AN AMERICAN ICON SPEAKS OUT

REF:""Where have all the Leaders Gone" a book by Lee Iacocca

Mr. Iacocca asks some very pointed questions and makes strong suggestions:

"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course..

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned, 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore..

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs.. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions.. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. . . .

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.

We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.

We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country.

We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.

Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble.

Our borders are like sieves.

The middle class is being squeezed every which way.

These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?

We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on NBC news or CNN news will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope - I believe in America . In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: The 'Great Depression,' 'World War II,' the 'Korean War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,' the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.

If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a "Call to Action" for people who, like me, believe in America '. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'"

Thanks Mr. Iacocca

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

TWO GREAT QUOTES

“The Central Bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but coin. If the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation the banks and corporations that grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property, until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.”

Thomas Jefferson.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: U.S. CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL (REPUBLICAN TX.) HAS WRITTEN A BILL [ HR 1207] THAT HAS OVER 200 SPONSORS, REQUIRING AN AUDIT OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE. THE BILL IS BOTTLED- UP IN COMMITTEE CHAIRED BY THAT GREAT DEMOCRATIC PATRIOT: BARNEY FRANK .

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to

believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people

from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally

important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the

mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

Joseph Goebbels

ESCAPING OUR RESPONSIBILITIES

REF: The Great Escape, by Thomas Sowell_ TheTrumpet.com 8.266.09

The personal responsibility escape is: not taking responsibility for the consequences of our behavior. How did this society illness occur ? Who is to blame? Are we naturally a lazy, no-good, immoral, fault-prone race?

Society tends to look for external reasons for individuals lacking in integrity and

responsible behavior. Individuals find excuses: “The color of my skin”; “My folks were not rich”; “No one ever taught me responsibility”; ‘I did poorly in school”; No one liked me”. All perhaps true, but still placing the blame on external influences, or the lack thereof.

And yet are we not all a product of our environment , family, friends, teachers, heros and idols? These character shaping influences are perhaps more important than genetic makeup. The prevailing social mores often dictate our values.

Education:

According to Sowell, “education is not something that can be given to anybody.

Students either acquire or fail to acquire” according to the individual’s motivation.

“After many students go through a dozen years in the public schools, at a total cost of $100,000 or more per student — and emerge semi-literate and with little understanding of the society in which they live, much less the larger world and its history — most discussions of what is wrong leave out the fact that many such students may have chosen to use school as a place to fool around, act up, organize gangs, or even peddle drugs.

Medical Care

“The great escape of our times is escape from personal responsibility for the consequences of one’s own behavior. Differences in infant-mortality rates provoke pious editorials on a need for more prenatal care to be provided by the government for those unable to afford it. In other words, the explanation is automatically assumed to be external to the mothers involved and the solution is assumed to be something that “we” can do for “them.”

While it is true that black mothers get less prenatal care than white mothers and have higher infant-mortality rates, it is also true that women of Mexican ancestry get less prenatal care than white women and yet have lower infant-mortality rates. But, once people with the prevailing social vision see the first set of facts, they seldom look for any other facts that might go against the explanation that fits their vision of the world.

No small part of the current confusion between “health care” and medical care comes from failing to recognize that Americans can have the best medical care in the world without having the best health or longevity because so many people choose to live in ways that shorten their lives.”

Economic:

“Economic issues are approached in the same way. People with low incomes are seen as a problem for other people to solve. Studies that follow the same individuals over time show that the vast majority of working people who are in the bottom 20 percent of income earners at a given time end up rising out of that bracket.

Many are simply beginners who get beginners’ wages but whose pay rises as they acquire more skills and experience. Yet there is a small minority of workers who do not rise and a large number of people who seldom work and who — surprise! — have low incomes as a result.

Seldom is there any thought that people who choose to waste years of their own time (and the taxpayers’ money) in school need to change their own behavior — or to visibly suffer the consequences, so that their fate can be a warning to others coming after them not to make that same mistake.”

Politicians:

“It is not just the “non-judgmental” ideology of the intelligentsia but also the self-interest of politicians that leads to so much downplaying of personal responsibility in favor of external explanations and external programs to “solve” the “problem.”

On these and other issues, government programs are far less likely to solve the country’s problems than to solve the politicians’ problem of getting the votes of those whose think the answer to every problem is for the government to “do something.”

So we come to the conclusion that despite or because of these external influences, individual motivation is the key to character building and willingness to take responsibility for our own actions or lack thereof.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

THE KEYNESIAN FARCE

John Maynard Keynes’ [ June 5, 1883--April 21, 1946] theories have been the most influential socio/economic ideas of the 20th century and so far in the 21rst century.

Keynes , born in Cambridge, England son of John Neville Keynes a lecturer at Cambridge University was influenced in early years by his father and elitist pals at Eton and Kings College.

Having an earlier interest in mathematics and probability he naturally gravitated to the study of economics and his articles being a product of the Great Depression times reflected the growing frustration with the financial stagnation of the times. He published Treatise on Money in 1930,The Means to Prosperity in 1933 and the culmination of his work: General Theory of Employment Interest and Money in 1936.

In his early work he postulated that savings that exceeded investment were caused by too high interest rates and therefore resulted in increased unemployment. In The means to Prosperity he detailed the multiplier effect showing that an infusion of $1 into an economic system had the effect of producing a multiplied $ amount in the system, usually a factor of 4 times. In The General Theory came the formal notion that in bad times governments needed to inject money into the system by public works, etc, then in good times pay the money back to the treasury.

Politicians eager to solve the financial stagnation of the Great Depression in the UK

and the U.S. eagerly latched on to these theoretical ideas as Gospel , and began

spending and have not stopped to this day. We are still waiting for them to pay back the expended funds despite the “prosperity” times. Funny how they forgot the

part about replacing the funds, despite the increases in Income tax, Inheritance tax,

excess profit taxes, liquor and tobacco tax, etc. etc.

In truth, Keynes work was just theory and had unintended consequences we are witnessing today: Huge intrusive governments at national, state and local levels.

Un-payable public. corporate and public debt levels, and increasing socialistic programs. Another probably unintended consequence is that these government stimulus programs never end, but take on a life of their own and continue to grow

having established a dependent patronage and advocates requiring more budgeted funds each year.

The thrust of Keynes work was to discredit the classical economic theory which held that prosperity was a natural result of unfettered market forces if labor would keep their wage demands reasonable . He was a ‘world changer’ trying to right the wrong of unequal division of wealth. Certainly a socialist, he was product of the times when communism , fascism and labor unions were gaining favor.

Keynesian economic policy today today is being discredited as the Democratic and neocon Republican administrations grapple with the consequences of over 70 years of economic folly .

CORRUPTION AT THE HEART OF AMERICA

America is reaping the crop of corruption, inefficiency and collapse from the seeds of the “me generation”.

Dr. Spock taught us how to raise our children without dicipline; the post WWII generation called endlessly for more money and ‘better’ educational facilities and instructors; we learned to be “in love” with our offspring putting them in un-natural favor; we wanted them to excel the way we hadn’t, so we gave them everything they wanted as children and money and credit as young adults.

From “America the Corrupt” by Ron Fraser- TheTrumpet.com 8.24.09

“. . the majority of the oldest of their[ the current movers and shakers] teachers graduated from the years of a Woodstock, godless evolutionary Marxist-Leninist liberal-socialist thinking, Dr. Spock-style child-rearing, peacenik antiwar street-rebelling, civil-rights-asserting, law-breaking, gender-bending “no-absolutes” amoral pseudo-philosophizing, woolly haired, bearded, pot-smoking academia possessing little or no moral backbone at all.

Little wonder that the most recent products of that academic sausage machine has turned out the least moral generation of businessmen, bankers, financiers and assorted snake-oil merchants within both commerce and government in recent Anglo-Saxon history.

It’s simply a case of cause and effect. The numerous failed and fraudulent financiers, brokers, bankers and merchants of the day are but the products of their education.”

Quoting an unidentified Bob Jenson, Fraser wrote:

“The problem was that when an amoral generation both entered business and penetrated the Securities and Exchange Commission, it gained “a solid failing grade in terms of its oversight of stock exchanges and related market institutions. The SEC simply looked aside when it came to an ever increasing flood of Wall Street frauds of the 1980s and 1990s”

And further, Frank Partnoy’s book FIASCO,the Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader”shows how corporations gradually increased financial risk and lost control of an overly complex structured financing deals that obscured the losses and disguised frauds [and] pushed corporate officers and their boards into successive and ingenious deceptions. Major corporations such as Enron, Global Crossing, and WorldCom entered into enormous illegal corporate finance and accounting”

When we as a country, abandoned our moral base and embarked on a course of “if it feels good, it’s allright” we started to build “on sand” and insured our ultimate collapse when the storms of unintended consequence came.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

SHIFTED HEALTH CARE DEBATE

Everyone is concerned with the pending health care legislation. The media is trumpeting the so called debate and thus the outpouring of frustration and thousands of suggestions and compromises to make the legislation more agreeable.

The above is a perfect example of how we are manipulated by shifting the

theme of the debate, not the essence or guts of the matter.

First, the topic of concern and debate should be medical care, not healthcare. If you have health, there is no need for “care”.

Second, the entrance of the federal government and their hand-maiden

big pharma and insurance providers caused the enormous inflation in the cost and covered medical services and procedures. Prior to Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” medical care was independent of government support and regulations. Seeing a doctor or entering the hospital was not a thing that could bring on bankruptcy without government or private insurance umbrellas.

The medical community has become a swollen albatross which is totally out of control and cannot be modified and reduced; particularly through more legislation.

The only REAL SOLUTION, which is not, but should be debated is the elimination of government funded and regulated ”health” care. The absolute truth of the matter is that we can no longer afford government or insurance company provided “health” care.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

I'M FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND . . .

REF: Karen De Coster, LewRockwell.com

Individual way vs government way:

“ . . let’s say I want you to stop smoking. . . I may sit with you and explain why you should not smoke. Hopefully, I will use facts, or even opinions to try to convince you and persuade you to my point of view. Whether I am critical, gentle, or even unkind, I am peacefully trying to influence you. I have not used threats of punishment under the force of law, nor have I assembled a group of [armed persons to impose my view on you].”

“If you ask me to leave you alone and stop trying to change your ways, I will leave and cease from my chore because I will not harass you or commit any act of aggression toward you. “Voluntary human interactions that entail persuasion are rather simple In structure and are subject to some very necessary rules that shun aggression and force.”

“Now let’s pretend I’m the government. As the declared ruler of the territory in which you live, I have a monopoly on power and force. I introduce the laws that rule the territorial nation, and then I vote on those laws or sign executive orders making them valid. I also interpret those same laws, and then I enforce them through my interconnected arms of law enforcement and agency regulation. Then I build multiple levels of authority that reside within various layers of my government structure to act as propaganda arms to disseminate the information that I want you to believe. I pay for this by taxing you by way of decrees passed by your elected representatives who have been influenced by powerful special interests that give them vast sums of cash to work in their best interests while they convince you that it is you who they working to support.”

Well said.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

OBAMA THE BAD?

The Apostle Paul wrote that we should obey and respect the government officials that are put over us. Further, some Christian commentators have stated we need to respect the man in the office of the president and be respectful and obedient to the presidency.

A caller on a Christian talk show reminded us, however, that were it not for a few stout- hearted rebellious English subjects, there would be no The United States of America and we would still be subjects living under the rule of the unjust king of England.

The rebellion stirrings in this country , i.e. tea parties, town hall disruptions, are manifestations of the intense dissatisfaction of the governed peoples.

Pat Buchanan recently opined that President Obama is not only losing not only the philosophical ‘far right”, but the”center” of the country as well. “That this is not the first time that the liberals have misread America” and by imposing the will of a few on the majority, they risk their favored position over the governed. The same can be said about the neocons who formed a cabal in the Republican party and took this country in a direction not favored by the Centerists. Witness the 2008 election that elected the ‘Obamas’ not because they agreed with the liberals, but they strongly disagreed with the neocon president and Republican candidate.

Throwing gasoline on smoldering embers, Harry Reid depicted the town hall protesters as “mobs, thugs and right- wing extremists” Mrs. Pelosi called the protesters ‘nazis and un-American”

From the Declaration of Independence: ” . . . That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”

Dave Lindoff’s article on Counterpunch.com, 8.20.09:

“Barack Obama offers the hope of bringing that era of debilitating confusion to an end.

Not because he is the Great Black Hope of progressives, but because he has taken the concept of selling out to corporate interests and compromising with Republicans to such remarkable heights that progressives hopefully can no longer be confused about the irretrievably corrupted nature of the Democratic Party.

On virtually every issue of importance, President Obama has sided with corporate interests and the wealthy.

On the issue of war and peace, he has sided with the military-industrial complex, with a policy of permanent occupation of Iraq and endless war in Afghanistan, as well as continued funding of the country’s colossal armory of death, from strategic missiles and submarines to aircraft-carrier-group armadas to high-tech fighter squadrons and space weaponry.

On civil liberties, he has sided with the police state, supporting continuation of the Bush/Cheney administration’s insidious National Security Agency spying program, defended military spying within the US, and refused to prosecute obvious abuses by the prior administration.

On torture, the Obama administration is continuing the imprisonment and torture of captives in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world at Bagram Air Base and, probably, at other secret sites, and instead of closing Guantanamo as promised, is looking into transferring that hellhole of torture and abuse to one or several sites in the mainland US.

Health care reform has become a sad joke, with the emerging “reform” bill looking for all the world like the Rube Goldberg creation of the Clinton era that properly went down in flames. Instead of taking on the insurance industry, the hospital companies and the pharmaceutical industry and other parts of the profit-making medical-industrial complex, Obama cut deals with all of them behind closed doors, assuring that their profits would be left untouched, and that they could essentially write their own “reform” bill through the offices of bought-and-paid members of Congress like Senator Max Baucus. Obama and his congressional allies carefully kept any discussion of the single-payer idea—essentially Medicare for all, and the approach that even Obama himself admits would be cheaper and more universal—out of sight and off the table.

Finally, there’s economy and banking reform. Here Obama didn’t even make a pretense of taking a progressive approach. There is a stimulus program, but half of it was in the form of tax cuts—token for the poor and middle class and significant for the rich and for businesses, and half in the form of federal grants, often for unneeded projects like roads and road repair which go to some of the higher paid members of the working class, leaving the poor and the ununionized with no job help. Meanwhile, bankers were the recipients of trillions of dollars in bailout assistance, while nothing was done to break up the huge mega-bank holding companies that brought on the financial and economic crisis in the first place. Instead of picking economic advisers and bank regulators from the many talented system critics like Nobelists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, Obama picked veterans of the Bush/Cheney administration, and Wall Street shills like Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner"

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

CARNE GUISADA

Carne Guisada, a rough translation: stewed beef . But it is a delightful taste treat known to delight the Mexican palette, and a pure joy to partake.

Below is a basic recipe which can be modified according to individual taste:

REF:All recipes.com

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 4 large tomatoes, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried, crushed Mexican oregano
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/3 cup water

1. Heat vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Place the beef sirloin in the Dutch oven and cook until the cubes are brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion, red bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, paprika, and water.
2. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the meat is tender, about 30 minutes.

Wishing you Buen appetite!

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

GOVERNMENT BY THE FEW

LINK: counterpunch.com/roberts08192009.html

REF::“AMERICANS: SERFS RULED BY OLIGARCHS”-Paul Craig Roberts

Counterpunch.com 8.19.09

ol⋅i⋅gar⋅chy:  

–noun, plural -chies.

1.	a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.
2.	a state or organization so ruled.
3.	the persons or class so ruling.

Americans think that they have “freedom and democracy” and that politicians are held accountable by elections. The fact of the matter is that the US is ruled by powerful interest groups who control politicians with campaign contributions. Our real rulers are an oligarchy of financial and military/security interests and AIPAC, which influences US foreign policy for the benefit of Israel.

Have a look at economic policy. It is being run for the benefit of large financial concerns, such as Goldman Sachs.

It was the banks, not the millions of Americans who have lost homes, jobs, health insurance, and pensions, that received $700 billion in TARP funds. The banks used this gift of capital to make more profits. In the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Goldman Sachs announced record second quarter profits and large six-figure bonuses for every employee.

The Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy is another gift to the banks. It lowers their cost of funds and increases their profits. With the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, banks became high-risk investment houses that trade financial instruments such as interest rate derivatives and mortgage backed securities. With abundant funds supplied virtually free by the Federal Reserve, banks are paying depositors virtually nothing on their savings.

Consider America’s wars. As of the moment of writing, the out-of-pocket cost of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is $900,000,000,000. When you add in the already incurred future costs of veterans benefits, interest on the debt, the forgone use of the resources for productive purposes, and such other costs as computed by Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University budget expert Linda Bilmes, “our” government has wasted $3,000,000,000,000--three thousand billion dollars--on two wars that have no benefit whatsoever for any American whose income does not derive from the military/security complex, about which five-star general President Eisenhower warned us.

It is now a proven fact that the US invasion of Iraq was based on lies and deception of the American public. The only beneficiaries were the armaments industries, Blackwater, Halliburton, military officers who enjoy higher rates of promotion during war, and Muslim extremists whose case the US government proved by its unprovoked aggression against Muslims. No one else benefitted. Iraq was a threat to no one, and finding Saddam Hussein and executing him after a kangaroo trial had no effect whatsoever on ending the war or preventing the start of others.

The cost of America’s wars is a huge burden on a bankrupt country, but the cost incurred by veterans might be even higher. Homelessness is a prevalent condition of veterans, as is post-traumatic stress. American soldiers, who bravely fought the munitions industry’s wars, for high compensation for the munitions CEOs, and for dividends and capital gains for the munitions shareholders, paid not only with lives and lost limbs, but also with broken marriages, ruined careers, psychiatric disorders, and prison sentences for failing to make child support payments.

What did Americans gain from an unaffordable war in Iraq that lasted far longer than World War II?

What did the armaments industry gain? Billions of dollars in profits.

Obama is the presidential candidate who promised to end the war in Iraq. He hasn’t. But he has escalated the war in Afghanistan, started a new war in Pakistan, intends to repeat the Yugoslav scenario in the Caucasus, and appears determined to start a war in South America. In response to the acceptance by US puppet president of Columbia, Alvaro Uribe, of seven US military bases in Columbia, Venezuela warned South American countries that the “winds or war are beginning to blow.”

Here we have the US government, totally dependent on the generosity of foreigners to finance its red ink, which extends in large quantities as far as the eye can see, completely under the thumb of the military/security complex, which will destroy us all in order to meet Wall Street share price expectations.

Why does any American care who rules Afghanistan? The country has nothing to do with us.

Will Americans, smashed and destroyed by “their” government’s policy, which always puts Americans last, ever understand who their real enemies are?

Important questions that beg investigations and truthful answers.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

DROUGHT

It rained yesterday!

No not a lot , in fact

if you were not out and about you would have missed the whole show. Thanks Stan

Deyo for the map showing lack of rainfall.
With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

THE MONEY FDIC AND BANKS DON'T HAVE

In the financial collapse of 1929/1930 depositors rushed to the banks to withdraw their funds. Many learned their funds were not there to withdraw and despite the Federal Reserve rushing cash to besieged institutions, many banks failed and locked their doors. The banking panic continued into March of 1933 when newly inaugurated President Roosevelt declared a Bank Holiday lasting for 4 days. Many banks following this hiatus failed to reopen.

To remedy this banking problem future depositors were protected by the establishment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a bank insurance company, sponsored by the U.S. Government, but financed by premiums paid by each covered bank according to the amount of their deposits. Today the coverage is up to $250,000 per deposit .

Will the FDIC prevent future bank runs and/or failures? Ans.: Approximately 140 institutions have failed since October 1, 2000.

Is their any money left in the FDIC Insurance fund?

Ans.: Yes and No. The fund had $48 billion in September of 2008, prior to the 2008 and 2009 closings. IIt is beleived they currently have enough reserves to cover approximately1% of covered deposits. The FDIC money is on deposit with the U.S. Treasury. They are allowed to borrow from the Treasury to cover any shortfalls.

Former FDIC Chairman William Isaac wrote in the “Mythial FDIC Fund” that when he asked to see the Fund’s money, TheTreasury explained that the money wasn’t actually there , it had been spent on missiles, school lunches, etc. The deposits with the Treasury were like other ‘funds’ with the Teasury--they were available only after the depositer needed to withdraw money, which was then ‘borrowed’. The funds on deposit were merely

bookkeeping entries.

The Ponzi schemes run by the Federal Government, The Federal Reserve and your neighborhood bank make Bernie Madoff’s look like child’s play.

In 1930, deposits of paper money were backed by gold. You could go into any bank and change your paper (fiat) money into gold. Gold exchanged for abut $20 per oz. Roosevelt in

conjunction with new banking laws and regulations fixed the price of gold at $32/oz., Thus deflating the dollar value 59%, this done to ‘stimulate' the depression wracked economy.

In modern times ( since President Nixon cut the dollar lose from a fixed gold backing) gold has a market as does the dollar.

Modern practise of fractional reserve banking: lending money you don’t have has encouraged our debt/credit society.

A banker makes a loan with money he does not have, charges interest on that money and is eventually paid the loaned money plus interest. Man what a legal scam they have with the Blessing of the Government who is definitely in cahoots with this robbery.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

"STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES"

Thanks Forrest Gump.

Americans are not largely stupid despite appearances, but are largely lazy and ignorant.

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life. Doug Casey refers to these people as 'Boobus Americanus'.

66% of adults over the age of 20 are overweight or obese.

Between 15 and 20 million Americans can be classified as alcoholics.

32 million of us over 18 do not have a high school degree.

14% of us are illiterate.

But wait, are we not providing free public schools?

Do we need to spend more money on education?

From :FinancialSense.com, James Quinn, 8.14.09

"The United States takes in excess of $500 billion per year from its citizens through income taxes, real estate taxes, and school taxes to educate our young people in the public school system. The local and state bureaucrats along with the thousands of government officials responsible for the U.S. public education system believe that a half a trillion dollars is not nearly enough. There are 50 million students enrolled in 97,000 public schools in this country. The U.S. Department of Education spends $59 billion of your tax dollars and employs over 5,000 bureaucrats to guide our top notch world class educational system. There is no country on earth that spends close to the amount spent by the U.S. With this level of spending, we must have the smartest, best educated, most motivated students on the face of the earth.

The average salary of public school teachers is approximately $53,000. The average salary of public school teachers in California leads the nation at $65,000. This gives the term pay for performance a new meaning. A full 32% of all public school students in California don’t graduate high school. The California public school system doesn’t even prepare the average student well enough to read a newspaper or fill out an employment application at McDonalds. Based on information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the following facts can be gleaned:

• The average public school teacher was paid 36% more per hour than the average non-sales white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty and technical worker.
• Full-time public school teachers work on average 36.5 hours per week during weeks that they are working. By comparison, white-collar workers (excluding sales) work 39.4 hours, and professional specialty and technical workers work 39.0 hours per week. Private school teachers work 38.3 hours per week.
• Compared with public school teachers, editors and reporters earn 24% less; architects, 11% less; psychologists, 9% less; chemists, 5% less; mechanical engineers, 6% less; and economists, 1% less.
• Public school teachers are paid 61% more per hour than private school teachers, on average nationwide.
• The Detroit metropolitan area has the highest average public school teacher pay among metropolitan areas for which data are available, at $47.28 per hour, followed by the San Francisco metropolitan area at $46.70 per hour, and the New York metropolitan area at $45.79 per hour

The American people’s ignorance, stupidity, and disinterest in the governance of this nation have allowed an oligopoly of politicians, bankers, and powerful corporations to seize control of the country and loot its riches for their personal gain. By failing to educate themselves, millions of ignorant Americans have lost all of their power and are now dictated to by the few with knowledge. The elite who dictate the path of our country do not want the masses to become educated. Their power would be in jeopardy. The American public school system insures the retention of their power and wealth."

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
James Madison

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU

Thank you Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

You're just too good to be true.

Can't take my eyes off you.

You'd be like Heaven to touch.

I wanna hold you so much.

At long last love has arrived

And I thank God I'm alive.

You're just too good to be true.

Can't take my eyes off you.

Pardon the way that I stare.

There's nothing else to compare.

The sight of you leaves me weak.

There are no words left to speak,

But if you feel like I feel,

Please let me know that it's real.

You're just too good to be true.

Can't take my eyes off you.

I love you, baby,

And if it's quite alright,

I need you, baby,

To warm a lonely night.

I love you, baby.

Trust in me when I say:

Oh, pretty baby,

Don't bring me down, I pray.

Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay

And let me love you, baby.

Let me love you.

You're just too good to be true.

Can't take my eyes off you.

You'd be like Heaven to touch.

I wanna hold you so much.

At long last love has arrived

And I thank God I'm alive.

You're just too good to be true.

Can't take my eyes off you.

I love you, baby,

And if it's quite alright,

I need you, baby,

To warm a lonely night.

I love you, baby.

Trust in me when I say:

Oh, pretty baby,

Don't bring me down, I pray.

Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay..

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

SOLVING AMERICA'S PROBLEM

Ref: "America fails to understand the true nature of it's problems"- Joel Hilliker-TheTrumpet.com 8.13.09

"Anyone who thought Barack Obama could solve America's problems didn't understand the nature of the problems.

This country’s foreign policy didn’t suffer from a lack of international engagement, of diplomacy or discussion. It wasn’t that America projected arrogance toward other nations. It wasn’t that we were too mean to Iran. It wasn’t Guantanamo. It wasn’t America’s failure to apologize enough for its past.

The problem with the economy wasn’t that the government hasn’t been involved enough in manufacturing cars, or in banking or the housing market. It wasn’t that Washington didn’t offer enough entitlement programs and needed to take over health insurance. It wasn’t that we needed to junk our cars and buy new ones.

There is a darker reality that most people have not accepted which is that: America is a cursed nation.

Before the reader abandons this article as being the work of a "bible thumper" let us look at a couple of assertions:

1.) The U.S.A and UK are the resident nations of the 'Lost Tribe of Israel' The exiled sons of Israel that migrated to the European Continent and from there to America.

2.) The present nation called 'Israel' is but a pretender Zionist creation largely populated by Jews, decendants of Judea, not Israel.

"The United States and Britain are the modern inheritors of the birthright promises made to their progenitor Israel. . . God’s law applies to us—as do the blessings or curses that accrue depending on whether we keep it."

"To the ancient nation of Israel, God promised manifold blessings for keeping His laws, but He also warned about terrifying curses for breaking them. A discerning look at history proves that God carried out those promises."

"Our nation is plagued by troubles of our own making at every level: crushing debt, economic instability, unbridled immorality, family breakdown, immigration and racial tension, an overstretched military—all amid the looming existential threats of terrorism and WMD proliferation. Over a period not of months, but of generations, we have amassed an Everest of evidence proving our utter inability to solve our own problems.

Look around. Witness the evidence of our failures. We are suffering for our sins in every quarter. We are cursed. Yet we keep plowing ahead, heedless of warnings, ignorant of correction, ignoring God, beating our head against the brick even harder, trying to work things out on our own.

Biblical prophecy tells us where this cycle is going. The economic, moral and familial failures are prophesied to keep trending downward. Class- and race-related hostilities are prophesied to heat up and explode into violence. Poverty and pressures on food supplies are prophesied to intensify. National willpower and global influence is prophesied to continue to shrivel. Not only that, these issues will be compounded by still more crushing crises, including devastating natural disasters and disease epidemics, more lethal terrorist attacks, pestilence and famine.

In addition, God prophesied the loss within America of strong, masculine leaders to shepherd the nation through such tribulations (Isaiah 3:1-4). The resulting national weakness and wreckage will leave America imminently vulnerable to the prophesied nuclear attacks by a foreign nation that leave cities without an inhabitant (Jeremiah 4:7)—and subsequent national captivity.

It’s unimaginable to us—but this is how the Bible describes America’s coming days. The tempo at which this sequence of curses is already beginning to ravage the U.S. is accelerating. This nation, by refusing correction, is demanding that God get stronger and more severe with it."

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

"THREE LITTLE WORDS"

Not: BUSY, BUSY, BUSY;

Not: HURY, HURRY ,HURRY;

Not: MONEY, MONEY, MONEY;

How about : I LOVE YOU !

". .. I knew we two would always be together
And there are, 3 little words that say it all
I love you

Never believed in love at first sight
But I believe what I'm feeling tonight
'Cause when I saw you across the room
I felt my heart going boom, boom, boom

I looked, I fell so hard
Girl I know you can tell that
I'm hooked, oh you, oh girl
You know I'm falling for you because


One look in your eyes
I knew we two would always be together
And there are, 3 little words that say it all
I love you"

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

"IT'S UN-AMERICAN"

Yes, Mrs. Pelosi, from your point of view it is un-American.

You apparently think we should sit quietly with our hands folded in our lap, while you and your fellow travelers pass laws that will control and subjucate us , taking away our freedoms and our constitutional granted rights.

The people are angry Mrs. Pelosi. Wake up and listen to them. The ballot box has not been working and the citizens of America want to be heard. They want representation not sujucation!

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN

. . . DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH

Demonstrations at town hall meetings from Maryland to Texas;

Citizens are upset with the government's intrusion into their

private business and taking earned money from some and giving it to 'others who have not earned.

They don't like the healthcare bill( 800 pages long--no one has even seen the last 300 pages, not that the representatives would be expected to read it before voting)

They don't like the 'Cash for Clunkers" giveaway. They don't like the favored position of auto workers when their job s are gone or threatened.

Most of all they don't like being accused of being Nazis or bussed in radicals.

Reference: "Raucous town hall meeting symptom of larger unraveling" theDailBell.com Aug. 11, 2009

. . ." We've been quiet too long" said a woman named Joan. They came to yell at their congressman Frank Kratovil and did not like they were not allowed a public hearing of their

grievances.

• You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
• You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
• You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
• You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
• You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.
• You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

As Alexander Tytler observed in 1775 during the Revolutionary War:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a loss of fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the world's great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN