Reclaiming America: Patriots United

I have been accused of being somewhat of a recluse over the past couple of months -- "Guilty As Charged"! However, it's all been by design.

Since the beginning of the Tea Party movement earlier this year and especially since the DC trip, I've been struggling with one all-consuming fear. That the movement (to include ALL freedom-loving Patriotic groups) would become fractured as time went on as different agendas began to emerge. That fear has long since been realized. We now have more than 2000 different Patriot groups across the nation. Unfortunately, we also have more than 2000 differing agendas that are often at odds with one another. This is not good.

However, I was confident that others were struggling with the same fear and that someone(s), somewhere would develop something to address this challenge. In truth, efforts are already underway to unite some of these factions, especially within the "Tea Party" movement. But even if this effort to unite is "successful", I realized, as have all of you, that no effort will truly succeed that does not translate into votes at the ballot box. I understood that there needed to be some vehicle that would enable the conservative movement within these Patriot groups to be able to effectively lobby (I know--bad word) our legislators in Washington.

Let's face it! We've tried talking, protesting, sign-waving, writing, calling, faxing, and visiting with them -- all to no avail. We even sent 1.7 million of our best "Ambassadors of Freedom" to Washington, DC. Still, we are ignored. Why? Three basic reasons:
1. Simply because they've seen this sort of thing before (although never on this scale) and we've always forgotten about their misdeeds by the next election. We vote them right back into office. They are not convinced that this time is any different.
2. A politician responds best to money. They listen to whomever it is that is funding them. In essence, money trumps votes (or the threat of a non-vote). So, they listen to what we have to say, then listen to the lobbyists who fund them. If they value the lobbyist's donation more than they fear the electorate, they respond favorably to the lobbyist. This folks, is reality.
3. They don't see us as a unified group of millions of conservatives. Rather, they see 2000 fractured, bickering, unfocused groups jockeying for position and political influence.

I have spent the past couple of months attempting to find that vehicle and am confident that I've met with success.

It's called, "Freedom Force". The web site is: www.freedomforce.us

Rather than trying to tell you what it's all about, I encourage you to visit the site and immediately start reviewing the material there.

TheFreedomForceStrategy(PDF)

FreedomForce On FaceBook

FreedomForce On YouTube

Time for the Tea Party to become Tangible

Making the Tea Party Tangible

Tangible Tea Party Tactics

I Pledge My Allegiance to the Charters of Freedom

One thing I will say by way of clarification. This is NOT something to join in lieu of the Tea Party, or 912Project, or FreedomWorks, or The Patriotic Resistance, or Grassfire, or whatever group you currently belong to. Continue with what you are doing. This is simply an effort to harness that energy inherent in all Patriot Groups combined, to bring focus to what we all say we want...a return to the traditional principles and values that we all cherish under the rule of law as afforded by the US Constitution. This will entail becoming an effective, laser-focused force at the ballot box. We can do this. Please join today, acquaint yourself with the basic plan, and then encourage others to get involved.

Since the "March on Washington, I've listened to many discussions and lamentations about, "What now?" Well, THIS is now! www.freedomforce.us

Joshua

Obama’s Bow to “World Opinion” – by Thomas Sowell

There are any number of good, solid reasons why bringing the five 9/11 terrorists to NY for trial is a bad idea. Thomas Sowell cites one of the most insidious in this article.

Joshua


Obama’s Bow to “World Opinion” – by Thomas Sowell
Posted By Thomas Sowell On November 17, 2009 @ 12:00 am

In the string of amazing decisions made during the first year of the Obama administration, nothing seems more like sheer insanity than the decision to try foreign terrorists, who have committed acts of war against the United States, in federal court, as if they were American citizens accused of crimes.

Terrorists are not even entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention, much less the Constitution of the United States. Terrorists have never observed, nor even claimed to have observed, the Geneva Convention, nor are they among those covered by it.

But over and above the utter inconsistency of what is being done is the utter recklessness it represents. The last time an attack on the World Trade Center was treated as a matter of domestic criminal justice was after a bomb was exploded there in 1993. Under the rules of American criminal law, the prosecution had to turn over all sorts of information to the defense— information that told the Al Qaeda international terrorist network what we knew about them and how we knew it.

This was nothing more and nothing less than giving away military secrets to an enemy in wartime— something for which people have been executed, as they should have been. Secrecy in warfare is a matter of life and death. Lives were risked and lost during World War II to prevent Nazi Germany from discovering that Britain had broken its supposedly unbreakable Enigma code and could read their military plans that were being radioed in that code.

“Loose lips sink ships” was the World War II motto in the United States. But loose lips are mandated under the rules of criminal prosecutions.

Tragically, this administration seems hell-bent to avoid seeing acts of terrorism against the United States as acts of war. The very phrase “war on terrorism” is avoided, as if that will stop the terrorists’ war on us.

The mindset of the left behind such thinking was spelled out in an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle, which said that “Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the professed mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, will be tried the right way— the American way, in a federal courtroom where the world will see both his guilt and the nation’s adherence to the rule of law.”

This is not the rule of law but the application of laws to situations for which they were not designed.

How many Americans may pay with their lives for the intelligence secrets and methods that can forced to be disclosed to Al Qaeda was not mentioned. Nor was there mention of how many foreign nations and individuals whose cooperation with us in the war on terror have been involved in countering Al Qaeda— nor how many foreign nations and individuals will have to think twice now, before cooperating with us again, when their role can be revealed in court to our enemies, who can exact revenge on them.

Behind this decision and others is the notion that we have to demonstrate our good faith to other nations, sometimes called “world opinion.” Just who are these saintly nations whose favor we must curry, at the risk of American lives and the national security of the United States?

Internationally, the law of the jungle ultimately prevails, despite pious talk about “the international community” and “world opinion,” or the pompous and corrupt farce of the United Nations. Yet this is the gallery to which Barack Obama has been playing, both before and after becoming President of the United States.

In the wake of the obscenity of a trial of terrorists in federal court for an act of war— and the worldwide propaganda platform it will give them— it may seem to be a small thing that President Obama has been photographed yet again bowing deeply to a foreign ruler. But how large or small an act is depends on its actual consequences, not on whether the politically correct intelligentsia think it is no big deal.

As a private citizen, Barack Obama has a right to make as big a jackass of himself as he wants to. But, as President of the United States, his actions not only denigrate a nation that other nations rely on for survival, but raise questions about how reliable our judgment and resolve are — which in turn raises questions about whether those nations will consider themselves better off to make the best deal they can with our enemies.

Home Owners...About to be Screwed!

"Cap and Trade" will prevent you from selling your house unless you,...Letter Written by: Ernest Hancock
Date of Letter: 2009-10-02
Subject: Economy - Economics USA

(From an email to me)

"Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act"

Here's the link to the bill in case you think this might be false.

H.R. 2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2454

This is unbelievable! Only the beginning... ..

Wow! Home owners take note & tell your friends and relatives who are home owners!!! Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act.

H.R. 2454, the "Cap & Trade" bill passed by the House of Representatives, if also passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us has ever experienced. The Congressional Budget Office (supposedly non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the average cost to every family of four will be $6,800 per year. No one is excluded. However, once the lower classes feel the pinch in their wallets, you can be sure these voters get a tax refund (even if they pay no taxes at all) to offset this new cost. Thus, you Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class America will have to pay even more since additional tax dollars will be needed to bail out everyone else.

But wait. This awful bill (that no one in Congress has actually read) has many more surprises in it.

Probably the worst one is this: A year from now you won't be able to sell your house.

Yes, you read that right. The caveat is (there always is a caveat) that if you have enough money to make required major upgrades to your home, then you can sell it. But, if not, then forget it. Even pre-fabricated homes ("mobile homes") are included.

In effect, this bill prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator.

To get this permission, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home measured. Then the government will tell you what your new energy efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water efficiency requirements. Then you will have to get your home measured again and get a license (called a "label" in the Act) that must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency rating is; sort of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on your refrigerator or air conditioner If you don't get a high enough rating, you can't sell. And, the EPA administrator is authorized to raise the standards every year, even above the automatic energy efficiency increases built into the Act.

The EPA administrator, appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade program (AKA the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009") and is authorized to make any future changes to the regulations and standards he alone determines to be in the government's best interest. Requirements are set low initially so the bill will pass Congress; then the Administrator can set much tougher new standards every year. The Act itself contains annual required increases in energy efficiency for private and commercial residences and buildings. However, the EPA administrator can set higher standards at any time.

Sect. 202:
Building Retrofit Program mandates a national retrofit program to increase the energy efficiency of all existing homes across America .

Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. You had better sell soon, because the standards will be raised each year and will be really hard (i.e., ex$pen$ive) to meet in a few years. Oh, goody! The Act allows the government to give you a grant of several thousand dollars to comply with the retrofit program requirements if you meet certain energy efficiency levels. But, wait, the State can set additional requirements on who qualifies to receive the grants. You should expect requirements such as "can't have an income of more than $50K per year", "home selling price can't be more than $125K", or anything else to target the upper middle class (and that's YOU) and prevent them from qualifying for the grants Most of us won't get a dime and will have to pay the entire cost of the retrofit out of our own pockets. More transfer of wealth, more "change you can believe in."

Sect. 204:Building Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes a labeling program that for each individual residence will identify the achieved energy efficiency performance for "at least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act." This means that within five years, 90% of all residential homes in the U.S. must be measured and labeled. The EPA administrator will get $50M each year to enforce the labeling program. The Secretary of the Department of Energy will get an additional $20M each year to help enforce the labeling program. Some of this money will, of course, be spent on coming up with tougher standards each year. Oh, the label will be like a license for your car. You will be required to post the label in a conspicuous location in your home and will not be allowed to sell your home without having this label. And, just like your car license, you will probably be required to get a new label every so often - maybe every year. But, the government estimates the cost of measuring the energy efficiency of your home should only cost about $200 each time. Remember what they said about the auto smog inspections when they first started: that in California it would only cost $15. That was when the program started. Now the cost is about $50 for the inspection and certificate; a 333% increase. Expect the same from the home labeling program.

Sect. 304:Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes establishes new energy efficiency guidelines for the National Building Code and mandates at 304(d) that 1 year after enactment of this Act, all state and local jurisdictions must adopt the National Building Code energy efficiency provisions or must obtain a certification from the federal government that their state and/or local codes have been brought into full compliance with the National Building Code energy efficiency standards.

Republicans Win in NJ and Virginia!

Regardless of how the liberal press and others try to spin and downplay these races, this is huge! All three states went for Obama in the 2008 election--by big margins. Two of the three now go to Republicans--also by big margins. And, even though it looks like Hoffman may lose in his bid in NY, to finish as close as he apparently will poses big problems for Democrats (ignore comments to the contrary by liberal spin-masters).

How this will play out going forward…especially with the midterm elections in 2010 looming, is anybody's guess. My gut feeling is that Democrats have a lot to fear. One little-noticed fact helps support this: Turnout of Republican and Independent voters is up--substantially. That's telling!

Hoffman's performance in NY…effectively ousting the "Republican" candidate has been noticed by the Republican leadership. Will they "get the message" and stop nominating liberals and moderates…masquerading as conservatives? Time will tell, but one thing is certain. The Conservatives within the Republican Party are now engaged, fully awake, and aware of their inherent power. The Republican Party leadership had better take notice. They are being watched.


Joshua