Report on the Nation

NOTE: I am late with this update and for that I apologize. I have started looking for a job and the search has occupied much of my time. Since there are no new jobs everyone is competing for the rare job opening created by those lucky enough to have moved on to something they feel is an improvement. And  positions left vacant by those who have retired or...ummm...... passed away.  It's all done over the internet now so there's no way to bs your way into a job. I haven't gotten anything yet but a couple places have shown interest. One is a grave digging service looking for a shovel holder. The other a local nuclear power plant in need of a safety inspector......... what ya think?

Inconvenient Truths:
I don't know why but my home page is Yahoo. I'll log on, check e-mails, scan Yahoo's news stories 
then go about my business. The other day while paroozing Yahoo news I clicked the story on Obama's new deficit reduction plan, the one with the Buffett Tax. I read the story which was full of Obama quotes from his campaign style announcement and my 1st thoughts were 1) When he tries he's still an impressive speaker,  2) Is there no result, is there no consequence of policy, is there no stark and desperate reality that can shake this man from his life long delusions, 3) What is it that can push a man to stand at a podium in front of tv cameras, reporters, and the people who elected him, the people who he promised so much, and so blatantly and shamelessly lie. -JP

FACT CHECK: Are rich taxed less than secretaries?
                                                  
STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press
On average, the wealthiest people in America pay a lot more taxes than the middle class or the poor, according to private and government data. They pay at a higher rate, and as a group, they contribute a much larger share of the overall taxes collected by the federal government.

The 10 percent of households with the highest incomes pay more than half of all federal taxes. They pay more than 70 percent of federal income taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office. READ MORE Fact Check: Buffett Tax

People are busy, for "most" life is hard.... pressure filled.... a struggle. Overwhelmed by life's demands and complicated by a flailing economy there is little time or energy left for watch-dogging Fedgov. You can understand why far to many opinions are formed by 5 second sound bites, news bit radio broadcasts and water cooler chatter. CNN, MSN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and... to a lesser degree ... Fox News.... are secretly more interested (with rare exception)  in pushing an agenda. People are just unwilling or unable to commit the time necessary to investigate... to filter thru the bullshit, to find and understand the facts.  When people don't investigate on their own they are often influenced by the above and by their environment and location. Red State / Blue State.
    If you would allow me... lets take a look at my daughter as an example of environmentally influenced poly-scientific beliefs. Born and raised in the south Miranda (my daughter-name changed to protect the innocent) grew up as a strong willed and fiercely independent thinker. She was then as she is now... influenced by her environment. She was for the most part in line with the self responsibility, write your own future, earn your own way thru your own hard work mentality while at the same time helping bring those around you along. Basically a semi republican / semi democrat... known as an Independent. Upon her graduation from High school she moved north to Massachusetts.... OH my god NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Now before she left, had she been old enough she would have voted Republican. Now she votes Democratic. She hasn't changed, she's still the strong, fiercely independent thinker. And busy, busy, busy. A demanding job in the medical field, she's back in school to further her education and she and her husband are new parents. Yes, life is hard, pressure filled.... a struggle.
      

The Day I Left the Left

. Jim Goad wrote this piece. I confess I'm not familiar with him.... But based on this, he is one hell of a writer. Here he writes about what he knows....and.... it sucks you in .. totally. -JP   
Late one Saturday morning in 1990 under the skeleton-bleaching California sun, I motored through a crumbled, hilly, ashen section of East LA looking to see if any of the Hicks Boys Stoners were around to sell me some weed. Named after East LA’s Hicks Avenue, they were a loosely amalgamated gang of longhaired Mexican metalheads who shunned traditional cholo gang culture’s aesthetic trappings in favor of Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez-styled muerte obsessions, Satan worship, and generally aimless nihilism. Read more: leaving the left

By 2020, 90 cents of every dollar will go to entitlements and debt interest

Long-term simulations of government debt offer a cold, harsh look at the federal economic situation, according to the Government Accountability Office.

“Absent policy changes, our simulations indicate that the federal government faces a rapid and unsustainable growth in debt,” the GAO said. “Delaying action increases the magnitude of the changes needed and hence the probability that the changes will be more drastic and therefore more disruptive to individuals and the economy as whole.” Read more... iwatchnews

961 days in, Obama becomes sick and tired of someone dawdling about jobs

Seriously. Now that his Martha's Vineyard vacation is over, this situation is urgent.

Citing the plight of millions of struggling Americans whose wishes for jobs Obama ignored for most of the 961 days he's been in office while chasing shinier healthcare and financial reforms, Obama said it was time that Congress stop blaming others. He said it was time members take responsibility for their inaction and halt their phony partisan games and political circus acts that pervade Washington culture.

Because the Americans Obama hasn't been listening to are really hurting now. And -- who's....

....counting? -- but it's only 424 days until Nov. 6, 2012. No plan yet to pay for Obama's ideas. But he wants immediate passage of his American Jobs Act anyway. Read more.... http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/09/obama-jobs-speech-congress-bad-news-polls-.html

A Ponzi scheme that should be fixed

Now, Social Security is a pay-as-you-go program. A current beneficiary isn’t receiving the money she paid in years ago. That money is gone. It went to her parents’ Social Security check. The money in hercheck is coming from her son’s FICA tax today — i.e., her “investment” was paid out years ago to earlier entrants in the system and her current benefits are coming from the “investment” of the new entrants into the system. Pay-as-you-go is the definition of a Ponzi scheme. Read more...-should-be-fixed-

Post-September 11, NSA ‘enemies’ include us

Somewhere between Sept. 11 and today, the enemy morphed from a handful of terrorists to the American population at large, leaving us nowhere to run and no place to hide.
Within weeks of the attacks, the giant ears of the National Security Agency, always pointed outward toward potential enemies, turned inward on the American public itself. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, established 23 years before to ensure that only suspected foreign agents and terrorists were targeted by the NSA, would be bypassed. Telecom companies, required by law to keep the computerized phone records of their customers confidential unless presented with a warrant, would secretly turn them over in bulk to the NSA without ever asking for a warrant.  Read more......http://www.politico.com/news/stories/


When a government stops working well. When it no longer works for it's people but instead works for itself it must be changed. When a government spends it's energies protecting it's citizens from the truth it is in fact protecting itself from it's citizens.... And we allow it to happen. What of solyndra as an example! Look hard and the facts show themselves more and more. The evidence circles the White House with relentless inevitability, time and effort will show the truth. But we know already where it ends, President Zeros office. The screaming silence from President Zero... / President Transparency,.. on this is both deafening  and damning. It's just starting, there will be much more Presidential disappointment to come. Yes... life is hard, busy, complicated, only so many hours in a day......................................... There is an awakening coming. It will arrive late, to late for some. Don't be one of those!.. JP






President Zero

Report on the Nation

Troubles Ahead:


This probably won't come as news to most of you but people tend to ignore reality. I've been guilty of it myself from time to time, most have. Lets be honest, it's often just easier to turn a blind eye to reality than deal with it. Ignored long enough and it will sneak right up on you and slap you in the face. After all it is reality... it's not going to go away. Survivalist, preppers and the like tend to be forward thinkers. They pay attention to their environment, look to the future and plan for the possible realities they see... good for them.... the rest?.. "now which is my blind eye"...........

Try to set aside whatever biases or preconceptions you might have for a moment and ask yourself why death threats against politicians aren’t considered national news, especially in the wake of the all too fresh shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other bystanders. And there hasn’t just been one death threat, but a number of them.


Here, you’ll find a compilation of 20 days worth of the death threats, vandalism, and intimidation practiced by pro-union thugs opposed to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill. http://bigjournalism.com/20-days-of-left-wing-thuggery-in-wisconsin

AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka plans to take his union's methods nationally in an effort to stop various governments attempts at reigning in runaway spending.
Does he look familiar? Trumpka was invited to President Obama's Address to Congress on jobs and sat by the First Lady.

500 Tea Party Protesters Storm a Government Building, Take Hostages

Got your attention?

Good. Because it seems that unless a story has negative implications for the tea party no one (even Fox News) is going to make a stink about it.

On Thursday morning, over 500 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (an AFL-CIO union) did something that should have been the top news story on every major news network in the country. Read more.....http://bigjournalism..com unions thugs

In January when a smirking schizoid goony loon who claimed no political affiliation sprayed hot lead on an

Arizona crowd—killing six and injuring fourteen—the barking dogs of leftist punditry pounced like starving hyenas on the carnage, making raw political hamburger out of it. After two years of falsely depicting the Tea Party as a short-fused bomb waiting to explode into a blood-stained cum shot of racist violence, the left’s paid puppets rushed to the crime scene like the blind men of Hindu legend jostling to squeeze the elephant’s testicles until they burst. There was the predictably vomit-inducing pecksniffery about scary rhetoric, angry mobs, and how hateful speech has consequences. They saw no conflicts of interest in the fact that their own crowd had openly cheered for violence against people such as Sarah Palin and George W. Bush for years. When it became evident that shooter Jared Loughner was politically unclassifiable, there was a screaming silence when it came to apologies and retractions. Read more...... http://takimag.com/article/the_stench_of_civility

........... This is no longer just about party affiliation, differing  views or apposing ideologies. This is now about the survival of our freedom to disagree. The Lefties have decided they've heard enough about cost cutting, balanced budgets and responsible governance. Their strategy is clear. They will bully and shame us into submission, if that doesn't work.... the baseball bat will. The Lefties seem desperate and nothing is off limits.  Paul krugman's touching post on 9/11 is a perfect example. Read it and tell me there is not something wrong with this man. Check out AFL-CIO's. Richard Trumka's 9/11 call to activism. I was a UAW member for 4 years. I walked a strike line for 4 1/2 months for $65 a week. I understand the union way, and I understand Trumka's position. Union membership is dwindling and he's trying to save union jobs and union contracts. He ignores our new economic reality and demands that the rest of the nation keep paying, he should know we can't. And when we don't... there will be war. So here we are, Heading toward an election I believe will be like no other in resent history. Sure we've gotten a taste in the last couple of elections with the SEIU high jinks, the Lefties rhetoric of racism, Homeland Security's rightwing extremism report, voter intimidation and voter fraud. 

It's going to be a lot worse this time. The unions and New Black Panthers are brushing up on their thuggery, and the Left wing talking heads and their media machine spread their propaganda of fear & hate--- A return to Jim Crow, lynchings  racism and the usual "they want to throw orphans and the elderly out on the street. I know.... to you and I it sounds like insanity. But to the uneducated, unread and dimwitted among us it's believable. Keep watching, pay attention or get bitch slapped.... JP 




The Homestead Report:

 Fruit trees and bushes are a great way to add to your diet, and the value of your homestead. Fact is that even if you live on a 1/8 acre lot in a subdivision you can grow a few fruit trees and bushes. Apple, peach, pear and plumb trees would  be great additions to any home, homestead or retreat. As well as blueberry, blackberry, strawberry and raspberry  bushes.

We have 1 old pear tree that continues to put out lots of delicious sweet pears every year. We also have 1 apple and 1 peach tree. They have put out 2 of the last 4 years, not sure why yet. We have lots of wild blackberry bushes all over the property. Next spring we hope to add a few pear, peach and apple trees along with a couple of plumb trees, a few raspberry and strawberry bushes.

crab apple

peach

Deer in the front yard the other night.

Sacrifice..... a word we know well

Liberty, Independence, Freedom.  These 3 words are synonymous.  Look up any of the 3 and the others will be there.  They are forever linked, both by meaning and by our history.  There is another word with a different meaning.  It isn't synonymous with the other 3 although we couldn't have the other 3 without it.  That word is Sacrifice.  It has been with us since the very beginning and is woven into the foundation this nation was built on.   Throughout our history we have known the word well in defense of the ideals we cherish.  America has always been blessed with a citizenry that understands the cost of freedom.   Time and time again, when that freedom has come under attack they have come to it's defense, risking all to ensure our future.

On September 11, 2001 we once again came under attack, a new kind of attack from a new kind of enemy, an enemy most knew little about. Thousands died that day and thousands more lost loved ones, family and friends. The sorrow and loss from that day so intense. The sacrifice forced on so many so extreme it has been embedded into the lexicon of our very existence. And like so many times before, patriots among us put themselves between us and those who would do us more harm. How many of us have friends or family who enlisted or re-enlisted after 911? I personally have several friends who re-enlisted and went to Iraq and Afghanistan. Fortunately they all have come back safe and sound. Yes we are blessed, blessed with a freedom so rare and fragile it is the only one like it in the world..... and blessed by those willing to sacrifice all they are to keep it safe.- JP

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."- Ronald Reagan

 

Report on the Nation

Here at the homestead we often feel the need to look out over the landscape of our country to see whats going on. We've had a pretty steep learning curve since moving here 5 months ago and being new to homesteading and  prepping. The view of our country from here helps us gauge the best use of our limited resources and areas in our preps to concentrate on. The view hasn't changed much.... still bleak.


More Fedgov waste:

  The Post examined every major project currently funded under the HUD program, analyzing a database of 5,100 projects worth $3.2 billion, studying more than 600 satellite images and collecting information from 165 housing agencies nationwide.

The yearlong investigation uncovered a dysfunctional system that delivers billions of dollars to local housing agencies with few rules, safeguards or even a reliable way to track projects. The lapses have led to widespread misspending and delays in a two-decade-old program meant to deliver decent housing to the working poor. Read more..... washington post investigation

Government agencies blew $125 billion on improper payments

An analysis by the Government Accountability Office found that the majority of the improper payments were concentrated in 10 federal programs which held 94 percent of the total estimated improper payments in 2010, about $118 billion. The big spenders in improper payments came from four major programs: Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program. Read more...125-billion-improper-payments 





Widespread waste and fraud in war spending

WASHINGTON – As much as $60 billion in U.S. tax dollars has been lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade due to lax oversight of contractors, poor planning and corruption, according to an independent panel.


Overall, the commission said spending on contracts and grants to support U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to exceed $206 billion by the end of the 2011 budget year. Based on its investigation, the commission said contracting waste in Afghanistan ranged from 10 percent to 20 percent of the $206 billion total. Fraud during the same period ran between 5 percent and 9 percent of the total, the report said. Read more... wartime spending

State Dept. spends terrorism and emergency dollars on parties, rented linens and a kitchen

But an unclassified version of an audit of the K Fund released Thursday noted that auditors sampling records of expenditures in 2008 and 2009 found a total of $723,378 in spending “not made in accordance with the authorized legislation.” In addition, the auditors, working for Inspector General Harold W. Geisel, were unable to find sufficient documentation for an additional $734,840 in expenditures by State Department officials. Read more... state-dept-spends-

Fedgov High jinks:

Dream Act: Obama passes amnesty by a back door ICE directive

The Obama administration memo to John Morton, Director of I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) directs I.C.E. agents now to use “prosecutorial discretion” with regard to enforcing immigration laws. Read more.... amnesty by executive order 

Executive amnesty

If you look at the "policy reform" timeline for ICE since Obama became president it has been one small amnesty after another. 

The Homeland Security Department said Thursday it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria such as attending school, having family in the military or are primarily responsible for other family members’ care.  Read more....executive-amnesty

I have always felt this country a symbol of freedom and hope for the rest of the world. A promised land that people across the globe dreamed of coming too. Any freedom loving person from any place in the world who hoped for a better life, who had the courage and will to travel halfway around the world to get here would be welcome here. However times are different now and so are many of those who try and come here. Our leaders at this very instant manipulate the system to gain favor and votes from the Hispanic community. Immigration is now a tool of the powerful… used to shrink our own influence over them. And to many who come here come… not for freedom but for free stuff and to abuse generosities of our system. And now we have drug & gun trafficking, human trafficking and pathways for terrorists trying to enter our country.
Your right Rourke: our government can send our troops all over the world to protect and secure other's borders from terrorist and the like….. and here?… they molest us as we board airplanes.

slaveboy.. comment at http://modernsurvivalonline.com/


The Blame Game:
Bad luck? Bad faith?

A troubled nation wonders: How did we get mired in 9.1 percent unemployment, 0.9 percent growth and an economic outlook so bad that the Federal Reserve pledges to keep interest rates at zero through mid-2013 — an admission that it sees little hope on the horizon?


In Obama’s recounting, however, luck is only half the story. His economic recovery was ruined not just by acts of God and (foreign) men, but by Americans who care nothing for their country. These people, who inhabit Congress (guess which party?), refuse to set aside “politics” for the good of the nation. They serve special interests and lobbyists, care only about the next election, place party ahead of country. Indeed, they “would rather see their opponents lose than see America win.” The blaggards! Read more... bad-luck-bad-faith

Tea Party Blame and Fairy Tales

When Standard and Poor's downgraded the creditworthiness of the United States government, Sen. John Kerry shamelessly labeled it a "Tea Party downgrade," and no one in the press questioned him. This is beyond ludicrous. It's a deliberate lie on Kerry's part.

How can you blame 87 new Republican House members who weren't in Washington when President Barack Obama was tripling the deficit with trillions in new spending, which Kerry happily endorsed? Read more... tea-party

             

                                        At least the Fed Reserve is on top of there game.. um, maybe not.

It all comes down to confidence and polls show we have none in Fedgov. Why would we? They tell us one thing and do the other. They attempt at every instance to subsidize and nationalize more and more of our economy in order to gain control and influence. Perhaps Fedgov would have more moral authority if there actions matched there words. It may not matter much longer. They long ago ran out of our money, The hour is growing late and borrowing is getting harder. Its not a party thing... oh no.. their all to blame and there's little chance of change. They still spend, willfully worsening our situation and wantonly stealing from our children's futures. You can only squeeze the productive to support the unproductive for so long before the squeezed say enough. 
....... note to self: stockpile more food stuffs and ammo




The Homestead report: the first 5 months


communication:

Communication can be an issue when moving (or bugging out) to the middle of nowhere. If your plan includes bugging out or moving to a rural area It would be wise to look at your communication options. As far as our (non emergency) needs we hoped to maintain the standards most have today: tv, phone and internet. In our case it wasn't that hard. When we first got the farm we used a tv antenna and got 5 stations. 1 was a spanish speaking only, 2 were PBS stations and 1 was a weather station, limited but workable. Before moving here we were able to get satellite tv so now we have 200+ channels. Phone and internet were a bit harder. Our cell carrier had limited coverage in this area. After checking only one other carrier had any coverage at all in this area. It turned out to be a little better then our carriers coverage so we switched and so far so good. With no phone lines or cable we looked to satellite internet to fill our need. After a few calls we found Hughesnet who could set us up. As far as radio we get plenty of stations. We have a pair of walkie/talkies with a 2 mile range that we use around our 40 acres and we are looking into a ham radio setup should the communications grid go down.


Fishing

We are lucky enough to be within a short walk to a stocked catfish pond hidden in the woods. Every time we go we catch a bunch. Not just a great way to spend an afternoon but it helps fill your freezer.
Grandkids love it to. Got to be the easiest way to feed yourself. I wonder if you can live on just fish alone.

Report on the Nation

   FedGov hard at work on our behalf........geez....

     
                                                       DOT To Propose CDL Licenses and More For Farm Equipment


 In Late May, the DOT proposed a rule change for farm equipment, and if it this allowed to take effect, it will place significant regulatory pressure on small farms and family farms all across America – costing them thousands of dollars and possibly forcing many of them out of business. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), part of the Department of Transportation (DOT), wants new standards that would require all farmers and everyone on the farm to obtain a CDL (Commercial Drivers License) in order to operate any farming equipment. The agency is going to accomplish this by reclassifying all farm vehicles and implements as Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs).


Read more..... http://patdollard.com/2011/07/dot-to-mandate-all-farm-vehicles-require-cdl-licenses-could-bring-demise-to-farmers/



We're Saved!
Took ‘em long enough to come up with a budget???

2011 Federal Budget DealFederal Budget:   $3,820,000,000,000  (3.82 Trillion)
Income:               $2,170,000,000,000  (2.17 Trillion)
New Debt:           $1,650,000,000,000  (1.65 Trillion)
Amount Cut:            $38,500,000,000   (38.5 Billion) – about 1% of
the total budget.Harry Reid is calling this a “historic amount“. The President said it
is a “historic deal”. John Boehner simply said, “We’ve come to an
agreement”.
Let’s Put This In Perspective.  It helps me to think about these
numbers in terms that I can relate to.
Let’s remove nine zeroes from those numbers and pretend this is a
monthly household budget for the fictitious Jones family.
Amount of money the “Jones`s” family spent this month:          $3,820
Total income for the “Jones`s” family this month:                      $2,170
Amount of new debt added to the credit card this month:          $1,650
Outstanding balance on the credit card:
$14,271     (This represents our national debt).
So last week, the “Jones’s” sat down at the kitchen table and agreed
to cut $38 from their monthly budget. A historic amount!
Are You Impressed?
Me neither!
From...... http://jadedswine.wordpress.com/


Who's Really Downgrading America?

  The American people have come to like the president, but a majority is coming to believe he is simply not the decisive president we need to lead us out of the morass in which he found the country and from which he has failed to extricate us. Read more...... http://buchanan.org/blog/whos-really-downgrading-america-4819




The Homestead Report: the first 5 months


Before we had moved here we knew we needed a building of some sort for storage and for working out of, a shop if you will. There is a small barn and storage shed on the property. The barn is old and no longer weather tight, the shed is small and already full. After researching buying vs. building one ourselves, buying seemed the most cost effective. We shopped around and the best deal we could find was from a company called Capital Buildings, http://www.capitolbuildings.net/index.html
We ordered a 24x26 building package: the building, installed on our lot and it included a 4" concrete slab.
All we had to do was the grading on the site to get it level and ready for the slab, not as easy as I had thought.

                                                               We started by pulling some lines for something to go by and removed the grass.

                                                    Then I started digging up clay from another spot on the farm and building up and leveling the site.

When I thought I had the site close to done I called in a professional to look at what I had. Turns out I needed help.

Had to add lots more dirt

Then I hired someone who knew what they were doing to finish the grading

finally done

I then called Capital and they sent the concrete crew

pads done!

After a couple of weeks a crew came and they had the building up in 5 hours

MJ and I did the electrical system and ran the underground feed. Now we have power.

...........More to come........