Obama Needs To Listen To His Own Speech

America's first black president spoke with a bluntness that perhaps could only come from a member of Africa's extended family.

"No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or if police can be bought off by drug traffickers," he said

"No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery.

"That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there," he said, "and now is the time for that style of governance to end."

Yeah?

So, why tell Africa? Why not tell yourself?

Apparently, what is good for Africa is not good for the American people? I don't get it.

I feel a strange tingle going up my leg. It must be Obama "meddling".

(Thanks to 'Z' for the link)

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Today's Quote

"If you owe the government $100 that's your problem. If you owe the government $100 Billion, that's the government's problem."

- Paraphrase of a quote from J. Paul Getty

One word:  Accountability.

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Who Is Going to Fix The Economy?

Since the MSM dumped all the economic bad news on us in the two weeks leading up to the election, America now expects Barack Obama to fix the economy.  And they think he can do it will trillions of dollars in government spending.

Well, I’m here to tell you that Obama will not fix the economy.  If the economy gets fixed you’re going to fix the economy.  And you're going to fix the economy because your personal economy is up to you. It's not Washington's job to fix what's going on with you. If you are waiting on Washington to change something, you've got a long wait!

You’re going to give yourself money as a result of your hard work and persistence. Waiting for money to be taken from others and given to you is a spirit of envy, and it's wrong.

The government doesn’t have the capacity to fix your problems.  Any "capacity" to fix things by the government comes from the taxpayer.  Remember, it's YOUR dollars they are using to save corporate CEO's.  But, aside from the issue of tax dollars, the real reason government won't fix the economy is that Washington is full of bozos.  And, unfortunately, in November, we asked a lot more bozos to move to Washington.

This economic mess is a reality, but we can each only control one thing—our reactions. Does this stuff define you? Only if you let it. The weird thing about the economy is that YOU are the economy! 

Don't react based on fear or panic. Don’t look to Washington to fix your problems. Why would you do that? At what point did Bill Clinton fix any of your problems? At what point did he cause you to prosper? At what point did George Bush end your career or cause you to prosper?  When did Ronald Reagan fix your problems?

Ronald Reagan did a lot of things the put into place the opportunity for businesses, especially small businesses to prosper.  And many did.  We had about 28 years of prosperity due to Reagan.  But during that period, there were also many people who did not prosper.  People who went bankrupt.  People who went so deep into debt that they could never get out.  Is that Reagan's fault?  No.  It's their own fault. 

And now, even though there are fewer jobs to be had, opportunities still exist.  You can still pay down your debt.  You can still prosper (as long as Obama doesn't take it all away in the form of taxes).  We still live in America, where the American dream is still possible.  

The national economy may be down.  But your personal economy is still up to you.

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9/11 Victims Try to Abuse Power of Federal Government

It has been more than seven years since 20-year-old Deora Bodley and 39 other passengers and crew died in the fiery crash of United Airlines Flight 93, their hijacked plane disintegrating in a grove of hemlock trees outside Shanksville, Pa.

Most of the remains from the tragedy on Sept. 11, 2001, were never recovered, making the bowl-shaped crash site in the western Pennsylvania countryside an unofficial cemetery and, for surviving relatives, sacred ground.

But efforts to buy property for a national Flight 93 memorial have bogged down in federal red tape and a protracted land dispute, angering family members and risking plans to hold a dedication ceremony on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The delays have prompted an advocacy group, Families of Flight 93, to ask President Bush to personally intervene during his final weeks in office to allow the federal government to seize the land needed for the memorial and to allocate part of the money for the project.

I can't begin to describe the disgust I feel at the families of these victims.  Maybe I'd feel differently if I personally had someone die in that crash.  

It seems to me, that asking the Federal Government to seize the property of a private citizen of this great country does a great dishonor to the victims who died in the plane crash.  Granted, they did not make a choice to fight in the War on Terror.  They were "chosen" by the cowards who hijacked the plane.  But, nevertheless, they died for America in what is essentially the first "battle" of the War on Terror.  

I don't know the beliefs of the values of any of the victims of Flight 93.  I don't know if they were conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, Socialist or Libertarian.  If asked to die for our country, I don't have a clue what any of them would have said.  Still, they died for America.  Their lives will be forever linked in the minds of patriotic Americans with the battle for Freedom and the ideals that America was founded upon.   Like it or not, they will be right along side those who fought in the Revolutionary war, and World Wars I and II, and in Iraq and Afghanistan in the minds of most Americans.

From all the news sources I've gathered, the owner of the parcel of land in question is not asking an exorbitant price for the land.  In fact, he has never named a price.  He simply wants an independent third party to value the land.  That seems reasonable and fair.  The government has placed a value on the land, but who knows whether that value is "real" or not.  Most likely it is not.  

When the government values land, it is not interested in a "fair market value" for any piece of land.  It is only interested in a "tax value".  That could be much more, or much less than a market value.  

I recall a couple of years back when tax valuations came out for homes in the town where I live.  Property values had dropped significantly, but tax values went up.  A number of locals asked the county if they were willing to purchase their homes for the values they assessed.  Of course, the county was not.

In the case of this parcel of Pennsylvania property, the historical significance of the land has an effect on the value.  That's not a choice the landowner made, but it is a fact of life.  How much Flight 93 has affected the value of the land is unknown.  The land hasn't been valued by someone who could research what the fair market value is.  But there is no question, the land is worth more, perhaps many times more, than what the government has valued the land at.

As Americans, we should all stand beside this small businessman in Pennsylvania, and insist that he receive a fair price for his property.  It's the right thing to do.

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