tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71333779876145696692024-03-13T17:16:23.088-07:00Old CrankyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger164125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-75111635228632020342015-11-25T07:34:00.002-08:002015-11-25T07:34:16.481-08:00<$BlogMetaData$><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>ISIS,
WHO ARE THEY?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">There is a terrorist group
fighting mostly in Syria and also conducting terrorist strikes around the
middle east called ISIS. Who is ISIS, and how did they get their start?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m attaching articles from various sources
showing you exactly who they are, where they came from and how they operate. If
you don’t already know, you are going to be very surprised about these answers,
and if you do know, you should be very upset that nothing is being done and why
nothing is being done. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This might take
more than one article, but as they say in court, I promise to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I have never lied to you
before and I’, sure as hell not going to lie to you now. There are those naysayers
that will say I am only picking out the parts that enforce my ideas, but I will
say to you I am only printing the truth as I see it. As I have said many times
in the past, this is my column and I will print as I see fit. Of course I am
biased in my writings. I am scared to death what this country is turning into
and I am only doing my part to stop the insanity that is going to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may agree, you may disagree, but you
cannot ignore the facts. It is up to you to decide, I am merely presenting the
facts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">In the latest episode of Truth in Media, Ben Swann investigates
the origins of the militant group referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>The name ISIS is one that every American knows</i>,” Swann
said “<i>The biggest threat to our national security since Al-Qaeda, right?
They are a brutal, savage group known for public beheadings and mass
executions. They are the face of the new war on terror</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">In the latest episode of Truth in Media, Ben Swann investigates
the origins of the militant group referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Who exactly is ISIS and where did they come from</span></i><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Angela Keaton, the founder of <a href="http://antiwar.com/"><span style="color: #d21c27; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Antiwar.com</span></a>,
said that ISIS is “<i>entirely a creation of the United States’ behavior in
Iraq</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>That’s how we got to where we are, because of war, because
of occupation, because of torture</i>,” Keaton said. “<i>The United States
government completely destabilized and wrecked Iraq. They caused it to fail
miserably and that is entirely the fault of the United States
government. There is no one else to blame</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Swann explained that when the U.S. first invaded Iraq, it “<i>blew
the country apart</i>.” By destroying the existing government, toppling Saddam
Hussein, and destroying the infrastructure, the U.S. “<i>left behind a power
vacuum</i>” that would never have existed under Hussein.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Daniel McAdams, the executive director of the <a href="http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/"><span style="color: #d21c27; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Ron Paul Institute</span></a>, said that the
impact caused by the actions of the United States is a “<i>historical fact that
media just won’t discuss</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>This has to do with U.S. action in the region, which
destroyed the infrastructure, which destroyed Iraq society, which destroyed the
Iraqi government,”</i> McAdams said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The militant group ISIS was formed as a small insurgent group in
Iraq in 2006. Swann noted that while they tried to create problems for the
U.S. military, they had no money and no real ability to recruit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i>Then, came a pivotal
moment that most Americans aren’t even aware of,”</i> Swann said. “<i>In
June 2013, a Northern General for the Free Syrian Army spoke out on Al
Jazeera Qatar and stated that if international forces did not send weapons, the
rebels attempting to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad would lose
their war within a month</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Swann noted that just months before this occurred he
had personally confronted President Obama on the issue of why the U.S. was
covertly funding Syrian rebels. Although Obama acted as if he was
proceeding with caution, politicians such as Senator John McCain demanded
action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>Within a matter of weeks of the Syrian general making his
plea for international help, the U.S., the Saudis, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey and
Israel began providing weapons, training and money to so-called rebel groups
like the Free Syrian Army</i>,” Swann said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">In September 2013, American media outlets began reporting that
weapons were being given to Syrian rebels. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/12/politics/syria-arming-rebels/"><span style="color: #d21c27; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">CNN</span></a>
reported that while the weapons are not “<i>American-made</i>,” they were “<i>funded
and organized by the CIA</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">However, Swann said that things began to fall apart when less
than one year after the U.S. supplied Syrian “<i>freedom fighters</i>” with
weapons, those weapons ended up in the hands of ISIS fighters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Those ISIS fighters came from the group McCain insisted would
help the U.S. overthrow Assad: the Free Syrian Army. Swann explained that the
army was not only sending the Islamic State weapons, it was also sending them
fighters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>The Free Syrian Army has lost most of the land that it ever
claimed and it’s entirely incompetent</i>,” Keaton said. “<i>The only
thing that it has been good at is currying favor with western leaders.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Swann said that it wasn’t until June 2014 that ISIS went from
being a “<i>no-name group in Syria</i>” to a group that was “<i>heavily armed
and trained by U.S. and Coalition Special Forces</i>.” This revitalized group
made a dramatic entrance by crossing back over the Syrian border into Iraq and
capturing Mosul and much of the northern part of the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>One of the most important facts that mainstream media
ignores time and time again is that ISIS was able to grow so fast, because of
all the U.S. military equipment they were able to seize – equipment that our
military left in Iraq,”</i> said Swann. “<i>Truckloads of Humvees, tanks and
weaponry that instead of taking or destroying, the U.S. government simply
decided to leave behind.</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">However, even when the U.S. government became aware that ISIS
fighters were capturing U.S. equipment, it did nothing. Swann attributed the
lack of action to the fact that ISIS fighters were taking the equipment back
into Syria to continue fighting Assad, which was what the U.S. government
wanted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>How is it that the United States, with all of its
intelligence capabilities, didn’t know this threat was coming?”</i> McAdams
said. “<i>How many billions did we spend, maybe a hundred billion on total
intelligence community budge over the year? How did they have no idea?”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Swann said that the answer is simple: “<i>The U.S. did know who
ISIS was, but the so-called Islamic State was doing what the Obama
administration wanted.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The ISIS fighters continued to do what the Obama administration
wanted, and in late summer 2014, they were labeled what Swann called, “<i>the
new boogeyman in the war on terror</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>Over the past few months, the U.S. government, who acted
like they had never even heard of ISIS, suddenly, with the help of media
has turned the Islamic State into the new focus of the war on terror</i>,”
Swann said. <i>“Now, as ISIS has continued its rise, recruitment is
exploding and the group is becoming stunningly wealthy</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Swann noted that in response to the “<i>ISIS threat</i>,” the
U.S. began “<i>conducting airstrikes on Syrian oil fields, instead of going
after those buying the oil</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">McAdams pointed out that ISIS makes $2 million a day off of
selling oil, and the United States’ response, of “<i>undercutting the
competition</i>” by blowing up oil fields makes no sense. He questioned
why the U.S., which is known for sanctioning “<i>anything that moves</i>,” when
it’s angry, is not placing sanctions on the banks or the oil companies that are
involved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Swann added that in addition to those questions, Americans
should also be asking, “<i>Why is the U.S. sending $500 million to the Free
Syrian Army to fight ISIS when the FSA is one of the biggest suppliers of fighters
and weapons to ISIS?”</i> and “<i>Why are we sending new and more powerful
weapons to the FSA like anti-aircraft missiles – weapons that we know will be
in the hands of ISIS?</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Swann maintained that while the mainstream media will say that
ISIS is the “<i>creation of American inaction,” </i>the reality is that they
are the “<i>product of direct action</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This direct action started with “<i>the action of creating a
power vacuum in Iraq</i>” and manifested into the “<i>arming violent Jihadists,
hoping they would overthrow a leader in a neighboring Middle Eastern country</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">McAdams described the U.S. government as a victim of its own
insane policies, due to the fact that it is “<i>very good at blowing things up,
but really bad at putting them back together.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">In determining whether or not McAdams’ statement was true, Swann
listed three facts:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Fact #1: “<i>Our government armed Osama bin Laden and the
Mujahideen in Afghanistan and created al-Qaeda</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Fact #2: “<i>Our government put Saddam Hussein into power –
we helped supply and create chemical weapons for him to use against Iran in
1980 – and then we overthrew him in 2003</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Fact #3: “<i>Our government trained rebel fighters in Syria
who would become the group today known as ISIS. We have watched them commit
every violent atrocity you can imagine to people living in Iraq and Syria, and
now we want American taxpayers to fund a 30-year war with them</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Swann came to the conclusion that it isn’t the U.S. government
being held hostage by crazy policies; rather it is the American people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>It is time that we reject the destruction of people groups
around the world for the sake of foreign policy that makes so-called defense
contractors rich, and perpetuates violence, death, and the destruction of
entire people groups</i>,” Swann said. “<i>This is the central issue of our
time – because humanity is greater than politics.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #343434; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></span></b><span style="color: #17232c; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></span><span style="color: #17232c; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #17232c; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">the
following are excerpts by Chuck Baldwin of News With Views.com<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">By Chuck Baldwin</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">November 19, 2015</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">NewsWithViews.com</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Paris, France: Muslim terrorists took the lives of over 120 people.
Here are my observations:</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">I am aghast and flummoxed at the number of Americans who just
cannot seem to comprehend the culpability that the U.S. government has in all
of this. This only makes sense when one takes into account that the vast
majority of Americans only know what the mainstream media tells them. And,
without question, our mainstream media is nothing more than a propaganda
ministry for Washington, D.C. Without a doubt, the controlled major media in
America rivals the controlled major media of Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s
Soviet Union.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Make no mistake about it: the wars in the Middle East are
Washington’s wars. The refugee crisis is the direct result of Washington’s
wars. G.W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the continued violent
attacks by the Obama administration throughout the Middle East--not to mention,
the direct intervention of, and supervision by, the CIA, British intelligence,
the Israeli Mossad, and the governments of Turkey and Saudi Arabia--created
ISIS. Furthermore, these governmental entities have all helped to arm, sustain,
equip, supply--and medically care for--ISIS terrorists.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">One needs to understand that violent Muslims have been killing
other Muslims for centuries. In fact, the vast majority of the people killed by
violent Muslims are other Muslims--NOT Christians and Jews. What happened in
Paris happens routinely in Syria.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">ISIS is composed of mostly radicalized Saudi Arabian Sunni
Muslims. The goal is to dispose of President Assad’s government in Syria as a
stepping stone to conquering both Syria and Iran, thus turning those Shia
Muslim nations into Sunni Muslim nations. The result of which means Saudi
Arabia’s King Salman will become the de facto king of the entire Middle East.
It would also mean that King Salman (already the richest man in the world)
would single-handedly control the oil of the entire Middle East. And as
everyone should already know, King Salman is in the harlot’s bed with virtually
the entire western banking and petroleum worlds. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">In addition, please understand that Washington’s wars have
created hundreds of thousands of grieving Muslim mothers who have watched Bush
and Obama’s bombers and drones take the lives of their sons and daughters--AND
THEY ARE MAD! The families of these deceased grandfathers, grandmothers,
fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and
cousins have made ISIS recruitment EASY. These people know that the western
alliance is behind these deaths and they want justice. Tell me we would react
differently if the deaths were members of our families.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Neocons and globalists in Washington, D.C., are using the Shia
Muslim people as the proverbial straw man to topple the governments in Iran and
Syria, because those Shia Muslim nations care absolutely nothing about getting
in bed with the international traders who want to further enrich themselves
from the profits that can be made in those countries. The only one who is
seriously making war against ISIS is Russia’s Vladimir Putin. And his efforts
against the Sunni terrorists began but just weeks ago.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">The refugee crisis is a tool of globalists to destabilize the
West and help usher in a global Police State. Again, the goal is a global
economic system. The Federal Reserve has taken the U.S. and European economies
to the brink of collapse. The only thing that globalists can do to circumvent
this inevitable collapse is create global panic, global war, and a global
Police State. A Europe and America invaded with angry Muslims is just the
antidote.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Please understand that the vast majority of refugees are NOT
terrorists. They are persecuted Muslims and Christians (and others) who are
literally fleeing for their lives. But there is no question that CIA-backed
Sunni terrorists have infiltrated these refugees.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Ask yourself, why would refugees seeking safety and protection
in other countries want to murder hundreds of citizens within those countries?
They know this would completely alienate the country against them and only
serve to further endanger the lives of their families. The attacks in Paris
were NOT committed by refugees; they were committed by CIA-backed,
Saudi-backed, Mossad-backed, Turkey-backed, MI6-backed ISIS terrorists.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">It is foolish for states to accept them. Governors are right to
refuse. (If the U.S. government was truly behaving in the interests of peace
and was not an active participant in creating war and instability in the Middle
East--and thus creating the refugee crisis to begin with--it would be a
different story.) </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">In addition, how did those terrorists successfully pull off
these coordinated attacks? How did they get fully-automatic rifles and bombs
into Paris? These people are NOT that sophisticated. They do NOT have those
kinds of connections. Do you think you could successfully get a group of people
together and smuggle dozens of automatic weapons and explosives into a European
country--and then successfully coordinate a large-scale attack in a
high-security major downtown city? The only people capable of such a thing are
Special Ops military personnel. In other words, ISIS had help, folks--a LOT of
help.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Furthermore, I believe the mainstream media and Washington
politicians are setting America up for another 9/11-type attack. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Following the Paris attacks, CIA director John Brennan wasted no
time saying that ISIS was preparing more attacks against the West. He also
criticized America’s privacy protections--meaning the Fourth Amendment and
similar impediments to government encroachment of our liberties.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">See the report: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/16/cia-director-john-brennan-criticises-surveillance-reform-paris-attacks"><span style="color: #1b4275;">CIA Chief Criticises Recent Surveillance Rollbacks In
Wake Of Paris Attacks</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Really, Mr. Brennan? If you are truly concerned about future
terrorist attacks in the United States, why are you not using the power of your
agency to help secure America’s borders? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">After 9/11, the U.S. government did NOTHING to secure our
borders. And to this day, our borders are an open sieve. And you, Mr. Brennan,
helped to create thousands of additional terrorists; you helped arm them,
supply them, and sent Special Ops to help train them. And all you can say to
the American people is that we must surrender whatever protections against
governmental encroachment we have left? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Do you take us for fools?</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">And when this next terrorist attack against the U.S. occurs,
Washington politicians and their toadies in the mainstream media--along with
thousands of Christian “leaders”--will blame Islam. They won’t give a second
thought to who the real war-makers are.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">“The uprising of ISIS is a direct result of Bush’s [and Obama’s]
war on terror. Terrorism is always a type of guerrilla warfare. It cannot take
over western countries for lack of organizational structure. It rises in an
area of power vacuum as a structured opposition is lacking. The goal of
terrorism is to initiate fear, to taunt powers and destabilize existing
political structures. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">The first thing the president of France did following the
terrorist attacks in Paris was to close the French borders. DUH! I think the
fox is already in the henhouse.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Folks, let’s get real: if it wasn’t for Donald Trump, there
would not even be a national discussion about America’s illegal immigration
problem. However, the one disturbing element to Trump’s rhetoric regarding
immigration is his statements that, as president, he would seriously consider
closing mosques.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Again, Islam is NOT the problem. We have had mosques in the
United States since at least 1929. And there are nearly 3,200 mosques currently
in the United States. And none of them has been identified as producing
terrorist attacks in America. The terrorists that did participate in the
attacks on 9/11 were not even from the United States. They were from SAUDI
ARABIA. If we were going to attack a Muslim nation in retaliation for 9/11, why
didn’t we attack Saudi Arabia? Come on, folks. Are things not starting to add
up?</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"> <span style="color: #262626;">When truth is abandoned, does it really matter which
version of error takes its place? </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">But there is another element to the Paris attacks: remember that
France--and most of Europe--is a giant gun-free zone. Think about it: a handful
of armed terrorists sent tens of thousands of French males into panic like
kitty cats in a thunderstorm. European governments (except for Switzerland)
have successfully stolen the manhood from the male citizens of that continent.
The Natural instinct of men is to FIGHT for their families, their friends, and
their communities. But for more than a half-century, socialist governments have
indoctrinated men to believe that they must depend on government to protect
their families, friends, and communities. Men are not allowed to defend
themselves. They are stripped, not only of the means of self-defense, but of
the mindset of self-defense. They are like a thousand Wildebeests running away
from a half-dozen lions. And that’s exactly what globalists want to see happen
in the United States. And in many respects, it has ALREADY happened in the
United States.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">For all intents and purposes, many states and cities in America
are gun-free zones. Men and women are not allowed to defend themselves. The
media constantly bombards the minds of the American people with the philosophy
that we must depend on government to defend us. Government personnel are always
called “first responders.” They are NOT first responders. Private American
citizens at the scene are the first responders. By the time government
employees show up, most of the damage is already done.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"> <span style="color: #262626;">Asking
non-violent people to disarm doesn't discourage violence; it invites it. “These
pledges of non-violence and appeals for citizen disarmament are NOT intended to
reduce crime; they are intended to make the populace more dependent on
government. It's not about crime; it's about control.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-63263882535448197272015-11-23T11:55:00.002-08:002015-11-23T11:55:24.125-08:00<$BlogMetaData$><br />
<br />
the truth about ISIS...<br />
<br />
this is a fb article that is what i believe to be 100% true. see if you don't agree.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif; font-size: small;">By Chuck Baldwin<br />November 19, 2015<br />NewsWithViews.com</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Paris, France: Muslim terrorists took the lives of over 120 people. Here are my observations:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">I am aghast and flummoxed at the number of Americans who just cannot seem to comprehend the culpability that the U.S. government has in all of this. This only makes sense when one takes into account that the vast majority of Americans only know what the mainstream media tells them. And, without question, our mainstream media is nothing more than a propaganda ministry for Washington, D.C. Without a doubt, the controlled major media in America rivals the controlled major media of Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s Soviet Union.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Make no mistake about it: the wars in the Middle East are Washington’s wars. The refugee crisis is the direct result of Washington’s wars. G.W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the continued violent attacks by the Obama administration throughout the Middle East--not to mention, the direct intervention of, and supervision by, the CIA, British intelligence, the Israeli Mossad, and the governments of Turkey and Saudi Arabia--created ISIS. Furthermore, these governmental entities have all helped to arm, sustain, equip, supply--and medically care for--ISIS terrorists.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">One needs to understand that violent Muslims have been killing other Muslims for centuries. In fact, the vast majority of the people killed by violent Muslims are other Muslims--NOT Christians and Jews. What happened in Paris happens routinely in Syria.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">ISIS is composed of mostly radicalized Saudi Arabian Sunni Muslims. The goal is to dispose of President Assad’s government in Syria as a stepping stone to conquering both Syria and Iran, thus turning those Shia Muslim nations into Sunni Muslim nations. The result of which means Saudi Arabia’s King Salman will become the de facto king of the entire Middle East. It would also mean that King Salman (already the richest man in the world) would single-handedly control the oil of the entire Middle East. And as everyone should already know, King Salman is in the harlot’s bed with virtually the entire western banking and petroleum worlds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">In addition, please understand that Washington’s wars have created hundreds of thousands of grieving Muslim mothers who have watched Bush and Obama’s bombers and drones take the lives of their sons and daughters--AND THEY ARE MAD! The families of these deceased grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins have made ISIS recruitment EASY. These people know that the western alliance is behind these deaths and they want justice. Tell me we would react differently if the deaths were members of our families.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Neocons and globalists in Washington, D.C., are using the Shia Muslim people as the proverbial straw man to topple the governments in Iran and Syria, because those Shia Muslim nations care absolutely nothing about getting in bed with the international traders who want to further enrich themselves from the profits that can be made in those countries. The only one who is seriously making war against ISIS is Russia’s Vladimir Putin. And his efforts against the Sunni terrorists began but just weeks ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">The refugee crisis is a tool of globalists to destabilize the West and help usher in a global Police State. Again, the goal is a global economic system. The Federal Reserve has taken the U.S. and European economies to the brink of collapse. The only thing that globalists can do to circumvent this inevitable collapse is create global panic, global war, and a global Police State. A Europe and America invaded with angry Muslims is just the antidote.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Please understand that the vast majority of refugees are NOT terrorists. They are persecuted Muslims and Christians (and others) who are literally fleeing for their lives. But there is no question that CIA-backed Sunni terrorists have infiltrated these refugees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Ask yourself, why would refugees seeking safety and protection in other countries want to murder hundreds of citizens within those countries? They know this would completely alienate the country against them and only serve to further endanger the lives of their families. The attacks in Paris were NOT committed by refugees; they were committed by CIA-backed, Saudi-backed, Mossad-backed, Turkey-backed, MI6-backed ISIS terrorists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Even though the majority of refugees are doubtless harmless people who did not want to leave their homes and did so only for their very survival--and with the knowledge that western operatives have created a radical Muslim Frankenstein--and given the fact that our federal government is making no attempt to vet these refugees, it is foolish for states to accept them. Governors are right to refuse. (If the U.S. government was truly behaving in the interests of peace and was not an active participant in creating war and instability in the Middle East--and thus creating the refugee crisis to begin with--it would be a different story.) </span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">In addition, how did those terrorists successfully pull off these coordinated attacks? How did they get fully-automatic rifles and bombs into Paris? These sand people are NOT that sophisticated. They do NOT have those kinds of connections. Do you think you could successfully get a group of people together and smuggle dozens of automatic weapons and explosives into a European country--and then successfully coordinate a large-scale attack in a high-security major downtown city? The only people capable of such a thing are Special Ops military personnel. In other words, ISIS had help, folks--a LOT of help.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Furthermore, I believe the mainstream media and Washington politicians are setting America up for another 9/11-type attack. Following the Paris attacks, CIA director John Brennan wasted no time saying that ISIS was preparing more attacks against the West. He also criticized America’s privacy protections--meaning the Fourth Amendment and similar impediments to government encroachment of our liberties.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">See the report: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/16/cia-director-john-brennan-criticises-surveillance-reform-paris-attacks" target="_blank">CIA Chief Criticises Recent Surveillance Rollbacks In Wake Of Paris Attacks</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Really, Mr. Brennan? If you are truly concerned about future terrorist attacks in the United States, why are you not using the power of your agency to help secure America’s borders? After 9/11, the U.S. government did NOTHING to secure our borders. And to this day, our borders are an open sieve. And you, Mr. Brennan, helped to create thousands of additional terrorists; you helped arm them, supply them, and sent Special Ops to help train them. And all you can say to the American people is that we must surrender whatever protections against governmental encroachment we have left? Do you take us for fools?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">And when this next terrorist attack against the U.S. occurs, Washington politicians and their toadies in the mainstream media--along with thousands of Christian “leaders”--will blame Islam. They won’t give a second thought to who the real war-makers are.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">A well-traveled friend from Germany wrote this in a private email, “The propagation that Muslims in general are thriving to take over the world is mostly radical Christian propaganda and paranoia with the clear intent to pursue their own political agenda and capitalize on fears in the general public. For instance, if you travel through Iran today, the general public is very pro west. The majority of the Iranian people seem to regard their religious leaders with great skepticism. Also, just look at the numbers: there are worldwide about 50% more Christians than Muslims. Militarily, Christian countries outnumber Muslims countries in weapons and forces easily by 20 to one--and this is not even assessing the quality of the weapons. The United States alone has more fighter jets than all Muslim countries put together by a wide margin. And most of the Muslims countries are allies of the Christian west.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">“The uprising of ISIS is a direct result of Bush’s [and Obama’s] war on terror. Terrorism is always a type of guerrilla warfare. It cannot take over western countries for lack of organizational structure. It rises in an area of power vacuum as a structured opposition is lacking. The goal of terrorism is to initiate fear, to taunt powers and destabilize existing political structures. They succeed if radical groups spread the fear of the Muslim religion. This then destabilizes the political structure in western countries with radical parties rising. Since ISIS, the neo-Nazis have gained popularity in Germany. The attempt of Muslim terrorism is not to take over the USA or Germany. It is to create enough fear and political opposition in these countries that weakens their resolve to interfere on the ground in countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">“Also when thinking of Islam as a religion with world conquering ambitions: there have been major Christian communities all over the Arab world since Islam was founded. Lebanon is mostly Christian. Parts of Turkey, Iraq and Syria are Christian settled and have been for a thousand years or more. The Muslims had centuries to get rid of them but they haven’t. Some of the Christians communities are enclaves totally surrounded by Muslim groups that have peacefully coexisted for hundreds of years. That speaks more for religious tolerance than the reverse.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">I bet the vast majority of readers have never heard nor read about the fact that Christians and Muslims are fighting side-by-side against ISIS in Syria, have you? You haven’t read that NO ONE in the West or in Israel is helping the Assyrian Christian Army in Syria, have you? You haven’t heard that Iran is helping to provide medical assistance and support to the Christians fighting ISIS in Syria, have you? You haven’t heard that Assad’s army in Syria is assisting the Christians in their fight against ISIS, have you? No, you haven’t. The U.S. media and Washington politicians don’t want to tell you about that. It might undermine the anti-Muslim, anti-Iran, anti-Syria propaganda that they have been dishing out 24/7 for the last fourteen years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><strong>•</strong> See these reports: <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/11/12/christians-muslims-assad-troops-fight-one-defend-biblical-town-isis/" target="_blank">Christians, Muslims, Assad Troops Fight As One To Defend Biblical Town From ISIS</a><br /><strong>•</strong> Exclusive: <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/11/10/exclusive-christian-army-fighting-isis-pleads-u-s-support-done/" target="_blank">Christian Army Fighting ISIS Pleads For U.S. Support: ‘We’re Done’</a></span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Note that even though Breitbart should be credited for publishing the above reports, they continue to regurgitate the anti-Assad, anti-Iran propaganda. However, this bias doesn’t change the truth of the efforts of Christians and Muslims fighting together in Syria against ISIS that Breitbart admirably reports. You didn’t hear about this on FOX News, did you?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Then there is this: the first thing the president of France did following the terrorist attacks in Paris was to close the French borders. DUH! I think the fox is already in the henhouse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Folks, let’s get real: if it wasn’t for Donald Trump, there would not even be a national discussion about America’s illegal immigration problem. However, the one disturbing element to Trump’s rhetoric regarding immigration is his statements that, as president, he would seriously consider closing mosques.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Again, Islam is NOT the problem. We have had mosques in the United States since at least 1929. And there are nearly 3,200 mosques currently in the United States. And none of them has been identified as producing terrorist attacks in America. The terrorists that did participate in the attacks on 9/11 were not even from the United States. They were from SAUDI ARABIA. If we were going to attack a Muslim nation in retaliation for 9/11, why didn’t we attack Saudi Arabia? Come on, folks. Are things not starting to add up?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Either we have freedom of religion for all or we have it for none. The problem with the rise of Islam in America can only be laid at the doorstep of the Christian Church. If our pastors and churches were doing the job they should be doing of making Christianity relevant to life today (including our political life), the American people would not be losing interest in Christianity, and the spiritual void that other religions (including Islam) are filling would not even exist. THAT problem is NOT an immigration problem or a political problem at all. THAT problem is a spiritual problem. And only our pastors and churches can solve that problem, but they refuse to do it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Plus, America’s churches are more glorified social clubs than they are anything else. Far, far too many of America’s pastors are more concerned about being politically-correct CEOs or Joel Osteen wannabes than they are about being watchmen and shepherds. It has been a long, long time since a majority of America’s churches were a “pillar and ground of the truth.” (I Tim. 3:15) The rise of false religions is merely God’s judgment on the Church for abandoning truth. When truth is abandoned, does it really matter which version of error takes its place? Christians need to look themselves in the mirror and stop blaming the country’s ills on Muslims. </span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">If a president can close mosques, he can close synagogues and churches. Talk about opening Pandora’s Box!</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">But there is another element to the Paris attacks: remember that France--and most of Europe--is a giant gun-free zone. Think about it: a handful of armed terrorists sent tens of thousands of French males into panic like kitty cats in a thunderstorm. European governments (except for Switzerland) have successfully stolen the manhood from the male citizens of that continent. The Natural instinct of men is to FIGHT for their families, their friends, and their communities. But for more than a half-century, socialist governments have indoctrinated men to believe that they must depend on government to protect their families, friends, and communities. Men are not allowed to defend themselves. They are stripped, not only of the means of self-defense, but of the mindset of self-defense. They are like a thousand Wildebeests running away from a half-dozen lions. And that’s exactly what globalists want to see happen in the United States. And in many respects, it has ALREADY happened in the United States.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">For all intents and purposes, many states and cities in America are gun-free zones. Men and women are not allowed to defend themselves. The media constantly bombards the minds of the American people with the philosophy that we must depend on government to defend us. Government personnel are always called “first responders.” They are NOT first responders. Private American citizens at the scene are the first responders. By the time government employees show up, most of the damage is already done.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Had the French government not stripped the French people of their ability to defend themselves--and had the males of Paris not lost the mental awareness and mental toughness necessary to defend themselves--the loss of life in Paris would have been much less.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">At about the same time that a disarmed Paris was being turned into a bloodbath, the Greensboro, North Carolina, Police Department was teaming up with Destiny Christian Center to ask residents to sign a “Pledge of Non-Violence” and to turn in their guns. Once again, we find American police agencies and state churches (via their 501c3 non-profit organization status) teaming up to try and disarm the American citizenry. No doubt, the pastor of this so-called church quoted Romans 13 to justify this Hitlerian conduct.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Here is the report: <a href="http://myfox8.com/2015/11/14/greensboro-police-asks-residents-to-sign-pledge-turn-in-guns/" target="_blank">Greensboro Police Asks Residents To Sign Pledge, Turn In Guns</a></span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">So, here would be my response if a police agency requested that I ask my fellowship to participate in such an activity (ha ha): </span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">“First, Mr. Police Chief, will your department take a ‘Pledge of Non-Violence’ and turn in its guns?</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">“Every day, policemen throughout America commit acts of violence including the use of firearms. Let's assume for a minute that violence was justified in every single instance (which it's not). Why is it right and proper for a policeman to violently use a firearm in self-defense and not a citizen? Does not the Natural Law of self-defense apply equally to every human being, regardless of profession? Are policemen a privileged class?</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">“Second, Mr. Police Chief, do you really expect the criminal class in our community to sign a ‘Pledge of Non-Violence’ and turn in their guns?</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">“It is proven beyond all reasonable doubt (by reasonable people) that a disarmed society only encourages violence. Asking non-violent people to disarm doesn't discourage violence; it invites it.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;">“These pledges of non-violence and appeals for citizen disarmament are NOT intended to reduce crime; they are intended to make the populace more dependent on government. It's not about crime; it's about control.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><br /></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-77500329618814047792015-11-15T17:23:00.000-08:002015-11-15T17:23:25.748-08:00<$BlogMetaData$><br />
<br />
MOLAN LABE<br />
<br />
Translation: bring it on<br />
<br />
wonder why we use a French term to say Bring it On.<br />
<br />
Paris is once again under seige. Not since WWII has France been in such a turmoil. One has to ask What The Fuck is going on? Why is this happening? Why are we letting this happen? Have people gone completely nuts? Let's look at what is going on.<br />
<br />
ISIS is infiltrating countries posing as refugees and we do nothing to stop them. Have we completely lost our minds? Are the people in this world so nieve as to believe something like this could never happen? are we being so busy being politically correct that we lose all sense of the consequences. So many liberals decry peace at any cost that they lose sight of the objective of ISIS and that is total chaos around the world. killing as many as they can while they are at it.<br />
<br />
We have people in power in the United States that are nothing more than big pussies. Obama is determined to turn this country into a 3rd world country by the time his term is over. he just might make this happen because we are doing absolutely nothing to stop him. he is pulling troops out of the middle east because he believes the threat is no longer there. He made this statement on Thursday last week and on Friday the attack happened. Obama screwed it up again. how long are we going to put up with this crap before we make changes?<br />
<br />
do we descend into total anarchy before we wake up and decide Molan Labe<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-54552359865990703882015-09-26T13:41:00.002-07:002015-09-26T13:41:50.831-07:00<$BlogMetaData$><br />
<br />
What in the hell is going on with the Republican party? John Boehner resigns as the Speaker of the House and all the Republicans in Washington and around the country are starting their power play. This is like watching the House of Cards in real time. I have a terrific idea, why don't they try doing something for the people who elected them to Congress in the first place. This mickey mouse idea of posturing for power is not what we are looking for. we are looking for results.<br />
<br />
i would suggest that in the election in 2016 that we dump congress. anyone that is running for reelection be voted out. start with a clean slate and put people in there that will do the job they were elected to and not for self interests. Try telling that to those who think they will re-elect the ones that give them things like housing and food and cell phones.<br />
<br />
there is an old saying that a democracy (republic) will exist only until voters find out that they can vote government to give them things, then it is all over but the shouting.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-71932335665606427742015-09-23T08:45:00.002-07:002015-09-23T08:45:21.339-07:00<$BlogMetaData$><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">ARE YOU A PREPPER?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I guess before I ask a
question like this I should give you my definition of what a prepper is huh?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">To me, a prepper is a person who
is preparing for imminent emergencies or possible disruption of the economy,
social, or political order. This could be a sudden depression on a local,
national or international scale. A prepper stockpiles food, water, medical
supplies and equipment to become self sufficient in the event a catastrophic
event happens and everything goes in the tank. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I think one would be amazed at
the number of people in this world that cannot survive beyond tomorrow unless
they have access to all the conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to, like
automobiles, electricity, readily available food of all kinds, and social
interaction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Let me ask you a few simple
questions to find out if you are a prepper or a disaster waiting to happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Do you have
adequate savings to last you for at least 6 months should the economy be
disrupted?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Do you have more
credit card debt than savings?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Could you come up
with $2000 right now without having to borrow it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Do you own any
gold or silver that can be used as cash in an emergency?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Do you have more
than a 3-day supply of non-perishable food and water in your house for emergencies?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Do you have a
garden in the summer and/or fall? Do you know how to garden?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Should the
electricity go out in the wintertime do you have a means to keep you and your
family warm for a week, a month?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Do you do any
canning of your vegetable garden in season? How about meat or chicken products?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">To me, it only makes common sense that one should
prepare for emergencies, not only man made but nature as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We as a nation are entering
unchartered waters. I have been talking for many weeks now about something
called a New World Order (NWO). This is not just a fantasy, but a form of
government that will not only happen in one or two or three countries including
the United States, but worldwide. It is only prudent that one should be
prepared for something like this to happen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Many strange things are
happening in the financial world and all indicators show that a cataclysmic
event such as a worldwide depression is all that it would take for a NWO to
happen. It won’t be pretty either. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It isn’t too late to start
doing things that will change your lifestyle to become more self-sufficient.
The good thing is that it will make your fragility stronger and you can weather
the storm when it comes. Wouldn’t you want to be in a situation where you
control your own destiny? Seriously, ask yourself Are You a Prepper?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If not, doesn’t your family deserve to be
cared for safely and securely<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-12821883335594017922015-09-23T08:35:00.002-07:002015-09-23T08:35:56.345-07:00<$BlogMetaData$><br />
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Are You Prepared?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">When the coming economic crisis strikes, more than
half the country is going to be financially wiped out within weeks. At
this point, more than 60 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to
paycheck, and a whopping 24 percent of the country has more credit card debt
than emergency savings. One of the primary principles that any of these
“financial experts” that you see on television will teach you is to have a
cushion to fall back on. At the very least, you never know when
unexpected expenses like major car repairs or medical bills will come
along. And in the event of a major economic collapse, if you do not have
any financial cushion at all you will be a sitting duck. Yes, I know that
there are millions upon millions of families out there that are just trying to
scrape by from month to month at this point. I hear from people that are
deeply struggling </span><a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/44-percent-u-s-adults-employed-30-hours-per-week"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">in this economy</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> all
the time. So I don’t blame them for not being able to save lots of
money. But if you are in a position to build up an emergency fund, you
need to do so. We have been experiencing an extended period of relative
economic stability, but it will not last. In fact, the time for getting
prepared for the next great economic downturn is rapidly running out, and most
Americans are not ready for it at all. The following are 14 signs that
most Americans are flat broke and totally unprepared for the coming economic
crisis…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#1</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> According to a survey that was
just released, </span><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/102442205"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">24 percent</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of all
Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#2</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> That same survey discovered
that an additional </span><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/102442205"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">13 percent</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of all
Americans do not have any credit card debt, but they do not have a single penny
of emergency savings either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#3</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> At this point, approximately </span><a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/verge-next-economic-crisis-62-percent-americans-living-paycheck-paycheck"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">62 percent</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of all
Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#4</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> Adults under the age of 35 in
the United States currently have a savings rate of </span><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/savings-turn-negative-for-younger-generation-1415572405"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">negative 2 percent</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#5</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> </span><a href="http://www.southerneducation.org/Our-Strategies/Research-and-Publications/New-Majority-Diverse-Majority-Report-Series/A-New-Majority-2015-Update-Low-Income-Students-Now"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">More than half</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of all
students in U.S. public schools come from families that are poor enough to
qualify for school lunch subsidies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#6</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> A study that was conducted
last year found that more than one out of every three adults in the United
States has an unpaid debt that is “</span><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/29/pf/debt-collections/index.html?iid=HP_LN&hpt=hp_t2"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">in collections</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">“.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#7</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> One survey discovered that </span><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/over-50-of-americans-struggle-with-home-affordability-2014-06-03"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">52 percent</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of all
Americans really cannot even financially afford the homes that they are living
in right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#8</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> According to research
conducted by Atif Mian of Princeton University and Amir Sufi of the University
of Chicago Booth School of Business, </span><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/shocking-facts-financial-security-americans/story?id=23224877"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">40 percent of Americans</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> could
not come up with $2000 right now without borrowing it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#9</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> That same study found that </span><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/shocking-facts-financial-security-americans/story?id=23224877#2"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">60 percent</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of
Americans could not say yes to the following question…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #434343; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">“Do you have 3 months emergency
funds to cover expenses in case of sickness, job loss, economic downturn?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#10</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> A different study discovered
that less than one out of every four Americans has enough money stored away </span><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings/index.html?iid=HP_Highlight"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">to cover six months of
expenses</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#11</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> Today, the average American
household is carrying a grand total of </span><a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/americans-slaves-dont-even-know"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">203,163 dollars</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of
debt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#12</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> It is estimated that </span><a href="http://survivalandprosperity.com/2012/02/09/the-percentage-of-adult-americans-that-own-investment-gold-is/"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">less than 10 percent</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of the
entire U.S. population owns any gold or silver for investment purposes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#13</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> </span><a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/16-signs-that-most-americans-are-not-prepared-for-the-coming-economic-collapse"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">48 percent</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of all
Americans do not have any emergency supplies in their homes whatsoever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">#14</span></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> </span><a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/16-signs-that-most-americans-are-not-prepared-for-the-coming-economic-collapse"><b><span style="color: #426b90; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">53 percent</span></b></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> of all
Americans do not even have a minimum three day supply of nonperishable food and
water in their homes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-44301666169969264522015-09-23T08:31:00.001-07:002015-09-23T08:35:17.086-07:00The Triffin Paradox.<br />
<br />
<$BlogMetaData$><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 59px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Triffin’s Dilemma and the Future of
SDRs</span></span><br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">If you don’t know who Robert Triffin
is, you should read this closely. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Triffin was a Belgian economist who
lived from 1911–1993. He was regarded as one of the leading authorities on
gold, currencies and the international monetary system during his career. He
made many notable contributions to international economics, but his most famous
was the articulation of what became known as “Triffin’s dilemma.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The paradox of Triffin’s dilemma was
pointed out in the early 1960s, yet its implications are just now coming into
full view. Far from a relic of the past, Triffin’s dilemma is the key to
understanding the future of the international monetary system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Triffin’s dilemma arose from the
Bretton Woods system established in 1944. Under that system, the dollar was
pegged to gold at $35.00 per ounce. Other major currencies were pegged to the
dollar at fixed exchange rates. The architects of the system knew that these
other exchange rates might have to be devalued from time to time, mostly
because of trade deficits, but the devaluation process was designed to be slow
and cumbersome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">A country that wanted to devalue (for
example, the U.K. in 1967) first had to consult with the International Monetary
Fund, IMF. The IMF would typically recommend structural changes, to fiscal
policy, tax policy and other areas designed to cure the trade deficit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The IMF also stood ready to offer
bridge loans of hard currency to help the deficit-hit country withstand
temporary stresses while the structural changes were implemented. Only if the
structural changes failed and the trade deficits were persistent would the IMF
allow devaluation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">That was the process for countries
other than the U.S. As far as the U.S. was concerned, the link between gold and
the dollar was fixed for all time and could never be changed. The dollar/gold
link was the anchor of the entire system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This fixed link between the dollar
and gold made the dollar the most prized reserve currency in the world. That
was the hidden agenda of Bretton Woods. With the dollar as the main reserve
currency, U.K. pounds sterling, a competing reserve currency, would eventually
fall by the wayside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The U.K. relied on Imperial
Preference among its trading partners in the British Commonwealth to gain trade
surpluses, and also relied on the willingness of those Commonwealth partners to
hold sterling in their reserves. The Bank of England assumed Commonwealth
members would not ask to convert the sterling to gold. Imperial Preference came
under attack by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the GATT, which was
also part of Bretton Woods. (Today, GATT is known as the World Trade
Organization, WTO.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Bretton Woods was a one-two
combination punch designed by the U.S. to destroy the British empire. GATT
undermined Imperial Preference. The dollar-gold link undermined sterling. It
worked. The U.K.’s trade deficits persisted, and the Commonwealth partners
demanded their gold. Eventually, the pound sterling was devalued, and the
empire dissolved. It was replaced by a new age of U.S. empire and King Dollar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">There was only one problem, and
Robert Triffin pointed this out. If the dollar was the lead reserve currency,
then the entire world needed dollars to finance world trade. In order to supply
these dollars, the U.S. had to run trade deficits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The U.S. sold a lot of goods abroad,
but Americans quickly developed an appetite for Japanese electronics, German
cars, French vacations and other foreign goods and services. Today, China has
replaced Japan as the main source of exports to the U.S.; still, Americans have
not lost their appetite for imports financed by printing dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">So the U.S. ran trade deficits, the
world got dollars and global trade flourished. But if you run deficits long
enough, you go broke. That was Triffin’s dilemma. Any system based on dollars
would eventually cause the dollar to collapse because there would either be too
many dollars or not enough gold at fixed prices to keep the game going. This
paradox between dollar deficits and dollar confidence was unsustainable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">This system did break down in the
1970s. The solution then was to abolish the dollar-gold peg in 1971, and
demonetize gold in 1974. But there was a third leg of the stool invented in
1969 — the IMF’s Special Drawing Right, SDR.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">The SDR was a new kind of world money
printed by the IMF. The idea was that it could be used as a reserve currency
side by side with the dollar. This meant that if the U.S. cured its trade
deficit, and supplied fewer dollars to the world, any shortfall in reserves
could be made up by printing SDRs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">In fact, SDRs were printed and handed
out repeatedly during the dollar crisis from 1969–1980. But then a new King
Dollar age was started by Paul Volcker and Ronald Reagan, with some help from
Henry Kissinger, the king of Saudi Arabia and private bankers like my old boss
Walter Wriston at Citibank.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Under the new King Dollar system,
U.S. interest rates would be high enough to make the dollar an attractive
reserve asset even without gold backing. Remember those 20% interest rates of
the early 1980s?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Times; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Henry Kissinger also persuaded Saudi
Arabia to keep pricing oil in dollars. This “petrodollar deal” meant that
countries that wanted oil needed dollars to pay for it whether they liked the
dollar or not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<br />
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The Arabs deposited the dollars they received in Citibank, Chase and the other big banks of the day. The bankers, led by Wriston at Citibank and David Rockefeller at Chase, then loaned the money to Asia, South America and Africa.</div>
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From there, the dollars were used to buy U.S. exports like aircraft, heavy equipment and agricultural produce. Suddenly, the game started up again, this time without gold. This new Age of King Dollar lasted from 1980–2010.</div>
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Still, it was all based on confidence in the dollar. Triffin’s dilemma never went away; it was just in the background waiting to re-emerge while the world binged on new dollar creation and forgot about gold. The U.S. ran persistent large trade deficits during this entire 30-year period as Triffin predicted. The world gorged on dollar reserves with China leading the way in the 1990s and early 2000s.</div>
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The new game ended in 2010 with the start of a currency war in the aftermath of the Panic of 2008. Trading partners are again jockeying for position as they did in the early 1970s. A new systemic collapse is waiting in the wings.</div>
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The weak dollar of 2011 was designed to stimulate U.S. growth and keep the world from sinking into a new depression. It worked in the short run, but now the tables are turned. Today, the dollar is strong, and the euro and yen have weakened. This gives Japan and Europe some relief, but it comes at the expense of the U.S., where growth has slowed down again.</div>
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The new dollar-yuan peg with China has also contributed to a slowdown in China. There’s just not enough global growth to go around. The major trading and finance powers are cannibalizing each other with weak currencies. Soon the U.S. and China may devalue relative to Europe and Japan, but that just moves the global weakness back to them.</div>
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Is there no way to escape the room? Is there no way out of Triffin’s dilemma?</div>
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A new gold standard might be one way to solve the problem, but it would require a gold price of $10,000 per ounce in order to be nondeflationary. No central banker in the world wants that, because it limits their ability to print money and be central economic planners.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;">Is there an alternative to gold? There is one other way out. That’s our old friend, the SDR. The brilliance of the SDR solution is that it </span><i style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic; line-height: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;">solves Triffin’s dilemma</span></i><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;">.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;">Recall the paradox is that the reserve currency issuer has to run trade deficits, but if you run deficits long enough, you go broke. But SDRs are issued by the IMF. </span><i style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic; line-height: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;">The IMF is not a country and does not have a trade deficit.</span></i><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;"> In theory, the IMF can print SDRs forever and never go broke. The SDRs just go round and round among the IMF members in a closed circuit.</span></div>
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Individuals won’t have SDRs. Only countries will have them in their reserves. These countries have no desire to break the new SDR system, because they’re all in it together. The U.S. is no longer the boss. Instead, you have the “Five Families” consisting of China, Japan, the U.S., Europe and Russia operating through the IMF.</div>
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The only losers are the citizens of the IMF member countries — people like you and I — who will suffer local currency inflation. I’m preparing with gold and hard assets, but most people will be caught unaware, like the Greeks who lined up at empty ATMs last month.</div>
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This SDR system is so little understood that people won’t know where the inflation is coming from. Elected officials will blame the IMF, but the IMF is unaccountable. That’s the beauty of SDRs — Triffin’s dilemma is solved, debt problems are inflated away and no one is accountable. That’s the global elite plan in a nutshell.</div>
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We never take our eye off the IMF and its plans to expand the use of SDRs. The IMF will include the Chinese yuan in the SDR basket over the next 12 months to make sure the Chinese are “on the bus” when the endgame begins. That’s an important step in the SDR process.</div>
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We plan to report on the IMF annual meeting in Lima, Peru, so you have a front-row seat for these developments. This story has longer to run, but the endgame is already in sight. Stay tuned…</div>
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Regards,</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><a href="http://dailyreckoning.com/author/jrickards/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #aa2027; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;">Jim Rickards</a></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;">for </span><a href="http://dailyreckoning.com/agora-financials-free-e-letters/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #aa2027; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic; line-height: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400;">The Daily Reckoning</span></i></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-88951762376108427752015-09-22T12:04:00.000-07:002015-09-22T12:04:02.320-07:00ALL IS NOT WELL IN THIS COUNTRY:<br />
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Well, it has been several years and i have not been up here to post anything, but i can keep silent no longer. This time it isn't Hyperion or anything to do with Keystone XL. this is all politics and the New World Order. there are many things happening that if not kept in check will change the way we live and do business in this world and it is not good.<br />
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There are three main groups heading up the drive for a NWO; the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderbergs and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). together they are making overt moves to create one money for the world through the International Monetary Fund (IMF).<br />
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since the end of World War II any international trading must be done in U.S. Dollars called the reserve dollar. Oil especially has been the main commodity being traded. By using U.S. Dollars, our dollar has remained strong. in the last few years there has been a move afoot by China mainly, to replace the dollar with the Yuan or Remendi (official chinese designated term for their money). China has replaced the United States as the #1 economic country and soon India will be #2, therefore the move to replace the dollar as the official exchange. this would turn the United States into a 3rd world country because inflation would run rampid and the country as we know it will crash. nothing like this has ever happened before, and i sure would not want to live in it.<br />
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The other thing that is happening is the rush to be President in 2016. it seems that nobody can stop Obama and he has virtually ignored congress with his executive decisions on how this country is being run. the main theme for the Republicans in 2014 was to gain control of the Senate and keep control of the house so they could undo all that obama had done previously. well, you can see what is happening there; absolutely nothing. once inside the beltway of Washington D.C. there is no political party. it is who has the hammer and it certainly isn't who you think it is. Obama is merely a pawn in the scope of things in this country, and he is playing his part well. just look at all the damage he has done in the last 2 years and what he intends to do in the next year and a half. you will not recognize this country when he is finished and we have no one to blame but ourselves.<br />
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i almost believe, in fact i do believe that anyone running for re-election to either house of congress must be defeated. this is the only way we are going to get back on track. run the bastards out of town. they are only there to line their pockets and could care less what is going on. we are paying a high price for lip service.<br />
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more later and a more indepth discussion about the bildergergs, NWO, CFR and the Trilateral commission.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-7294562099672854292012-02-07T22:46:00.003-08:002012-02-07T22:46:46.619-08:00Oh what a tangled web we weave<$BlogMetaData$><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">January 19th, 2011</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Oh what a tangled web we weave”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m getting a bit confused here and thought I should share my views with you so that we can be confused together. That way we know what each of us is talking about, we just won’t understand what we are saying. Hyperion calls this techno babble.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the things Hyperion has been ‘touting’ as part of the greenest refinery to be built in the last 30 years is a refinery built with IGCC capabilities. Here is the definition of IGCC just to refresh your memories.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri;">An <b><u>integrated gasification combined cycle</u></b><u> (<b>IGCC</b>)</u> is a technology that turns <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal" title="Coal">coal</a> or pet coke into gas—synthesis gas (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngas" title="Syngas">syngas</a>). It then removes impurities from the coal gas before it is combusted and attempts to turn any pollutants into re-usable byproducts. This results in lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulates and mercury. Excess heat from the primary combustion and generation is then passed to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_cycle" title="Steam cycle">steam cycle</a>, similarly to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_cycle_gas_turbine" title="Combined cycle gas turbine">combined cycle gas turbine</a>. This then also results in improved efficiency compared to conventional pulverized coal. (The neighbors might not like the sulfur smell, but ‘that’s the oil biz.’) You understand that whole mess don’t you? I wish I did. When I took chemistry in high school, the only word I would have recognized in this whole paragraph would have been coal.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri;">Now, if they are removing the impurities and then use ‘green’ technology to sequester the carbon gas there should be a reduced amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere because it is going to be pressurized, sent down a pipeline to some place that will pump the gas into an area underground where it will be sealed ‘forever’ and never leak. That is unless carbon dioxide is not part of the IGCC process, in which case it will just spew out the stack; 16.9 MILLION TONS of carbon dioxide. This does not include the ‘mistake’ made in their calculations for the methane. Right!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri;">However carbon sequestration, which is a part of the IGCC process, isn’t going to be added to the refinery operation for two reasons. (Maybe there are more). They said long ago that carbon sequestration is not economically feasible. (They said this about IGCC as well but changed their minds.) This will raise the cost of the gas because of the added expense for sequestration. Where are they going to pipe it to? Texas? The other reason is I don’t believe they asked for it in their air permit and according to a very well versed individual they wouldn’t stand a snowballs chance in Hades of getting the permit if that was in it. Again, where are they going to sequester the carbon? It certainly won’t be around here. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri;">Speaking of ‘mistakes’ (I’m putting a lot of words into quotes aren’t I?), does stretching the truth count as a lie or is it a mistake? Back when Hyperion was initially coming up with the data for the HEC, the power plant was going to produce 300KW of power. When they found out that any power plant producing over 250MW of power came under the operational purview of the state PUC, they suddenly revamped their figures and sure enough the plant will only produce 200MW of power instead of the figure first reported of 300MW. Hm-m-m-m-m<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is an outright lie. Preston Phillips reported that the project would be profitable when the price of oil hits $60 per barrel. Oil hit $60 per barrel so long ago I can’t even remember when it was. As of today oil is at $90 -100 a barrel and pundits are predicting $200 a barrel by this time next year, so where the hell is Hyperion? Man are they missing the boat here. Oh I forgot, it takes money to build things these days and Hyperion doesn’t have any. Shame on me!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri;">Then by golly they reported that the HEC would be using 10-12 million gallons of water from the Missouri river per day to cool the refinery and the coal plant. When they found out that any industry using more than 10,000 acre feet (325,000 gallons = 1 acre foot) has to be approved by the state legislature, they refigured their math and lo and behold they will only be using 9,000 acre feet per day of water. Shazam!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri;">Now here comes the latest blast from the HEC that they ‘forgot’ to include the figures from the power plant when they were figuring the amount of methane that would be emitted by the HEC. It was originally 10, 500 tons of methane but with the power plant figured into the equation it suddenly becomes 20,600 tons of methane. Does the coal fired power plant at the Port Neal facility put out 20,000 tons of Methane and Sulfur Dioxide? The two together would be putting out a hell of a lot of pollution don’t you think? Should those figures be counted into the equation as well? After all, they are only 30 miles (as the crow flies unless of course you fall dead out of the sky) apart aren’t they? I don’t know who their engineering staff is that comes up with all this but they need to be fired. What really bothers me is that they haven’t even started construction yet. Can you imagine the mechanical engineers they will hire to do this if this is the best they can do on the permitting. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri;">If you really want to see what is happening in Alberta, go to YouTube and in the search box, type in some of the following. ‘Tar sands’ Alberta tar sands’ Canadian oil’ there are both pro and con videos about the tar sands. Try to find the one that shows the status of the mining in the year 2020. Look at all the ancillary businesses around the refinery. Propaganda at its best.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri;">Don’t you just love all the double speak that is going on here? Oh what tangled webs we weave when at first we try to deceive.”(Sir Walter Scott)<o:p></o:p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-46985601260801008282011-12-25T06:47:00.000-08:002011-12-25T06:47:08.920-08:00Posse Comitatus<$BlogMetaData$><br />
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One thing about writing this column is that It doesn’t leave much margin for error. Even though it is the Holiday season and we thankfully celebrate the birth of our Christ, this column isn’t always a joyful one. Fun for me to write; not always fun to read.<br />
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There was action taken last week by the United States Government that really bothers me, and that is that the Congress AND the President has given authority for the United States Military to detain United States citizens believed to be involved in terrorist activities. This is tantamount to a phrase I thought I would only read about in books; called Posse Comitatus. <br />
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Posse Comitatus was a law passed back in the late 1800’s that forbids the federal military forces from intervening in maintaining law and order in the civilian community. It derives its name from the old west when the sheriff would round up a “posse” to hunt down the bad guys. <br />
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President Eisenhower used the Posse Comitatus act to enforce desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1958. He brought in the federal troops to maintain order in Little Rock (George Wallace).<br />
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The closest I ever saw this law being used was during the Watts riots in 1964. I was stationed in the Air Force at March AFB, in Riverside California. When the people in Watts (a suburb of Los Angeles) went nuts and started looting and burning, the National Guard was called into service to assist the police in controlling the carnage in Los Angeles. Needless to say we were briefed about being called into assist if needed, and the Posse Comitatus was pounded into our heads that we had to be very careful about our role in this. <br />
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Under the current laws and administration, the department of Homeland Security, which includes the Coast Guard, is exempt from this law. This is fine, but here is the problem. Congress and the President has authorized the Army to detain United States citizens accused or believed to be involved in terrorist acts to be detained at GITMO. They can be held indefinitely and there is no deadline on bringing them to trial or into the legal process. This is the first step to a police state and quite frankly, scares the hell out of me. Can you imagine being picked up; whisked away and nobody explaining to you what or why this is being done? <br />
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To even talk about this coming into being is abhorring to me. What is this country coming to? To even have such a scenario on the books is absolutely nutty. The old saying that “Hello, I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.” Phrase is a distinct reality. This is a situation that, if it were to get out of hand, could have devastating effects on the people of this country. <br />
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Well, enough of the bad stuff, let’s get to my favorite subject – The commissioners. At their meeting back in the end of November, commissioner Karpen made the statement that Mr. Roggow needs to look at all county property and see if there is any property out there that could be leased or put up for auction. “We need to get these properties back on the tax rolls.” I just about cracked up when I read this. That statement is coming from a commission that purchased a lot across the street from the court house for $64,000 and turned it into a parking lot which they subsequently lease to Thermo bond for the ungodly price of $100 a month. Now is that getting a good return on your money or what? Why, they will have the lot paid for in another 63 years at this rate. I will be kind and stop talking about the commissioners now; my Christmas present to them.<br />
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Julie Madden had an article in the “hometowner” a few weeks ago about Tony Heisterkamp (The Barn) and his nursery farm over by Big Springs Church. That article was intriguing and I called Tony and he gave me a tour of his farm. He has grapes, 1,500 apple trees, gardens and most curious of all, 3,500 Aronia Berry bushes. The Aronia berry is very high in antioxidants. They are even higher in antioxidants than blueberries. Curiosity got the best of me and I bought a quart of the berries to give them a try, and hopefully they will be as healthy for me as Tony claims. Some people say these are wild chokecherries, but these are a berry, not a cherry. They are very tart and bitter tasting, but if you add a sweetener like apple cider or apple juice, they are really good, and good for you. I hope they do the job and really make me healthy, wealthy and wiser than I already am. (a little play on words there!) Google them on the internet and Tony will be more than happy part with this precious berry. (For a price that is….)<br />
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Merry Christmas everyone and have a blessed new year 2012. See you after new years.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-44248612584127492562011-12-13T20:06:00.000-08:002011-12-13T20:06:54.619-08:00cookin the books<$BlogMetaData$>It is nice to be writing articles once again. I really missed it. My articles are written under “Doug Sez”. I would really like to label it “The truth hurts doesn’t it.” Let’s get it on.<br />
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I was casually reading the unofficial minutes of the county commissioners for the 29th of November on the Union County website the other day and everything was going along just fine until the last paragraph when “up jumps the snake.” Just before adjournment, the commissioners voted new pay raises for next year for the county employees. The county employees overall will receive a pay raise of 2.1%. (Here comes the good part) in addition to the 2.1% pay raise, some department heads will receive an additional raise in their salary. Additional<br />
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Increases were included for the following department heads: Auditor-$3,640; Treasurer-$1,300; Sheriff-$1,300; Emergency Manager- $5,200. <br />
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Now, I don’t call this a real and honest pay raise, I call it cookin the books. If we list the actual percentage of pay raise that these department heads got it paints a whole new picture. I won’t go into a lot of facts and figures on this, I’ll just give you the quick and dirty of what this actually is, and you make up your own mind just how big these pay raises are. The auditors base salary went from $41160 to $45,664, so she really got a pay raise of 9%. Sounds a bit different now doesn’t it. The sheriff went from $52,188 to $54,584 for a 9.5% raise, the treasurer went from $39,384 to $41,511 for 9% and the Emergency Manager went from $12096 to $17,550 for a whopping 68% pay raise. Granted, the Highway administrator and the Emergency manager are one in the same, but his paycheck is split according to what hat he happens to be wearing at the time. Up until now, the Emergency Managers job was what I would consider “additional duty”, because he didn’t really devote that much time to ‘disasters’ other than making sure the county conformed to FEMA’s standards and also hold training sessions for the volunteer EMT’s around the area. But suddenly, here come ‘da flood. And everything changes. The Emergency Manager’s salary went from $12,096 to $17,550. WHOO-HOO!<br />
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I called my district commissioner (milt Ustad) and asked him about these raises, and his response is somewhat surprising. He told me the raise for the auditor was because she opted out of the retirement system and this is money that would have normally been given to the state for her retirement but since she opted out they voted to give the money directly to her instead. (Are you kidding me here?) Now that is what I call a really good deal because just a year ago the auditor asked for the same thing because she had opted out of the system, but the commissioners voted no. I wonder what happened in the course of a year that changed their minds. Hum-m-m-m. <br />
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Anyway, the sheriff and the treasurer both got $1300. No big deal - except – what have they done to deserve this. If it is because of merit, then instead of the 2.1 percent they actually got 9%. Why beat around the bush. <br />
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Now here is the kicker. The Highway administrator wears 2 hats. He is the highway administrator and the county Emergency Manager. The emergency manager gets a $5,200 raise. It all goes to the Highway Administrator but to be given a $5,200 is a humongous raise (68%)any way you look at it. <br />
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I asked my district representative if this was kosher and he told me that Mr. Roggow put in a lot of hours down at the dunes because of the flood and he is not an hourly employee but salaried. I didn’t dispute that, but did he receive any additional monies or compensation for his work at the flood site. Mr. Ustad would not respond other than to say he doesn’t get overtime. I asked if he got comp time. Again he didn’t respond. I commented that I couldn’t believe someone could or would work many hours beyond the normal 40 hour week for almost 5 months and not receive compensation of some kind. I asked him if this was a reward for his work during the flood. He didn’t respond. Then I asked if Mr. Roggow’s assistant received overtime pay for filling in while doing his job and Ray’s job while Mr. Roggow was gone. He didn’t know.<br />
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Now then, there are 6 elected positions in the county besides the commissioners, so why didn’t the Union County State’s attorney and the Register of deeds get pay raises along with the other department heads? Is it because they both just happen to be Republicans? Naw that couldn’t be it. Could it be cronyism? Hum-m-m. It just so happens that the treasurer and the sheriff are Republican and got the $1,300 raises and the Auditor and Highway Superintendant are Democrats and got the big money. The chairman of the commissioners is a staunch Democrat and controls the purse strings regardless of what anyone else says. What he says goes, and don’t you forget it. Ask the commissioners why the disparity and Mr. Karpen will give probably give you the proverbial answer. “They are the commissioners and it is their prerogative as the county commission as to who gets what.” But, to quote Mr. Karpen, “it isn’t their job to micromanage each department.” So how did they arrive at these figures for the department head raises?<br />
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I think we need some new blood in that room.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-89426835334730592912011-11-20T19:55:00.001-08:002011-11-20T19:55:46.956-08:00The perfect Con<$BlogMetaData$>“The Perfect Con”<br />
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I’m not winning any friends here and I’m probably going to lose the ones that I have, but I feel very strongly about this and things need to be said. <br />
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If we had done nothing to stop the Hyperion refinery back in 2007, they would be gone. In their application back in 2007, the refinery was to begin construction in 2009 and be fully operational by 2014. They were bluffing! They raised the bet in the Texas Hold ‘em game and they had nothing in their hand. <br />
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They didn’t have the money then and they don’t have the money now. As I just said if we had done nothing, their application would have expired almost 3 years ago and they would be gone. Are we stupid or what?<br />
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They didn’t give a rip about the application for an oil refinery then and still don’t. If they did, they would have been more concerned in getting this thing accomplished. They would have also had oil people up here continually, making their presence known. Have you seen anyone from Hyperion lately?<br />
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What they want is our money. They obtained options on over 3000 acres of prime South Dakota farmland for $4000 an acre, sometimes more. Five years ago, $4000 was top dollar for farmland. Today it is over $7000-10,000. This isn’t about oil; it was never about oil. This is about making money by optioning land they didn’t even own, and then selling it for huge profits. <br />
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If you will look back at my blog (Old Cranky) on the internet you will find an article written when this first started that I loved conspiracies and this was nothing more than a big conspiracy for Hyperion. If you ever watched the movie “The Entertainer” with Robert Redford and Paul Newman”, this is a perfect parody. We are about to get entertained. <br />
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They have destroyed friendships, split communities, churches and anything else you can think of all because they promised us the moon, and we ate it, hook, line and sinker. They are not an oil company, but a real estate development company that just happens to have ties to oil money. <br />
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I said years ago that Hyperion had no intention of building a refinery. This is nothing but a Texas scam. At the public hearing in January of 2008, I asked 4 questions to Preston Phillips and company. 1) WHERE IS THE OIL COMING FROM? 2) HOW IS IT GOING TO GET HERE? 3) WHERE IS THE MONEY COMING FROM? 4) HOW IS THE OIL GETTING OUT OF HERE? Those questions still have not been answered as of today.<br />
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The reason those questions have never been answered is because they don’t know the answers to them either. They are a real estate development company. They don’t know squat about oil refineries. <br />
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Here is one more for you that I have asked over and over again. When are you going to say that you are definitely coming to Union County? They have never answered that question. Why, because they never intend to come here.<br />
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Our Mickey Mousing around has given them an additional 4 years to build the pot. <br />
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Maybe we should do nothing. Nothing has worked so far.<br />
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They say the perfect con is when you are giving them your money with a big smile on your face the whole time you are getting scammed, and saying Thank You!<br />
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IT IS WHAT IT IS…Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-49407273201685864102011-10-10T23:48:00.000-07:002011-10-10T23:48:07.701-07:00But look at the bright side<$BlogMetaData$> Look at the bright side<br />
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it is really amazing what money can do in the political arena. Take a look at Governor Doo good's latest pronouncement. "I heartily endorse the Keystone XL pipeline effort as a great economic boost for the state of South Dakota."<br />
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Nebraska has taken TransCanada to the state supreme court; people are demonstrating all over the United States and Canada because it could harm the Ogallala Aquifer and what is South Dakota doing? Bring it on Canada, this is going to bring millions of dollars in taxes and jobs. <br />
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But look at the bright side. it will only kill us once.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-34095940400918913422011-07-30T19:42:00.001-07:002011-07-30T19:42:48.055-07:00Let's call a spade a spade<$BlogMetaData$>Calling a Spade a Spade<br />
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The time has come to quit pussy footing around and tell it like it is. The state of South Dakota BME met in Pierre this week to make a final decision as to whether or not to grant an 18 month extension to Hyperion to begin construction on their oil refinery. After 4 days of testimony the BME decided to wait until September to render a decision. <br />
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The only flipping reason they are going to wait until September is because if they rendered their decision now construction would have to start in January of 2013. Who wants to begin construction in the coldest month of the year? If they wait until September then construction can begin in March of 2013. <br />
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Hyperion has no intention of building a refinery anyway. I have been saying for over 4 years that they have no skills, expertise, manpower or money to build a doghouse let alone a refinery. And to top it all off, Mr. Bob Graham who is the lead attorney from Jenner and Block in Chicago made a statement in the opening days proceedings that were nothing short of stunning. <br />
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One of the reasons Hyperion has not begun this process is to keep businesses that will have ancillary industries from hording. The pollutants from the refinery will affect other industries. They have given no assurance they will commence construction. They have not broken any ground. They have no onsite agreements. They have no construction schedule.<br />
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Now look at this from another perspective. If in fact they were serious about building a refinery, they have had 4 years to draw up contracts, draw blueprints, make arrangements for delivery of crude, and make plans for a rail line and line things up for a water permit. They would have made some kind of arrangements for a trucking company to haul oil. After all, they say there will be over 100 trucks a day in and out of the facility. And what have they done? NOTHING….<br />
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If you were looking at building a refinery would you hire Hyperion to do it for you? Not in a million years. In 4 years they have done nothing. Absolutely nothing moving towards a refinery. I get so tired of repeating myself, but now that BME is asking questions that I asked 4 years ago, maybe something is moving off of center.<br />
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What does this tell you? It tells me they have absolutely no intention of building a refinery. They are merely acting as a middleman for someone to buy them out and commence whatever. It doesn’t have to be a refinery, it could be anything. Hyperion will make out whichever way it goes. 149 acres of land in my township just went for $5100 an acre. If Hyperion had an auction tomorrow, they would make a little over $17 million dollars, and that is at $5100 an acre. I would surmise that land down there which is the richest ground in the state would easily go for $7000 - $8000 or even more.<br />
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Okay, we’ve beaten that horse to death, let’s look at a topic that is so sensitive that people in the county really get upset when you want to talk about it. I’m talking about the “flood” at Dakota Dunes. As of this week the dunes has spent somewhere around $7-8 million dollars on the levy system on the Missouri river. When the governor activated the National Guard it was supposedly to protect the infrastructure in the dunes. My ass. If this was done just to protect the infrastructure there would be more than 5 or 6 houses affected by the flood. I’m not even sure it is that many houses. Everything else is damaged by the groundwater level raising. <br />
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When FEMA came in and said they would not pay anything to rebuild damaged houses, people started screaming like a mashed cat. Even if FEMA were to make a payment, it would only be $3000 to $5000 per incident. I’m here to tell you the rest of the county is going to get stung with humongous repair bills before this is over. Which leads me back to the question myself and everyone else is asking. “Why would anyone build in a flood zone.” There are people who built in the dunes who plead ignorance about this saying they didn’t know it was a flood zone. They are standing just a few feet from the river and don’t know it is a flood zone. Come on, let’s get real here. I really find it hard to have any sympathy for the people down there. Empathy yes, sympathy no. I can see lawsuits flying in the court house for years to come. Believe me this isn’t over by a long shot. The dunes has spent millions to build the levy, what do you think it is going to cost to tear it down once the flood abates? <br />
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You hear all this crying and gnashing of teeth from the dunes, and what they should really be caring about is river-land estates and wynstone. They are right next to the dunes, and didn’t get squat from the state to protect themselves. Now that is a crying shame. It just goes to show you that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. <br />
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You know, a couple of years ago when Sioux City wanted to build a bike path through the dunes, people complained like crazy that they didn’t want this ‘type’ of people riding through the dunes. The bike path was rerouted through North Sioux City. They didn’t have a problem with this ‘type’ of people when it came to saving their property though. And one wonders why there is little if no sympathy for the dunes. <br />
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Like it says at the end of my emails, IT IS WHAT IT IS!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-20083311698865477902011-06-13T15:06:00.000-07:002011-06-13T15:06:01.864-07:00empathy or sympathy<$BlogMetaData$> this weeks article is controversial to the point that the paper would not print it. i tell it like it is, and i always tell the truth. the opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. i make no excuses. if you don't like what i write i appreciate the comments, but that doesn't change anything. it is what it is.<br />
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June 15th, 2011<br />
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Empathy or Sympathy<br />
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Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings (such as sadness or happiness) that are being experienced by another sentient or semi-sentient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion<br />
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Sympathy is a social affinity in which one person stands with another person, closely understanding his or her feelings. Also known as empathic concern, it is the feeling of compassion or concern for another, the wish to see them better off or happier. Sympathy not only includes empathizing, but also entails having a positive regard or a non-fleeting concern for the other person.<br />
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The people in the southern part of the county are experiencing a horrendous situation right now with the flooding of the Missouri River. The county’s personnel, state’s reserves and National Guard has responded admirably in supporting the attempt to save ones possessions and stop further destruction by building the levee to hold back the floodwaters. <br />
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I’m sure there will be lawsuits in the courts for many years to come, and we may never actually learn the reason for the floods. Here is where the empathy or sympathy steps in. I have empathy for the people who have lost their worldly possessions. Things can be replaced. I have no sympathy for the people along the river. It might be okay to have a cabin along the river to enjoy the ambiance it offers, but your permanent home? Not a chance. Why anyone would build on a floodplain is way way way beyond my comprehension. And don’t give me any of this “I didn’t know this was as flood plain” talk either. When you can stand on a banks of the river in what was once blow sand and cottonwoods and not know this area is not a good place to live is pure ignorance on their part. I certainly have no compassion for their situation either. This is a case of pure and simple stupidity. <br />
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When one looks back at the process that brought the dunes to life, the blame can be laid squarely on the planning and zoning commission and the county commissioners. I believe the dunes was developed by Midwest Energy. They went to the planning and zoning and I’m sure they sweettalked the commissioners into believing this was the cow that laid the golden egg. Think of the tax base this would build for the county? Think how beautiful this area would be to draw people to live in the county. Think what a legacy you will leave for future generations in the state, and think how this will enrich your lives. <br />
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Stupid is, stupid does. There is no way the planning and zoning should have allowed this area of the county to be rezoned into a planned development. There was a reason this area was never farmed or occupied by housing. THE RIVER FLOODS! It may not flood every year, but if there isn’t enough dirt on the dunes to grow crops, there sure as hell isn’t enough solid ground to support housing. The silt and sand washes with the will of the river. One might be able to make it work for awhile, but eventually the river will have its will. And will it did. Or it is in the process of turning the dunes back to what it was; hills of sand and silt and cottonwoods.<br />
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The cost of building levees to hold back the flooding is costly. Before a spade of dirt was put down, Governor Daugaard pledged $5 million immediately and another $5 million if they need it. If they need it? They are going to go through that $10 million like crap through a goose. This is going to cost BIG BUCKS before it is over. I haven’t been down there to see the carnage, but I have talked to people who have, and I seriously doubt the dunes will ever be what it was before. The infrastructure will literally be gone. They are sandbagging and building levees to keep the water out, but this will also keep the water in. Groundwater will be lying around for months, and even longer. The water is going to stagnate and stink. It will be a breeding ground for mosquitoes and anything else that comes along. It isn’t going to be a pretty sight.<br />
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I imagine that with the loss of houses, the people that owned them will walk away from them because they will owe much much more than the house will be worth. When the flood is over and everything is cleaned up, the banks will move in. what was once a $500,000 home will now be worth about $200,000 and who in their right mind would buy a home in an area that had just experienced not a 100 year flood, but a 500 year flood. Who is to say this won’t happen again in a person’s lifetime? Who is to say this won’t happen on a yearly basis? <br />
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If the planning and zoning grant building permits for anything in the future of the dunes they have lost what little minds they have left. They should deny any effort to rebuild because we the taxpayers cannot afford to support them. People said when this flood happened, 25% of the tax base in the county was lost. If that is the case, you can kiss any road repairs or infrastructure repairs goodbye because you have reached the tipping point on how much blood you can get out of the stones that are left. <br />
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This mess is going to take a long time to clean up and what is left after all the debris is gone isn’t going to be pretty. So, what is it you have for the people on the river, empathy, sympathy or nothing at all?<br />
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To put all this in perspective to our fight with Hyperion, is the shoe now on the other foot?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-52315192463340165272011-06-05T02:21:00.001-07:002011-06-05T02:21:58.741-07:00I just don't get it<$BlogMetaData$>June 8th, 2011<br />
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I just don’t get it<br />
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For the life of me, I just don’t get it about the pro’s of the keystone XL pipeline and the arguments people are trying to jam down our throats about how wonderful this will be. Baloney! Pete Carrels of the Sierra Club sent me a great article about the goings on in Nebraska with the pipeline and I’m using parts to enhance my viewpoint about this whole stupid mess.<br />
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Meanwhile, other supporters of the pipeline held a press conference in Lincoln, Neb., to make their case that the project would wean the United States off of foreign oil, and create thousands of jobs along the construction route(1). I would be more apt to believe those that tout these wonderful jobs if it was a job that was stable and permanent, but these jobs will be nomadic, far from permanent and dangerous. That is of course unless you choose this type of life as your vocation. If you are young, single and want to wander for a couple of years, then maybe this could be the job for you, but this is not the case. The other part of that statement really galls me. CANADA IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY for crying out loud!<br />
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Just for kicks and grins let’s say you want the best for your family and sign up to work for XL. Next week maybe you start work in North Dakota and will work your way down to Texas, and this will span the course of 2 or 3 or 4 years. Then what? Your job is finished, and what do you do now? When you are working, you will be working 12 hour shifts for days on end. Will you have time for your family? Yes if they are traveling with you, otherwise, Nah ain’t gonna happen. This is not something I’m pulling out of my hat, this is what Preston Phillips says employees at the refinery will be doing, and the pipeline won’t be any different. Is this your idea of a job? Certainly isn’t my idea of a grandiose work environment if you ask me.<br />
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I think it would be nice if we could hear from those that are directly involved in this type of operation rather than lobbyists. These lobbyists don’t know squat and are just doing what they are paid to do and that is get XL through. Nebraska is flooded with them right now trying to convince lawmakers this is a good deal. I wouldn’t give you 2 cents for betting that the pipeline is not going to leak into the Ogallala aquifer. There goes the water quality in 5 states from manipulators who are looking for endorsements of putting this through northwest Nebraska. Guess who is the decision maker on this pipeline? – Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State for the United States of America. Argh-h-h-h-h-h..<br />
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Here is the State Department standing on the XL Pipeline (2) - The department found in the recent statement that oil-sands oil does have a higher carbon footprint in the production process than traditional oil, but concluded that those emissions don't need to be considered as part of its decision on the $7 billion project. Hello-o-o-o-o Hillary, what part of Carbon Dioxide pollution don’t you understand? Hyperion will be emitting 19 million tons of the stuff on a yearly basis. What do you think the rest of the refineries are going to be doing, spewing perfume? <br />
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Just to refresh your memory, Keystone has been in operation for only a year and already they have had 12 oil incidents. They (keystone) say this is normal, and previous statements on file with the state of South Dakota say that leaks of this type are normal because the amount of oil spilled is minimal and within the specs of the operation. After the entire pipeline is only under 1400 PSI and the walls are surely thick enough. What about the welds? It only takes one mistake and kaboom.<br />
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Oh what’s a few million tons of carbon dioxide? It’s just a greenhouse gas. What the heck. I think they call it climate change. Now don’t go telling me there isn’t such a thing either because that is just B.S., because it is happening. You might as well throw the other word in as well, because it is synonymous, Global warming. There I said it. Climate change and Global warming are fact, and if we don’t do something we may live to regret it. <br />
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We can start here by doing several things right off the bat. Quit making those unnecessary trips with your car and conserve water, electricity and the land. That last part is a slam dunk, but don’t get me going there. Start a garden, drive slower, turn up the temp on the air conditioner in the summer and turn down the heat in the winter. When I was a kid, the only cool place was under a shade tree. I’m getting off track here, sorry. <br />
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Why is it that all things that are bad for us are being dangled in front of us like a carrot that it is good? That is like Michael Douglas in the movie ‘wall street’ “Greed is good”… that is like saying Hyperion and XL is wonderful and will create life ever after.<br />
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If you put lipstick on a pig, it is still a pig.<br />
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(1)(2) LOBBYING: Fight over oil sands pipeline broadens (06/02/2011) <br />
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Christa Marshall, E&E reporterUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-78930150714026667032011-06-01T01:33:00.000-07:002011-06-01T01:33:26.591-07:00zao shang hao<$BlogMetaData$>zao shang hao<br />
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That phrase is good morning in mandarin Chinese. Get used to it; you may hear it a lot, especially if the Hyperion project is sold to the Chinese. <br />
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But first let’s get something straight. This article is an educated guess, coupled with news clips from the papers and special documents.. After researching many articles on the current status of American Oil Companies (AOC’s) I am going to spend the next few minutes writing about what could possibly happen with Hyperion. As you know, I love conspiracies and this one could be a script from ‘star wars.’ This is strictly an idea of mine, but mind you, something that could very well happen if and when the Chinese makes up its mind what it is going to do. <br />
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I just finished reading a handbook given to me by Victoria Winteringham in Vermillion. It is a handbook for citizen participation in the Permitting of Oil Refineries under the New Source Review Provisions of the Clean Air Act. It is a document that gives a lot of ho-hum information that I have seen many many times. Suddenly on page 70 is the conclusion and Wham, Bam, Thank you ma’am I got hit right in the face what this whole damn thing is about. This book is all about the Clean Air Act, and granting permission for these oil companies to pollute. Let me state this one more time. This whole governmenting process is giving permission for oil refineries to POLLUTE. What we are doing is restricting the amount they may pollute. That sentence is like slapping me in the face with a ball bat. <br />
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All this time we have been working to ensure they adhered to the EPA standards of the Clean Air Act of 1994, and not to step one toe across the line. What I didn’t realize is that we were giving them carte blanche to pollute; they just have to stay below the standards we set with the EPA. This really torks me off. Here we are saying ‘oh go ahead and pollute, just do it a little bit. Don’t kill me all at once; just kill me a little bit at a time. Don’t ruin this area all at once; just do it a little bit at a time. WE HAVE BEEN DUPED! Sneaky sneaky sneaky.<br />
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On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst, this area is a1 on the scale. The air is so pristine that the refinery can practically disregard all measures to control emissions and still be within the limits the EPA sets for them. And we are letting them do it with our blessings! GR-R-R-R- how stupid can we get? Just the mere fact we don’t want them here isn’t enough. We want pollution levels to stay the same as they are now. Here we are going to meetings, hearings, government public hearings, court appearances and for what? So that we can ALLOW them to pollute more. <br />
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What really irks me is that we are not experts in the field of environmental safety and depend on folks in the federal government who are supposedly experts in this field to watch out for us and that is like the fox guarding the chicken house after he has eaten all the chickens. The mere fact that the clean air act isn’t so much about restrictions on pollution it is the fact that we are giving companies permission to do it legally. Why? Is it because if we don’t have some kind of law they will just run rampant and do whatever they feel they can? That really bothers me and bothers me a whole lot. This whole process is just eyewash.<br />
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Anyway, back to the Chinese. China is far exceeding the rest of the world in growth of the use of oil products. They are buying up every oil company that comes on the market in Europe and Southwest Asia. They are looking in the United States for a market and look what is sitting in little ‘ol South Dakota. Hyperion has the air permit and an extension to build until late 2013. Hyperion doesn’t have a source of Tar Sands, no matter what they say. Hyperion now says they will build a bullet line to Elk Point, but you haven’t seen anything coming out of TransCanada that says this is so. This is just more hyperbole coming from Hyperion. EXXON MOBILE controls almost all the pipelines in Canada. They go under the name Enbridge. Of the top 20 pipeline companies in Canada, these companies control 99% of the export of ‘tar sands’ to the United States. TransCanada or Keystone is mentioned only 1 time in the report that I just finished reading about distribution of tar sands to American Refineries. Enbridge has sewn up 95% of the tar sands coming to the United States and the only way China is going to get into the business is to buy a company that is just starting up; doesn’t have a lot of money but has all the necessary permits to begin refining. Well, lookey here folks, Hyperion has the necessary permits but hasn’t started yet and they supposedly have a contract with TransCanada for 400,000 bbl daily. Here is what they have been looking for, and instead of pipelines to oil refineries, they will just rework it to southern or western ports and ship it all to China. China (PETCO) must be careful here. They cannot make a treaty with the United States for a line crossing the Canadian border. Hyperion has to do that, and once it does it still has to maintain part ownership in the company so they will make money any way the wind blows. So, China waits for Hyperion to get all the ducks lined up then make a deal and viola, they are in. they have the money; they have the manpower; they have everything and Hyperion is the middle man getting all the permits and then it is a slam dunk. The reason for the delays is political, not as we first thought about raising money, but it’s about getting all the legal work set up.<br />
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Hui Tao Jian (see you later)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-78590686565987301452011-05-15T23:46:00.001-07:002011-05-15T23:46:37.912-07:00is the whole world going nuts<$BlogMetaData$>Is the whole world going nuts?<br />
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Have you ever had the feeling that no matter what you said that it didn’t mean squat? Well, after over 350 people and companies submitted letters to the state of South Dakota DENR, they came out with a ruling this week that doesn’t surprise anyone. Hyperion is allowed an 18 month extension from the date of the awarding of the clean air permit. This means that construction doesn’t have to start until sometime in 2013 or possibly 2014, depending when the Board of Minerals makes its ruling. If ever there was a kangaroo court, this is the perfect example of how it works. Whatever Hyperion wants, Hyperion gets, and pretty baby little Hyperion wants you!. (Paraphrase of whatever Lola wants.) For the life of me, I do not understand what it is that Hyperion has over the state officials, but it must be a doozie. After the last batch of comments, there is no way the DENR should grant or even consider an extension to Hyperion. Why are we the only people in the state that is concerned about the dangers of what the heck is coming down the road? If this was good for the state and good for Union County, I’m sure we would not have the attitude that we have, but it isn’t and we are not giving in. <br />
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Guess what I have been seeing on TV commercials for the last week. Not one time, but at least 3 or 4 times a night for an entire week? EXXON MOBIL has been advertising the great advantages of refining tar sands! As far as I can determine, EXXON doesn’t even own any refineries that have anything to do with tar sands. This is really weird. What scares me about this is that this is a precursor to buying/partnering Hyperion. The sickening part of that whole deal is it is our money that is making this possible. $4 a gallon gas is just plain stupid. <br />
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There were 5 BIG oil CEO’s who testified before congress last week about the paltry bonuses they received last year. ($ millions) They deserved every penny they got. How crazy is that? It isn’t their fault that we are paying over $4 for each gallon of gas. It is the fault of speculators and investors in 401’s. Are you kidding me? Did they ever mention once; shortages - - no because there isn’t a shortage. They made these bonuses because they are astute businessmen. <br />
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TransCanada has a pump station fail last week and there was a 500 barrel oil spill. This is just one incident of 10 last year. The problem is that the pipeline has only been running one year. This is just ludicrous! Somebody needs a good dose of reality. How about castor oil? (Little play on words there)<br />
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North Dakota has started an official investigation into the Keystone pipeline. They say that the tar sands are too corrosive for the pipe and that it causes undue stress and premature failure. Guess what TransCanada’s response is? Not true! This is no more corrosive that anything else. What a load of crap. I cannot understand where common sense disappeared to in this whole rotten mess. How can anyone be so naive as to believe this system is safe? And this comes at a time when negotiations for the XL pipeline are crucial for them to ship tar sands across the international border.<br />
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This is total insanity. President Obama has borrowed a page from Sarah Palin. It is DRILL BABY DRILL! In his radio address last Saturday he is advocating offshore drilling in the Arctic, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific. There isn’t any place left. If there was a shortage of oil I could almost understand this, but there is no such thing. <br />
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The argument that Hyperion is using that this will be the greenest refinery because a refinery hasn’t been built in 35 years. Has anyone ever asked why no refineries have been built? It is because the refineries that we have now are either closed or operating at half capacity because there is a glut of oil on the market. Hello! <br />
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Well folks, I got all that off my chest for this week didn’t I? I still am unable to understand why people cry and poop in the corner about the high price of gas but continue to drive like there is no tomorrow. If you drive 65 on the interstate, people will pass you like you are going backwards. The oil companies must be paying lobbyists a ton of money to make sure oil keeps plugging along. I hate to show my age, but mandatory speed limits of 55 and rationing of gas isn’t pretty. They always say be careful what you ask for because you might get it. Well watch out America!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-79627177935992242172011-05-09T19:43:00.000-07:002011-05-09T19:43:08.319-07:00the chickens are coming home to roost<$BlogMetaData$>The chickens are coming home to roost.<br />
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In my continual searching for news about the Hyperion refinery I am really encouraged by the results that public opinion is finally finally turning around. People are starting to figure out what we have been saying for over 4 years that this is a ‘never going to happen’ venture by Huddleston.<br />
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In the SCJ Hyperion blog last week, all comments were negative about Hyperion and people who were signing the blogs were folks that in the past have always been sure that they were coming. Now it looks like they are starting to have serious doubts about it. Well DUH. I wonder what part of this pipe dream they didn’t understand before. Do you suppose they are coming to the realization that this is just another lost cause on the part of Mr. Huddleston? <br />
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The biggest part that people still don’t understand is that the 1800 permanent jobs has never been about making more jobs, it is just shuffling people from a job in one place to a job with Hyperion. The only thing was is that it would be leaving someone holding the short end of the stick. Not that many people would be moving here, they would just be changing how far they have to drive to get to work. It doesn’t take rocket science (I’m getting tired of that term) to figure out what is happening. Ask yourself how many people moved here when gateway was going full blast? At their peak, they employed somewhere around 5,000 to 6,000 people; most of them from the local area. What makes people think Hyperion would be any different? Other than the fact they would need people with specialized skills, of which I’m sure people in this area have. Would you leave the security you have now for a job of uncertainty with Hyperion? I sure wouldn’t, but then what do I know?<br />
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There was a letter to the editor in the Argus leader last Saturday from a lady traveling through Kansas and stopped to fill gas. She asked one of the employees there why the price of gas was so high when there was a refinery right there in town. The person replied that all the gas produced by this company was being exported to Italy and that none of the gas stayed locally. Again, this is what would happen here if the refinery came here. Gas goes on the commodities market and is sold to the highest bidder. Do you think for one minute Al Huddleston gives a rip about people in this area? He is from Texas and is out to make a killing and it is going to come at our expense. This isn’t any different from any other refinery. Another statement in that letter was that one of Obama’s richest supporters in the last election was just given a billion dollar loan to build a refinery in Brazil. NowTHAT gas might make its way back to the United States. This is how the oil game is played. Big refineries don’t care how far or who the gas goes to. They just worry about profit margin. Do you wonder why the price of oil dropped almost $10 a barrel last week? The refineries have a glut on gas because people are starting to conserve because they are being forced to with the high cost. Now the price is starting to come down because there is an excess. Who can figure this out? I know I can’t. I do know this; we are still being played for suckers and it is going to cost us dearly in the long run.<br />
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I got a reply from the state of South Dakota DENR last week on a letter that I submitted during the open question period for Hyperion’s Air Permit. Instead of addressing my question I got the whole 9 yards, and it still didn’t say anything that hadn’t already been said before. They still won’t answer or acknowledge that they made a mistake. Governor Daugaard stated in the news last week that he would cut the red tape to ensure this refinery is going to be built. Ex-Governor Rounds said the same thing and it still hasn’t been started. Does that mean ‘damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead.’ He is ignoring our objections to this to ensure “economic progress” for the state. Again, it cost the state mucho dinero to send me a response to my letter. I don’t know why they took the time and expense to send this out. They could have done this with a one page letter. “We are ignoring your questions and are going to build this thing whether you like it or not, so get used to it.” <br />
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To use another euphemism, I think the worm is starting to turn, and the chickens are starting to come back to their nest. Public opinion does win sometimes, so let’s hope this is one of them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-60476962810798536472011-05-01T19:21:00.000-07:002011-05-01T19:21:07.624-07:00But...but....but<$BlogMetaData$>May 3rd, 2011<br />
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But…but…but<br />
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What does a 400,000 barrel a day refinery say? Evidently not much, if you listened to the debate between Hyperion and the Sierra club on PBS radio the other day. Preston Phillips and Eric Williams said the same thing last Wednesday that they’ve been saying for the last 4 years NOTHING. Well, they did say that they are asking for another 18 month extension from DENR to begin construction AND that they plan to begin construction this summer – all in the same breath. I don’t know why they just don’t come out and say they don’t have a clue because they also admitted they’ve never built a refinery before. (Isn’t that comforting?). Of course they aren’t going to build it anyway, so I guess one true statement out of the hour long diatribe doesn’t hurt anything. (Ain’t ever, ain’t gonna,) you could tell from the sound of Preston’s voice that he was trying very hard to come across with a positive attitude, but I think his attitude sucks. Anyway, between Preston and Eric they weren’t very convincing. It certainly is refreshing that a couple of dunderheads are leading the pack. I wonder what the rest of the company has for an attitude. I’ve always been told that attitude is everything when it comes to being successful. No wonder Hyperion is what it is.<br />
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I ran into Jim Heisinger a couple of days later and congratulated him on pinning their ears back especially on the carbon capture statements that Hyperion has made in the past. Those statements seemed to get their hackles’ up a bit. They insisted again that they said they would be carbon capture ready. Whatever that means anymore. I did learn an interesting bit from my discussion with Jim, and that is that Hyperion's heavy sour crude contains the sluggish, tarry bitumen recovered from the tar sands deposits. It will not reliably flow through pipes without heating it so it is diluted with lighter hydrocarbons decreasing the pressure needed to pump the abrasive mess and that there is only one company in Canada that makes Dilbit or Dilsynbit, and Hyperion will have to do a contract with them to get them to up their production. Do you remember from last week what I said about dilbit? Dilbit is a light hydrocarbon liquid mixed with the bitumen, if synthetic oil is used synbit is produced. Hyperion claims it will use a 50/50 blend of the two. It currently appears as if it is only produced by one Canadian upgrader. That upgrader currently makes about 200,000 barrels/day. Hyperion has not documented that is can reliably secure 400,000/barrels/day and, of course, it still does not have a pipeline, only a pipe dream.. (One more piece of the puzzle) – One more bottleneck for Hyperion to worry about. <br />
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Will Hyperion’s supply of tar sands be a spur from Keystone XL? I personally don’t think so, since Eric Williams insisted that they will build a ‘bullet’ line from Canada to Union County. (Great choice of words there isn’t it?) Hyperion said it will take 4 ½ years to build the pipeline and 4 ½ years to build the refinery, so it should all be completed at the same time. (Right) Why do I get the feeling we are listening to a stand-up comedian when he says something like this? <br />
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One thing I do know is that Hyperion can say whatever it wants to, but the general contractor (who they haven’t named yet by the way) is the one who is going to tell Hyperion what to do. (I know what I’d like to tell Hyperion what to do.) Isn’t it funny that Hyperion can say there will be 4,500 workers and that this project will make 1800 permanent jobs and nobody has asked the general contractor if this is true? I guess I could pick some numbers out of the air and say the same thing, since Hyperion has never built a refinery before, how the hell do they know what this project is going to do? To use an oil euphemism, this is all smoke and no blow. Why doesn’t somebody call them on this, after all, this is the biggest part of the economic development program? What are the specific numbers? What are the actual number and type of jobs that will be created? I really get tired of being like Hyperion and saying the same things over and over, but we are being taken to the cleaners and I don’t like it.<br />
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I guess a 400,000 barrel a day refinery is like an 800 pound gorilla, it can say anything it wants to. But…but…but…I don’t have to believe it!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-3732442199231233172011-04-23T17:00:00.000-07:002011-04-23T17:00:29.398-07:00Let's call a spade a spade<$BlogMetaData$>April 29th, 2011<br />
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Let’s call a spade a spade<br />
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Let’s quit playing patty cake about oil and oil refining and call it what it is. It is a Dirty, Disgusting, Debilitating, Diseased gut wrenching industry that preys on communities such as ours and turns them from beautifully landscaped farms and rolling hills to a pariah sucking the very life out of everyone around. <br />
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Let’s go to where all this filth begins and follow it to the refinery. The Boreal forests of Canada are pristine wildernesses that are vital to the ecosystem of the world. It is being raped, pillaged and plundered for the wealth that lay below this vital beautiful land. The Athabasca region in Canada, and now the northern Great Plains are home to strip miners that are systematically destroying one of the great wonders of the world. Once the forests are gone they will never be replaced. <br />
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Canadas claim that this area contains more sludge than any other part of the world is not going unnoticed. China has also discovered Boreal Forests in their region of the world that has even more sludge than Canada and I’m sure they will commence to mine this as well to satiate their country’s demand for more oil products. Can you see where this is leading? <br />
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The vision that I have of these forests being systematically being destroyed is like a scene from an old movie where ‘Fat old king Cole’ is slouched in his big overstuffed chair eating a big hunk of greasy slimy meat and throwing the bone to the dogs. I think this is a great analogy of what the industry is doing to greedy little oil companies that are trying to convince us this is all being done in the name of ‘Economic Development’ for our county. They are tossing us the bones. <br />
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The bitumen (tar sands) that is mined in an open pit is not viscous enough to be sent down the pipeline by itself. It must be diluted with other toxic chemicals and heated to enable it to flow to the refinery hence a new acronym is added to your overflowing dictionary. It is called dilbit (diluted bitumen). Kinda like Dilbert (you know the knucklehead that you give this polite name to). That was my first impression when i heard the name. Remember this name, because you are going to become very familiar with it. <br />
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The following article was sent to me by one of my readers. This excerpt is taken from the ‘PRAIRIE FIRE’ article written by Julie Meyers. In it she gives a very painted description of Dilbit. “Unlike conventional crude, Dilbit is <br />
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• 15 to 20 times higher in acid concentrations. <br />
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• Contains 5 to 10 times as much sulfur.<br />
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• A high concentration of chloride salts, which can lead to chloride stress corrosion in high-temperature pipelines, and<br />
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• Higher quantities of abrasive quartz sand particles.”<br />
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Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that with all this corrosive ‘junk’ coming down the line, pipeline failure is going to happen more frequently. Dilbit has been used for years in Canada, and the failure rate of the pipeline is 16 times higher than pipelines in the United States that do not use dilbit. Again, it is not a case of if it fails, it is ‘when’ it fails, and the spills could have catastrophic consequences. <br />
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Look at what is happening now in the state of Nebraska. The lawsuit is going all the way to the state supreme court because of the Keystone XL pipeline going across the sandhills. The Ogallala aquifer is very shallow there, and a rupture in the pipeline could have devastating effects on the drinking water in many states, as the aquifer is one of the largest in the United States. This is not something to mess around with folks, mother nature can really get mad. XL is going to rely heavily on computers to monitor the system to enable the folks in the control room to isolate the spill faster to minimize the spill. You can see that they are already planning on spills, it is just how much can they limit it to. <br />
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If a pipeline were to come to this area, it would be using dilbit technology because Keystone I pumps regular ‘sweet’ crude. XL is the only one pumping dilbit. Even if Hyperion were to run its own pipeline, it would use dilbit technology because they are pumping tar sands, not crude. <br />
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When dilbit gets to the final destination, all those toxic chemicals must be removed before the bitumen can be refined. <br />
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Now let’s look at this from another angle.<br />
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Thanks to the Madville Times for the following article from The Economist. It gives credence to strengthening my hypothesis (gut feeling) that Hyperion will never show its ugly refinery in union county.<br />
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“The refining business has suffered from chronic overcapacity, and thus weak margins, since the 1970s oil shocks, which led to a slump in the use of oil-based fuels for generating electricity and heating homes. A respite came in 2005-07, as a buoyant rich world and increasingly thirsty emerging economies boosted demand. But that was a high point that the rich world may not hit again. Demand for petrol in America has fallen, and may never regain its previous peak. Refining margins, having touched $4.50 a barrel, are down to one-tenth of that and still falling.” <br />
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When people read this they are going to think twice about investing in a risky venture where they will not get any return on their money until the refinery starts ‘pumping.’ Big oil companies in the United States are not going to invest because they are trying like hell to dump their refineries and invest in alternative industries like wind and solar. At least they can see the handwriting on the wall. Emerging third world companies are the ones buying up the oil companies that are getting off. That means Hyperion is merely a middleman that will sell their company once they get their permit. So, let’s get it right and call a spade a spade.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-56621536459214158142011-04-18T22:20:00.001-07:002011-04-18T22:20:25.595-07:00If not me who?<$BlogMetaData$>If not me who?<br />
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Here are many phrases I thought of for this week’s article and take your choice which fits best for you. If not me who? If not now when? – Whatever happened to Randolph Scott? – Start early and avoid the rush. - Have you lost your mind? – Have you taken leave of your senses? It’s easier said than done.<br />
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What I’m eluding to here is that if something isn’t done and done now about conserving our gas, we are merely giving impetus to both little and big oil companies to get behind Hyperion and build this oil refinery in Union County. Preston Phillips said 5 years ago when all this started that the refinery wouldn’t be profitable until oil reaches $70 per barrel. Then a year later he said $90 a barrel and then $100 a barrel. Well guess what folks? Last week oil hit $107 a barrel. And why is this? It is because we are so pampered that we are consuming gas at an alarming rate and not only is demand going up but the short sellers on the commodities market are driving it up. Supply is still the same. There is a glut on the market because of the 147 refineries in the United States, most of them are either shut down or are operating at 60-70% capacity. To have to face reality and blame myself for the refinery isn’t good. In fact, it makes me kind of queasy. <br />
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For what it’s worth, here is my take on this whole situation. If the gas were to come off the commodities market and go according to the laws of supply and demand, there would be plenty and I’m sure it would be considerably less than we are paying now. There was an interview with a Saudi Sheik on TV about a year ago and he said countries are completely stupid. The price of oil should be about $20 per barrel, (last week, it was $107) but because we are so greedy it is going where it is. He isn’t going to complain because he is getting richer off of it. It is costing the same to produce oil today as it was 50 years ago. The oil just comes gushing out of the ground and all we have to do is tap it. Well, you can imagine what happened to that interview. It was never shown or referred to again. <br />
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One of the dumbest things I hear on TV is for people to scream for not opening the oil reserves, thinking that if the reserves opened up the, the price would go down. W R O N G! Opening the reserves is just a drop in the bucket, and does nothing for both the short term and the long term situation. Evidently young people and us older folks as well, forget about gas rationing back in 1973-1974. Just let that happen again and watch people howl. And that was when gas was a whopping $.55 a gallon. The oil companies used to come into gas stations and top off their tanks and lock them and tell everyone ‘sorry, no gas today.’ When the price got to where the oil companies want it, suddenly there is plenty of gas for everyone. Nobody asked why the sudden change. 1973 is when OPEC was formed. <br />
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It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that if the profit margin increases, the prices will drop. We cannot tax ourselves into prosperity either. Money that is going to taxes is money that is not being used for purchases. Do people realize that about $.50 per gallon or more is just tax going to the state and federal government? I don’t mean to sound like I’m preaching from the pulpit or anything, but I get so damned mad at the media for using such scare tactics. Pretty soon people will start believing this crap. We are our own worst enemy. <br />
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Sometimes I wish that I could go back in time to when life wasn’t so hectic. At least it wasn’t when I was 16. All I worried about then were girls. Anyway, family was the center of my life. My mother insisted that we do things together. It wasn’t a case of all the kids scattering to the winds, because we only had ONE car. That was sufficient, and we didn’t think about needing 2 cars. That was extravagance and that wasn’t right. Both boys and girls rode their bikes wherever we needed to go and never thought anything about going in a car. <br />
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We didn’t go to town on a whim “just” to shop or pick up one item. We waited until Saturday. Only then did we have an excuse to go somewhere. Sunday was definitely family time and we never gave a second thought to doing something on our own. Do you remember “Blue Laws?” Today that thought never comes into one’s mind. And I absolutely hate this word ‘bonding.’ That is almost as bad as ‘time out.’ “Just wait till your father gets home” was enough to scare the heck out of me. <br />
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Anyway, what is wrong with trying to conserve on gas. Trying to conserve isn’t the end of the world you know. If we were really serious and did that, the price of gas would drop in a heartbeat. There would be such a glut on the market, the oil companies would be screaming like a mashed cat. So called shortages and sky high prices would be a pipe dream and we would once again be less conscious of the high cost of living because it would actually be cheaper. Why be forced to do something when we don’t have to. I would rather do it on my own volition than have somebody hold a gun to my head and demand that I do it. It is a dirty word to “deny ourselves” and blame it on the other guy for our misgivings. IF NOT ME WHO? IF NOT NOW WHEN?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-91537153090672035922011-04-10T07:39:00.000-07:002011-04-10T07:39:04.691-07:00What price - Economic Development<$BlogMetaData$>April 13th, 2011<br />
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What price – Economic Development?<br />
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Since 2006 there have been many people and families whose lives have been disrupted by the proposed economic development in Union County and the surrounding areas. What price have they had to pay for this coming development? Families and friends have become alienated by a difference of opinion. All in the name of progress. People are afraid to plan their future because of the possibility it can all be dashed by the decisions of those who have no connection with them whatsoever. And for what? Economic development in my mind is fast approaching an unspeakable term. It is a disgusting phrase and an even more disgusting idea. When one considers what this area of the world is like, economic development doesn’t fit. We have successful farmers who bring thousands of dollars to the local economy. We have couples who are raising families in a peaceful and loving atmosphere until economic development becomes the main topic of conversation. What price do people who are opposed to economic development have to pay to keep this from happening? <br />
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Hyperion was the tip of the iceberg, and I wrote an article back in early March about reaching the tipping point when other industries will be coming and lo and behold, there are rumors daily about a ‘kosher’ meatpacking plant coming to Union County. Now we are going to be having more people experiencing the economic development being felt in the townships immediately to their south. Where are our elected officials and the influential people in the county when it comes time to listen to their constituents? <br />
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Economic development is not always a good thing. My wife and I moved to this area to allow us to enjoy the peace and quietness and clean air that comes with it. We moved here with a special purpose in our lives; that to allow us to be in a community that was friendly and focused on building on that idea. We developed friendships where no matter where we went, we knew each other by first names and greeted each other with laughter and smiles on each other’s faces. A place where a handshake was your bond. It was a time in my life where I felt it was time for me to escape the hustle and bustle of big city living and we found that on our acreage. We felt closeness to nature and our God that had never been experienced before. Our lives became almost calm and serene. This sounds almost like the ideal way to live out one’s life. And now this is about to be destroyed b y “Economic Development.”<br />
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Who is giving these people the right to destroy this image? Who is giving these people the right to come in here and destroy communities, families and friends all in the name of economic development? Who are these people that are coming in here forcing me to make choices that I do not choose to make? Who are these people that are coming here to line their pockets with money and change the demographics of this community forever at our expense? Who are these people who are coming here thinking they know what is best for our lives? Would someone please explain to me why I am spending so much time and money to protect my little corner of the world all in the name of “Economic Development?”<br />
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What is the price that we must pay for” Economic Development?”Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-9897547881310279442011-04-06T06:16:00.000-07:002011-04-06T06:16:06.085-07:00this will not be a slam dunk<$BlogMetaData$>April 5th, 2011<br />
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This will not be a slam dunk!<br />
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I don’t normally write about rumors, but this rumor has been confirmed many reliable sources, so I am going to spend a few minutes explaining what is going on that you may not know about , but I cannot imagine that you don’t.<br />
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A Real Estate agent from Rochester MN has secured an option on 280 acres of land five miles south of Beresford at the I-29 and Alcester exit to build a “Kosher” meat packing plant between the interstate and old Hwy 77. The fact that it is a kosher plant may raise a few eyebrows, but the rest of the facts should raise everyone’s eyebrows. If I’m wrong you can guarantee I will hear about it. That’s okay, but I don’t think I am. If I am, it will get the true facts out in the open for everyone to know.<br />
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Let me give you the facts as I know them, and you decide whether or not this is going to be beneficial to the community or whether we are in between a rock and a hard spot. <br />
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1. This will be a kosher meat packing plant run by a group of Muslims. Those two facts right there don’t make sense, but this is what it is.<br />
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2. They will be processing up to 7000 head of cattle per week.<br />
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3. The area they are going to purchase is 280 acres at the junction of I-29 and the Alcester exit.<br />
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4. One of the items that isn’t clear is that a mosque will be built to service the employees. Whether or not it will be built on site or in Beresford isn’t clear, but it will be built.<br />
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5. The plant will build a wind farm to provide its own electric service.<br />
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6. There will be 65 trucks in and out each week <br />
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7. They will build a 12 foot fence around the entire area to close it off. They have done a terrorist threat level check of this area and have determined this area is rural enough and far away from potential terrorist activity not to be a problem.<br />
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8. They may provide onsite facilities for living quarters for the employees and their families.<br />
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9. The land went for $8000.00 an acre for a total of almost $3 million dollars. (give or take)<br />
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The one thing about this deal that really blows my mind is that they held a meeting in Beresford last Wednesday and were selling the visitors to the meeting shares in the company. I don’t know why they would be doing this other than to ensure their acceptance into the area. <br />
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Now that I’ve given you all the facts, I’m going to put my spin on this and see how close it comes to what may or may not happen. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what is going to happen.<br />
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The initial offer was made to the Larsen’s and they turned the offer down. I am so thankful to them for doing this and everyone should also thank them. It would be tough to turn down an offer for $3 million, but they thought more of this community than their personal gain. They can always build it someplace else and for Larsen’s to turn this down is magnanimous on their part. <br />
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If I’ve said this once, I’ve said it many many times that this is ag country and farmers are not comfortable with refineries and now a meat packing plant right in the middle of everything. Granted there was Morrells in Sioux Falls and Sioux City and the Lamb slaughter in Hawarden, but this is Union County. I hate to use this term, but it is cropping up again; NIMBY! <br />
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Remember back when, when so many of us were called NIMBY’s because of the refinery. I wonder how many people in Beresford are going to wake up one of these mornings and decide we didn’t have such a bad idea after all. I can use the same reasoning for the packing plant as I can for Hyperion. We cannot afford this. I don’t know how many people will be moving to this area, but the school budget just cut back on teachers and funds for other activities and now the school may increase in population by 50 to 100 or more. The school just opted out not too long ago and the state and county economy can’t take much more before things start to cave in. If they have on site living facilities, the town won’t be stressed for housing, but if not the town will be inundated with people looking for places to live. One has to ask themselves how this will change the demographics in town.<br />
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Do you remember when Hyperion was coming to town and everybody was passing rumors? I have to ask myself why is the county being so secretive about transactions like this. Whoever this company is, they have to get approval from the planning and zoning to change from ag to commercial or industrial. They have to have a public hearing and we get a say in what happens. Of course to expect them to turn this company down is not going to happen. You know they have talked to Mr. Henze and I know for a fact they have talked to one of our commissioners, so why the secrecy? I can guarantee you the public hearing this time will not be like the one for Hyperion. They may come here, but this time they are going to answer questions before things get approved. It Sounds like I’m against this doesn’t it? Damned NIMBY’s. This will not be a slam dunk!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7133377987614569669.post-65922505048938373542011-03-29T09:35:00.001-07:002011-03-29T09:35:45.285-07:00You are my Sunshine, my only sunshine<$BlogMetaData$>March 30th, 2011<br />
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YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, MY ONLY SUNSHINE!<br />
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Last week was Sunshine Week. This is celebrated by newspapers, reporters and people associated with making government “TRANSPARENT” for reporting accurately what is happening with our government agencies on the federal, state, and local level. Well this next part deserves to be in bold print because some county officials are NOT being transparent and this deserves to be brought to the public’s attention. They are laughing at us. We can’t threaten them, they are government. So There!<br />
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MARICARROL KUETER FROM THE “ARGUS LEADER” WROTE IN HER ARTICLE ABOUT TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT THAT SHE CALLED THE UNION COUNTY AUDITOR AND ASKED FOR <br />
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· DOCUMENTS OR CORRESPONDENCE DEMONSTRATING EFFORTS BY UNION COUNTY OR STATE OFFICIALS TO EVALUATE THE FINANCIAL SITUATION OF HYPERION REFINING LLC. IN ADDITION, WE ASKED FOR INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY'S PLAN FOR FINANCING CONSTRUCTION OF AN OIL REFINERY IN UNION COUNTY. THE UNION COUNTY AUDITOR DENIED OUR REQUEST AS DID THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. <br />
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Shame, shame. Well, so much for the county helping Hyperion and their mission of ‘transparency’. Common decency should prevail here and they should give us an explanation. It is either that or they will be admitting by their silence that the county is about to give us the big one (shaft). You don’t suppose the county and Hyperion are in collusion do you? This has been a put up job since the very beginning. Is this state and this county hurting for money so badly that they will grovel to such low standards just to get “economic development” and to let Hyperion get their grubby paws in here? It is unconscionable that Ms. Klumper and the commissioners remain close mouth about this since the county approved Hyperion both at the Planning and Zoning level and at the Commissioners level. It is a done deal as far as they are concerned, so why can’t they release what the Argus is asking for. We have a right to know what they are doing. This is after all, still a democracy.<br />
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What does the county have to hide in its dealings with Hyperion? Or should it be turned around? Is it finally coming out of the mouse’s corner that this is a sham? Hyperion has no more intention of building a refinery than pigs can fly. Oh but there’s more. There was an ad in the Sioux City Journal Friday from Hyperion saying that they are in fact coming. They even have an office in Elk Point and it has been there since 2008. Here is the link if you would like to read OLD news. http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/special-section/local/rec/pdf_90d30d68-56fc-11e0-9862-001cc4c03286.html<br />
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When is this Silliness going to end?<br />
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I was sitting at the commissioners meeting all fat, dumb and happy when I heard the chairman asking for a motion to approve the states attorney to sign a real estate contract for purchase of 8 acres of ground at Load King for $150,000.00. I almost dropped my teeth. There had been no previous discussion about this purchase (executive session maybe), but never in public. They didn’t mention where the money was coming from; whether or not money had been budgeted for this purchase (it wasn’t); whose budget it was coming out of, or why they were going to purchase this property. <br />
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It turns out that the property is being purchased for the highway department to have more room. They thought the Load King property would be perfect since there was an offload station for trains to dump sand, gravel, rock, rip rap, and whatever to save transportation costs on stuff coming in for them to use. This is about as close as I can get to why they purchased this property. I talked to Mr. Roggow and he assured me that the opt out money is not being used to acquire this land. I thanked him for that. He said that he stands by that because he mentioned at all the meetings last summer before the vote that all the opt out money would be used for repair of roads and bridges. I told him I would be putting that in my article this week because sure as heck people are going to think it is coming from opt out funds. I still wanted to know where the money was coming from so I called Milt Ustad and he told me that it would be coming out of contingency funds. <br />
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Here is the definition of contingency funds. Pay close attention to the last sentence in this definition.<br />
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There are two reasons why families need contingency funds: for emergencies and for major expenditures. <br />
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Emergencies. A contingency fund is first an emergency fund for dealing with the unexpected. By having this money set aside and readily available, emergencies can be paid for without having to borrow.<br />
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Major expenditures. A contingency fund also can be used to finance major expenditures that are not in the operating budget:. <br />
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Whether contingency funds are used for emergencies or for major expenditures, a good rule to follow is that whenever funds are withdrawn from contingency accounts every effort should be made to rebuild the fund as quickly as possible. Naw – ain’t gonna happen.<br />
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I would imagine that the main reason for taking money out of the contingency fund is because this purchase was not allocated in the budget AND if they waited until next years budget, the property might already be sold. Now having said that, are the commissioners going to take $150,000 out of the highway department budget next year to pay for this? FAT CHANCE!<br />
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I found out by talking to Mr. Roggow that he has been saving money each year to build a new facility. He has been putting $75,000 away each year to enable him to do this. I understand he has been saving this money each year for 6 or 7 years. I was always under the presumption that if money is left over at the end of the year it goes to the general fund. Is that kosher? If that is the case, is he over estimating his budget by that much every year to have that money available?<br />
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And the beat goes on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0