Something of historic proportions is happening.

[frawin]

About the author via Google...



      Pamela "Atlas" Geller began her publishing career at The New York Daily News and subsequently took over operation of The New York Observer as

Associate Publisher.  She left The Observer after the birth of her fourth child but remained involved in various projects including American Associates, Ben Gurion University and being Senior Vice-President Strategic Planning and Performance Evaluation at The Brandeis School.





by Pam Geller



      I am a student of history.  Professionally, I have written 15 books in

six languages, and have studied history all my life.  I think there is

something monumentally large  afoot, and I do not believe it is just a

banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis.  Yes, these exist

but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now

coming into a sharper focus.





      Something of historic proportions is happening.  I can sense it

because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people

react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something

happening within our country that has been evolving for about 10 - 15 years.

The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.     

     

      We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing

our economy.  Why?



      We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history,

and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why

we are worth preserving.  Students by and large cannot write, think

critically, read, or articulate.  Parents are not revolting, teachers are

not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity.  Why?



      We have now established the precedent of protesting every close

election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so

controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one

woman.  Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?).  We

have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to

write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream

Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana

republic.  To what purpose?



      Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free

fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of

collapse, Social Security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire

government.  Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and

know precisely what I am talking about.)   The list is staggering in its

length, breadth, and depth.  It is potentially 1929 x 10.  And we are at war

with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same

religion who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have

the opportunity to do so.



      And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has

never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla ,

Alaska .  All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in

their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip

by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him

speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force

stronger than our military for use inside our borders?  No?  Oh, of course.

The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he

answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more

important.)



      I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am

now.  This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has

never, ever done in his professional life.  In my assessment, Obama will

divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign

the pieces into a new and different power structure.  Change is indeed

coming.  And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.



      I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral

German felt in the mid-1930s.  In those times, the savior was a former

smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German

knew next to nothing..  What they did know was that he was associated with

groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they

disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory

and promises..  Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he

was a great speaker.  And he smiled and waved a lot.  And people, even

newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would

bully them into submission.



      And then he was duly elected to office, with a full-throttled economic

crisis at hand [the Great Depression].  Slowly but surely he seized the

controls of government power, department by department, person by person,

bureaucracy by bureaucracy.  The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name,

where they were taught what to think.  How did he get the people on his

side?  He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and

goodies for the military-industrial complex.  He did it by indoctrinating

the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages,

better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country,

across Europe , and across the world.



      He did it with a compliant media - Did you know that?  And he did this

all in the name of justice and .. . .. change.  And the people surely got

what they voted for.  (Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.)  Read

your history books.  Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down,

called names, laughed at, and made fun of.  When Winston Churchill pointed

out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in

England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and

called a crazy troublemaker.  He was right, though .



      Don't forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in

Europe .  It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and

universities.  And in less than six years - a shorter time span than just

two terms of the U. S. presidency - it was rounding up its own citizens,

killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and

neighbors against neighbors.  All with the best of intentions, of course.

The road to Hell is paved with them.



       

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Since many of you enjoy senior citizen status or will sometime in the not

too distant future, I thought you might be interested in this information.



        IN GOD WE TRUST



                          Every body that is on this mailing list is either a

senior citizen, is getting close or knows sombody that is.



                          Most of you know by now that the Senate version

(at least) of the "stimulus" bill includes provisions for extensive

rationing of health care for senior citizens.  The author of this part of

the bill, former senator and tax evader, Tom Daschle was credited  today by

Bloomberg with the following statement.



                        Bloomberg: "Daschle says health-care reform "will

not be pain free." Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that

come with age instead of treating them."



                          If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just

remember that Senators and Congressmen have their own healthcare plan that

is first dollar or very low co-pay which they are guaranteed the remainder

of their lives and are not subject to this new law if it passes.



                          Please use the power of the internet to get this

message out.  Talk it up at the grassroots level.  We have an election

coming up in one year and nine months.  We have the ability to address and

reverse the dangerous direction the Obama administration and it allies have

begun and in the interim, we can make our voices heard!  Lets do it!

[Wilma]

This lady states that Senators and Congressmen have their own healthcare plan which they are guaranteed for the rest of their years.  This was my understanding, yet on another thread, when I asked the question, I was assured that their only healthcare plan was Medicare, the same as mine?  Now which is it?

[W. Gray]

I indicated they paid into medicare, which they do.

They have a choice of a number of health care plans that is the same as for any federal government employee or retiree.

Those range from bare bones HMO to high coverage, depending on what they want to spend for that coverage.

They can keep that health plan when they retire, they still have to pay for it, and they are also covered by medicare.

[frawin]

Thanks Waldo, I went back and read their health plan and that is basically the way I see it. The Website that explains it is somewhat rambling and confusing in their explaination, maybe they don't want the people to understand, by people I mean the voters.

[W. Gray]

Here is info I posted on July 3, 2008:

There are 300-400 different health plans originating from companies in all 50 states plus Puerto Rico offered by private companies to Congressmen or Congresswomen. Congress people are offered the same health care coverage as federal employees and it can go from low to high depending on what coverage they need, want, or can afford.

They can choose any one of those 300-400 company health plans provided the company will accept them.

There are not any health plans offered by Washington DC companies but Virginia companies offer eight plans, the same as available from Kansas companies.

Todd Tiahrt, the representative from the Elk County area could choose the Kansas Humana Health Plan and get the following:

High Coverage for him and his family: Costs him $507.00 month.
Standard Coverage for him and his family: Costs him $179.74 month.

For himself only high coverage is: $221.08 month.
Standard coverage for himself is:  $78.14 month.

He may want to go with a Virginia company rather than a Kansas company.

There are cheaper plans and there are more expensive plans. The Congress person has to shop around to get the best deal.

It depends on what the Congressman feels he needs to protect him and his family.

[Wilma]

Then their health care is not free, which has been my understanding.  And after they retire, they will continue to pay for whatever coverage they want, just like I do.  Now I wonder why I thought their health care was provided by the taxpayers.

[sixdogsmom]

I think that it used to be free for them Wilma. Somewhere on this forum I think it said when that stopped.

[W. Gray]

To my knowledge, Congress has never received free health care--only the president does.

The major change that occurred was that new members of Congress elected after 1983 were not eligible for the old retirement system but were subject to Social Security. Paying into Medicare came in sometime shortly before that or sometime shortly after, I cannot recall but I really think it was before.

[Wilma]

                         " If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just

remember that Senators and Congressmen have their own healthcare plan that

is first dollar or very low co-pay which they are guaranteed the remainder

of their lives and are not subject to this new law if it passes."


This is the paragraph that concerned me.  It makes it sound as if they are getting a free ride when it is nothing of the sort.  Actually, I might have it better than they do.  My medical insurance doesn't even require a co-pay.   And of course it is guaranteed as long as they pay the premiums. 

She makes a lot of sense and I agree with a lot of the things she says, but how much is slanted just as this paragraph is?

[W. Gray]

Do you remember the bank Congress started for themselves? It was started in the last part of the 19th century and lasted for a hundred years.

It was in the capitol building somewhere and actually it was for the representatives and not the senate.

The private bank consisted of only member's deposits, including direct deposit of their pay. Members had checking accounts and they were allowed to write bad checks. They would be covered by the bank until the money could be repaid.

The bank did not offer loans or credit cards.

GAO issued an audit one year and the audit became public causing uproar. The bank went out of business around 1990 because of the audit publicity.

One congressman wrote a bad check for $10,000. The bank covered the amount until he could pay. There was no interest and no penalties.

The audit revealed over 8,000 bad checks in one year. Apparently the deposits from all members was able to cover the amount for those 8,000 checks until the Congressmen paid up.

On military bases and even some federal locations, the military or federal activity contracts out bank services from a legitimate bank to open a bank on base. Bad checks are treated like anywhere else.

Apparently, the House of representatives did not want to do that.