"LET'S CRASH THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY!"

According to a source, the Republicans are running a pilot program experiment in Minnisota because they have a situation now where a democratic governor will be blamed for Minisota defaulting on its debts. Obviously Republicans love this, because it will insure that the democrat is not reelected. Of course in California here July first i a new fiscal year. You can no longer drive in the diamond land with your hybred car if you're alone. Other changes taking place in California today are the lowering of drivers license fees and the cutting of the state sales tax a full percentage point from eight & a quarter to seven & a quarter. This is the lowest it's been in some time. That may help even me out just a little and maybe it will spur business. Also all those corporate taxes will be cut in accordence with the measure passed by the voters last November, and I believe other taxes are being cut. With all this you'd think we are awash in money but we aren't. They are closing down all sorts of State Parks just in time for them not to be available for the Fourth of July weekend. How unpatriotic! There are continuing drastic cuts to the needy and the disabeled. You get used to one cut and they lay another one on you this week. Now I'm told that there will be a fifteen dollar cut in my state SSI payments. The state budget is being balanced on the backs of the elverly, the infirm, and the poor, including children. So in reality Jerry Brown has morphed into Meg Whitman whom he defeated in an open popular vote last November. Suddenly the machinations of "The Governator" don't seem all that draconian. Now we come to the United States government. The Republicans obviously want to crash that if they can before next years election. Remember it's the overt sentaments of people like Mitch McConell and Rush Limbaugh toi see to it that this President's policies fail. Never before to my reconing has an opposing political party been that candid about their intents. I wish the American people would "wake up" as to what's going on. But instead of waking up and smelling the coffee, the people seem to continue to slide to the political right, as if by inertia or something. Some say that the President needs to be more macho in asserting himself and taking the offensive. A big "Amen" to that.

Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has cancer and is being treated for it in a hospital in Cuba. Of course people like Pat Robertson wanted to "take our Hugo Chavez" in 2008, and I don't mean for a night on the town. He wanted to eliminate him, CIA or Mafia style. Of course as you know the Federation tends to be a little partial to left wingers like Chavez and Quadafi. As to the Libyan leadeer, I was told by you know who over a month ago that the Mc Laughlin group was wrong when they said Quadafi would be gone by July 4th. It turns out that source was right, and now we are worried about every being able to get rid of Quadafi. I think the practical reality is that we underestamated Quadafi's popularity with the Libya people. You've seen all those green flag demonstrators on TV. I think on certain matters the us may be guilty of being "excessively proactive" and trying to micro manage all of the political systems of the world. This is an issue on which we need to strike a balance, both logistical and ethical.

Nine more people were killed in protests in Syria today. There are ten thousand protesters in various areas of the country. All that stuff we said in a previous posting still holds. I believe Syria is the country to watch and be wary of, more so than Libya. The US won't win in any brownie points if we obsess on a place like Libya and ignore the genocide in Darfore and other places all around the world. They say the situation in Sudan is improving. I'm thinking that if the Islamists who are the agressors in this situation really believed their own writings they would admit that Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet and therefore has a word or two to say for our time such as "love thy neighbor" and turn the other cheek. You have the abortion trade in Asia which right wingers in Texas approve of, and you have "blood diamonds" in South Africa. I think the United States needs to lay out a clear foreign policy. It was John Kennedy who said we should give aid to those who need it "not because the Communists were doing it, or because we seek their votes or otherwise expediant, but because it is Right". When is the last time the United States conducted foreign policy so as to do what was right?

We are about to celebrate the Fourth of July once again. The weather around here is heating up just as they predicted one week ago. They are getting much more accurate in their weather prognostications. Of course this is a time for reflection and the hard won liberties we all enjoy today, and perhaps put in that Rusty Warren record. We need to meditate on the words, "therefore we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor", and realize a lot of the signers of the Declaration of Independance did in deed pay a high price. Of course Thomas Jefferson's words were edited in some places. The original draft has it "We hold these Truths to be Sacred and Undeniable, that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain inailable rights and that are among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Note it doesn't say these are our ONLY rights, but AMONG the rights we are born with. The term "sacred and undeniable" were changed to "self evident". Supposedly Jefferson put in a line about King George imposing the institution of slavery on our land, but others made him take it out. We need also to remember that the founding fathers came here to ESCAPE religious tyrany, and not to Establish it. (Selah)