Pissed Off by Political Ad

I just saw an Obama ad on TV that really pissed me off.  And it started out with the old "I am Barack Obama and I approved this ad" so you can't say he didn't know about it.  This ad was focused on Mitt Romney's tax rate.  It should be illegal to make statements like that without explaining that Romney, along with Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and tons of other wealthy people pay low tax rates because most of their income is from long-term capital gains which is taxed at a lower rate FOR EVERYONE!

All you have to do is google: Why does Mitt Romney pay a lower tax rate than most?  Here's what comes up.

"Romney released his 2010 tax return in January after intense pressure, showing that he paid a 13.9 percent effective rate on $42.5 million in income. His tax rate, lower than that paid by most middle-class filers, was because most of his income came from investments."

Here is a quote from the Tucson Sentinel:

"Robert Farley

Factcheck.org

A new ad from the Obama campaign claims that Mitt Romney "paid only 14 percent in taxes—probably less than you." That depends. Romney paid a federal income tax rate that is higher than the income tax rate paid by 97 percent of tax filers. But if you include a combination of income taxes and payroll taxes — which make up the bulk of federal taxes for most taxpayers — the ad is accurate.

The ad, called "Stretch," is the first to feature a report from the Tax Policy Center that concluded a plan like Romney's proposal for across-the-board tax cuts, together with the goal of remaining revenue neutral, would ultimately raise taxes on people making less than $200,000 a year. The ad contrasts those findings with data from Romney's 2010 tax return.

The ad begins with a narrator stating, "You work hard, stretch every penny, but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him: Mitt Romney made $20 million dollars in 2010, but paid only 14 percent in taxes—probably less than you."

I hope that what people come away with after watching this ad is that they need to learn more about investing their money so that one day their entire income can consist of capital gains and they, too, can pay a lower tax rate.  

Problem

I am using my new iPad on this trip and I can write posts just fine, but I cannot upload an image. The place that says "choose image" is grayed out. Does anyone have a clue what I am doing wrong?

Beijing

Last stop, Beijing, known in my childhood as Peking.  The name for the city has changed, but not the name for the famous dish, Peking Duck.  I loved Beijing.  It is like other international cities - lots of fabulous shopping, great museums, crazy traffic, a sense that life is moving forward.  Friendly Planet had a lot planned for us to see, and since Sam, our guide, lives in Beijing, he was also our local guide.

One of our first stops was the Forbidden City, with its 9,999 rooms.  When we returned home, I watched "The Last Emperor," the story of Pu Li, the last emperor to live in the Forbidden City.  The story made the Forbidden City come alive for me, since when we saw it, the only people inhabiting the city were tourists - mostly Chinese.  If I were to go back, I would like to have time to sign up for a tour with a guide that would show me more than we were able to explore in our short visit.  I am looking for a video tour of the Forbidden City, so if anyone comes across one, let me know.

Also that day we saw Tian'an Men Square, the site of Chairman Mao's Mausoleum.  His embalmed body is on display mornings and afternoons, but we did not have time to go through the line waiting to pay their respects.  What I did not expect was the size of the square.  We were supposed to walk from one end of the square to the focal point, the Gate of Heavenly Peace where the portrait of Mao hangs and have our group portrait taken.  Some of the wussy members of our group refused to walk that distance because of the cold and the wind whipping across the expanse of the square.  Sam quickly adjusted to the desires of the group and arranged for our picture to be made in front of the Hall of the People, only halfway across the square.  This was the only time that there was any indication that we were in a communist country.  Sam had instructed us not to have conversations about the 1989 Massacre.  He said there were undercover police in the square and we could find ourselves in trouble if they overheard us talking about something that, officially, never happened.  The government's position is that the tragedy of the student demonstrations was simply a media event.  That the press "made it all up."

In his book, Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler describes his visit to Tian'An Men Square.

          "After a while, I began to notice that some people in the crowd didn't look like tourists.  They were men, usually in their thirties and forties, and many of them had crew cuts.  They were not well dressed: worn trousers, cheap windbreakers.  They did not look educated.  They did not look like they were enjoying themselves - they weren't smiling, or taking pictures, or buying souvenirs.  They loitered and lingered; they lurked and looked.  They dawdled.  Sometimes, a man would stand directly behind a group of talking tourists, as if trying to overhear their conversation.  Periodically, one of the crew-cut men sauntered over to another crew-cut man, said something, and then sauntered away.  Several held rolled up newspapers.  I saw one man raise his newspaper, hold it next to his face, and speak to it.  Curious, I walked past and took a furtive look.  Inside the rolled paper, I caught a glimpse of black plastic - walkie-talkie." (p. 59)

The following day we went to Badaling, 44 miles northwest of Beijing, to view the Great Wall.  Compare the photo from my climb on the wall to other pictures you've seen in magazines and brochures.  They generally show two or four people walking some distance in front of the camera.  That is not what I saw.

While in Beijing we saw a Jade Factory and a Pearl Factory, both of which were interesting because, I very rarely, if ever, have seen any product being made in the U.S.  What about you?  Have you visited factories in your hometown or on any of your travels to see how different products are made?  That is something we need to institute in our country and let people be proud of things that are "made in America."

Other sites included in our tour of Beijing were the Ming Tombs and the Temple of Heaven.  There is so much history in China, a four-year degree would barely enable you to learn about all that we saw.  A favorite excursion was the Hutong tour via rickshaws.  Though Beijing is a modern city, a visit to the alleyways shows the charm of old Beijing.   The hutongs, created by the walls of courtyard houses, were the residences of officials and the well-to-do, although now most are state-owned. Our rickshaws wove in and out of narrow streets, revealing shops of every description, restaurants, bars, and houses.  Suddenly we came upon an open space beside a lake where people were walking their children and their dogs, cruising in paddle boats, and enjoying an ice cream on this leisurely afternoon.  I could have stayed the whole day there just soaking up the feeling of actually being in the middle of a place I've dreamed about since I was a child and watched my mother read Pearl S. Buck's books about China.  She looked so enraptured, I wanted to feel that way.

The grounds around the Temple of Heaven are a gathering place for people to exercise, to play mahjong or other games, and to just hang out with their friends.  I shot a video of people line dancing and one of several men passing a ball around with a racquet, never letting the ball leave their racquet until they gracefully tossed it to their partner.  There were, again, so many people gathered in one place we felt a bit uneasy.  Americans are simply not accustomed to so many bodies sharing the same space.  But it made me so happy to see all these people smiling, having a good time, spending time with friends outside in the sunshine.  I wish we did more of that sort of thing in our country.  Many of our gatherings, like mornings in the park, are focused on the children, not on the adults.

Friendly Planet saved the best for last; we visited a village just outside Beijing and had dinner with a host family.  We learned much about the history of the village from our delightful tour guide, who lives there, and had a tai chi lesson from a master.  He was so beautiful to watch.  It must take years and years to master those movements.  This village is known for its hand-carved furniture and we were treated to a tour of a working shop.  Then we went to the home of our hosts for the best meal we had on the entire trip.  The wife taught us how to make dumplings, but, of course, she made 99% of them since we were so slow!  There were many other dishes and the husband did most of the cooking. They were so friendly and gracious - they truly made us feel like honored guests.

I hope I have another opportunity to visit China.  We saw only a small percentage of the country - there is a lot more to see and learn.

There are photographs from our trip on my flickr site: santanartist

Questions are welcomed.


 
 

Starting Over

The last time I posted on this blog was in 2010, but I am starting over and hope that this time I will be able to keep it going.

I am busy with my etsy shop, making silk scarves and learning about dye. Still taking care of Charlie and Katie 4 days a week, and still doing photography.

Celebrated my 70th birthday with all the family and received a new bike which I love!

Here's a photo of the cake Nancy made for my birthday.  It's amazing.  A suitcase with labels for all the places we have been, plus my passport!  Isn't that just too much?  Nancy and I are going to China  on March 26th for 10 days. Will definitely blog about that!

Nemaste,
Dottie

Europe's Arizona

This is a quote from "Arizona on the Aegean."

Ray Hartwell has written a column for the Washington Times called "Europe's Arizona." That would be Greece, which has an enormous problem with illegal immigrants -- mostly Albanians and, to a lesser extent, Turks. As in Arizona, it is estimated that roughly 10 percent of the population in Greece is there illegally. And many of the problems that the illegals bring with them are quite similar.
Illegal immigration didn't cause Greece's financial collapse, of course. But Ray argues persuasively that illegal immigration is making the economic situation worse.
Click on the link and read the entire article.

This Mess Has Got Me Depressed

Depression is not a word that generally applies to me. My marriage is good, my children are healthy, my grandchildren are perfect in every way, my life is busy and filled with laughter and happiness. So why do I feel depressed?

It's this economy and what it's done to people - and I mean people I know and love - not some "people." First, though, is the fact that I am sad about the death of Ron's sister, Betty, in Florida. She was a victim of old age. After selling their home in Myrtle Beach, she and her husband, Frank, moved to St. Petersburg and bought a condo in a high-rise by the water. They were fine for several years, then Frank got a diagnosis of lung cancer and died within two years. And those last two years were extremely hard on his wife, since she never left his side except to go grocery shopping.

After Frank died, we all thought Betty would move to California to live with their daughter. But the timing was off. The housing bubble had just burst and the condo that had been worth $400K was now unmarketable. She had it on the market off and on for two years, and wouldn't come down to a price that might have drawn buyers, saying "I'm not going to give it away." So she stayed there, waiting . .. waiting.. . waiting. Then she got an infection that spread to the plastic valve in her heart and then she was terminal. She wasn't strong enough to survive the heart surgery to replace the valve and antibiotics can't work on plastic. So, after two months of pain and suffering and (although it's not important, probably a bill of about half a million) she passed away.

There are so many "if only's" in that story, it just makes me sad. Now her kids will sell the condo for $150K and that will be that.

And my daughter's mother-in-law is facing foreclosure on her condo, she's walking away from her car lease, and declaring bankruptcy. My friend and her husband are walking away from their house that three years ago they were thrilled with, but now see as a really bad investment since it's worth about half what they paid for it. They found out this weekend that about 5 or 6 of their neighbors are going to do the same thing. My son refinanced his house to pay off his ex-wife to get her out of his life, and was hoping and praying that the market would recover before the loan adjusted so that he could either sell it or refi it again into a 30-year fixed. But no. He's going to try to short sale it.

I feel like I'm on an island and the tide is coming in. Where can we move? I can't bear to watch what's coming - I don't think the worst is over.

And forget about the kids that are looking for jobs!

How Come?

Here's a health care question that I hope somebody will have an answer for: why is it that Medicare will pay for me to see a doctor about a malfunction in any body part I have except for my teeth and my eyes? I can see my family doctor for a diagnosis when I am not feeling quite right; he can refer me to a specialist for treatment for whatever is wrong; but if I am suffering from an inflammation of a tooth, I have to go to a dentist and Medicare won't pay for it. If I need to be able to see better (no different than if I need to be able to sleep better) then I have to see an opthamologist. Oh yes, and also, if my hearing starts to go, Medicare doesn't care. What is the justification for leaving these important things out of my health care provisions?

Anyone? Anyone?

Check it out!

Someone has used one of my photographs in their blog. You can see it by clicking on this link:
http://lemonadecleansetogo.com/2010/06/top-10-glam-wedding-dresses/

The picture is a frou-frou wedding dress that I shot when we were in Paris. It's fun to see your work recognized by someone else! Thanks to Lemonade Cleanse!

Summer Trip, 2010

We had a great trip to the midwest. I want to go back! We flew into Cincinnati, rented a car, drove to Bethel, Ohio, to Bill and Verda's house, and left the next morning on a ramble up to Lake Michigan. We started out with a delicious brunch prepared by Verda's cousin, Gary, at his beautiful home outside Cincinnati. Then we departed for French Lick and to see the resort at West Baden Springs. We stopped that first night at Salem, Indiana, and stayed at a lovely B&B named Laning House. Mrs. Hart was our gracious hostess, and we had the entire annex to ourselves for $65 per couple! Living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and two baths! We highly recommend the Laning House if you are ever in Salem. The next morning we saw the amazing West Baden Springs resort and played the slots at French Lick. That night we stayed in Bloomington, Indiana. What a neat college town that is! Verda and I went into Buffalouie's for wings, and while we were there we were talking to the owner. During our conversation, he stopped to welcome George Taliaferro, the first African-American to be drafted into the NFL. George played for the 1945 IU football team. I had the pleasure of talking with George for several minutes and he told me the story of how he used to peer through the window of that restaurant at his picture on the wall, but wasn't allowed to come in because he was black. Now that same picture resides in a place of honor in Assembly Hall. We toured the campus the next morning and went to the library to use their computers. In the afternoon we headed north for the southern shore of Lake Michigan and stayed in Chesterton. The following pictures are of this first part of our trip.

Arizona Immigration Law

I have a question for all Moms (and Dads) out there today. When you teach your children about obeying the laws, do you tell them that they can pick and choose which ones to follow, and which ones to disregard?

That is what the opponents of the new anti-illegal immigration law in Arizona want you to do. It is, and has been, the law of the United States for anyone to be in this country illegally. That means without having gone through the legal process of being admitted to this country. My family has ancestors who came from Europe - legally - and Ron and his family came here from Scotland when he was 11 - legally. So we are in FAVOR of immigration and the contributions immigrants make to our country - but there are legal ways to do it.

So, when there is a law passed by Congress saying it is unlawful to be here without documentation, why are people saying that a state law upholding and enforcing the federal law is unconstitutional? Why are they saying that we should continue to look the other way when we know - we know - how many people are here illegally? Why do we, as taxpayers and residents of Arizona, have to continue to pay for people who are here illegally? The least the federal government can do - if they are not going to enforce the immigration laws - is give us the money to take care of these people.

So, teach your children that if they think a law is wrong, they don't have to obey it. See how that works for you.

Happy Mother's Day!

Whether you are doing anything special today or not, you have already done something extraordinary by becoming a mother and raising your offspring.

If the human race survives, it will be because people like you have passed their genes on to the next generation. So, congratulations! No matter what, you have made an invaluable contribution to life on this planet.

New Immigration Law in Arizona

Does anyone else think it's curious and more than a little coincidental that just when all the protests are going on about the new "strict" Arizona immigration law, the feds (ICE) "arrested 596 illegal immigrants with prior criminal convictions in a three-day sweep across the southeastern United States this week?"

"Most of them will be deported, though 22 may be prosecuted for illegally entering the U.S. after previously having been sent home," (italics mine) "These are not the kind of people that we want walking our streets or living in our communities" Morton told reporters. WELL WE DON'T WANT THEM EITHER. Why doesn't anyone get that?

"All but two dozen of the criminals, some previously convicted of murder, sex crimes, assault and fraud, had been released from jail or prison without being turned over to immigration authorities for removal, as the law provides." That statement is exactly what the Arizona law provides for when criminals are arrested. The ONLY way the Arizona law could be found to be unconstitutional is if the Court decides that a state law cannot mirror a federal law. And if that is the case, then a majority of state laws across the country will be declared unconstitutional.

Wonder how Janet Napolitano sleeps at night. When she was Governor, she refused to sign similar laws because she said it would take resources away from the feds who were busy doing other things. Now, all of a sudden, we are told that in the southeastern part of the United States, criminals should not have been released from incarceration without being turned over to immigration authorities. I didn't know that federal law only applied in certain states or certain parts of the country.

Quotes are from The Arizona Republic, Saturday, May 1, 2010. Reprinted from Tribune Washington Bureau.

Comments welcome.

Illegal Immigration

Perhaps you all have become aware that there is a bill sitting on the desk of the Governor of Arizona that will - wait for it - make it a state crime to be in the country illegally! Now, I guess I missed something along the way. I thought that it already was illegal to be illegal - DUH. There are demonstrations going on by people who are afraid that even legal residents will be required to carry identification with them in case they have to show that they are here legally. Well, I don't know about you, but most of the time when I go out, I have my driver's license with me. No problem. And, I'm sorry, but the last time I traveled to Europe, I had to give my passport to customs agents when I entered a foreign country. In England, in France, in the Netherlands, I couldn't just stroll across the border, enter their country, and set up shop without a by-your-leave. Why do Mexicans think that they should be able to cross into Arizona and never be challenged to show that they are here legally? We don't seem to have this same problem with Canadians. Some people say that the convention business will suffer, that companies will choose not to come to Arizona because they will be worried that their attendees will be stopped at every corner. I think it's probably the opposite. If out-of-staters know that the chances of being murdered, robbed, assaulted, or hit in their car by an uninsured, unlicensed motorist, I think they would be more inclined to visit our state. The economy of Arizona will suddenly improve dramatically when we are not having to pay for immigrants' medical bills, education, welfare, not to mention their incarceration.

I am as grateful as anyone for the contributions that immigrants have made to our country and to our state. But people who are here legally are not part of this discussion. I think that if there is immigration reform, we will still have many people who want to come here and make contributions - but they will do it legally. And, to be fair, our government needs to assist the Mexican government in making that country a desirable place to live. Maybe then there will be crossings in both directions!

So show me what part of "illegal" I don't understand.

Recent Photos

I was 68 when I finally saw a Panda.

I think I am going to make this blog more of a photo blog than a written one. Either that or learn to write more succinctly and not ramble on and on. Maybe a combination of the two? Anyhoo, recently my daughter, Nancy, and I took her two daughters and Steve's son, Alex to the San Diego Zoo and to Legoland. It was so much fun - the kids were great and got along perfectly. The only problem we encountered was that the first night, they all ended up in one room because Grandma was snoring so loud! The next night, Grandma slept in the living room of the suite and everyone else was in the bedroom with the door closed! Ah, well.

The zoo has an amazing underwater hippo viewing area. You can see them when they are underwater, and also when they come up. What a great idea!

MAKE IT HAPPEN

When we first viewed the Agean Sea from the road leading into Napflio, I realized that if you want something enough, you can make it happen. I have dreamed of seeing Greece since I was a child and my mother enrolled me in a children's art history by mail series provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The booklets came once a month and I had to paste the correct stamp of individual pieces into their appropriate space and read the text describing what this piece was. My favorite was the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Samos is an island in Greece and the statue was originally part of the sanctuary of Samos. Now, of course, the Victory (or Nike) resides in the Louvre, but Greece is most definitely still here.

We spent our first week getting acquainted with the basics of visiting Greece. Learning to recognize a few words, getting used to driving like the crazy Greek drivers, seeing what food was suitable for us picky Americans, and locating the super market. During that first week, we drove to the amphitheater in Epidavros (Epidaurus on some maps) and were as amazed as the guidebooks promised we would be. We kept saying over and over "Wow, this was a lot of work!" but several days later I thought that 3000 years from now if tourists are walking over the ruins of Manhattan, they will be saying "Wow, this was a lot of work!" I will post photographs on this blog and on Flickr when we get home and I edit the collection. I may have taken 600 shots so far, I don't know. I do know we've spent a fortune on Duracells!

We also visited Mycenae and saw the oldest bas relief carving in the ancient world, the Lion Gate. This is where Agamemnon was murdered by his wife Clynemestra after being away for 10 years fighting some war or another. This is a site excavated by Henrich Schliemann and where he found the gold mask you often see titled Agamamnon's Mask, but later historians don't think it really is his face. However, this was an impressive site with lots to see and lots to learn.

On the way back to Napflio, we stopped at Tyros, another ancient site with cyclopean stones. These huge blocks of stone were so large that the Greeks thought they could only have been put in place by a cyclops. It was interesting to us that you could just walk all over the site, prowl around to your heart's content. No signs saying "Stay on Path" or any other warnings. And, credit to all of us tourists and the Greeks who visit here, there was no trash or litter anywhere.

In Napflio itself, there were two castles - the one we looked at from our balcony every morning and evening - the Paramidi, and the other, the Acronapflio. We spent one day just exploring Napflio. We went to the beach one day, and the water was wonderful, but the beach itself was rocks, not sand, so not very comfy for lazing and dozing. The Greeks must not have heard about melanoma because they are all laying about getting tanned in their too-skimpy for taste bikinis and speedos.

We decided to keep the car for an extra three days so that we would have more time to visit Olympia, Delphi, and Corinth.

I'll blog about that leg of the trip next time (or when we get home if I can't find another internet cafe!)

We are off to Santorini tomorrow, finishing up in Athens and flying home on Sunday.

STYLIN' AT LIBERTY NATIONAL

Let's take up where we left off yesterday.

Freddy Jacobson is the reverse of yesterday's selection. Yesterday he had on some ocean blue pants that personally I think were too tight. They were in danger of splitting when he bent over to retrieve his ball. Plus, they ride too low. I keep expecting to see his undies peek out. The shirt wasn't bad. The Europeans always tend to wear their clothes a bit more form-fitting than the Americans and his upper body looks good in the snug shirts. Today, he has reversed the color selection and is wearing a blue shirt and white pants.

Webb Simpson is dressed just like a rookie. You can tell he hasn't earned much money yet - can't afford really great clothes. But if he keeps playing like this, you can expect him to turn up in some high-end britches.

Forgot to mention yesterday that I very much approve of Marino's decision to wear Under Armour. Love their clothes and I own stock, so go UA! He's wearing UA again today, but must give him a low score for this shirt. The stripes are too close together for TV and tend to look like a test pattern.

Bill Haas is in contention for best outfit. His grey slacks are very classy and the pale aqua shirt is pretty as a bridesmaid's dress without looking girly.

Heath Slocum made the "green" mistake. CBS should just tell these guys, "For God's sake, don't wear a green shirt!" Give these players' wives a color wheel to use. Ernie Els looks like a true champion today, by the way. His royal (and I mean ROYAL) blue shirt looks fabulous against the green grass of either the fairways or the greens. He will look great when he hoists the championship trophy at the end of the day. (I predict.)

Steve Stricker looks like a winner today. His summer blue shirt goes well with his pants which look like linen. He looks totally comfortable, but very well put together. Best outfit contender. Still have to judge his hat and shoes, though, before deciding. It is always best when your hat matches your pants, and most of the time, it's better if your shoes match the hat. Goydos looks pretty good today, but why did he choose a white hat when he's wearing black pants, black and white striped shirt, and black shoes? Stricker did go with the same white for shoes and hat.

Nick Watney looked very nice today. We didn't get a great view, just a quick shot of him, but the quick impression was classic. And, Nick probably will win best shoes. But, whoa, watch out for Steve Stricker. Looking good, Steve. Just don't take your hat off.

Tiger looks like a well-tuned racehorse. And even though Roger Federer said that Tiger's pants are always too big, I disagree. They have a nice drape, never look constricting, and hang from his waist like they were made for no one else.

So, at the end of the day, the clothes you wear don't matter much. Heath Slocum wins, in his little green Calvin Klein shirt. Steve Stricker will have to be the winner of Best Pants, Ernie Els for Best Shirt, Nick Watney for Best Shoes, but Bill Haas wins for overall Best Outfit!

See you next week.

WHO WINS "BEST PANTS?"

It's Saturday at the Barclay's and some fans want to know who has the lowest score - but there are a lot of us who want to know who's wearing the best outfit? Whose pants fit the best? Which golf shoes are cool and make you actually want to go buy some? Shirts? Well, after seeing whether or not you can see Phil's nips, what else makes you remember that golfer? Today, for example, Sergio looks great in his bright orange shirt and black pants. He might be a contestant for "Best Outfit." The almost-but-not-quite beard has got to go, though. Sergio is plenty handsome enough without trying to cover up that pretty face.

Of course, we all watch to see what Ian's wearing, and today would probably be a fun day to judge his sartorial selection, but it's rainy and he has on plain, black rain pants today, so cross your fingers for the sun to come out and the raingear to come off! And personally, I miss the Poulter hair sticking up, but I guess he didn't want to get his head wet today.

Now we all know that Tiger always looks sexy and athletic in his Nike duds. Today's blue shirt (and hasn't he pretty much decided that Saturday is blue day and Sunday is red?) looks great, but I personally think he could have chosen better pants. And did young Webb Simpson find out what Tiger was planning to wear today and copy at least his color scheme? Maybe hope it brings him the same confidence that Tiger has?

Now let's score some of the other players. Scoring is on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being "looks like your local insurance agent," and 10 being "Yum!"

Paul Goydos - Love that shirt! What color is that - persimmon? Apricot? It's darker than peach and it's on the pinkish side of orange. Very nice selection for today's weather and setting. Pants are so-so.

Zach Johnson - gets a 7 for pants; they fit his butt nicely and hang stylishly. Good color, too. But only get a 2 for the plain white shirt. And white shoes might not be the best selection for playing in the mud and rain.

Steve Marino - only gets a 4 for the khaki colored trousers - pretty ho-hum. I wonder if these guys ever even think about how they are going to look on television (except for Tiger). Marino's green shirt probably looks fine in the clubhouse but against those greens, it almost clashes. Green might be a color to stay away from when you're playing golf - unless you're playing in the desert.

I'm waiting to see Vijay. He always looks like he's wearing pants tailor-made for him in Hong Kong. They just flow over his body like chocolate over strawberries. They enhance that lazy, relaxed walk of his. You just can't help but wonder what underwear he has on - bet it's silk.

Webb Simpson might be wearing rain pants, too. Whatever they are, they make his butt look huge! These guys ought to watch themselves and see how they look to us. We're not necessarily watching their swing. And their moms should have told them "don't spit," and "don't say the 'f' word."

That's it for Saturday at Liberty National.

LOSS OF AN OLD FRIEND

We were saddened today to learn that our friend, Will Lands, of New Jersey and Albuquerque, died on July 20th. The cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver which won't surprise any of you who knew him. He had actually made an effort to quit drinking and get healthy, but I think it was too little, too late.

After his wife, Patricia, died several years ago, Will seemed to go downhill. He moved back into their house (they had been separated for two years) and I think it just made him very sad to have to dispose of her things. He went through a period of anger and after that he just seemed to have little enthusiasm for life. He had two DUI's in a matter of days and came to Phoenix to do a 30-day rehab. He seemed pretty good for a while after that, but lost his job and then that was the last straw. With his age, and the economy going down the toilet, his hopes of getting another job were practically nil. He wasn't old enough for Social Security or Medicare, so he watching his life savings disappear by the week.

Will had a caring heart and was always helping others, especially animals that needed someone to speak for them. He was very, very smart, but couldn't make the one decision that would have saved his life.

We will miss him.

American Solutions Lab

STOP COMPLAINING AND DO SOMETHING!!

All across this country people are sitting at desks, around dinner tables, at bars and restaurants, saying "Well, if they would just do blah, blah, blah" everything would be
better. So here's your chance. If you think you have a solution to any of America's problems, propose that solution at www.americansolutions.com. If enough people think it's a good idea, there is a system for getting your solution implemented.

So stop ranting and raving, folks, and get to work!

Go to http://www.americansolutions.com and click on Solutions Lab. There are many issues and you can help in any or all of them. Good luck!

Ron Paul's Answer to the President

Dear Friends:

The financial meltdown the economists of the Austrian School predicted has arrived.

We are in this crisis because of an excess of artificially created credit at the hands of the Federal Reserve System. The solution being proposed? More artificial credit by the Federal Reserve. No liquidation of bad debt and malinvestment is to be allowed. By doing more of the same, we will only continue and intensify the distortions in our economy - all the capital misallocation, all the malinvestment - and prevent the market's attempt to re-establish rational pricing of houses and other assets.

Last night the president addressed the nation about the financial crisis. There is no point in going through his remarks line by line, since I'd only be repeating what I've been saying over and over - not just for the past several days, but for years and even decades.

Still, at least a few observations are necessary.

The president assures us that his administration "is working with Congress to address the root cause behind much of the instability in our markets." Care to take a guess at whether the Federal Reserve and its money creation spree were even mentioned?

We are told that "low interest rates" led to excessive borrowing, but we are not told how these low interest rates came about. They were a deliberate policy of the Federal Reserve. As always, artificially low interest rates distort the market. Entrepreneurs engage in malinvestments - investments that do not make sense in light of current resource availability, that occur in more temporally remote stages of the capital structure than the pattern of consumer demand can support, and that would not have been made at all if the interest rate had been permitted to tell the truth instead of being toyed with by the Fed.

Not a word about any of that, of course, because Americans might then discover how the great wise men in Washington caused this great debacle. Better to keep scapegoating the mortgage industry or "wildcat capitalism" (as if we actually have a pure free market!).

Speaking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the president said: "Because these companies were chartered by Congress, many believed they were guaranteed by the federal government. This allowed them to borrow enormous sums of money, fuel the market for questionable investments, and put our financial system at risk."

Doesn't that prove the foolishness of chartering Fannie and Freddie in the first place? Doesn't that suggest that maybe, just maybe, government may have contributed to this mess? And of course, by bailing out Fannie and Freddie, hasn't the federal government shown that the "many" who "believed they were guaranteed by the federal government" were in fact correct?

Then come the scare tactics. If we don't give dictatorial powers to the Treasury Secretary "the stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet." Left unsaid, naturally, is that with the bailout and all the money and credit that must be produced out of thin air to fund it, the value of your retirement account will drop anyway, because the value of the dollar will suffer a precipitous decline. As for home prices, they are obviously much too high, and supply and demand cannot equilibrate if government insists on propping them up.

It's the same destructive strategy that government tried during the Great Depression: prop up prices at all costs. The Depression went on for over a decade. On the other hand, when liquidation was allowed to occur in the equally devastating downturn of 1921, the economy recovered within less than a year.

The president also tells us that Senators McCain and Obama will join him at the White House today in order to figure out how to get the bipartisan bailout passed. The two senators would do their country much more good if they stayed on the campaign trail debating who the bigger celebrity is, or whatever it is that occupies their attention these days.

F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize for showing how central banks' manipulation of interest rates creates the boom-bust cycle with which we are sadly familiar. In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, he described the foolish policies being pursued in his day - and which are being proposed, just as destructively, in our own:

Instead of furthering the inevitable liquidation of the maladjustments brought about by the boom during the last three years, all conceivable means have been used to prevent that readjustment from taking place; and one of these means, which has been repeatedly tried though without success, from the earliest to the most recent stages of depression, has been this deliberate policy of credit expansion.

To combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about; because we are suffering from a misdirection of production, we want to create further misdirection - a procedure that can only lead to a much more severe crisis as soon as the credit expansion comes to an end... It is probably to this experiment, together with the attempts to prevent liquidation once the crisis had come, that we owe the exceptional severity and duration of the depression.

The only thing we learn from history, I am afraid, is that we do not learn from history.

The very people who have spent the past several years assuring us that the economy is fundamentally sound, and who themselves foolishly cheered the extension of all these novel kinds of mortgages, are the ones who now claim to be the experts who will restore prosperity! Just how spectacularly wrong, how utterly without a clue, does someone have to be before his expert status is called into question?

Oh, and did you notice that the bailout is now being called a "rescue plan"? I guess "bailout" wasn't sitting too well with the American people.

The very people who with somber faces tell us of their deep concern for the spread of democracy around the world are the ones most insistent on forcing a bill through Congress that the American people overwhelmingly oppose. The very fact that some of you seem to think you're supposed to have a voice in all this actually seems to annoy them.

I continue to urge you to contact your representatives and give them a piece of your mind. I myself am doing everything I can to promote the correct point of view on the crisis. Be sure also to educate yourselves on these subjects - the Campaign for Liberty blog is an excellent place to start. Read the posts, ask questions in the comment section, and learn.

H.G. Wells once said that civilization was in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have.

In liberty,



Ron Paul