakota had an unemployment rate of just 3.3 percent in July—that’s just over a third of the national rate (9.1 percent), and about a quarter of the rate of the state with the highest joblessness (Nevada, at 12.9 percent).

North Dakota has had the lowest unemployment in the country (or was tied for the lowest unemployment rate in the country) every single month since July 2008.

Its healthy job market is also reflected in its payroll growth numbers. . . . [Y]ear over year, its payrolls grew by 5.2 percent. Texas came in second, with an increase of 2.6 percent.

Why is North Dakota doing so well? For one of the same reasons that Texas has been doing well: oil.

Oil is certainly a factor, but it is not what has put North Dakota over the top. Alaska has roughly the same population as North Dakota and produces nearly twice as much oil, yet unemployment in Alaska is running at 7.7 percent. Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming have all benefited from a boom in energy prices, with Montana and Wyoming extracting much more gas than North Dakota has. The Bakken oil field stretches across Montana as well as North Dakota, with the greatest Bakken oil production coming from Elm Coulee Oil Field in Montana. Yet Montana’s unemployment rate, like Alaska’s, is 7.7% percent.

A number of other mineral-rich states were initially not affected by the economic downturn, but they lost revenues with the later decline in oil prices. North Dakota is the only state to be in continuous budget surplus since the banking crisis of 2008. Its balance sheet is so strong that it recently reduced individual income taxes and property taxes by a combined $400 million, and is debating further cuts. It also has the lowest foreclosure rate and lowest credit card default rate in the country, and it has had NO bank failures in at least the last decade.

If its secret isn’t oil, what is so unique about the state? North Dakota has one thing that no other state has: its own state-owned bank.

Access to credit is the enabling factor that has fostered both a boom in oil and record profits from agriculture in North Dakota. The Bank of North Dakota (BND) does not compete with local banks but partners with them, helping with capital and liquidity requirements. It participates in loans, provides guarantees, and acts as a sort of mini-Fed for the state. In 2010, according to the BND’s annual report:

The Bank provided Secured and Unsecured Federal Fund Lines to 95 financial institutions with combined lines of over $318 million for 2010. Federal Fund sales averaged over $13 million per day, peaking at $36 million in June.

The BND also has a loan program called Flex PACE, which allows a local community to provide assistance to borrowers in areas of jobs retention, technology creation, retail, small business, and essential community services. In 2010, according to the BND annual report:

The need for Flex PACE funding was substantial, growing by 62 percent to help finance essential community services as energy development spiked in western North Dakota. Commercial bank participation loans grew to 64 percent of the entire $1.022 billion portfolio.

The BND’s revenues have also been a major boost to the state budget. It has contributed over $300 million in revenues over the last decade to state coffers, a substantial sum for a state with a population less than one-tenth the size of Los Angeles County. According to a study by the Center for State Innovation, from 2007 to 2009 the BND added nearly as much money to the state’s general fund as oil and gas tax revenues did (oil and gas revenues added $71 million while the Bank of North Dakota returned $60 million). Over a 15-year period, according to other data, the BND has contributed more to the state budget than oil taxes have.

North Dakota’s money and banking reserves are being kept within the state and invested there. The BND’s loan portfolio shows a steady uninterrupted increase in North Dakota lending programs since 2006.

According to the annual BND report:

Financially, 2010 was our strongest year ever. Profits increased by nearly $4 million to $61.9 million during our seventh consecutive year of record profits. Earnings were fueled by a strong and growing deposit base, brought about by a surging energy and agricultural economy. We ended the year with the highest capital level in our history at just over $325 million. The Bank returned a healthy 19 percent ROE, which represents the state’s return on its investment.

A 19 percent return on equity! How many states are getting that sort of return on their Wall Street investments?

Timothy Canova is Professor of International Economic Law at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California. In a June 2011 paper called “The Public Option: The Case for Parallel Public Banking Institutions,” he compares North Dakota’s financial situation to California’s. He writes of North Dakota and its state-owned bank:

The state deposits its tax revenues in the Bank, which in turn ensures that a high portion of state funds are invested in the state economy. In addition, the Bank is able to remit a portion of its earnings back to the state treasury . . . . Thanks in part to these institutional arrangements, North Dakota is the only state that has been in continuous budget surplus since before the financial crisis and it has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

He then compares the dire situation in California:

In contrast, California is the largest state economy in the nation, yet without a state-owned bank, is unable to steer hundreds of billions of dollars in state revenues into productive investment within the state. Instead, California deposits its many billions in tax revenues in large private banks which often lend the funds out-of-state, invest them in speculative trading strategies (including derivative bets against the state’s own bonds), and do not remit any of their earnings back to the state treasury. Meanwhile, California suffers from constrained private credit conditions, high unemployment levels well above the national average, and the stagnation of state and local tax receipts. The state’s only response has been to stumble from one budget crisis to another for the past three years, with each round of spending cuts further weakening its economy, tax base, and credit rating.

Not all states have oil, of course (and it’s hardly a sustainable economic basis), but all could learn from the state-owned bank that allows North Dakota to capitalize on its resources to full advantage. States that deposit their revenues and invest their capital in large Wall Street banks are giving this economic opportunity away.

Source

2011-09-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

Programmer under oath admits computers rig elections

This video is a must see by every caring American. If there are any left.

2011-09-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

The 50 Richest Members of Congress (2011)

To determine the richest lawmakers, Roll Call adds up the minimum value of total assets reported by each Member on their annual financial disclosures and subtracts the minimum liabilities. Percent change refers to the change since last year's disclosure forms.

An asset valued at $5 million to $25 million is counted at the lesser amount, as is a liability valued at $1 million to $5 million.

See if your rep is listed...

2011-09-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

The Corruption that is the Federal Reserve

Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Secret Loans

Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) were the reigning champions of finance in 2006 as home prices peaked, leading the 10 biggest U.S. banks and brokerage firms to their best year ever with $104 billion of profits.

By 2008, the housing market’s collapse forced those companies to take more than six times as much, $669 billion, in emergency loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The loans dwarfed the $160 billion in public bailouts the top 10 got from the U.S. Treasury, yet until now the full amounts have remained secret.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to keep the economy from plunging into depression included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley (MS), got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion and Bank of America $91.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress.

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2011-09-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

The United States is truly the Great Satan

The evil that is NATO attacked the sovereign nation of Libya. This video talks about what Libya was like under Gaddafi.

2011-06-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

The Last Judgement by Hans Memling

2010-08-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

TV IS A PSYCHO-SOCIAL WEAPON

Ken Doyle

I think most right thinking people are agreed that physical effects aside, the content of the majority of TV programming today (I emphasise the word programming, a process that involves a passive receptor of information) is designed to instil a social worldview and value system that is self-centric and is in fact the opposite of what a healthy and enduring society requires. Individualism at any cost rules the day and it is more and more evident that empathy for one’s fellow citizen and a sense of personal responsibility are rapidly vanishing along with the morality that all healthy civilisations have known to be necessary for survival. Only recently a car I was travelling in was bumped from behind by a driver who was, I would guess, in his mid to late thirties, looked quite respectable and drove a new and expensive car. Rather than stop and offer his details for the damage done he feigned an apology and when our vehicle pulled off to park safely he took his opportunity to flee the scene, no doubt congratulating himself on avoiding a messy process involving insurance agencies etc. People today are only made to feel guilt when caught and exposed for their crimes. They have no higher authority to fear and the current direction of societal attitudes puts paid to that particular view often espoused that it is possible to remain moral and upstanding without religion or a guiding moral principal if you prefer. The crime figures, road rage and general attitude of fellow citizens would tend to indicate otherwise. I believe TV has much blame to shoulder for this.

Read the Rest of the Story

2010-08-13T19:09:00.000-07:00

Woodrow Wilson - Pawn of the Jews

THE ZIONIST PLAN TO DOMINATE AMERICAN LIFE was already in motion by the early 1900s.

A central Bank, legislation for an income tax, and American involvement in a world war, were on the Zionist list of “things to do.”

The key Jewish players, -1- Jacob Schiff, head of Kuhn Loeb Bank; -2- Paul Warburg, brother-in-law to Schiff; -3- Bernard Baruch, a leading Wall Street mogul; -4- and Edward Mandell House, (originally “Huis”), who negotiated cotton purchases in the US for the Rothschilds, only needed a pawn in the White House to bring their Zionist plan to fruition.

In 1910, the four Zionist leaders found their man, (a man of compromised morals known as “Peck’s Bad Boy”), in Professor Woodrow Wilson, recently retired as president of Princeton University.

Read the Rest of the Essay

2010-06-18T04:01:00.000-07:00

Food and Depopulation: International Takeover by the UN
Cassandra Anderson
Infowars.com

Most people think that the United Nations is a noble enterprise and they don’t understand the history and malignant character of the UN.

Christina Aguilera, Drew Barrymore and Sean Penn are probably unaware, even though they are UN Ambassadors to the World Food Program (WFP), that the intent of the UN is to implement one world government (see videos below). The UN WFP, which spreads GMOs in poor countries, is just one tool used for advancing the goals of Agenda 21, the overarching blueprint for depopulation and total control.

The UN grew out of the League of Nations, which withered after Woodrow Wilson ( Edward House’s puppet), failed to convince Congress that international treaties and entangling alliances were good for America. Later, Rockefeller was able to advance the globalists’ cause and even donated 18 acres of land for the UN headquarters, located in New York. The Rockefellers have conceived and funded most of the destructive UN programs.

The origin of the food monopoly began with the Rockefeller Dynasty, even before they funded biotech research and industry.(1) The major GMO seed companies like Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, etc. are based in America and the patent laws that protect their monopoly are American.(2) Therefore, it should come as little surprise that the forces behind toxic GMOs promote GMOs internationally by way of the United Nations, using American tax dollars.

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2010-06-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

Food and Depopulation: Monsanto’s Monopoly
Cassandra Anderson
Infowars.com
June 10, 2010

A monopoly is exclusive control of a commodity or service that makes it possible to manipulate prices. This is accomplished through governmental regulations used to enforce the monopoly. The way to break a monopoly is to remove those laws. This is simple, but not easy in the case of Monsanto, because the roots extend to international, federal, state, and local government regulations. Monopoly owners corner a market by taking control of the resource AND preventing others from using the resource.

The famous robber baron JD Rockefeller refined this method of monopolization with Standard Oil; he created a cartel (an agreement between companies to avoid competition) with the companies he could not buy or force out of business through extraordinarily corrupt business practices. Competition creates a free market; JD Rockefeller is famous for saying, “Competition is a sin.” Of course, the Rockefellers have an enormous stake in biotechnology and the Rockefeller Foundation funded the biology centers and research that led to the creation of GMOs; F. William Engdahl’s book, “Seeds of Destruction”, is highly recommended for the complete details.

This article is intended as a brief sketch to explore the expanse of the roots of Monsanto & understand the machinery of a monopoly, therefore, the science and health issues behind GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) will not be covered in detail. GMOs are created by injecting virus and/ or bacteria into a plant or animal cell, along with the DNA of life forms that would never mate in nature (like spiders and goats).

There is extensive proof that GMOs are detrimental to health.(1) Monsanto’s business practices are corrupt- for example, there have been cases where seed sold as non- GMO were actually contaminated. GMOs are not limited to food; industrial chemicals, plastic and drugs can be grown in plants like corn, and there is an overwhelming chance that you have ingested these chemicals and drugs, if you live in America.(2) Cross pollination is rampant and is an enormous problem, thereby polluting non-GMO farms and endangering America’s food supply. Most Americans are unaware that up to 75% of their daily diet is comprised of GMO food.

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2010-06-08T16:29:00.001-07:00

America’s Bread And Circus Society
Chuck Baldwin

The Roman poet Juvenal (circa 100 A.D.) wrote regarding the way latter-day Roman emperors retained power and control over the masses that were seemingly more than happy to obsess themselves with trivialities and self-indulgences while their once-great-and-powerful empire collapsed before their very eyes. He wrote:

“Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions–everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.”

I submit that a good many in America are, like Rome of old, carelessly frittering away their God-given liberties, foolishly clamoring for nothing more than government handouts and never-ending entertainment. Millions and millions of Americans (especially males) are literally intoxicated with sports. Sports are no longer a great American pastime; they are now a great American obsession.

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2010-06-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

Food and Depopulation: Rockefeller Family
Cassandra Anderson
Infowars.com
June 8, 2010

The purpose of this article is to give a brief outline of how the elites, and the Rockefellers in particular, are using food as a weapon.

Since the Rockefeller family came to power (especially after gaining a monopoly with Standard Oil) they have manipulated our government into ruining our financial system by way of the Federal Reserve, energy through oil dependency and food with GMOs (Genetically Engineered Organisms). The intention is to rob us blind and kill us. It’s time to wake up.

The official name of this program is Agenda 21 Sustainable Development.

It the overarching blueprint for depopulation and total control over America and the rest of the world. There is no question that Americans are targeted for depopulation: GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) food has saturated American farmlands. GMOs are dangerous and the proliferation of corn crops (used as sweetener, animal feed, processed food, etc) in America is shortening our life spans.(1) Our water is polluted, containing over 60,000 chemicals, most of which have never been tested for safety.(2) Our air is toxic, and the US is one of the most targeted areas for chemtrails.(3) This is just the tip of the iceberg, the things we know about. The focus of this article is revealing the link between the Rockefellers and their intended use of food as a weapon, which is more powerful than military domination and energy control.

While Agenda 21 was introduced in 1992, the elite collectivists, lead by the Rockefellers, have been pushing population control on America and the world for generations. In 1992, this depopulation and control policy was modernized and given a name: Agenda 21, or the Agenda for the 21st century. The premise for depopulation and control is to preserve the environment. One would have to be an idiot to disregard environmental concerns, however, the solutions that Agenda 21 offers fail to address the real issues. The primary tools that Agenda 21 Sustainable Development uses are global warming lies, water shortages (like the man made drought in California, which also causes food shortages) and the Endangered Species Act (designed to take away private property, which is the base of wealth creation and freedom).(4)

Read the Rest of the Story

2010-06-07T18:55:00.000-07:00

Corexit is Killing the Gulf
J. Speer-Williams
Infowars.com
June 7, 2010

Let us set aside the possibility of provable intent or gross criminal negligence of governmental regulators and oil company executives causing or allowing the worse humanly caused catastrophe in world history.

Now, let us focus on the greater and utterly provable crimes committed by US regulators and BP (British Petroleum) executives immediately following the blow-out of the Gulf of Mexico oil well.

Please read the following seven paragraphs slowly and carefully to completely understand the enormity of these crimes.

BP, with governmental approval, was so quick to dump hundreds of thousand of gallons of their toxic chemical dispersant, Corexit 9500, at their undersea wellhead and on surface waters that they must have expected a blow out.

BP executives and governmental regulators had to have known just how deadly their dispersant Corexit would turn the Gulf waters, by creating monstrously large, oily, rushing underwater plumes.

These plumes are hundreds of square miles of poisonous, oily micro-particles that go unseen by satellites, cameras, and the naked eyes of the world. They kill all life in their path at 3,000 feet below sea level.

This is death to all life within the fragile Gulf Coast ecosystems that are impacted by these Corexit plumes. Plant, animal, and marine life will die as these oily, Corexit plumes slip their broken oily gunk well under protective booms.

This is death that can never be cleaned up from beneath the sea or from shorelines, without creating greater problems.

What kind of psychopaths would even manufacture something like Corexit, much less put a million gallons of it into our waters?

These sub-humans who have ascended to such power are obviously well behind the human race in the spiritual aspects of their evolutionary development.

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2010-06-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Former Nato Secretary-General Admits Bilderberg Sets Global Policy
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, June 7, 2010

Former NATO Secretary-General and Bilderberg member Willy Claes has confounded claims by debunkers that the secret organization which met in Sitges Spain over the last few days does not set policy, admitting during a Belgian radio interview that Bilderberg attendees are mandated to implement decisions that are formulated during the annual conference of power brokers.

In a radio interview reported on by the Belgian news website www.zonnewind.be, Claes told host Koen Fillet that Bilderberg does indeed decide policy for the coming year. Claes would certainly be in a position to know, being a two-time Bilderberg attendee as well as the eighth Secretary General of NATO from 1994 until 1995.

Claes said that Bilderberg guests are normally given around 10 minutes of talk time, after which a report is compiled of their presentation.

“The participants are then obviously considered to use this report in setting their policies in the environments in which they affect,” stated Claes, according to the translated text.

The host asked Claes to repeat this astounding admission, before Claes went on to explain that no two guest are allowed to sit next to each other more than once at Bilderberg, to enable the maximum exchange of views on important subjects.

A Dutch-speaking reader sent us the article and confirms that the translation is accurate. This represents a solid confirmation of what we already knew through witnessing Bilderberg’s leaked agenda later play out in the real world time after time – that the elitist organization does verbally set global policy in a completely undemocratic and illegal manner.

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2010-06-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

NASA Charged in New Climate Fakery: Greenhouse Gas Data Bogus
By John O'Sullivan

Shocking new evidence of a NASA scientist faking a fundamental greenhouse gas equation shames beleaguered space administration in new global warming fraud scandal.

Caught in the heat are NASA’s Dr. Judith Curry and a junk science equation by the space agency’s Dr. Gavin Schmidt creating disarray over a contentious Earth energy graph

The internal row was ignited by the release of a sensational new research paper discrediting calculations crucial to the greenhouse gas theory.
NASA in Internal Spat over Data

Hot on the heels of my recent scoop that the U.S. space agency may have suppressed evidence from the Apollo Moon landings that invalidated the greenhouse gas (GHG) theory, an internecine fury among NASA employees over fudged equations is set to further embarrass the current U.S. Administration’s stand on global warming.

Word is getting round that junk equations were threaded into the GHG theory to artificially inflate the heating effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by a factor of two.

The spark to this cataclysmic revelation was lit in April 2007 after a public gaffe (see below) by the space administration’s Dr. Gavin Schmidt, who fronts popular pro-global warming website, ‘Real Climate.’

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2010-06-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

The Road to Sitges Part II: Obscure 1943 Book Foretold Teutonic Push for World Domination
Jurriaan Maessen
Infowars.com
June 6, 2010

As Paul Joseph Watson reported in his May 11 2009 article ‘Top Nazis Planned EU-Style Fourth Reich’, top Nazi industrialists were present at the cradle of the European Union and, through the creation of the Bilderberg group, guided her growth during all stages of her development into the post-war era. As reported in the article, a group of top ranking German industrialists planned for an economic super state founded upon a common market for the whole of Europe. It has also been confirmed that the Bilderberg group had their plans for a European Union and currency in place by at least 1955. ‘The idea of uniting Europe in a closed trade bloc is no longer shocking if Germany assumes domination over such a bloc.’, wrote one of the founding Nazi-ideologues in the 19th century. The man who arranged for Hitler to become Chancellor of Germany, Von Papen, had also written about the possibility of a “European Federation” under strict German control of course, with Berlin as its glorious Axis mundi. It has been abundantly pointed out that German industrialists have aligned themselves with the Anglo-American establishment after the war, teaming up to form what is better known as the New World Order. While Europe was blindfolded by terror and death, a book was published by New York publisher Charles Scribner’s Sons which carried the ominous title ‘The Thousand Year Conspiracy’. In the book, the author Paul Winkler offers a fascinating insight into the people who are in the business of engineering financial crises and wars in Prussia from its very conception way back in the dark ages. To gain some understanding about the origin and significance of this ‘Prusso-Teutonic’ establishment, as Winkler calls it, let us follow the author down the ladder into his in-depth research.

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2010-06-06T16:19:00.001-07:00

You're Being Deceived

2010-06-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

McCain and the POW Cover-Up
The “war hero” candidate buried information about POWs left behind in Vietnam.
By Sydney Schanberg

Eighteen months ago, TAC publisher Ron Unz discovered an astonishing account of the role the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, had played in suppressing information about what happened to American soldiers missing in action in Vietnam. Below, we present in full Sydney Schanberg's explosive story.

* * *

John McCain, who has risen to political prominence on his image as a Vietnam POW war hero, has, inexplicably, worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn’t return home. Throughout his Senate career, McCain has quietly sponsored and pushed into federal law a set of prohibitions that keep the most revealing information about these men buried as classified documents. Thus the war hero who people would logically imagine as a determined crusader for the interests of POWs and their families became instead the strange champion of hiding the evidence and closing the books.

Almost as striking is the manner in which the mainstream press has shied from reporting the POW story and McCain’s role in it, even as the Republican Party has made McCain’s military service the focus of his presidential campaign. Reporters who had covered the Vietnam War turned their heads and walked in other directions. McCain doesn’t talk about the missing men, and the press never asks him about them.

The sum of the secrets McCain has sought to hide is not small. There exists a telling mass of official documents, radio intercepts, witness depositions, satellite photos of rescue symbols that pilots were trained to use, electronic messages from the ground containing the individual code numbers given to airmen, a rescue mission by a special forces unit that was aborted twice by Washington—and even sworn testimony by two Defense secretaries that “men were left behind.” This imposing body of evidence suggests that a large number—the documents indicate probably hundreds—of the U.S. prisoners held by Vietnam were not returned when the peace treaty was signed in January 1973 and Hanoi released 591 men, among them Navy combat pilot John S. McCain.

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2010-06-06T03:36:00.000-07:00

Debtors’ Prism: Who Has Europe’s Loans?
By JACK EWING
Published: June 4, 2010

IT’S a $2.6 trillion mystery.

That’s the amount that foreign banks and other financial companies have lent to public and private institutions in Greece, Spain and Portugal, three countries so mired in economic troubles that analysts and investors assume that a significant portion of that mountain of debt may never be repaid.

The problem is, alas, that no one — not investors, not regulators, not even bankers themselves — knows exactly which banks are sitting on the biggest stockpiles of rotting loans within that pile. And doubt, as it always does during economic crises, has made Europe’s already vulnerable financial system occasionally appear to seize up. Early last month, in an indication of just how dangerous the situation had become, European banks — which appear to hold more than half of that $2.6 trillion in debt — nearly stopped lending money to one another.

Now, with government resources strained and confidence in European economies eroding, some analysts say the Continent’s banks have to come clean with a transparent and rigorous accounting of their woes. Until then, they say, nobody will be able to wrestle effectively with Europe’s mounting problems.

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2010-06-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

Bilderbergers Green Light Attack On Iran
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Saturday, June 5, 2010

The 2010 Bilderberg agenda has been revealed by veteran Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker and it paints a picture of crisis for the globalists, who are furious at the increased exposure their gatherings have received in recent years, as well as being dismayed at their failure to rescue both the euro and the failing carbon tax agenda, but more alarmingly according to Tucker, the majority of Bilderberg members are now in favor of military air strikes on Iran.

American Free Press muckraker Tucker has proven routinely accurate with the information he obtains from sources inside Bilderberg, which makes this year’s revelations all the more intriguing.

According to Tucker, Bilderberg luminaries are dismayed at the fact that “many important people” are not attending this year because, due to increasing exposure, invitees are “getting in trouble at home” and constituents are embarrassing them by asking irate questions such as “what are you doing with these monsters?”

“All these people are exposing us, we get all this mail and calls,” Tucker paraphrased Bilderberg members as complaining.

Read the Rest of the Story

2010-06-05T04:23:00.000-07:00

Oil discovery in Falklands hailed as biggest of its kind since North Sea oil

An oil field discovery in the Falklands was hailed yesterday as potentially the biggest discovery of its kind since North Sea Oil.

Shares in Rockhopper exploration soared 52 per cent yesterday as the company said it expected to pump out at least 242 million barrels of oil from the 'Sea Lion' well - the expedition's first major oil find.

And some predicted there could be millions more barrels of oil lying untapped in the area - sparking hopes that the region could hold as much oil as the North Sea.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1284171/Oil-discovery-Falklands-hailed-biggest-kind-North-Sea-Oil.html#ixzz0pycZY4vO

2010-06-05T03:36:00.000-07:00

The Road to Sitges Part I: The Prussian Prince
Jurriaan Maessen
Infowars.com

“It is difficult to re-educate people who have been brought up on nationalism to the idea of relinquishing part of their sovereignty to a supra-national body.”

Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld, Founder of Bilderberg

At the upcoming Bilderberg-conference scheduled for June 3-6 to take place in the resort-town of Sitges, Spain, we will once again see representatives from finance, military, government, media and academia climb out of their limousines to plot their next move against the free peoples of the world. We will not hear about it from the vast majority of mainstream media outlets. Those who sit on the board of directors of huge media-conglomerates are usually present at the meetings. In an attempt to retrieve some information from the memory hole, I will set out to provide some background on one of the founders of this annual crime-fest and the longtime agenda he endeavored to accomplish.

When Bernhard Leopold Friedrich Eberhard Julius Kurt Karl Gottfried Peter Graf von Biesterfeld got himself married to princess Juliana in 1936, the vast majority of the Dutch were not really surprised. The few who were, can be considered as equivalents of modern-day Glenn Beck- worshipers, willing to eat everything out of anybody’s hand as long as the bite is sweet. It had become quite a tradition with the family Van Orange-Nassau to invite members of German nobility into its ranks. In fact, this tradition dated back to the late middle-ages, when the family had cunningly nestled itself into powerful Prussian bloodlines: a union from which both parties would profit immensely in the centuries to come: the former had gained access to all kinds of trading privileges through membership of the German Hanseatic League (a medieval trade organization, considered by historians to be a sort of rudimentary European Union), while the latter seized control of the river Rhine as it flowed into the Netherlands and more westward, into the north sea. As a result the Germans continued to tighten their grip on the fragile Dutch Republic and practiced the problem-reaction-solution ‘game’ with zest to undermine its success. Completely in line with this age-old tradition, just like in the old days, the marriage of Juliana and Bernhard was arranged to push the Teutonic agenda further out into the West.

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2010-06-05T03:25:00.000-07:00

A Plague Upon the World: An Interview with Paul Craig Roberts
Centre for Research on Globalization

Interview with Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary US Treasury, Associate Editor Wall Street Journal, Professor of Political Economy Center for Strategic and International Studies Georgetown University Washington DC.

Question: Dr. Roberts, the United States is regarded as the most successful state in the world today. What is responsible for American success?

Dr. Roberts: Propaganda. If truth be known, the US is a failed state. More about that later. The US owes its image of success to: (1) the vast lands and mineral resources that the US “liberated” with violence from the native inhabitants, (2) Europe’s, especially Great Britain’s, self-destruction in World War I and World War II, and (3) the economic destruction of Russia and most of Asia by communism or socialism.

After World War II, the US took the reserve currency role from Great Britain. This made the US dollar the world money and permitted the US to pay its import bills in its own currency. World War II’s destruction of the other industrialized countries left the US as the only country capable of supplying products to world markets. This historical happenstance created among Americans the impression that they were a favored people. Today the militarist neoconservatives speak of the United States as “the indispensable nation.” In other words, Americans are above all others, except, of course, Israelis.

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Declaration of Dependence: Self-Evident Truths for the New Age

2010-04-04T02:21:00.001-07:00

Declaration of Dependence: Self-Evident Truths for the New Age

Posted using ShareThis

2010-03-27T19:42:00.001-07:00

The U.S. Constitution and Money

2010-02-26T17:35:00.001-08:00

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

The Language Perfectionist: Redundancies Redux
By Don Hauptman

A year ago, I devoted a column to the topic of redundant expressions. This error continues to be widespread, as the following examples, recently culled from the media, demonstrate:

*

"I have come to realize that the seeming constancy of the harbor symbolized a false myth about nature." (The phrase false myth is not as common as true fact and actual fact, but it's just as redundant.)
*

"Many filed applications with the state attorney general's office to get their refunds back...." (The re- in refund means "back," so the sentence should read "get their refunds.")
*

"Scientists at Newcastle University, UK, have worked out a mathematical formula that could be used to give advance warning of where a tsunami is likely to hit and how destructive it will be." (By definition, a warning comes in advance.)

Sometimes, the redundant elements are separated and thus harder to spot, as in this example: "Nothing short of body scans and conducting all security outside the airport is the only way to ensure protection." (Nothing short of and only convey the same meaning.)

Why is it desirable to avoid redundancies? One reason is that they're unnecessary. The most famous commandment of Strunk and White, in their classic guide The Elements of Style, is "Omit needless words." Effective writing is concise. In addition, redundancies can be irritating. A friend once complained to me that she cringes at her husband's frequent use of "tiny little."

2010-02-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

"Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven."

Edward de Bono
Thinking: It's One of the Most Difficult Tasks We Do
By Harvey Mackay

Henry Ford once hired an efficiency expert to go through his plant. Ford directed him to find the nonproductive employees and, he said, "I will fire them!"

When the expert finished his evaluation, he reported to Ford that he was particularly concerned with one of his administrators. "Every time I walked by, he was sitting with his feet propped up on the desk. The man never does a thing. I definitely think you should consider getting rid of him!"

Ford was curious to know who was using company time that way. Then the expert identified him, and Ford shook his head. "I can't fire him. I pay that man to do nothing but think, and that's what he's doing."

Even in this culture of downsizing, right-sizing, and just plain streamlining operations, no company can afford to lose its thinkers.

Most small to mid-sized companies probably can't afford to hire a "staff thinker," but among the larger, and likely the most successful companies, I'll bet you'll find someone with a title like strategic planner, researcher, creative engineer, visioner, or some similar version. At Disney, they're called "imagineers." (At Microsoft, they're called "millionaires.")

"What a job!" you're thinking right about now. No measurable goals, no restrictive job descriptions, no pressure, because nobody can tell if you're doing your job. But you must prove yourself over time.

Guess again. Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar territory. And then look around your office and see if you can identify the person you'd go to first if you needed a great new plan or idea. There's the thinker. The job title may not be a tip-off.

Years ago, at the El Cortez Hotel in San Diego, management decided that one elevator wasn't adequate to serve their guests. They hired engineers and architects to add a second lift.

The professionals discussed several options, and eventually settled on a plan to cut a hole in each floor to accommodate the new elevator.

A janitor overheard the discussion, and inquired about their intentions. The engineers patiently explained their plans to him. The janitor was concerned and told them so: "That's going to make quite a mess -- plaster, dust, and debris everywhere." No problem, he was told, because the hotel would be closed during the construction.

"But that will cost the hotel a lot of money, and a lot of people will be out of jobs while the hotel is closed," the janitor replied.

"Do you have a better idea?" one of the architects asked.

The janitor surprised them all with his answer: "You could build the elevator on the outside of the hotel."

It had never been done before, but it was an intriguing concept. The engineers and architects, hired for their creative thinking, decided it was an idea worth developing. An architectural feature we now see every day was the brainchild of a hotel janitor. Not a "staff thinker." But a thinker on the staff.

Chances are you have several folks like that in your employ. They are worth their weight, and yours, in gold. Consultants may come and go, but those employees who can think are your best source of great ideas and inspiration for the rest of your organization.

Let me lay down a few ground rules for encouraging great thinking:

*

Respond with enthusiasm. When someone has a great thought, be enthusiastic rather than demanding details on implementation. This person has ideas. Somebody else can develop them. You've seen that happen a million times.
*

Make your workplace conducive to thinking. Windows are inspirational. Cheerful colors stimulate creativity. My office is full of photos and souvenirs and some of my favorite things. Sterile surroundings are for brain surgery. We're looking for brain candy.
*

Celebrate occasionally. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is still true. Let your staff know they can have fun and be productive at the same time.
*

Give credit where credit is due. I surely hope that janitor at the El Cortez got the recognition he deserved and a big bonus. Reward great thinking. You'll be surprised how creative every member of your staff can be.

Mackay's Moral: Minds are like parachutes -- not much good unless they are open.

2010-02-22T18:28:00.001-08:00

“Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy.”

Groucho Marx
Want to Start Making Money From ETR Right Away? Introducing the ETR Affiliate Marketing Program

By Michael Masterson

Here’s how you can convert your ETR subscription into a second income… beginning immediately.

I got this idea from Tim, an ETR reader who had this to say about ETR products:

“ETR offers excellent products. But if you’re looking for immediate supplemental income, then ordering a program from ETR may not be the way to go. For the long term: Order a program, learn a new skill so you won’t ever be in a pinch again.

“On that note, there are lots of good opportunities. But without knowing the individual’s passions, strengths, and goals, it would be next to impossible to direct her to one particular business. Instead, I’ll point you to the network marketing industry: Do your due diligence.

Find a company you feel comfortable with that offers a consumable product or service, has a rewarding compensation plan, and then plug into the folks who are making the income you want. You’ll be amazed to find that there are literally tens of thousands of individuals who earn an extra $500 – $1,000 a month through network marketing. More is available to those who want it.”

Tim makes a good point about the programs we sell. Most of them are, indeed, based on learning a valuable skill. And, generally speaking, it takes about 600 to 1,000 hours to complete them.

Even at a full-time, 50-hour-a-week pace, that’s 12 to 20 weeks. Working part-time, it usually takes six months.

Some of the people who buy our programs work faster than that. But if you want to begin earning cash immediately – like within one week or so – you need to have something to sell. Network marketing gives you that. The most successful network marketing companies provide their members with all sorts of products – everything from diet pills to laundry detergent.

I favor direct marketing over network marketing for six main reasons:

* Direct marketing has a wider potential.

* Direct marketing doesn’t require person-to-person selling.

* You can sell whatever you want through direct marketing.

* You are in charge of your business.

* You don’t have to follow anyone else’s rules.

* You can work at your own pace. No one is pressuring you.

I’m not denying that network marketing can work. It has worked very well for thousands. And it’s made a few people – generally the people on top – very wealthy. I’m just saying that direct marketing has the advantages of network marketing, as well as the six I listed above.

And with direct marketing, you can begin to make money immediately.

Tim’s comment made me think: What can we offer ETR readers that will give them a chance to make money immediately? As in right away!

I batted around a few ideas with MaryEllen and Charlie. Then it hit us. The best possible way for us to help you make good money immediately, to create a second stream of income and – at the same time – develop skills (direct-marketing skills, copywriting skills, selling skills, etc.) that will help you get wealthy in the long term, is to give you a chance to sell ETR’s products.

In our industry, this is called an “affiliate marketing program.”

The idea is simple. You sign up with us to become an official, sanctioned distributor of ETR products. You begin promoting them immediately. You use sales copy and other advertising materials that we’ve tested ourselves – materials that have already been proven to work (banner ads, text ads, e-mails, newsletter ads – you name it!), and you offer your affiliate partners the bonuses and privileges that we offer.

You are on the same playing field as we are, with all of the same resources. Only you are promoting to people who have a synergistic relationship with our products – people in the same industry with similar wants and needs as the average ETR reader.

Although ETR’s affiliate program is launching online, in the future you’ll be able to sell ETR products by phone, in person, and in the mail.

You’ll be able to place space ads, personal ads, classifieds, whatever. There are so many proven ways to stimulate sales of success-oriented products. You won’t be short of opportunities.

Let’s take a walk through the process – how I imagine it would be from your perspective.

Say you own our Magic Button program. You are making a steady second income and are very happy with the quality of the program. You decide you’d like to create yet another stream of income for yourself by selling the Magic Button program, so you register as an ETR affiliate.

To do so, you visit our affiliate website at www.etraffiliates.com. You review the many benefits of our program – including proven advertising materials, quality products, competitive commissions (15 percent), real-time reporting, and a helpful resource center for new affiliate marketers. Then, you simply read our FAQs and Terms and Conditions, accept our terms, and fill in our online sign-up form.

It’s that easy. It’s free to sign up. Even better, we’ll give you a $20 bonus just for joining! Once you’re accepted into the program, you’ll have access to our reporting dashboard, where you can track your affiliate sales as well as access a library of all the sales copy you’ll need to help promote our products. (Remember, this sales copy has been PROVEN to work. We’re giving you our best stuff – the “controls” that have brought us sales time and time again.)

You can market our products using any method you are comfortable with – via your own e-newsletter… by placing text ads in other industry e-newsletters… by setting up banner ads on highly trafficked websites… and so on. That way, you can put your own experience to work for you. Plus, you can easily branch out into marketing channels you want to explore.

The ETR affiliate program is launching as a transaction-based program. That simply means we’re paying our affiliates commissions based on sales (products sold), not leads.

We think this model is more beneficial for both the affiliate and ETR, as a buyer is more qualified than a lead. And that, of course, plays into the overall lifetime value of a customer.

It doesn’t take much of a time commitment on your part to start generating an ancillary revenue stream with our trusted products.

Let’s say you are willing to spend 45 minutes a day, six days a week. That’s four hours a week, 16 hours a month.

What could you do in 16 hours?

Let’s see. Reading all the material and getting everything ready might take about five or six hours. Putting together a list of potential marketing opportunities – a list of, say, 100 possible buyers… or 10 websites where you could post banner ads… or keywords to use with Google AdWords – would take another hour or two. Then you basically set up our sales-making ad copy and start promoting. The rest is up to us – fulfilling the product, handling customer service, following up on orders, etc.

How would this work, money-wise?

You’ll get a 15 percent commission on first-tier affiliate sales (through your own website or the website of an affiliate partner). You’ll also get a 2 percent commission on second-tier affiliate sales (through deals you make with outside websites to promote ETR products and then refer sales to you).

Let me give you an idea of what this means in “real” dollars.

Sell just one of our Magic Button programs, and you get $74.55. Sell 100 – which is a very realistic possibility – and that’s $7,455 in your pocket.

For just an hour or so of “work.”

Devote a few more hours to finding new prospects to promote to, and you could see that number soar.

Remember, too, that the Magic Button is only one of the bestselling programs that you can promote as an ETR affiliate.

Now, more than ever, you need to start bringing in extra income. The ETR Affiliate Marketing Program is a great way to do it.

To get more information on how you can start making money from ETR right away, visit www.etraffiliates.com. Remember, it’s free to join – and we’re even offering a special $20 bonus if you sign up today!

2010-02-22T18:26:00.001-08:00

4 Pillars of a Successful Affiliate Website
By Derek Gehl

Today, I’d like to “bust” an affiliate marketing myth that’s been making the rounds since… well, since affiliate marketing started.

It goes something like this…

To be successful as an affiliate, just join any affiliate program, slap their banner ads onto a basic Web page – and presto, you’ve got an instant Web business that will make you money hand over fist!

For the record, yes, you can make a lot of money by marketing other peoples’ products on the Internet… but no, affiliate marketing is not a shortcut to instant wealth.

As with any other online business, building a successful affiliate site still requires research, planning, and – here’s that four-letter word I keep insisting on using – work.

It’s like building a house. The more solid the foundation is, the more stable the entire structure will be. So if you’re thinking of starting your own Internet business promoting affiliate products, here are four strategies you must follow to guarantee you’ll earn the maximum amount of commissions…

Strategy #1: Start by finding a niche market.

I’ve probably said this a million times, and I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face… Do not get started by choosing the affiliate program you want to join.

Most people who start affiliate sites make the mistake of first picking the products they want to promote, because:

* They look like they’ll be fun to sell.

* They think people will want them.

* They offer the highest commissions.

* They assume the products must be profitable, because so many other people are promoting them.

Trust me, you won’t be doing yourself any favors. You’ll end up working around the clock trying to drive qualified traffic to the site… and failing miserably. (And you’ll likely drop a hefty chunk of change on pay-per-click ads in the process.)

So do your niche market research first…

* What are your interests?

* Within your areas of interest, what kinds of problems are people going online to try to solve?

* Which of these problems seem to be neglected by most of the sites out there?

Identify a group of people who are desperately trying to find something online without success – and then offer them that something. They’ll snap it up.

Strategy #2: Make sure your products are relevant and related.

Nothing frustrates me more than seeing all of those affiliate sites out there with banner ads promoting everything from cheap holiday travel to pet health insurance to steak knives to Internet marketing tips… all from the same page!

I call them “flea market” sites, and they’re a complete waste of time.

Make sure that any products you promote are closely related to your niche, and closely related to each other. Otherwise, you’ll struggle to find qualified traffic for your site, and you’ll have a heck of a time writing copy that directly relates to your visitors’ needs.

Even worse, you’ll risk hurting your credibility. Because rather than looking like someone who has the interests of your visitors in mind, and really wants to help, you’ll look like someone who is out to sell anything to make a buck.

Strategy #3: Build a strong opt-in list, then establish lasting relationships with your subscribers.

When you’re an affiliate marketer, e-mail plays a big role in your ongoing promotion efforts. So make sure you start with a strong opt-in offer containing truly useful free information that’s relevant to your visitors. Then, over time, continue to send your opt-in list even more free information.

The more you can prove to your subscribers that you’re a reliable source of useful information… the more you can train them to look forward to hearing from you… the more successful you’ll be.

Not only will you build a rapport with your subscribers, you’ll establish yourself as an expert in your field, making it easy for you to recommend your products. Which brings us to my final affiliate strategy…

Strategy #4: Personally recommend your products for maximum conversions.

If you were in the market for a new television, would you be more inclined to purchase a particular model because you saw an ad for it on TV… or because a friend that you trust recommended it?

You’d likely go with the recommendation, right?

That’s what most people would do… which is why plunking down a bunch of affiliate banners or links in a website, and then hoping that someone – anyone – will decide to click on them, is not going to make sales.

Remember, you’ve been building relationships with your customers through e-mail marketing. They trust you. They view you as an expert. So now they’re open to your opinion.

Take advantage of that to tell them about the products they should consider purchasing… and why they should own them. They’ll actually appreciate the recommendations – and, as a result, your conversion rates will soar!

While affiliate marketing isn’t the “magic bullet” that will let you enjoy instant success online, it is possible to earn substantial profits promoting other peoples’ products… if you do this:

Start by clearly defining your market. Then build an information-rich website that your audience will want to visit. Be sure to include only products that are relevant, and take advantage of your site to build your credibility and establish yourself as an expert.

At the same time, build a large list of qualified subscribers, and take advantage of e-mail marketing to both build lasting relationships and promote your products.

With the right planning and research – and a reasonable amount of effort – you’ll be well on your way to a successful website recommending affiliate products.

[Ed. Note: If you're looking for freedom and income, you can't do much better than starting your own business. Internet marketing expert Derek Gehl has helped thousands of people grow online businesses that generate $100,000 a year - and often much more! Learn how you can start a "hands-free" Internet business right here.

You CAN start an Internet business - or accomplish any goal you set for yourself. And with expert advice and goal-setting strategies, achieving your dreams can take as little as 15 minutes a day.]

2010-02-22T18:25:00.001-08:00

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”

Charles Darwin
Make Money Online Selling Other People’s Products

By Edwin Huertas

Every year, millions of new websites are formed – and people are constantly figuring out new ways to make money with them.

If you don’t have a product or product idea, you may become discouraged about the whole idea of starting an Internet business. But the truth is, you CAN make a bundle online… without having a single product of your own.

I’m talking about joining an affiliate program and linking their offers to your website.

At Early to Rise, we sell our own products. But we also sell products for others – through affiliate and joint-venture partnerships – and we have been very successful doing both.

Selling products through an affiliate program eliminates the need to stock and manage them. It is also a lot easier to sell someone else’s existing product than to create one yourself.

But before you join an affiliate program, you need to consider the following:

1. Will this product appeal to my website’s visitors?

When selecting an affiliate program, make sure the products they offer are in the same (or a similar) niche as your website.

This might seem obvious – but you’d be surprised by the number of websites that sell things that have nothing to do with their niche. For instance, I recently saw a website dedicated to “Health” that had banner ads posted on every page for products that ranged from movies and music to electronics. There was hardly anything health-related!

2. How much can I make selling this product?

Most affiliate programs offer a 2 percent to 10 percent commission for sales generated by affiliates.

But a program with high payouts (15+ percent) gives you a chance to make the most money with the smallest amount of traffic and the least amount of effort. So go with the higher paying programs and make more money. It’s that simple.

3. Who is offering the product?

As you know, there are plenty of scams on the Web, so you have to be careful when choosing an affiliate program. Make sure the company you are dealing with is an established business with a good reputation – one that offers its customers a money-back guarantee and pays its affiliates on time.

4. Does this product sell well – or am I wasting my time and effort promoting it?

There are so many affiliate programs out there these days that it can be difficult to choose the right one. Make sure the program you choose sells a product that has a good conversion rate. If you are not making sales with a program, it might be time to look at a different one.

At ETR, our products convert at an extremely high rate – and we offer some of the highest payouts in the industry. This helps us ensure that our affiliates make plenty of money, and that they remain happy, loyal partners.

5. What kind of tracking system does the program use?

Look into the tracking software the program uses, and understand how it works. Most good affiliate programs track sales for 30 to 60 days, some even longer.

6. What kind of reporting do they offer?

Make sure the affiliate program provides you with all the tools you might need to accurately track your sales as well as the traffic you send to them. A good affiliate program will give you full metric reports to help you fine-tune your marketing efforts.

7. What sort of marketing support do they provide?

A really good affiliate program will also give you plenty of marketing materials and/or training to help you make the most of your partnership.

ETR’s affiliate program, for instance, offers its affiliates all of the sales materials they might need (from top-producing banner ads to proven sales copy). Plus, we offer lots of useful resources and training, including tutorials and access to a library of marketing articles.

8. Does it cost anything to join?

Sometimes it pays to join an affiliate program to check out their system before actually putting up any ads.

Joining should cost you NOTHING! If a (so-called) affiliate program charges for membership… it’s NOT an affiliate program.

There are many scams that prey on unsuspecting people looking to earn more money online. But why would any reputable company charge YOU for selling THEIR products?

Don’t EVER pay to join an affiliate program. Period.

Do your research. Take your time. Make sure you know the answers to the above eight questions – and then choose a good affiliate program that fits your needs.

2010-02-22T18:24:00.001-08:00

Affiliate Program – Affiliate Marketing

An affiliate program allows a company the opportunity to ‘partner’ with other site owners (usually webmasters) in hopes of selling more products and/or developing more leads. Affiliate programs generally offer their affiliates (members of their affiliate program) a percentage of the sale or in some cases a straight fee for leads generated.

Many of the Internet’s largest companies have put their affiliate programs in place and are generating millions in additional revenue as a result. Companies like Amazon.Com have experienced enormous success with their programs (and you can too).

If you are thinking of starting an affiliate program for your company; you will have to consider the following:

1. What are the products that your affiliates are allowed to sell? Some companies don’t have a large profit margin for certain products and prefer not to include them in the affiliate program.
2. What methods of promotion/selling are you willing to allow? For example, some companies will not allow affiliates to promote their products via email for fear of SPAM complaints and others will allow just about any type of promotion ranging from radio to web.
3. How much are you willing to pay your affiliates? This is something that only the affiliate program owner can determine. On average affiliate programs that sell products normally offer from 1% to 5% commissions on all sales, while others simply offer a flat fee for any sales (or leads) generated by the affiliate.
4. What software (see below) will you use to track all affiliate sales? There are various out-of-the-box solutions available to companies like myaffiliateprogram.com, idevdirect.com and many others. Do your research and find the right solution for you.

Developing a good affiliate program can be very instrumental in getting the sales and leads your web site needs to succeed.
Affiliate Software

In order to run your own affiliate program you will need an affiliate software system to power it. Affiliate Software can be set up on your own web site or you can simply use a 3rd party provider to manage the service for you. Below are a few software solutions available online:
Affiliate Software for your site:

* http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/
* http://www.idevdirect.com/
* http://www.affiliateshop.com/

Hosted Affiliate Software

* http://www.affiliatetracking.com/
* http://www.allaffiliatepro.com/
* http://www.allmerchants.com/Tool.Affiliate-Software.cg.38.htm

These are just a few examples (we do not endorse these products) so you can get an idea of the different affiliate software options available. Performing a search on Google for affiliate program software will give you plenty of web sites and products to start your research.

See more about affiliate programs on WikiPedia »
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2010-02-22T18:18:00.000-08:00

“Affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful ways to start making money online. And I love it because you don’t have to create any products, handle fulfillment, or deal with customer service!”

- Brian Edmondson
The Internet Business That Requires NO Website

By George Dahir

You may be surprised to know that you can make money online WITHOUT a fancy, content-filled website.

But it’s true.

Not only that, you don’t need to create any products. Nor do you need a list of prospective customers. Or any employees. Or any experience.

You do need three things to make this business work:

1. You need to belong to an affiliate marketing program.

The company hosting the affiliate marketing program will pay you a commission each time you sell one of their products. Since the host company creates the products and sales copy, and handles order fulfillment, you just sit back and wait for checks to appear in your mailbox.

Some affiliate marketing programs will even pay you to recruit new affiliates. Early to Rise, for instance, has a two-tier commission structure that allows you to make 2 percent of every sale made by an affiliate you’ve recruited. (That’s on top of the 25 percent commission you get for selling ETR’s products yourself!) This means that for a product like our Insider’s Code, you could get $39.94 every time your recruit makes a sale.

2. You need a simple landing page.

This is a single Web page – not an entire website with all the bells and whistles. And when I say simple, I mean super-simple. The only thing that will appear on your landing page is some sales copy and a link to an order form.

You can set one up yourself by using the free blogging software offered by WordPress and Blogger, among others. And you can get the sales copy and the link from the host company you are affiliated with.

3. You need to set up a few pay-per-click ads.

In a nutshell, you pay for keywords related to the sales copy you get from your host company. Then, when an Internet user searches for those keywords, they have the opportunity to click on your ad. Doing so redirects them to the landing page you set up, and – in the case of ETR’s program – they can either sign up to be one of your recruits or buy one of the products you’re selling.

Some of the questions I frequently get from people interested in joining the Early to Rise affiliate program have to do with how to start a “no website” business.

As you can see, yes, you CAN do it. And if you’re good, you can make decent money. (You need to be careful, though. If you don’t fully understand the pay-per-click model, you could end up spending a lot on advertising without seeing much revenue in return.)

But why would you want to do it that way?

Setting up a website – even one that’s packed full of useful content – is NOT difficult. Nor is it expensive.

And the truth is, you can see much bigger commission checks if you set up a website to take full advantage of the program you’re affiliated with.

As I said, ETR has a two-tier commission structure. First-tier affiliates (the ones who make the sales themselves) earn a 25 percent commission on every product they sell. And some of them have gotten checks for $719,671.43… $574,833.19… $139,764.00… $174,879.13… $153,743.39… and even $756,902.60.

You can set up a website with the same free blogging software I mentioned earlier. You can fill your site with relevant content from several sources (including public domain, freelance writers, and article syndication sites). You can then use some easy-to-follow and free methods for getting traffic to your site.

And by implementing a few additional strategies, there’s nothing stopping you from becoming an affiliate marketing superstar and seeing fat checks regularly appear in your mailbox.

These strategies are truly easy to understand. I don’t have enough room here to explore them all, so I’d like to invite you to meet up with me at ETR’s Information Marketing Bootcamp this November.

During Bootcamp, I will teach you:

* How to define your niche and find products that will sell like hotcakes…

* The Super Affiliate blueprints that bring in $75K a month for ETR’s top sales reps…

* How to pinpoint a top-notch affiliate program by using 6 simple criteria…

* How to take advantage of the popularity of social media (I’ll reveal what’s a waste of your time and what is well worth your while.)…

* The best – and worst – ways to get relevant, search-engine-friendly content for your website (Some of them are FREE!)…

* All of ETR’s multimillion-dollar advanced affiliate marketing secrets…

* The oft-ignored, under-appreciated side of affiliate marketing that nobody’s talking about – and why it’s so critical to YOUR success…

And much, MUCH more!

Affiliate marketing could be your ticket to a massive boost in your income. It can help give you additional security as you start your own information marketing business. And it can help you build powerful contacts with some of the top names in the industry.

So come to Bootcamp prepared to learn the moneymaking secrets responsible for $2.1 billion in sales in 2008 alone… the same secrets that could help you write your own $756,000 check… and the strategies that can help you become a Super Affiliate in your own right.

Of course, while at Bootcamp, you’re going to be picking up dozens of other profit-making strategies, techniques, and breakthrough ideas. I’ll be joined by a dozen of the Internet’s superstar moneymakers – and all of them have agreed to share at least one idea that has the power to make you a MINIMUM of $10,000 by May 11, 2010.

Find out exactly what you’ll discover at Bootcamp – and learn how to sign up for our crazy “100% refund + $1,000 cash-back” pledge – right here.

I urge you to act quickly. You can get $600 off your reservation rate today – but this special discount ends this coming Monday.

2010-02-21T12:47:00.001-08:00

Unchurched

According to Barna Research the church has left the building or at least leaving the building. I wonder why? That is easy, the modern church has forsaken the Gospel for man made religion. In many ways the American church has become Post Christian. We no longer teach the Gospel but a success gospel the has more in common with Napoleon Hill then Jesus Christ. The other trend seems to be political or something of that nature. When a person leaves church should they not be knowing the love of God toward them. Should they not know the freedom they have in Christ. Should they not know they are forgiven of all sins, past present and future. Should not the focus be upon Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Having said all this when someone leaves a congregation or bible study what happens to that person. Do they, as Judges talks about, become, "and each man did what was right in his own eyes"? Evangelical Christians have left their old churches and gone to Catholic and Orthodox churches. Others have found more liturgical churches to worship in. Churches that have meaning while Evangelical and Charismatic churches are focused upon one person, they guy in the front. What is the next step for those of us who have left the circus that is American Christianity? Something to think about...

2010-02-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

The Muppets: Beaker's Ballad

2010-02-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

A Sad Day in Twin Cities History

Have you ever found a radio station that you enjoyed and stuck with it through many personality changes. Over the past 30 years I have enjoyed listening to AM1500 The Talk Station here in St. Paul. It has been a Talk radio station during this time. I have heard all sorts of personalities and political philosophy during these years. I was there when Rush Limbaugh came to town. I remember not only the beginning of Sports Talk with Joe and Pat but also when Joe started doing his afternoon show that became Garage Logic. I remember listening when Rookie joined the show both on Saturdays and the weekday show.
Recently KSTP decided on a format change to sports talk. I understand the economics side of the equation and the business side. The one thing I like about Saturday morning sports talk is Joe and Pat talked about many things including sports. Back when the Hubbard's decided to add the Twins baseball to the station I was disappointed but it explained to me why Jason Lewis had been allowed to leave.
Faced with new competition from national talk radio AM1500 could no longer compete. I kept listening because I enjoyed the local aspect of talk radio over the national news. Joe Soucheray still had many good shows but the station did what NBC recently did to local affiliates with the Jay Leno Show. The local news rating suffered because the Leno show had low ratings. In the same way Garage Logic has suffered due to the low ratings of the day time line up.
I don't know if the new format will interest me. I do see the end of Garage Logic in the near future with AM1500 moving into a Spanish format. I have no problem with Sports talk but ALL DAY LONG!

2010-02-11T18:56:00.001-08:00

A Prayer of Martin Luther

Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it.

I am weak in the faith; strengthen me.

I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor.

I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you.

In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have.

I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor.

I am a sinner; you are upright.

With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness.

Therefore I will will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give.

Amen.

2010-02-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

2010-02-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Foundations

For many years I was a member of the Charismatic renewal and the remaining game for many years. Today I was thinking about why did the movement die away or revert into the Napoleon Hill Gospel we have today. It was the fact that the movement never taught the people a Foundation. Lutheran churches teach the young using the shorter catechism. The Charismatic movement was always based upon experience and lacked the teachers to communicate the foundation. The leaders of the movement were intent on building themselves up. After leaving a Charismatic meeting a person was on a high but that only lasted until the morning. For any movement to continue beyond a few years a Foundation has to be laid, for lack of a better term theology needs to be taught. What do we believe and why do we believe are essential to the future of any movement. Many evangelical churches today are suffering from a lack to laying a Foundation as children leave these churches in droves.

There was a reason the early Church gave us the Nicene Creed and so many more. It was to re enforce people's faith. The Reformers created the Confessions and Creeds that has helped continue the faith but we in this generation has decided these great statement of the faith are meaningless. How sad, had the Charismatic movement taken the time to establish a short catechism and confession it may still be moving forward.

Obama’s Bank Tax Is Chump Change – Celente

2010-01-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

Obama’s Bank Tax Is Chump Change – Celente

2010-01-09T18:07:00.000-08:00

Two All-Beef Patties, Special Sauce, Lettuce, Cheese, Pickles, Onion, and…Ammonia??!!
Posted by David Kramer on January 9, 2010 05:27 PM

Here’s a story that should turn your stomach. It seems that a company called Beef Products Inc. has been adding ammonia to their beef products to allegedly make them safe from E. coli.

Eight years ago, federal officials were struggling to remove potentially deadly E. coli from hamburgers when an entrepreneurial company from South Dakota came up with a novel idea: injecting beef with ammonia. The company, Beef Products Inc., had been looking to expand into the hamburger business with a product made from beef that included fatty trimmings the industry once relegated to pet food and cooking oil. The trimmings were particularly susceptible to contamination, but a study commissioned by the company showed that the ammonia process would kill E. coli as well as salmonella.

Officials at the United States Department of Agriculture endorsed the company’s ammonia treatment, and have said it destroys E. coli “to an undetectable level.” They decided it was so effective that in 2007, when the department began routine testing of meat used in hamburger sold to the general public, they exempted Beef Products. With the U.S.D.A.’s stamp of approval, the company’s processed beef has become a mainstay in America’s hamburgers. McDonald’s, Burger King and other fast-food giants use it as a component in ground beef, as do grocery chains. The federal school lunch program used an estimated 5.5 million pounds of the processed beef last year alone.

But government and industry records obtained by The New York Times show that in testing for the school lunch program, E. coli and salmonella pathogens have been found dozens of times in Beef Products meat, challenging claims by the company and the U.S.D.A. about the effectiveness of the treatment.

You can read the rest of this stomach-turning story here. As I’ve written about in a previous blog, this is what happens when you let a forced monopoly government entity like the USDA or the FDA become the sole arbiter of deciding what’s “good” for us.

[Thanks to John Hightower]

2009-12-23T13:07:00.001-08:00

Blessed Mary

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

2009-11-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

How Americans View the World

2009-11-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

America Today

"The American dream needs repair," is forerunner of the genre. In
today's Financial Times, it focuses on the rigidities of the US system.
The time was when a young American could start at the bottom and work
his way up. Luck and pluck was all that it took. But now, according to
scholars at the Brookings Institution, people stay put. If you're born
poor in America you're more likely to stay poor than if you had been
born poor in Britain, Denmark, Sweden or dozens of other countries.

What happened? The authors (Daily Reckoning) do not say. So we will. Success breeds
failure. As a society becomes rich, more and more people find ways to
game the system. The elite get tax credits, tariffs, and protective
regulations. Every layer of bureaucracy makes it harder for new
competitors to get ahead. And every new tax on income makes it harder
for upstarts to join the ranks of the rich. The poor get their
parasitic benefits too. Welfare, unemployment compensation, child tax
credits, medicare, food stamps, social security - all of these programs
give the poor an incentive to stay poor. Bill Bonner

2009-11-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

Lord Christopher Monckton

2009-11-13T18:37:00.000-08:00

2009-11-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

Bloggers

What is it with bloggers? What is wrong with America that we give them time? What is wrong with me that I waste my time reading them? I have talked about my journey as a Christian going from one teacher to the next. Learning tidbits from each but never finding the answers I seek. But these days I find myself reading and listening to bloggers. Think about what we are doing. We are spending time with someone who could very easily be leading us astray. But this is 21st century America were we are so immature that we have allowed the teaching of Napoleon Hill to become the Gospel message. So instead of hearing about the Grace or God we hear about the Law, for you see the prosperity gospel is Law. It is based upon if you do this then this will happen. It many ways it sounds like Galatians. The Gospel message that Paul taught was not good enough so we have to add something to it.

And why should anyone read what I write? I think you should just sit down and write a blog yourself. Who cares if anyone reads it just have fun writing it. Vent and enjoy a good nights sleep.

2009-11-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

The Room of Good Intentions

For my Christian Walk I have played the game of Just Fine. How are you? I'm fine. I could be depressed but I was never to discuss it with other believers. I was to do my duty and confess the word not be the law but by grace. Grace was power and love, but the love was never really discussed outside of the high realm. We were told that God loves through us but the person saying it was so messed up he was capable of only loving those people who were needed. I spent so many years trying to do the right thing to please God. It never worked. I just grew more disheartened. Until finally one day I called it quits and stopped attending church. I belonged to a charismatic group where one man was important and no one else was close. The group was designed to give a man a pat on the back. It was for stroking his ego.
The funny thing was that as I attempted to follow the teaching this person slowly drove those people away by attacking them from the pulpit. Funny how I still hold a grudge against him at times. Other times I feel so free from his false teaching. I have heard so many false teachers over the years from the charismatic movement that I wonder if I have ever heard the true gospel.
Today I seek out Reformation teachers. Those men who teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This coming Christian year I plan to take the time and follow the Christian year as observed by the Church universal. I am planning on picking up an Ancient Christian Devotional that goes through the Christian year.

2009-11-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

Conspiracies

RJ Rushdoony:
The important question to ask is this: What makes a
conspiracy work? Let us suppose that a number of us
conspired together to turn the United States into a
monarchy, and ourselves into its nobility; let us
further suppose that we could command millions from our
own to achieve this goal. Or, let us suppose that, with
equal numbers and money we conspired to enforce Hindu
vegetarianism on the country. In either case, we would
have then, not a conspiracy, but a joke. A successful
conspiracy is one which is so in tune with the faith
and aspirations of its day that it offers to men the
fulfillment of the ideals of the age. It is an illusion
to believe that dangerous or successful conspiracies
represent no more than a small, hidden circle of
diabolical men who are manipulating the world into
ruin. Such groups often exist, but they only exist and
succeed because their plan and hope is closely tied to
the public dream and the faith of the age. If the
threat were only from small circles of hidden men, then
our problem would be easy. Then, as Burton Blumert has
observed, "if we only unmasked the conspiracy, all our
problems would be solved, but if the trouble is in all
of us, then we really are in trouble." ("Conspiracies,"
April 2) The Chalcedon Report from 1969

2009-11-01T09:35:00.000-08:00

TrueFaced

Today I started reading TrueFaced by several authors. I was hit immediately by those Christians who are still searching for the "new" technique. That would be me. All my life I have searched for the one teacher who would have the answers to life. I have learned from many teachers but have never found the "one" teacher. I include in my list the following, I will try to list in order of oldest to youngest.
Hal Lindsey and the late great planet earth B.S.
Christian Reconstructionism
RC Sproul and Reformed Theology
Pentecostalism and Charismatics
Prosperity Gospel
Neil Anderson and Who I am in Christ - I believe this teaching is very Biblical I just never seem to follow through with his material.
Wayne Jacobsen and Anarchistic Christianity
A Loving version of the Reformed Faith - Steve Brown and his book A Scandalous Freedom - A book every believer should read.
Today I an flirting with liturgical Christianity as with Lutheranism or Anglicanism. I would go Orthodox but this praying to Mary stuff freaks me out.

See I have attempted to find answers from many sources. I am beginning to understand that Steven Brown and Neil Anderson are probably closer to the truth than what I have heard over the years. What I want is a relationship with the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and no more B.S. Christianity.
One other interesting blog to read is www.internetmonk.com aka Michael Spencer.

2009-10-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

Interesting

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

Faith whereas many have presumption about what God will do for them. We take out installment loans so we can trust God on the installment plan.

Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the Lord makes rich,
and he adds no sorrow with it.

The riches that comes from God brings no sorrow or trouble with it.

I Timothy 6:9-10, 17
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.

Work is not a dirty word. We are created to work to our food.

2009-10-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

Planning for the future works:

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,
but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. Proverbs 21:5 ESV

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity,
but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. (NLT)

Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run;
hurry and scurry puts you further behind. (The Message)

2009-10-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

Thoughts

What happens when you finely realize the meaninglessness of life? I wake up in the morning, go to work and come home. I wake up in the morning, go to work and come home. I read a book and then try to read another book. I buy books hoping to find the teacher or the wisdom that will give me answers to my questions. But I just go from one teacher to the next without finding the answer I was looking for. The sun rises and the sun sets, everyday from one generation to the next. It was here before I was born and it will be here when I am gone from this life. Is my life so meaningless or have I been searching in all the wrong places? But I am tired of searching for the answers.
When I was young I though about suicide but never did now that I am older I think about living another thirty years of this meaninglessness and I don't look forward to it. I need meaning in my life, I need a purpose to continue. Is there a reason to continue in this existence? Will money make me happy? It would buy me friends and lovers but not meaning. What will give this life meaning? Should I become a fan of a sports team or start back up in school? I see around me all those things people do to make it through life. Maybe I should try drugs? I've tried the sex thing and it's meaningless. I found no happiness within it. What is my next step in life? I tried the prosperity gospel and found it wanting. I confessed the word and only grew more miserable.
Why does life have to be so empty?

2009-10-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

2009-09-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

Religious Life Has Changed

ABCnews had an article discussing the financial troubles churches are having. I found this quote quite interesting:
"In 2010, I think we're going to see 10 or 15 percent of congregations saying they're in serious financial trouble," says David Roozen, a lead researcher for the Faith Communities Today multi-faith survey, which measures congregational health annually. "With around 320,000 or 350,000 congregations, that's a hell of a lot of them."

They said because of people relocating to new areas. This has been building over the past decade as more and more people have left the churches in America. Why? I think the main reason people are leaving churches is that there really is no reason to attend. The mainline denominations have moved to the left wing and the evangelical churches are politics and prosperity gospel.
The average minister has become a motivational teacher instead of gospel teacher. I think people have one of two choices: the Anabaptist route and become a law unto themselves or join a confessional church.

2009-09-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Seeking Super Teacher

I've been a Christian since I was about 16 years old. I was raised Baptist, when I was in my twenties I joined the Charismatics which transformed into the Prosperity Gospel. I belonged to one group for about 17 years watching the teacher move into more of a cultic nature. The leader of the group isolated himself from every other Christian ministry. He drove out those people who were a threat to his position, at least in his own mind. But I digress into other things.
I thought today about how over the years I have gone from one teacher to the next or one movement to the next. I moved from being a Baptist into the Charismatic movement, a very shallow movement by the way. From this I moved into the Prosperity Gospel, another very shallow movement. The one question that always ate a my craw was why Christians in America while those in Sudan were being martyred and sold into slavery? During this transition I became involve in the Christian Reconstructionist movement. I enjoyed reading the books of the leader of this movement but then I made the mistake of joining an online discussion group. I have never seen such hate toward people as I saw in those offspring. I abandoned the movement.
I did find one source of encouragement which was Calvinism and some wonderful writers of this system of belief. Back to the Prosperity Gospel, which I like to call the Napoleon Hill Gospel. No offense to Napoleon Hill but what he taught and the Gospel of Jesus Christ are two different things. I like how Steven Brown talks about it... I have decided that I am not going to get any better but I know that God loves me anyway.
I did begin moving into the Anabaptist tradition. Those people who have left organized religion because of how shallow it has become. The funny thing is that many evangelicals have moved into the liturgical traditions of Catholicism or Orthodoxy or Lutheranism/Anglicanism. Those churches that find Christ in the liturgy are those the endure tribulations. What I discovered about the so you don't want to go to church anymore crowd is that all they have done is formed a new religious system that fits themselves.
Today I found my copy of the Westminster Confession of Faith and have decided to begin anew in the great Reformation traditions of old. I don't know where still will lead but I trust Christ. My ramblings have nothing to do with the titles I choose.

2009-09-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Seaborn and Susannah Dudgeon Gravestones:

2009-09-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

Don't Talk to the Police

2009-08-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

Peter Hitchens Quote

This was written about England but it applies to the United States as well.

We are a second-rate power, rapidly slipping into third-rate status. We have a weak currency and shrunken armed forces, deployed as auxiliaries in wars that are not in our interest, and we are largely governed from abroad.

Our Parliament is a bought and paid-for puppet chamber. Our culture and customs have been debauched and our younger generations corrupted, as subject populations are, with drink, drugs and promiscuity.

We are compelled, like an occupied people, to use foreign measures to buy butter or meat, and our history is largely forgotten or deliberately distorted in the schools to suit anti-British dogma. Those schools are unable to educate most of our children up to the levels of our main rivals, so ensuring that we provide no challenge to them. Our country has been Balkanised into provinces and regions.

Our language is invaded by foreign words and expressions. Our food and most of our consumer goods are imported, along with our TV programmes and films.

The remaining veterans of the supposedly glorious struggle, far from being gratefully honoured, often live in pinched poverty, scared of feral youths, or die neglected in squalid hospitals in a country many of them no longer recognise as their own.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1209890/PETER-HITCHENS-If-hadnt-fought-World-War-2-British-Empire.html#ixzz0Pg65yBTn

2009-08-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Steve Brown

I discovered Steve Brown only recently. Steve is a bible teacher how has two radio programs. The first is Steve Brown etc, a weekly talk show with the best talk about freedom I have heard. If you want to see if a person understands Grace email them # Free Sins from the website. Not many people get it. The second show is a daily 15 minute radio show called Key Life. I recommend both shows just be careful you don't fall into the trap that I have done my whole Christian walk of making Steve any thing more than a human being.
I have been reading Steve's wonderful book "A Scandalous Freedom" and have a few observations. Free is free. Freedom from the bondage of human teachers. All my life I looked for the "Teacher" that would have all the answers and was continually disappointed. Only God is your Teacher. Allow him to love you deeply. As Steve talks about, understand that even if you don't get any better God still loves you deeply.
The second thing is how I had created God in the image of what I have heard over the years instead of real God. I have started to ask Father to reveal himself and His love to me. I want to know the real God not the god of my creation.

2009-08-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

Funny Stuff

2009-07-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Graduating and a New Path

Today I complete my final class and have obtained my Bachelor of Science in Accounting. This has been a goal for many years and I smile thinking about it. I also started reading Dr. Al Sears book, The Doctor's Heart Cure. I have decided that I have that living my life in obesity is no longer an option for myself. I had to think about what course I was going to take to achieve health and I decided on Dr. Sears because I believe his system works. In many ways similar to Robert Atkins fame with a few tweaks.
Why a Heart Cure? Heart disease runs in the family and I wanted to make sure I had a system designed for my heart. Also, I think Sears' workout routine is the correct type. I will report on my progress as I continue this journey and new adventure in my life.

2009-07-19T07:52:00.001-07:00

Relationship or Principles?

How do we relate to Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit? Do we relate based upon relationship or do we relate based upon principle? Christ said that He is in us and He is in the Father thus through Christ we are in the Father. So the desire of God is to bring us into the relationship that exists within the Holy Trinity. So the answer is we are in a relationship not based upon principles but upon the desire of the Father to show you His deep intimate love.

Now while living upon the earth God has established principles upon which to live. The Law of Sowing and Reaping is one such principle. The Law of Confession is another. Thus to move forward in the world we confess the written word of God, Christ being the Word of God. So the starting principle for believers is discovering Who I Am in Christ and What I Possess in Christ. The important key is to discover this within the relationship that exists within the Holy Trinity.

2009-07-18T08:21:00.001-07:00

College Level Success Course

I was thinking about how I should develop a college level course on Success or maybe a degree in Success. Any suggestions would be helpful. The introductory class would be called, Success: An Introduction. The textbook would be The Success Principles by Jack Canfield.
Other classes would consist of:
Personal Finance – Basic finance
Wealth – The Millionaire Next Door
Leadership - John Maxwell
And the list could go on and on.

I think the basic principles for success could be laid down with people. The problem I have is no multiple answer or true and false tests. I find the best way to learn is choose a topic in the book and write a three page paper on the topic. Think about it you studied a book like The Success Principles and wrote a paper on each chapter what you could learn. The paper would need to be centered on how do I apply this principle to my life or what idea have I learned that can be applied to my life. Another basic textbook could be The Art of Achievement by Tom Morris. By combining philosophy with success Morris has produced a winner of a book.

2009-07-17T18:32:00.001-07:00

Quoted by Pat Buchanan

"The United States is declining as a nation and a world power with mostly sighs and shrugs to mark this seismic event," writes Les Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, in CFR's Foreign Affairs magazine. "Astonishingly, some people do not appear to realize that the situation is all that serious."

2009-07-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

The Keynesian ‘Economist’ Interviews Ron Paul

You can tell the regime is worried when an establishment organ like the Keynesian ‘Economist’ magazine deigns to notice Ron’s fight against the Fed. Why are they doing that? Because he is actually changing the climate of opinion, with the assistance of the Fed’s boom and bust, on the central bank. Never, since 1913, have regular Americans been interested in the Fed. We are supposed to be bored by it. Yet the Fed is the biggest rip-off operation in the history of mankind, and the enabler of world wars, the garrison state, and the massive welfare state. How great to have the best-known back-bencher in American history alerting people, young people, especially, to the evils of central banking, fiat money, and inflation, and to the importance of Austrian economics. Lew Rockwell

2009-07-15T17:15:00.001-07:00

An Important Breathing Exercise (www.Mercola.com)

Introduction to Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking - a hero of mine

2009-07-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

CONFLICTING WORLDVIEWS
by Neil Anderson

Colossians 1:13
For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son

The Western world today sees reality in two tiers. The upper tier is the transcendent world where God and angels--as well as ghosts and ghouls--reside, a world which is understood through religion and mysticism. The lower tier is the empirical world, which is understood through science and the physical senses. In two-tier mentality, the spiritual world has no practical bearing on the natural world; we have excluded it from our understanding of reality. Most attempts at integrating theology and psychology include only God and humanity (fallen and redeemed) and exclude the activity of Satan and demons.

In stark contrast to the secularism of the West, two-thirds of the inhabitants of the world hold an Eastern worldview. They live and operate believing that spiritual forces are an everyday reality. These people appease their gods with peace offerings and perform religious rituals to ward off evil spirits. To the common people in Third World nations, religious practice or superstition has more practical relevance in daily life than science.

It is easy for those of us raised in the West to dismiss the Eastern worldview as inferior on the basis of the "success" of the Western world. But both are worldly systems and neither reflects biblical reality. The West tries to ignore the reality of the spiritual world and the East tries to appease it or naively enter into it. The Bible clearly depicts the reality of the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. God's Word tells us we can have victory over the former by being transferred into the latter.

Many Christians either exclude the supernatural from their worldview altogether or consign it to the transcendental tier where it will have no effect on their lives. By doing so they not only exclude God's power from their theology and practice, but they also explain all human failure--even that which is induced by demonic influence--as the result of psychological or natural causes.

Prayer:

Lord, I accept the worldview presented in Your Word. Help me deal victoriously with the reality of demonic forces in my world.

2009-07-12T17:56:00.000-07:00

Addiction and Wealth Building

Do not confuse high income with high net worth. Many are high income/high consumption when it comes to money thus you have people earning six figures who have very little net worth but many toys in which to indulge. Also I do not include home equity in this equation when discussing wealth. As we have seen over the last nine years people used their home equity to buy more toys and other things not needed. People who are millionaires are frugal they don't go for the latest fad investment but stay with the tried and true.

Thinking about this has helped me discover how much the Prosperity Gospel has it wrong. The gospel preached by these people lacks any discipline except to tithe the the minister preaching the prosperity message. It is based upon high income/high consumption living not the importance to thrift and sound investment. If a person could learn to earn a high income while living a frugal life think of the possibilities. Ok back to addiction. How does an addiction create a poverty consciousness within ourselves that prevent us from achieving not only our financial goals but all goals. Is it the shame an addict lives with that creates the underachievement? What happens to an individual that wastes their life addicted to that thing or things that needs to be hidden or denied? Is the reason the Christian church is imploding in America because of the 50% addiction rate to pornography by ministers and laymen and over 20% of laywomen.

2009-07-12T03:21:00.001-07:00

Wealth Building Books Part 2

If You Want to be Rich than do What Rich People Do

Sounds reasonable but why does everyone seem to complicate this. I suppose if I want to be a millionaire then I should study millionaires such as The Millionaire Next Door. I keep thinking that God will just drop money in my lap but He never does. High income/high consumption does not equal high net worth. I think that was eye opening for me because I have attempted to be frugal but have never succeeded. There has always been something to spend my money on and that is the difference as to why I am not a millionaire. The Millionaire Next Door is an academic study written by researchers. What other books would fall within the category of wealth building books?

On are I have forgotten about with millionaires is that they all have BUDGETS. Yes, the word us middle class people refuse to mention. Now I have known high income/high consumption people who had budgets but never became wealthy and it income wasn't high enough then the credit card came out. That seemed to work when home mortgages were being used to finance lifestyles.

When thinking over the wealth building goals I have it really does start with two things. The first is dealing with any addictions and the second is taking the time to create and live by a budget. I heard Dave Ramsey say when you create a budget it will not work the first month or the second but slowly it will take shape allowing the person to fly.

2009-07-12T02:36:00.000-07:00

Thomas Jefferson Quotes

When we get piled upon one another in large cities,

As in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those
who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the
world.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the
government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of
taking care of them.

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results
from too much government.

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and
bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against
tyranny in government.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the
blood of patriots and tyrants.

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of
ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

Thomas
Jefferson said in 1802:
'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our
liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever
allow private banks to control the issue of their currency,
first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and
corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the
people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on
the continent their fathers
conquered..'

2009-07-11T18:20:00.001-07:00

Wealth Building Books Part 1

Recently I reread an article by Michael Masterson about Wealth Building books. I am not going to re-list his categories but I thought I would highlight the ones I thought were interesting to me. One thing I have discovered is that if you have any type of addiction these books will not work. As it is hard to build wealth while feeding the addiction with money. One category his lists is Academic studies, such as The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley. I am presently reading this book and have discovered several things.

The first is the need to be frugal with your money. Just because a person has a high income does not mean they are wealthy as many high income people are also high consumption oriented. If fact many millionaires are people who follows the rule, "Pay Yourself First." What people forget is rule number two, "Don't Lose Money." Thus people blindly placed their money into 401k's because the stock market was heading higher. I guess rule number three would be, "If You Don't Understand it, Don't Invest."

Have I followed these rules? Nope and that is why I am not a millionaire. As an aside if you have the chance go to www.earlytorise.com and subscribe. The wealth of information that comes out has no seconds. As Ben Franklin said, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man Healthy, Wealthy and Wise." The should be the motto of all would be millionaries. I guess the next book to read wil be Ben Franklin's book "The Way to Wealth."

2009-07-11T12:51:00.001-07:00

Weight Loss Help

I found this about William Banting:
http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/banting.html
Doug Kaufman's Phase One Diet
http://knowthecause.dnnspeed.com/Resources/tabid/56/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/184/What-is-the-Phase-One-diet.aspx
Funny video about Tattoos:

Finally, several weeks ago I had the chacne to hear Jimmy Moore talk about his upcoming book, 21 Life Lessons. You might want to check out Jimmy's website:
http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/

2009-07-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

Why I left Church and am Happier for it

I was listening to a radio show talk about a Lutheran minister caught in adultery. Is this the reason why people stop going to church or is there a simpler explanation? My reasons are quite straight forward. I made the mistake of becoming a golfer with the minister who lead the group to which I belonged. If you are unfamiliar with ministers you discover that they have two traits that others don't possess. The first is they are God's reps on this earth so you better not question them, no matter what. The second is ministers enter the ministry, though mine was more by default, because they really are screwed up in the head. I think my minister had serious mental issues. Having watched the clowns on TV I think the trait is common.
I personally had no choice but to get out. About two years before I "left" the group I was golfing with said minister when I made the mistake of questioning something he was going to teach. All I said was "I'm just not convinced." High crime and treason committed. And I admit it too. The said minister proceeded to give me the silent treatment for the remainder of the round. Two weeks later in the group he announced his teaching had been confirmed by the Holy Spirit after some doubts. He was looking right at me when he said it. That was when I knew it was time to leave but I didn't, why because of fear. I had been trained by said minister that he had the anointing, so I stayed.
All it caused me was increasing boredom with his teaching. I discovered that only in his own mind was he a good teacher. Have you ever listen to the same teaching said different ways for 17 years. I did.
Then one joyous day Christ set me free.

2009-07-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

The Millionaire Next Door

I am currently reading “The Millionaire Next Door”. I realize its 13 years late but I wonder if anyone listened to what was said. I found the fact that there is really no correlation between high income and wealth because high income usually translates into high consumption not building wealth. There are two types of millionaires discussed in the book. The first are those people with high incomes or who inherited the money compared with those who built there wealth either by frugal living and budgeting or by building a business.

For many years I was part of the prosperity gospel scene. One thing that always stuck out was that these preachers never taught the importance of budgeting and saving to build for the future. It was always expected that God would drop the lottery winnings in your lap, that unexpected income. What foolishness it was. If I had had taken the time to learn from people who had built wealth instead of people who could speak in public I may have true wealth and financial independence instead of still dependant upon my weekly paycheck.

IT TRULY MATTERS WHO YOU ACCEPT AS TEACHERS!!

2009-07-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

Declaration of Independence

2009-07-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

Living in a Fantasy Nation

I hear that Obama plans on telling the Russians the Cold War is over. Who thinks the Cold War is still being fought? The United States continues to expand NATO into former Russian territory; the United States has over 700 military bases overseas. We truly live in a fantasy nation. Once the Cold War ended the United States should have begun shutting down the Empire. We have has spend trillions of dollars maintaining this Empire. We have killed millions of people. We have bankrupted ourselves with the printing of money. Both Bush I and II should be sitting in prison next to Bernie Madoff for the crimes against humanity they have committed. And I see Obama is heading in the same direction.

2009-07-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

Belief Systems

Curious thing about humans and the belief systems they develop to survive the dull drums of life. Solomon talked about the vanity of life, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity”. We go through life doing the same thing every day, “what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” We go through life doing the same thing over and over again. We arise in the morning to work, eat and sleep. Everyday the same, on weekends we tend the yard, cut the grass, etc.

We medicate ourselves with drugs, alcohol and sex to make it through life. We cheer for “our team” to avoid thinking about the boredom of life. But in the end we know that is was all in vane as we will die and be forgotten in this life for who remembers that people of yesteryear. And if they were lucky enough to have had a picture taken we ask, “Do you know who this person was?” And everyone says “no”. Man strives to build a legacy only to have his descendants squander it. We strive for knowledge and wisdom only to discover, “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow”.

To realize that the same end awaits both the fool and the wise, as Solomon said, “For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool!” Prior to this verse Solomon says, “The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.” But what is the goal of it all? As Solomon says, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

Only God can give us the ability to enjoy this cycle of toil that exists in life. Christ came so that we could enjoy in this life those things that are meaningless in the next life. I did digress from the point I was attempting to make. In order to survive this life we have each person has a belief system. Some are developed on our own while others are taught to us by parents and teachers, etc. I have noticed when a person with another belief system comes along it is anathema.

All Scripture is from the English Standard Version, the book of Ecclesiastes chapters 1-2.

2009-06-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

Bon Jovi Records Version of Stand by Me for Iranian People

2009-06-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

Samavayo - Teheran Girl

2009-06-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

Fewer Consumers Filling Their Prescriptions

A failing economy is to blame for U.S. patients not filling their prescriptions, a study by a Philadelphia-based heath information company suggests.

The study, conducted by Wolters-Kluwer Health, found U.S. patients did not fill 6.8 percent of the brand-name prescriptions ordered by physicians in the fourth quarter of 2008, a 22 percent increase over the first quarter of 2007.

Patients treated generics more favorably, failing to fill 4.1 percent of generic prescriptions.

More Information Needed

“When it comes to compliance on filling medical prescriptions, there are two types of people: Those who never fill them, and those who don’t fill them because they can’t,” said Peter Pitts, director of New York-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and former associate commissioner of the federal Food and Drug Administration.

That’s one of the failures of the study, Pitts said.

“The study didn’t break down what percent does have insurance and what percent does not,” Pitts said, “as well as what group qualifies for assistance.

“The statistics presented in this study are only showing you part of what is going on,” Pitts said. “It is not dishonest; it just incomplete information, which is a prescription for disaster.”

Turning to Generic Drugs

“The truth is, the growth in prescription drug co-payments outpaces the growth of prescription drug prices,” Pitts said. “The price of co-pay is going up four times [as fast as] the price of the drug. The problem isn’t with the cost of the drug; the problem is with the insurance. When co-pay goes down, compliance will come up.”

According to the report, “generic prescriptions increased to 2.4 billion in 2008, up 200 million compared with 2007, while orders for brand-name medicines declined by 200 million for 2008, to 1.4 billion.”
[3.8 billion prescriptions, we are a drugged nation]

Shikha Dalmia, a senior policy analyst for the Reason Foundation based in Washington, DC, said turning to generic drugs “isn’t necessarily a bad thing” and, “considering the severity of this recession,” she isn’t too shocked.

“What is bad is if people are forgoing drugs and, therefore, their health gets worse,” Dalmia said.
A better-treated patient, Pitts and Dalmia agreed, is essentially less expensive.

Government Power Grab Feared

Ultimately, Pitts explained, the results of the study will be used as just “another credit for Uncle Sam.

“This is another piece of information that will be used to support a massive government takeover. And if you want to reform health care, we have to look at all of the facts, not just some of them,” Pitts added.

Elisha Maldonado (elishamaldonado@gmail.com) writes from California.

Source: The Heartland Institute, http://ow.ly/fDwB

2009-06-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

Book Reviews
Pearl Harbor and Days of Infamy by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen

Alternative history has never been on my reading list but I decided to give Newt's Pearl Harbor a try. I was so impressed I immediately picked up and read Days of Infamy. The story line is based upon the premise that if Yamamoto personal let the attacks upon Pearl Harbor would he have ordered a third strike. And what king of damage would the third wave have caused. Days of Infamy takes up exactly where the first book leaves off.
At the time of Pearl Harbor the United States was years behind Japan in fighter technology and strategy as this book shows. The importance of oil is again and again brought to the readers attention.
Having read very little alternative history with the exception of a couple of Harry Turtledove, who I find to over the top in many respects. I would like to recommend both of these books whether you like Newt or not. The writing style makes you feel that you are in the action and again the storyline is believable.

2009-06-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

Jump Into a TV Career With This Powerful Selling Tool
By Paul Lawrence

There are more opportunities than ever for you to sell reality show concepts to Hollywood. Virtually every broadcast and cable network is aggressively airing as many reality shows as they can.

The reason is simple. It's cheap to produce them. And if a show catches on - like American Idol, Survivor, or The Real World - it can attract larger audiences than the most popular scripted programs.

This year, the reality show Dancing With the Stars snagged as many as 22.5 million viewers per episode. In comparison, a top-rated sitcom like How I Met Your Mother brings in about 8 million viewers.

The low cost of producing reality shows, combined with their large audiences, equals big profits. According to The Wall Street Journal, each episode of UPN's Top Model costs about $800,000. Meanwhile, the cost of an average scripted drama is in the range of $2 million.

Why is it so much cheaper to produce reality shows? Simple. The people appearing on them can usually be paid much less than those on scripted programs. In addition, filming is usually done in the participants' homes, which avoids expensive set construction and labor costs. And they require only a bare-bones writing staff.

If the show is a big hit, the production company can earn enormous licensing fees. The New York Times reports that the production company of American Idol had revenues that grew to $96 million last year from $67 million two years earlier, with gross profit margins expanding to 77 percent from 69 percent.

If you could get in on that kind of action, you'd not only have "made it" in Hollywood, you'd have a nice chunk of change for your "trouble."

However, you need more than just a good idea. I've pitched shows to producers well over a hundred times, and I've found them to be surprisingly unimaginative.

They need to be shown precisely what the show will be like.

One of the best tools for doing that is a video "demo."

Let's use Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice as an example.

In this show, two teams of celebrities compete by performing a specified business task. The team that does it better wins. One member of the losing team is "fired." The following week, the remaining celebrities are given another challenge - and this continues until only one celebrity is left.

The celebrities appear on the show in order to raise money for charities they support - plus, they get publicity as a result of being on nationally broadcast network TV.

Viewers watch the celebrities as they go about planning and completing the assigned task. Along the way, there is constant bickering and feuding... as well as plenty of drama.

So, if you were going to make a demo for Celebrity Apprentice, it might look like this:

1. A 30-second clip of Donald Trump telling the celebrities about their task.

2. Several quick sound bytes of celebrities speaking into the camera about how they feel about the task.

3. Some scenes of celebrities butting heads as they try to get the task done.

4. A 30-second clip of their final results.

5. Some brief squabbling while Trump berates the celebrities in the boardroom and then fires one of them.

Almost anyone can produce a demo reel. It has to look fairly professional (i.e., it can't look like you shot it with your cellphone), but it doesn't need to be anywhere near as polished as an actual broadcast show.

Fortunately for today's aspiring reality show producers, high quality video equipment no longer costs an arm and a leg. A basic mini-DV camera can be bought for only a few hundred dollars - and if you don't want to buy one, you can rent one for even less. Not only that... if you don't want to shoot the demo yourself, there are many professional videographers out there who charge very reasonable rates.

If you're interested in creating a video demo to pitch an idea to reality television show producers, here are some tips to get you started:

* Capture the essence of the show in no more than five minutes - three minutes would be better. Hollywood producers are incredibly pressed for time, and have no patience. If they can't "get" what your show would be like in a few minutes, they will almost certainly stop watching and pass on the project.
* When possible and appropriate, add music to enhance the "feel" of the show. If, for example, the show is about an up and coming female martial artist, you might use high-energy rock music.
* Keep the video fast-paced, with lots of quick cuts between scenes.
* Capture some panic, anguish, excitement... something the execs can sink their teeth into.
* Use someone with a professional broadcasting voice to do a voiceover narration. If that's not possible, just use captions to make it easy for the viewer to understand what's going on onscreen.

If you come up with a hot idea for a reality TV show and present it to producers in a professional manner, they will take you seriously - even if they've never heard of you before. And, if they like your idea... you could be on your way to a new career in the entertainment industry.

2009-06-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Odds and Ends

The National Coalition for Purity is a group with a mission of showing men freedom from pornography. Below is a WCCO-TV report about them.

Zimbabwe is rule by a madman, Robert Mugabe. Like no other nation in history Zimbabwe is showing the dangers of fiat money. I just hope this isn't the future of America.

2009-06-16T16:50:00.001-07:00

William Banting

Mr. Banting faced a challenge. He had retired and at age 66 found himself obese. If he had been alive today doctors would have put him on a low fat high carb diet in which he would have gained more wieght, oh wait, he did listen to the doctors of his day and became worse. What is next doctor recommended saved his life. William Harvey had just returned from a Diabetes symposium in Paris. In those days diabetics were placed on low carb diets so Dr. Harvey recommend the same for Banting.

"Dr. Harvey put Mr. Banting on a diet that banished potatoes, bread, butter, milk, sugar and beer -- the patient's favorite foods. As was the custom in late-19th-century England, Mr. Banting continued to eat four meals a day. But instead of buttered toast for breakfast, he ate four or five ounces of meat or fish. At lunch, rather than bread, beer and pastry, he ate fish, vegetables and fruit. Tea and supper were similar, although supper included two or three glasses of claret, sherry or Madeira. Champagne and port were mysteriously forbidden." (Crossen)

The results were Mr. Banting losing 46 pounds and wrote about his experiences in "Letter of Corpulence" published in 1863. People started following his diet and it became know as "banting or bantingism." And since that time the medical establishment has been playing games with our diet. To many careers have been created based upon the falsehood of low fat dieting.

Cynthia Crossen. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: May 5, 2004. pg. B.1

2009-06-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

Tom Wilson song First Baptist Bar & Grill

2009-06-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

How to Live Longer - Even If You're Overweight

By Craig Ballantyne

If you have a hard time losing weight and you're worried about your health, I have good news. The most recent research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that being fit can help you live longer even if you still need to lose five or 10 pounds.

In this study, researchers reviewed more than 2,600 adults (ages 60 and over) and followed them for up to 24 years. Folks with a healthy body mass index (a BMI of 18-25) had the lowest rate of death, but fitness level was also associated with a lower risk of dying.

If you are overweight, the best way to add years to your life (and life to your years) is to lose weight and get fit. But even if you struggle with the former, the latter will help you.

It's not too late to get started on an exercise program. Find a safe walking surface, get good walking shoes, and get out there every day for at least 20 minutes. Add in two short total-body resistance-training sessions per week and you'll feel better, have more energy, and enjoy those extra years.

[Ed. Note: Stop fretting about that extra five pounds you can't seem to kick. Stay active, and you can still live a long, healthy life. For a fat-burning, muscle-building exercise routine, try fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program.]