Posted on 03/17/2009 12:51:41 PM PDT by Dick Bachert
I am a student of history. Professionally. I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes, these exist but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus. Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about 10 - 1 5 years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.
We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people whom we know can never pay back? Why? We learn just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000, 000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "We the People," who loaned our powers to our elected leaders.. Apparently not.
We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why? We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate.
Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?
We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?). We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?
Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, Social Security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about.) The list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x 10. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.
And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska .. All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important.)
Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change. Why? I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now. This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.
And that is only the beginning. I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully them into submission. And then he was duly elected to office, with a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name , where they were taught what to think. How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world.
He did it with a compliant media - Did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and .. . . change. And the people surely got what they voted for. (Look it up if you think I am exaggerating. ) Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though ..
Don't forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years - a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency - it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them. As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong, close my eyes, have another latte and ignore what is transpiring around me.
Some people scoff at me; others laugh or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe - and why I believe it. I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am.
AN OBAMA SING-ALONG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp7lGqWRnls
WHY DO THEY WANT OUR GUNS?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73SsNFgBO4
DISARMED GERMAN JEWS AND THE HOLOCAUST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg9q9sxJFnA
THE MOST DANGEROUS WORDS IN ANY LANGUAGE ARE "WHY THAT COULD NEVER HAPPEN HERE!"
Folks, looks like it probably will!
I've made that same transition myself.
I lived in the Washington area while in the Air Force and the Treasury building is next to and just east of the White House.
You suppose some folks are afraid that that’s just too close?
The other possibility is that history has few instances of rats swimming TO a SINKING SHIP.
In the end, man is utterly incapable of ruling himself because of his sin and must turn this over to his Creator, the One who spoke and the universe lept into existance, all else is folly. The further we have turned from Him the more headlong toward disaster we run.
ML/NJ
Universal semi-literacy just might be the curse of the "conservative" movement.
I believe Winston Churchill once commented he had seen such a thing.
BTTT
“The process hit high gear under Woodrow Wilson who blessed us with the Federal Reserve”
HENRY FORD, Founder of Ford Motor Company, commented on the privately owned “Federal” Reserve System scam: “It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
So much latte...so little time...
But you tied it to someone praying to God.
Really? Which words?
Reminds me of a joke:
A devout Christian heard an urgent news report on his radio that a flash flood was within minutes of entering the peaceful valley where he lived. Immediately he went to his knees and prayed for safety. The words were still on his lips when he became aware that water was gushing under his door. He retreated to the second floor and finally onto the roof of his house.
While he sat on the roof, a helicopter flew by and the pilot asked over the loudspeaker if they could lift him off. "It's not necessary since I have the Lord's protection," he replied.
Moments later the house began to break up and he found himself clinging to a tree. A police boat, braving the waters, approached him for rescue, but he assured them that the Lord would save him.
Finally, the tree gave way and the man went to his death. Standing before the Lord, he asked, "Lord, I'm glad to be here, but why didn't You answer my prayer for safety?"
The Lord responded, "Son, I told you over the radio to get out of there Then I sent you a helicopter and a motor boat!"
Praying for the End of Everything seems a poor way to get us out of this mess. I'll paraphrase things with a bit more care in the future to try and prevent such contentions. Deal?
The warning signs are all over the place. We have the tools to save ourselves from this mess. Will we really need Ragnarok/Armageddon to get us out of this mess?
I am not one to believe we pray and that’s it. You’re right, God USES US to do His work, virtually all of the time. I generally pray for guidance, to give me some idea of what actions to take. We’re on the same page. :)
Oh, as for Armageddon, we can neither hasten nor stop it, so it’s interesting to note (I see the signs, but I could be wrong) but it should not be what we focus on. We have work to do!
If I do have to answer later for anything I do here, I want to be able to do so with my head held high.
I suspect you and I have a different idea on how we will hold our heads high in the end, but that’s between you and God. I know I’m a sinful creature and I am thankful that Jesus died to give me grace. I think my head will be bowed as low as it can be when I meet Him. :) God Bless you FRiend.
Now... Let's see what we can do to turn this shit around eh? ;-)
Now... Let's see what we can do to turn this ship round eh? ;-)
Now... Let's see what we can do to turn this ship round eh? ;-)
Darn it... Slip of the fingers on that last one. Mod, please delete the other... Sorry...
I think I’m gonna go hang my head in shame for a bit here...
I’m there!
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