It is going to be interesting how all of the parties involved in this bastardization of America try and slime out of this. Hell, they probably won't even need to try. It was a bear trying to find stories in the press about this.
No one seems to give a damn.
First, a little reminder -
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.The Obama Administration posted this on the Whitehouse.gov site - it's still there, in fact - at the beginning of their tour of duty. He even commanded the government's chief technology officer to build systems within 120 days to git 'er done.
Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.
I've kept a copy of the website page, in PDF form, because I'm guessing they'll remove or update it pretty soon.
Why? Because of this -
The Securities and Exchange Commission apparently no longer has to comply with requests for information from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act, because of a little-noticed provision in the new financial regulations that became law last week, the Fox Business Network reports.Wow. Kinda goes 180 degrees opposite from what they promised, huh?
The law exempts the S.E.C from disclosing records or information derived from “surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities.” Given that the S.E.C. is a regulatory body, the provision covers almost every action by the agency, lawyers told Fox Business. Congress and federal agencies can request information, but the public cannot.
I seem to be saying this a lot lately, but, how can this be? This is not America. This is some bad parody of the former Soviet Union or Communist China.
We have states and cities passing laws making it illegal to photograph and video police officers - our employees - while they are doing their jobs. We've been told for years that the reason the government can put video cameras wherever they wish is because we have no expectation of privacy while in public. Yet those same rules don't apply to government officials.
Our employees at the SEC can now do as they please, and not have to worry about having their (in)actions reported to the world (I'm sure the porn industry is glad to hear this, though...). We, on the other hand, have reports sent to some government bureaucrat when we take out more than $10,000 of our own money from our own bank account.
Mark my words - this continued usurpation of our freedoms coupled with an ever expanding and secretive government, is going to result in violence. I don't know if it's going to pop this year, next year or sometime after that.
But I fear it won't be long.
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Now, for the happy-feet news - puttin' my money where my mouth is!
I've long been a proponent of having multiple streams of income. If you can swing it, have as many sources as possible so that you are not out on your butt if one of them goes away.
Well, I'm putting that to practice. In addition to my Emergency Prep/Personal Safety/Firearms training biz, I and a couple of partners are opening a business that is near and dear to my heart: Precious metals.
We've negotiated the lease and should have our doors open by the first of September. We've already got some business lined up (yes - all
I'm not going to go into great detail about where our business will be located, and the details of what we'll be doing. I need to keep a "firewall" between the two different businesses for a number of reasons.
I'll continue to talk a lot about PMs on this blog, but they'll all have a footnote about the business.
Now, if I can turn my 30-year beer brewing hobby into a business, I'll have a trifecta! Bullets, Bullion and Brew?
Accept The Challenge
I must say, I'm at a bit of a loss about what to do with this continual growth of government and the chipping away of our rights. I worry that we're past the point of recovering our Constitutional Republic. We're devolving deeper and deeper into an oligarchy that has limitless powers.
I'm a bit numb. Regardless of how we vote, regardless of what we're promised, regardless of the fiery speech and protestation, the downward spiral continues.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worse. It sounds so trite, but it's the starting point for a plan. Assume that government growth and control will continue. Assume that if the Republicans regain power in Congress, nothing will change.
Assume your taxes will increase. Assume your buying power will be decreased.
Assume you'll need to recognize and deal with dangerous situations you never dreamt you'd see. Assume 9-1-1 won't be answered.
Assume family and friends will never be more important. Build or rekindle those relationships.
Get yourself mentally prepared. Head on over to Behind The Parapet and read MikeH's 4-part series (I, II, III,IV) on The Warrior Spirit.
Time to saddle up, folks. And bring a cushion, 'cuz it's gonna get bumpy...
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16 comments:
Congrats on the new business! Although our future may look grim, stay positive. Check out the Constitution party. Remember, every vote counts.
We need at least one of the two houses to be held by the opposition after Nov 2nd. This will allow congressional committees to investigate some of the things that have been done in the last 18 months. We need a special prosecutor to investigate and charge those in the administration that have broken laws. We really need to take both houses so that we can overturn some of these bills that were crimes against the constitution.
Chief,
Congrats on the business! Once you get the brewery going maybe you can sell suds with names like 'Full Metal Jacket' or 'Silver Bullet' :)
As to the serious side of your post, that news is getting around. The Lame Stream Media no longer owns "the" means of communication with the masses. I agree with your assessment that things are going to get bad. When? I don't know. Should the Dems no longer have absolute power come November it will give us a little breathing room but not forever. First, I don't think the country as a whole has the will to change. We are too divided. Second, the last Republican to have a set of balls was Ronald Regan and I still don't know how he got done what he did. I have zero faith that the Republican party can do any repair to what's been done. Delay yes, fix no. The first thing many of them do once in power is to defect to RINO or 'moderate' positions to appease the masses. That means they effectively side with the Dems.
Don't know how all this'll play out but it certainly doesn't look good.
NY, I consider myself a small 'L' libertarian - a Constitutionalist. This next election, I'm voting straight down the line (federally) against the incumbents. Babs Boxer and this weasel named Jerry McNerney in the House.
I look at and read the bios on every single candidate. If a Constitution Party member is running, I'll give them a look-see for our state and local stuff.
Anon, at the federal level, I'll be voting for Repubs - not because I believe a word they say, but because I want grid-lock in Congress. If they do take both houses, I don't think they'll do anything. They'll say they couldn't muster the votes to over-ride a presidential veto. The real reason will be because they don't want to give the Dems the ammunition to say, "The evil Repubs took away your baby's health care". They'll use similar excuses for each piece of legislation they promise to overturn.
Groundhog, hmmm, FMJ. I like it!
You're right, we as a nation don't have the will to change. I hate to say it, but I don't think real change happens until it all crashes down around our ears. We're merely delaying the inevitable with all of these bailouts and nationalization.
As individuals, we can only prepare for what's coming in an attempt to soften the blow. After it crashes, more direct tactics will come into play.
The Chief summed it up best in this most excellent post with: "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst".
Amen, and AMEN
Don't forget the importance of being able to chair committees. If the Dems lose their majority in either or both houses they lose control of ALL committees and committees are where the work is done and control what gets onto the floor. They can investigate who, what, when and where. I want to see a congressman on the evening news asking "what did the president knwo and when did he know it"!! This November vote like your life depended on it...
Guns, at this point in time, that's all we can do - soften the blow from a financial collapse, and possibly a societal collapse. THEN, the heavy lifting begins...
Anon, yeah, that is hugely important, but I still don't think much will change or be repealed. With a Republican Congress and Democrat Whitehouse, we'll get gridlock. I think that's the best we can realistically hope for - no MORE damage being done.
One of the major contributions the Tea Party _could_ make is to vet candidates in various states. I've been a lifelong Republican. It's only been in the last 5-10 years that I've recognized that many of them are Progressives - that they simply move at a slower rate. I count myself as a Conservative, leaning towards Libertarian. You kind of need someone really involved with politics and connections to ferret out who's saying one thing and doing another. And that's the problem - for example, there is apparently someone in Nevada running as a third party candidate (against Reid) and claiming to be a Tea Party candidate, when in fact he is not connected in any way, and has simply used the Tea Party nomenclature in his ads. I believe the Nevada Tea Party is coming out loud and clear about this, but if people aren't paying attention, they may be fooled.
Deception has become part and parcel of politics, and our voting districts are large enough that we don't have personal knowledge of the candidates we have to vote for. It would be helpful to have a reliable source for dependable info on candidates. Of course, then the Lefties would probably infiltrate...but that's a different problem!
Chief,
Thank you for the show of confidence regarding the Parapet. It is an honor to be recognized by a blogger of high standing, such as yourself.
Regarding "no MORE damage being done," It is the best we can hope for and we MAY get it for a few short years, but as soon as we become too busy to pay attention (again) they will be back to their old tricks. I just don't think ANYONE would be stupid enough to do it at as fast a pace as the Big Zero. At least in this century.
MikeH.
suek, I like that idea about vetting. Have a list of questions that is submitted to each candidate, and post how they answer. Those that decline to answer get a thumbs-down.
Mike, keep writing - you've got some great ideas and insight.
The administration is in full-panic mode right now. They know they will not have the votes behind them after a new congress is sworn in, so they're cramming all of this crap down our throats while they can.
I heard on the radio last night that there is talk of the administration doing an Executive Order granting a blanket pardon (or some such device) to all illegal aliens. This was a national radio show (Larry Kudlow) so I at least HOPE their source for the info was verified.
Don't know if it's true or not. Fox did a piece about a week ago -
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/23/lawmakers-warn-administration-plan-unilaterally-grant-blanket-amnesty/
If he does this, the lid will blow.
You know..one of the kickers on this is that there are probably _lots_ of Mexicans who are here for employment who really aren't interested in becoming US citizens. Yes they send money home to support their families (I think I read somewhere that US income is either the 2nd or 3rd largest source of income in Mexico) but some send it home to stash away so that they can retire in Mexico where the living is cheaper.
One of the questions I've had in my mind is what effect does living in the US eventually have on Mexico if fairly large numbers of them presently living in the US return? Does it have any effect? Or are their old ways more comfortable for them? just a curiosity question - doubt I'll get an answer.
Suek, 11 million illegals all returning to Mexico would be devastating. The reason they come to the US is because they can't make any money in Mexico. These aren't doctors and lawyers sneaking across the border, it's the unemployed.
(Big generality alert) They are typically illiterate in Spanish. It's one of the reason they have difficulty assimilating better once they're here - if you're illiterate in your native language, it's almost impossible to become literate in a second language.
We have become the dumping ground for the bottom rung of Mexican society. That takes the political pressure off of the Mexican government to have to provide services to their own people.
Mexico has about 106 million people. The 11 million here represent over 10% of their population! If you use the higher estimates of 20 million illegals, you're talking about every 1 in 5 Mexican citizens is here in the US illegally.
I live in Oregon and before the recession the illegals held perhaps half the jobs in the construction industry. I even took a picture at one construction site where the contractors pickup truck had a Mexican license plate! They don't get these jobs because of their skills or because Americans don't want the jobs. They get them because they will work for slave wages. At the same time my kids and nieghbors kids can't get a job in the constrution industry. So while having 11 million illegals return to Mexico might be devastating for them having them here is devastating for us.
Anon, you're exactly correct: Americans and legal residents have no access to the low-skill jobs any more. This absolutely, positively depresses wages. Instead of letting our legal job market control the supply and demand metric, we flood the country with illegals, which depresses OUR wages.
This is great for the companies, but horrific for the nation. I can understand why the businesses would want to do this, but the FedGov should be fighting illegals like crazy. They decimate tax receipts.
I guess the payoffs the federal officials receive from the businesses makes it easier sleep at night.
"We've negotiated the lease and should have our doors open by the first of September. "
Harrrummpf...!
It's the first of September. I haven't seen an announcement...or a link to somewhere where there's an announcement....or an address...or a phone number...
Or was that the first _part_ of September???
LOL, welcome to my world. We JUST got the keys to the place last Friday. The negotiations took a turn where the owner wanted us to pay for stuff that we thought was not our responsibility.
He finally relented, and somehow we actually got 2 free months of rent for the whole process (!), but everything was delayed.
I just met with the security vendors yesterday, the phone guys tomorrow, as well as having the safe and display cabinets installed. We've got some work to do on sprucing the place up and getting our big lighted sign installed.
Right now, we're hoping to open by the third week of September, but are telling everyone it will be October first.
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