Pine Cone Conservatives

2011-10-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

2011-10-10T18:21:00.001-07:00

Taking a stand:

2011-09-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Friday-September 16, 2011

Taking a stand:

Over the course of the next two weeks, I will not be publishing every day. There are some things that I need to do that will get me into a position to do more than just writing and organizing those that want to take a stand in their own neighborhoods.

The time to take a stand for whatever you believe in never takes a holiday. When you take a stand you become a leader. Some might not like the stand that you take, but then again some will. I will make a stand in a far greater capacity in the coming weeks. This I can promise.

You, too, can make a stand by identifying what really concerns you and getting others to listen by simply asking some questions. Many in America are reluctant to speak their minds and make their opinions known. Some of us should not take a stand for some of things they believe, but then again who am I to criticize?

Making a stand is a choice that only you can make. But don’t complain while doing nothing about it.

Our revolution was all about a few taking a stand for the majority. A few patriots over the course of a quarter of a century made it possible for us to live in freedom and made it possible for you to take a stand today.

On today’s date, in 1782, the great seal of the United States was issued.
On July 4, 1776, the same day that independence from Great Britain was declared by the thirteen states, the Continental Congress named the first committee to design a Great Seal, or national emblem for the country. Similar to other nations, The United States of America needed an official symbol of sovereignty to formalize and seal (or sign) international treaties and transactions. It took six years, three committees and the contributions of fourteen men before the Congress finally accepted a design (which included elements proposed by each of the three committees) in 1782. In the end, the seal would be emblematic of our liberty.

Those that designed the seal took a stand. They wanted the seal to project power and be emblematic of our liberty. The original committee included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. These three individuals were used to taking a stand against everything that opposed what the seal ultimately would come to represent.

Today, I fear the great seal is just a seal that is used, because it’s always been used. Today, I fear many of us are afraid to take a stand. However, sometimes people will surprise you if you listen to the stand they are taking.

I will be back full time in week or two to talk more about a stand that I am intending on taking."The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties." --Thomas Jefferson: Reply to Address, 1808.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Take stand speak about it and write about it. The great seal provides you with that liberty.

Winners and losers:

2011-09-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday – September 15, 2011

Winners and losers:

When Government steps in and decides who will win and who will lose nobody wins. In the case of the breaking Solyndra scandal, the Obama administration and government authorized nearly half a billion dollars to the company to promote the administration’s green agenda and selected this company to showcase, as its model. Solyndra manufactured solar panels up to about a month ago, when it went bankrupt and 1,100 people lost their jobs. The reason cited was competition from China and a bad business climate, with a reduced market.

The same company applied for federal loans, under the Bush administration and was turned down, because it was considered a high risk. In fact, the approval sources under Bush said that Solyndra would go bankrupt in September of 2011, if it continued down the same path it was going. Guess what it did? This is why the loan was originally turned down.

Under the Obama administration, new documents now show that stimulus money was given under a fast track approval process to Solyndra. There is a fine line between what a loan is and what stimulus money is. With stimulus money winners and losers can be picked.

Many congressional members have said that some of the documents could lead to an investigation of the process that led to the fast tracking in the Obama administration. Some members of Congress are using the impeachment word. Here we go again!

Regardless of how stimulus money made its way to Solyndra, this is clearly the case where the administration wanted to use a company of this kind to show how successful stimulus money can be when applied to promote the presidents ill fated green agenda. This president has committed the number one crime against his country and that is putting his agenda before the country’s well being. This is why this president is sinking in the polls and within his own parties support.

However, we must not ignore the larger picture and that is that government has no business making loans or giving stimulus money to any company especially when the people who are getting the money are political supporters. If government would get out of the business of picking winners and losers the American people would always win. Because, in the end, Obama is not responsible for picking up the tab; the American people are.

The other side of the coin is that the bureaucracy is at fault, because there is layer upon layer of approvals that will insure certain entities get the money even though one layer at the lower end of the food chain turned it down.

The President is out campaigning and is ignoring this scandal that comes at a time where it could be the proverbial nail in his political coffin.

While in Raleigh, campaigning for his jobs bill (another government stimulus), the President said: “If you love me, you gotta help me pass this bill.” In my opinion, this is no way that any president should be talking. I had mentioned this story to a friend of mine today and she said, “Can you imagine if my husband said this in a meeting with General Motors?” This is small story, but it leads up to the bigger picture of this president’s desire to have it his way or no way. It finally defines his narcissistic way. You all know what the results of this combination is 9.1 % unemployment, more job losses, more foreclosures in fact there was a 33% jump in August and, of course, the slow dismal economic growth record.

The government’s arm of control when it comes to job creation is centered on union jobs, and public works jobs. These jobs though needed also become a drain when the tax payer and individual business’s are constantly forced to pick up the tab.

The Senate says we have to be brave, be bold and go big with a new jobs plan. I say being brave, being bold and going big would be to get government out of making jobs and deciding on who the winners are and who the losers are.

I believe we are seeing the beginning of the end of the Presidents support. A lot of the so called “no way speech” that is being aimed at the President is now coming from his own political supporters in Congress and especially the Senate where 28 seats are up for re-election next year.

The problem is that every day we are seeing the results of what happens when a president or any leader is putting self before the country. The country gets hurt and its people get hurt. It doesn’t have to be this way, because no body should pick the winners and losers, except the American consumer. After all, they are still able to spend their money the way they want. Until that day, the government needs to just stay out!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: There are winners and losers everyday. There are business startups and business closings everyday. However, the ones that always win are the ones that make it on there own, without the governments help. Just look at the stats and follow the money!

It is what it is!

2011-09-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

Wednesday – September 14, 2011

It is what it is!

A win is a win and a loss is a loss. No matter if it’s on the tennis court, golf course or baseball diamond, someone has to win. Some of us can break the rules to get a better score or we can make up an excuse about the loss just to make the blow a bit softer.

What happened in New York’s 9th district last night was a blow. It was a defeat for the President, the democratic challenger and the liberal. Bob Turner, the Republican who never held office before, won fair and square in a district that has been in democratic hands for 90 years. His message connected with many democrats and he got the Jewish vote. This election is the one that will go down as the first election that was a referendum against the President. Say what you will about last years Congressional race, that one was seen as a normal midterm with great results for the Republicans. Bush had his mid term defeat and Clinton had his, but this president really got his delivered to him last night.

The spin all day has been aimed at lessening the blow. However, as more details come out we are finding that the loss was not due to the Anthony Weiner Scandal who’s seat was vacated by his resignation which was the backdrop to yesterdays special election. No matter how you cut it, the Presidents ability to lead is hampered, if not gone. His inability to create jobs is now the issue. He is not a fighter for what makes America great, because it is his vision that has been exposed and now rejected by most Americans including democrats.

I see a trend and it is a healthy trend. I think many citizen politicians are going to be elected in this next election. The next election in 2012 will be about Main Street. I believe that many Americans see that prosperity on Main Street is gone.

I believe that the fairness that the liberal speaks of just does not exits it never has. The liberal always speaks about fair competition, but the liberal will stack the cards or change the score when they need to, to win. The fairness that liberals fight for gives the final determination in any arbitration to the Union’s and government bureaucrats who are one sided and care about one thing and that is their self interest.

I have many discussions with many people in the course of a day. They all say they want fairness and what is best for the country. Many will always go back to their old tactics and one sided view. But many are now saying hold on, I don’t want the status quo, I want something different. The election in New York’s 9th proved that people can vote for what might be right for America after all. It is what it is!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: I believe that the more citizen politicians who get involved will be the key to turning the country around. It took 80 years to get it to where it is now it might take that long to turn it around, but turn it around it will. It is what it is!

What's all the talk about?

2011-09-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday – September 13, 2011

What’s all the talk about?

I don’t know why everyone is in such a tizzy over some new statistics.

WASHINGTON - Filed: by Hope Yen of the Associated Press.

The ranks of the nation's poor swelled to nearly 1 in 6 people last year, reaching a new high as long-term unemployment woes left millions of Americans struggling and out of work. The number of uninsured edged up to 49.9 million, the biggest in over two decades.

The Census Bureau's annual report released Tuesday offers a snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for 2010, when joblessness hovered above 9 percent for a second year. It comes at a politically sensitive time for President Barack Obama, who has acknowledged in the midst of a re-election fight that the unemployment rate could persist at high levels through next year.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent, or 46.2 million, up from 14.3 percent in 2009.
Reflecting the lingering impact of the recession, the U.S. poverty rate from 2007-2010 has now risen faster than any three-year period since the early 1980s, when a crippling energy crisis amid government cutbacks contributed to inflation, spiraling interest rates and unemployment.
Measured by total numbers, the 46 million now living in poverty is the largest on record dating back to when the census began tracking poverty in 1959. Based on percentages, it tied the poverty level in 1993 and was the highest since 1983.

Broken down by state, Mississippi had the highest share of poor people, at 22.7 percent, according to rough calculations by the Census Bureau. It was followed by Louisiana, the District of Columbia, Georgia, New Mexico and Arizona. On the other end of the scale, New Hampshire had the lowest share, at 6.6 percent.

The share of Americans without health coverage rose from 16.1 percent to 16.3 percent -- or 49.9 million people -- after the Census Bureau made revisions to numbers of the uninsured. That is due mostly because of continued losses of employer-provided health insurance in the weakened economy.

Congress passed a health overhaul last year to address rising numbers of the uninsured. While the main provisions don't take effect until 2014, one aspect taking effect in late 2010 allowed young adults 26 and younger to be covered under their parents' health insurance.

Brett O'Hara, chief of the Health and Disability Statistics branch at the Census Bureau, noted that Brett O'Hara, chief of the Health and Disability Statistics branch at the Census Bureau, noted that the uninsured rate declined -- from 29.3 percent to 27.2 percent -- for adults ages 18 to 24 compared to some other age groups.

The median -- or midpoint -- household income was $49,445, down 2.3 percent from 2009.
Bruce Meyer, a public policy professor at the University of Chicago, cautioned that the worst may yet to come in poverty levels, citing in part continued rising demand for food stamps this year as well as "staggeringly high" numbers in those unemployed for more than 26 weeks. He noted that more than 6 million people now represent the so-called long-term unemployed, who are more likely to fall into poverty, accounting for than two out of five currently out of work.
Other census findings:

--Poverty rose among all race and ethnic groups except Asians. The number of Hispanics in poverty increased from 25.3 percent to 26.6 percent; for blacks it increased from 25.8 percent to 27.4 percent, and Asians it was flat at 12.1 percent. The number of whites in poverty rose from 9.4 percent to 9.9 percent.

--Child poverty rose from 20.7 percent to 22 percent.

--Poverty among people 65 and older was statistically unchanged at 9 percent, after hitting a record low of 8.9 percent in 2009.”

I wanted to be accurate, so I cut a pasted an article, which I never do, but today we must start addressing the trend that has developed over the course of many years, but now has accelerated over the course of three years.

These statistics come as a result of liberal ideals and liberal policy making. It’s been the quest of the liberal to create the perfect set of conditions so that social architecture can be performed. For many years now our deficits have swelled due to entitlement programs, large government agencies, spending and giving aid to some that take it because its there to take. This only helps to encourage the high poverty levels that we see in this report today.

Every report that contains these types of figures centers around one cause, unemployment. The statistic of 9% unemployment has lingered for two years and shows no signs of improving. This is the new norm, so I guess we are now being conditioned to get used to it.

Our Forefathers used three words continually through our founding documents. These words are; happiness, prosperity and posterity. These are the keys to solving the problems that our country faces today. Our current leaders do not understand what you and I see when we walk down Main Street. They have not demonstrated the ability of solving the problems that many of them have created on Main Street. High unemployment, high energy cost and slow economic growth are the results of bad policy. This is what has to change.

When you walk down Main Street, do you see happy faces? When you walk down Main Street, do you see signs of prosperity? Do you feel that a jobless recovery will deliver on the promise of happiness and prosperity for our posterity? Do you believe that continued government spending on false markets will deliver prosperity to us and to our posterity? When you walk down Main Street, do you see the signs of a growing economy with a growing sense of opportunity that our posterity will enjoy? Do you often wonder how our posterity will pay for the errors of those who have been engrained with the Washington experience? These are all legitimate questions that we must now start to ask and then demand solutions too.

I believe that the fight for Liberty, Freedom and Independence is ongoing. Its not that we don’t have these things any longer, it’s that we don’t have enough of these things anymore. This is the basis of how we can restore job growth, lower the cost of energy and increase economic growth which results in wealth on Main Street.

It is wealth that we are talking about. It’s the ability to create personal wealth regardless if you pump gas, cut lawns or run a business. We are all in this now and we are all being pulled down because of these statistics.

There is a term that we all have used. It’s called dumbing down. This term mainly has its roots in educational debates, but there is a reason that it can be used here. We have been dumbed down to accept the status quo. The status quo in this case is, now costing everyone. From the very rich to the very poor these statistics not only brings down our standard of living but our personal standards as well.

These figures don’t instill the one thing that will provide a healthy economy and jobs so that this kind of poverty can be reversed. That word is confidence.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: I will have confidence when the solutions come form a practical person who can lead with confidence. Then, we will be asking: what’s all the talk about?

It didn't take long:

2011-09-12T19:03:00.001-07:00

Monday - September 12, 2011

It didn’t take long:

In its entirety, I am posting what Paul Krugman wrote about 9/11. The title of his article in the New York Times is “The Conscience of a Liberal. “

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?
Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.

I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons.

First of all, Mr. Krugman has the right to speak what he thinks, what he believes and what he thinks others should hear. I do the same each day. But the difference between him and me are immense. I do not think for a minute that Mr. Krugman is a hero, nor am I. But I know that I wouldn’t run from terror, but I believe he would and then take the credit for saving the day.
Mr. Krugman has the ability, like every other liberal, to re-write history, even when the events and the proof aren’t necessarily what he says they are. The events of 9/11 were not of Commissioner Kerik’s, Mayor Giuliani’s or of President Bush’s making. In fact, the events of 9/11 can be traced back to another liberals reign and that was Jimmy Carter.

The events of 9/11 caused the death of innocence. The events of 9/11 were perpetrated out of hatred by one man and a bunch of his delusional followers. The events of 9/11 also spurred on patriotism that we hadn’t seen in decades. This is what Mr. Krugman detests. He uses the argument, “the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.” Mr. Krugman would not know what the wrong or the right reason was if it stared him in the face.

The fact of the matter is that the war on terror will not end under a liberal. It will however end when a true leader brings it to an end. That will be the day when the terrorists are no longer living. The fact of the matter is that all the most important parts of the Bush plan in conducting the war are still in place. Mr. Krugman and the President have not been able to prosecute the war in the way they would like and that is probably fortunate for this countries security.
The fact of the matter is that, when 9/11 occurred, every liberal was livid that they were not in charge, because they would have “raced to cash in on the horror.” This is one thing that I do know. Liberals will always prefer the political wedge instead of the correct wedge that will defend our liberty, our freedom and the independence that they always trade for security. It was Franklin who said: “Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.”

The title of this piece is “The Conscience of a Liberal.” I believe that this is what needs to be defeated now. Mr. Krugman, you do have freedom of speech. I wonder if you knew what it took to give you that freedom.

There is an old saying: “War is Hell”. There is another quote it goes like this: "We are bound, you, I, and every one to make common cause even with error itself, to maintain the common right of freedom of conscience.” This quote goes both ways. I believe that it can defend some bad decisions, but it will never defend a lie that you made about the people you say who cashed in on the horror of that tragic event ten years ago.

I wrote yesterday, it is best try to leave a place better than the way we found it. Mr. Krugman, I do not think you are capable. But then again, that’s the conscience of a conservative.

Unlike Mr. Krugman, I do allow comments on this post for obvious reasons.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The quote that is not attributed in this piece was authored by Thomas Jefferson. You know the guy that put into writing your right to freedom of speech! It didn’t take long for Jefferson to think that you have that right, because it was his conscience that told him you do.

It's not just another day:

2011-09-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday- September 11, 2011

It’s not just another day:

I woke up early today, at the break of dawn, to play my weekly round of golf with my pals of 25 years. We met and we shook hands in anticipation of the game that sometimes times makes a champion and always challenges your skill. The routine and the habit is what makes this part of my life something to look forward to, because it’s dependable and it never changes.

Ten years ago, others woke to the bright morning sun to go about a routine they enjoyed and never thought would change. Still others woke that morning to board planes, only have others prevent those planes from reaching their final destinations. The destination was altered by a few, only to alter many lives and a generation to come. This is why today is just not another day.

I thought about what to write today. I wanted to be prolific and at the same time demonstrate through words just how a few lawless people changed a country and took the innocence away from the generation that lost mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, friends and all. While I enjoyed my morning, I also said a prayer for those who are protecting my right and ability to wake up and play a game that I love with normalcy.

Ten years ago today, an attack took place at a point that was chosen by evil and the few that if given a chance would take the world to a place of darkness. The attack was of epic proportions and brought the world’s greatest city to a stand still. The attack brought down the worlds tallest buildings. Two twin towers that represented commerce, freedom and prosperity. Two twin towers that were constructed by the dreams of some and by the sheer sweat of many.

Ten years ago, a country that, for the most part, had an innocence of life, religion, family and friendship realized that those things might never be seen again for generations. The country and its two greatest cities became the victim of a godless attack by some that used the word of God to legitimize their actions.

John Adams wrote in his Diary and Autobiography Vol. III page 9: "Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What Utopia, what a Paradise would this region be."
Ten years ago, a new president was challenged to come to terms with a new type of attack and battlefield. A new president was challenged to get back to Washington D.C. to fight a new challenge that brought terror to two cities on this date ten years ago. One of the cities represented wealth and the other represented the free worlds base of power.

Ten years ago today, a president who was green to this type of challenge returned to the city that was the seat of power and immediately took aim at those who were responsible. He took aim while being compassionate towards the many that were of the same faith but didn’t practice the faith in the way that those who murdered did. A new president showed the restraint and the determination that only a great man could temper.

President George Bush said of the Attacks: “This enemy hides in shadows, and has no regard for life. This is an enemy who preys on the innocent and unsuspecting people, then runs for cover. But they won’t be able to run for cover forever. This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil. But good will prevail.”

That new president was the man that time and destiny chose so that a country could be saved from the hand of evil only to ensure that a way of life could be preserved. If you are looking for what is positive, this in my opinion is the answer.

The war today is still being fought on the battle field and in the hearts and souls of those who lost loved ones. We must never forget that our country and our people did not begin this war and we are not responsible for this war. But we are responsible to fight the terror and the violence that this war has created, and is continuing to threaten us with even today.

Today, we continue to hear of the stories of heroes. We continue to hear the little things that were big things for those who lost loved ones. We search for the heroes of good while the heroes of evil, to some, who are a faceless sub culture, still roam the world looking to destroy rather than to build. The story of 9/11 is the story of the heroes who built the monument of memories while living, and still continue to do so in death. It is the juxtaposition of good and evil and what side some choose to be on even in the face of death.

So, while I woke to see another sun soaked day, I remember the good and the evil the good and the bad. I remember what was transfixed in my mind and I see what the evil has taken from all of us. Many of us did not know anybody who perished that day but we have come to know their greatness as they woke to find there way through just another day.

We must continue to do our part so that our Main Street, in what ever town we live, remains free and that finds a vibrant spot for those who want to make things better than the way they found it.

The faceless enemy of evil will try to take liberty, freedom and our independence away because they do not believe in these words and do not think people should have these things let alone practice Christianity, Judaism or what ever other religion is found on the Main Streets of America. The face of evil believes in one thing, total domination and total darkness and to take the human spirit away so that it no longer is free to practice the things that make free people great.

There is something evil when you can call a political/ religious movement a franchise. There is something evil when other nations harbor such evil. The good in America will triumph - this I am sure of. The duty we have is to remain vigilant and remain committed to making things better than the way we found them.

The nation can stand proud today because the franchise of terror is broken and the leader of that franchise is no longer with us. I have an idea of where he is but to be politically correct I will not say. But to be correct in giving thanks we owe it to our military and all those who keep the beacon of freedom alive our thanks. We owe it to the memories of the innocent and the first responders who tried to make that day better than the way they found it. This is why today is just not another day.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Today and every day forward try to commit yourself to make things better than the way you found them. This is how we can remember those who are the hero’s of our Main Street!

Why today is so important!

2011-09-09T18:24:00.001-07:00

Friday – September 9, 2011

Why today is so important!

I try to bring out our history to shed a little light on the importance of some dates that have brought us the liberty, freedom and independence that we enjoy today.

On today’s date, in 1776, something grand occurred in the history of the world and our country. The Continental Congress formally declared that the name of a new nation be changed from that of the United Colonies to that of the United States.

The actual resolution read: "Resolved, That in all continental commissions and other instruments, where, heretofore, the words "United Colonies" have been used, the stile be altered, for the future, to the "United States.” These simple words led to a unique new concept in Government, self rule and the determination of a people to reject tyranny and oppression.

A resolution by Richard Henry Lee, which had been presented to Congress on June 7 and approved on July 2, 1776, issued the resolve, “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States…. “As a result, John Adams thought July 2, would be celebrated as “The most memorable epoch in the history of America.” Instead, the day has been largely forgotten in favor of July fourth, when Jefferson’s edited Declaration of Independence was adopted. That document also states, that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States. However, Lee began with the line, while Jefferson saved it for the middle of his closing paragraph.

By September, The Declaration of Independence had been drafted, signed, printed and sent to Great Britain. What Congress had declared to be true on paper in July was clearly the case in practice, as Patriot blood was spilled against the British on the battlefields of Boston, Montreal, Quebec and New York. Congress had created a country from a cluster of colonies and the nation’s new name reflected that reality.

This might be a small footnote in the history of our nation, but it remains the steadfast element of history that cannot be denied to the place that people from around the world have flocked to, to be free.

This is the key element that brought us 9/11. There is force that is bound and determined to take these United States and take the freedom that it represents away from the world our people and the greatness that we stand for.

As we prepare for the 10th anniversary observance of a day that remains fixed in our minds and the nations unique mosaic, we cannot forget the meaning of freedom, independence and liberty. In our history, our blood has been shed in the struggle to guarantee these rights. Blood has been shed in foreign lands to deliver these rights. Unfortunately, an enemy ten years ago brought death and destruction upon an innocent city that has at its entrance the symbol of freedom itself. That symbol still stands, not only in the brightness of a new dawn, but in the darkness of the day that we will forever honor. This is the important thing to remember on Sunday, September 11, 2011.

I will have a special note on Sunday. It will be my third such note that I haven’t been able to ignore. However, I will say it now, this year I fell that the observance is now being politicized by the Mayor of New York City, he has refused to let the elements that saved the day 10 years ago be a part of the day’s observance on Sunday. This type of politician is what threatens the very essence of what the struggle and celebration of freedom is all about. That is just my opinion, but then again that’s how I roll.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Freedom is something I believe in. Liberty is something that I recognize as the most important part of the struggle for our freedom. The search for Freedom and Liberty started with a Declaration that put into words the Independence that moved the world forward by the introduction of two words; United and States. Can you imagine anything less? That is why today is so important.

Just more words:

2011-09-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday – September 8, 2011

Just more words:

He spoke and he wants more money. This unfortunately was what I got out of the Presidents speech tonight.

This is a late edition of the FORUM. I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to the man that is the leader of the free world. I was stunned by how many times the president said “pass the bill” at his appearance before the Joint Session of Congress tonight. Some of what he said I can agree with; like small business tax relief for one. However, when he said raise the capital gains tax he lost me. On the one hand he wants to help, but on the other he still wants to punish. This is the reason why jobs are not being created and this is why I was disappointed. In my opinion, the only real conviction I saw was pass it now- all or nothing.

I am beginning to think that all the President and his administration wants to accomplish is to make us feel that there is activity and that the Republicans will ultimately be blamed for no activity. And that kind of activity is reason enough to not create the confidence that is needed on Main Street. Wall Street will react, in a positive way, because Wall Street is only a reflection on that day’s confidence level they have. But ask anyone on Main Street if they have confidence and if all this activity or the appearance that something is being done will actually turn things around.

The President said he has a plan, it will take more investment, and the details will come together as the plan rolls out.

His shovel ready jobs plan resulted in a laugh from him in an interview. His Healthcare plan is now being constitutionally challenged. It has just been found out that one of the original recipients of federally backed loans from the stimulus, a company called Solyndra, has filed for bankruptcy and was raided by the Feds and the Department of Energy this week. This company manufactured Solar Panels for the green industry that the President has touted for so long, as being the saving grace of America.

The reason given by Solyndra executives, explaining the bankruptcy, was that “Regulatory and policy uncertainties in recent months created significant near-term excess supply and price erosion,” Solyndra president and CEO Brian Harrison said in a statement. “Raising incremental capital in this environment was not possible. This was an unexpected outcome and is most unfortunate.”

The real words in the statement should have been - China and falling prices in the solar industry has caused the company to go belly up and consequently had to lay off 1,100 employees.
The number of the unemployed at Solyndra will be reflected in the next jobless claims report. The other part of this story is that the company executives were supporters of the President. The company was awarded federally backed loan guarantees. In 2009, the Obama administration fast-tracked Solyndra’s loan application and it awarded $535 million in guarantees from the stimulus funds. The stimulus and every other program of this president have been fast tracked and this is the result.

President Obama visited Solyndra in May 2010, heralding the company as “leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future.” He also cited it as a success story from the government’s $787 billion economic stimulus package.

“Less than a year ago, we were standing on what was an empty lot. But through the Recovery Act, this company received a loan to expand its operations,” Obama said at the time. “This new factory is the result of those loans.”

You have heard the expression “buyer beware”. This is how we must view this administrations knack for creating activity only to make it look like something has happened. Something did happen, the tax payer lost out to the tune of 535 million dollars. Unfortunately, only 45 % of the people understand it.

We don’t need more words and then an explanation on how to pay for the words in a couple of weeks. The President said he wants to see more products sold around the world with ‘Made in America’ stamped on it. That’s fine, but don’t confuse the image with the facts in the picture. Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, who has moved thousands of jobs off shore, was sitting with the First Lady in the balcony tonight. Products ‘Made in America’ start with him and he hasn’t done it. General Electric one of the nation’s largest corporations is also sitting on billions of dollars that it hasn’t paid taxes on, because the money earned was earned overseas. Just more words to make it look like activity is occurring.

Jefferson said it best, when he said to the Maryland Republicans in 1809: "The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government."

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: A president cannot just wave his hand and expect this Congress to follow. When that happened, with the old Congress, our debt soared, unemployment soared and Obama care was passed. Then, the spending occurred and occurred and occurred. There has been too much activity, because of the words that dictated it.

A look ahead!

2011-09-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

Wednesday – September 7, 2011

A look ahead!

Between today and tomorrow, we will have a presidential debate held by the Republicans and a Presidential address to a joint session of Congress on a new jobs plan.

I will look seriously at what each contender says tonight and I will listen to what the President says, as well. I believe that the Republicans will approach the jobs situation a lot differently than the President. The latest on the President’s proposal is calling for an additional 300 billion dollars in stimulus to create jobs. We should be suspect, because nothing he has proposed has worked. This is why we need to listen closely.

Today, the United States has slipped to fifth in global ranking for competitiveness. The U.S. has fallen from the top ranking in 2008 to taking a back seat to Switzerland, Singapore, Sweden and Finland. The rankings, which the forum has issued for more than three decades, are based on economic data and a survey of 1,500 business executives.

This ranking is the latest bad news for the President. He says he wants to make the U.S. a competitive nation, but with high unemployment, high debt, huge deficits and a declining public faith in government, it is becoming more and more evident that he either doesn’t want to or that he doesn’t know how.
A quote comes to mind that I have used before. Thomas Jefferson wrote to Jedidiah Morse, in 1822, after many years of public service and observation: “We are to guard against ourselves; not against ourselves as we are, but as we may be; for who can imagine what we may become under circumstances not now imaginable.”

Take these words at face value and ask yourself just what are we becoming as a nation and society. We have leaders that are elected, because they speak well. We have leaders who are elected, because they have more money to spend on campaigns. We have leaders that have occupied their respective offices for decades. Michigan has four of them, itself.

Ask yourself one question; if our politicians are allowed to continually vote one way, is it possible that what we are becoming a nation that our forefathers never envisioned would become a reality. Jefferson was worried about what we may become under circumstance not now imaginable. He didn’t envision a government that would grow and that would cost our posterity not only in un told monetary expense, but an expense of liberty and the freedom that Jefferson was part and parcel in creating.

When I view the debates tonight and listen to the president tomorrow this is the prism by which I will view these two events.

Reagan said: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” It is the future generations of Americans that will know no difference between freedom and supporting government for the sake of liberty. The true terms of what liberty and freedom mean is something that will become distorted through continued support of those who have voted for initiatives that cost our posterity.

Reagan said it best :“One thing our founding fathers could not foresee…was a nation governed by professional politicians who had a vested interest in getting re-elected. They probably envisioned a fellow serving a few hitches and then looking forward to getting back to the farm.”

It becomes necessary to view our current circumstances with guarded caution and a willingness to take the bold action that Jefferson once did and that Reagan was so apt at articulating.

A look ahead should be done while viewing what has occurred when you are being asked to make a decision on your countries future. The voting pattern of all our elected officials has created the circumstances that are not now imaginable.

If you knew that 9 % unemployment was going to be the new norm and that our world competitiveness ranking would be fifth, would you start asking the question of why and how did we get here? This is the question of the day that needs to be answered. At some point we drifted to where we should not be. At some point we need to wake up and get America back on track with new leaders that can do a better job.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Take a look ahead and start to imagine what some of the circumstances could be that are not now imaginable.

Run Jimmy Run:

2011-09-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

Tuesday – September 6, 2011

Run, Jimmy run:

The Hoffa family has had a lingering hard felt impact on American labor life. The elder Hoffa, Jimmy, was a Union organizer, he was a voice for Union workers and in the end he unwittingly helped in the down fall of American job creation.

Jimmy Hoffa was a convicted felon sent to jail and was given a pardon. His life ended early with all the mystery of a Hollywood script. His death was not of natural causes. He literally disappeared off the face of the earth from a Suburban Detroit area restaurant, which I used to dine at. Though his body has never been found, nor has the perpetrator been sentenced and jailed, many believe that his death was due to a mob hit. I am not fabricating this story.

Jimmy Hoffa was full of vitriol and hatred for big business and then Attorney General Robert Kennedy Jr. The slogan Run, Jimmy Run came about when he ran to become President of the Teamsters Union. He served as the union's General President from 1958 to 1971. He secured the first national agreement for teamsters' rates in 1964, and played a major role in the growth and development of the union, which eventually became the largest single union in the United States, with over 1.5 million members during his terms as its leader. Hoffa was convicted of jury tampering, attempted bribery and fraud in 1964. After many appeals he was imprisoned in 1967, and sentenced to 13 years, after exhausting the appeal process. It was not until mid-1971 that he officially resigned the Teamsters' presidency, an action that was part of a pardon agreement with then President Richard M. Nixon, in order to facilitate his release later that year. Nixon blocked Hoffa from union activities until 1980; Hoffa was attempting to overturn this order and to regain support. Hoffa was last seen in late July 1975, outside the Machus Red Fox restaurant in suburban Detroit. A shady time for a shady character!

Fast forward to this year’s Labor Day visit to Detroit by his son, Jimes P. Hoffa and the President of the United States. We now should have a pretty good picture of why these Unions have diminished in their stature. James P. Hoffa is the General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Hoffa was first elected during December 1998 and began office on March 19, 1999. He was re-elected subsequently during 2001 and 2006 to five-year terms.
What do these three figures have in common? They are Democrats. They are and do have President as a title. They did and still lead political machinery. They all had a roll in the demise of labor, even after they said they helped labor.

James P. Hoffa said before the President stepped onto the stage in Detroit on Labor Day, “Everybody here has a vote, if we go back and we keep the eye on the prize. Let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.” What is so wrong with this rhetoric? Can you imagine what would have happened if Mitt Romney said this in his home State of Michigan and in the city that made his family great? We can’t, because Mitt would never say anything similar to this type of rhetoric. Mitt is not responsible for the downfall of labor, jobs and Detroit like Obama and Hoffa are. Those two are birds of a feather, because they believe in the same things and if the President could have uttered those words he would have.

Hoffa said this is a war against the Tea Party. The Vice President said this is a fight for our existence. The Barbarians are at the gate. Don’t these guys understand that it was the Tea Party that gave us our seeds of freedom over 200 years ago? Today’s Tea Party did not give us the low growth, no jobs recovery, because the Tea Party does not have a leader. The Tea Party did not give us 9% unemployment because The Tea Party came into existence after the fact.
Truth be told, guys like the Hoffa’s and the President, through their policy initiatives, have destroyed jobs, industry and manufacturing in this country.

If you take the setting of Detroit, contrast that with the time Governor Romney Mitt’s father was Governor of the State of Michigan and over saw the manufacturing strength, the economic strength and the corporate strength of what Michigan and the City of Detroit represented, to what happened when Democrats and the Unions took over 40 years ago, it becomes a stark reality check. The Democratic machine and the unions are responsible for the empty shell that now defines Detroit.

Many of the Union members just do not understand how the organization and Party that protected their fathers has ruined their choice and the opportunities for their future. It was not the conservative, it is not the Republican Party or the Tea Party that has caused Detroit to become the poster child for the rot and decay we now see in our once great Cities that provided opportunity, fed families and raised great leaders.

It is the Union thugs. It is the Democratic machine that is responsible for much of the decay we see in every facet of this nation. So I say, run, Jimmy run, because you cannot run far enough or fast enough from being held accountable and answering for your role in the demise. I can say this, because I live in the suburbs of Detroit and I see it everyday.

Jimmy and Mr. President, you would be better served in your next speech to use these words: "The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government." Thomas Jefferson used these words when he addressed the Maryland Republicans in1809. I do not expect you to use or even understand these words, because you two are incapable of using these kinds of words. I can use these words, because I believe in them. That is the difference.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: This bit of history is representative of the problems we are now faced with. This bit of history is the result of forgetting the words of people like Jefferson and listening to the words of people like the Hoffa’s.

The real plan!

2011-09-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

Friday – September 2, 2011

The real plan!

On today’s date, in 1789, the U.S. Treasury Department was established by Congress.

The United States Department of the Treasury is a Cabinet department and the treasury of the United States government. It was established by an act of Congress to manage the revenue of the United States government. The Department is administered by the United States Secretary of the Treasury and the Treasurer of the United States who receives and keeps the money of the United States. The Department prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint, respectively. It also collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service.

The Office of the Treasurer is the only office in the Treasury Department that is older than the Department itself, as it was originally created by the Continental Congress in 1775. The act of Congress read:
And be it... enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to digest and prepare plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of public credit; to prepare and report estimates of the public revenue, and the public expenditures; to superintend the collection of revenue; to decide on the forms of keeping and stating accounts and making returns, and to grant under the limitations herein established, or to be hereafter provided, all warrants for monies to be issued from the Treasury, in pursuance of appropriations by law; to execute such services relative to the sale of the lands belonging to the United States, as may be by law required of him; to make report, and give information to either branch of the legislature, in person or in writing (as he may be required), respecting all matters referred to him by the Senate or House of Representatives, or which shall appertain to his office; and generally to perform all such services relative to the finances, as he shall be directed to perform.

The plan was to have a balanced approach by which the nation’s business could be conducted. In 1789, the forefathers never envisioned that the Department of Treasury would become the personal bank of Presidents and future Houses of Congress.

This weekend, the President will be putting the final touches on his new jobs plan. I do not believe that his new plan will have anything new in the way of content. He is more concerned about making the argument that will put the Republicans on the defense. He will say if you aren’t for this plan, then you are playing partisan politics. He will say in front of a joint session of Congress on Thursday night, if you aren’t with me and the millions of Americans who are for this plan then you are not American. This is the push and pull that he is banking on. The other side of the coin is just how much money is this new plan costing the bank. How will the treasury handle the needed revenue that will be required to implement and fund the plan once Congress can get its hand around the plan?

In 1789, the forefathers and Alexander Hamilton worked to put in a system that would guarantee prosperity for the nation, if a few rules were followed. Alexander Hamilton the first Secretary of the Treasury said: “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.”

The plan then was not to be excessive. Hamilton went onto say: “A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever may be its theory, must be, in practice, a bad government.”

Hamilton said of credit in his report on Public Credit January 9, 1790: “As on the one hand, the necessity for borrowing in particular emergencies cannot be doubted, so on the other, it is equally evident that to be able to borrow upon good terms, it is essential that the credit of a nation should be well established.”

You now can see the basis of the plan that was laid out more than 200 years ago. Today, the plan is to keep the Treasury and Congress borrowing to create jobs in false markets. Until the president’s plan can include what Hamilton stressed in his report on a National Bank on December 13, 1790, nothing will change: Industry is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and manufacturers flourish: and herein consists the true wealth and prosperity of a state. Another 409,000 new unemployment claims were made last week. According to the labor department there were zero (0) net jobs created in the month of August.

These words will not be part of the plan on Thursday night that is why the plan is destined to fail before it is even announced. To have a plan you must have something to say. The forefathers had a plan when they created the Treasury, they enacted it. Reagan had a plan when he inherited the same kind of jobless economy when he took office. His policies and his words inspired the country to start down the road of unprecedented growth. The question is what will the president now say? His policies have not worked. They have been rejected. He will not reject the ideology that he thinks is America.

As we prepare to celebrate the last few days of summer over the upcoming Labor Day weekend, we must celebrate all those who contribute to the nation’s wealth by their labor. We must remember what the intent of the country’s labor was meant to provide; people working and building people sharing their wealth with one another through free enterprise and freedom of choice. A tax system that is equitable with every American contributing and an America that was free of its debt and that could be thankful for its blessings.

This is a plan that we will never see because some politicians don’t want to celebrate the blessings that can keep America giving, because that would take the power from them and keep it among the people.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The most simple of plans would be to go back to the roots of what gave us our original prosperity. A plan that let’s the minds of the people work so that creativity is rewarded and industry is less regulated so that it makes it attractive for manufacturing to bring back the jobs and become the main part of the economic engine once again in the country.

A new Season:

2011-09-01T14:46:00.001-07:00

Thursday –September 1, 2011

A new season:

When the month of September rolls along, I think of one season ending and a new one beginning. I think of the long hot days of summer and the cool October days of fall that lie ahead in just four more weeks.
When September comes along we celebrate the last holiday in summer. Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Union of New York. It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with the labor movement as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike. The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation's trade unions for the past several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers' Day, because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would stir up negative emotions linked to the Haymarket Affair, which it had been observed to commemorate. All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday.
This year, Labor Day has struck an ominous tone. The Unions are making it rough for any Republican to participate in any parade down Main Street in any city in the State of Wisconsin. This was in retaliation for the state’s Governor Scott Walker, who went up against the public service employee unions to reform their benefits and salary packages. After many weeks of protests and an absentee Senate, the Governor won the battle. Is this peaceful dissent by a so called peaceful union? Is this fair play and fair treatment that the unions demand from their employers? The Governor was elected by the will of the people to do just what he did. Doesn’t this matter anymore?
The other side of the labor story is the number of unemployed Union workers and non union workers who contribute to the total number of 9% unemployment in the country. We all know the true number is higher, but true accounting is never done by the government. Many people have fallen off the government’s statistics of being unemployed, because they don’t qualify for unemployment benefits anymore and are not counted. Some states have in excess of 16% unemployment.
On yesterday’s date, a year ago, the president was promising that a new jobs plan was in the works. He said he had his people on it. A year later, on today’s date, the president is saying the same thing. He will have a new plan that he will discuss with the nation next week. The exact date is yet unknown, because he wanted to address a joint session of Congress to announce it. John F. Kennedy said: “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.”

On today’s date, in 1752, the Liberty Bell arrived in Philadelphia. It wasn’t hung until a year later, but it was still a symbol that would have to be reckoned with in future years. Why is this important today’s FORUM? I had a conversation recently with some one that didn’t quite get the connection with Liberty and the Bell. I explained it the best I could and I believe I connected with that individual after the story. I went on to say that Liberty is everything. We couldn’t have our national celebrations, without liberty. We couldn’t be free to assemble and make our opinions know, without our liberty. The list went on and the discussion went onto other areas of freedom and independence, because liberty is also connected to these things as well. After all, there is the old saying, “give me liberty or give me death.”

It used to be that we were free to go out and find a job. We were free to quit one job for another job. It use to be that the free enterprise system practiced liberty and freedom and independence before regulations forced the work place to conform to federal regulations on who to hire, or hire certain people if you want federal assistance and federal contracts. There were a lot of things that used to be that are no longer.

This is why, on this particular Labor Day, it is important to take a stand on what you want to change for next Labor Day. The political season usually starts on Labor Day. It becomes a singular moment for many when they finally get a look at who they will vote for. We are a year out from next year’s political decisions. Take this year and this holiday to start with a plan review the President’s record and review the Senate’s record. You might find out that the House Record is not so bad after all.

There will be a new season to enjoy this year, its right around the corner. Take some time to enjoy this Labor Day. If you have a job, be thankful. If you don’t have a job, consider coming up with a new plan that will get you that new job.

Remember, the President will have a new jobs plan next week. I am sure that if it was left up to you to come up with a new plan, it would be a plan that would work a lot better than the ones we have seen so far from this President. After all, Labor Day is the holiday we celebrate labor.

John F. Kennedy, believe it or not, was conservative in many ways. He had a sense of history and a sense of being. He said:

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Sometimes we should revert back to things that worked well so that the nation can go back to work - as Kennedy said: “Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” This is the start of a new season!

What do you want to hear?

2011-08-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

Wednesday – August 31, 2011

What do you want to hear?

Many of us just want to go through life living it and enjoying it. I have to admit that I am one of them.

Many of us come home at night only to turn off the news and put on the Food Channel. We do this to escape the reality of life and to leave our problems at the door step. I have to admit that I would like to do that most nights, but I don’t.

My search for the truth is one that never stops. I research the facts, I listen to the pundits and I listen to whichever Congressman or Senator that is interviewed. Like many, who do the same, I know that at the end of each interview I am a little more skeptical and a little more confused.

There is an appetite that is now brewing among many voters who just don’t want the spin anymore. They don’t want the partisan politics and they don’t want leaders to blame past administrations on their lack of performance.

As we enter the Labor Day holiday this year, we will also be observing the 10 year mark of 9/11. I will never use the word celebrate to describe the events of 9/11. There is nothing to celebrate. Except to honor the day and the holiday that will forever precede the 9/11 observance.

The administration has released a memo that wants this year’s observance of 9/11 not to be “just about us.” There is now a debate of how we as a nation should start to observe this date. Some of us want to feel the sorrow and some of us obviously want to move on. If we diminish the day and the observance then we diminish the true facts behind the attacks and start to ignore true horror that some men can create.

For those who want to move on turn on the Food Channel. For those who want to observe the day go ahead and do it your way. But don’t let anyone tell you that you shouldn’t or maybe its time for you to move on.

Are you comfortable with the change that this White House wants to see when the date of 9/11 comes along on the calendar? Are you comfortable with the change that this White House has made in just about every aspect of our lives? Are you comfortable with being told that you must get along just to go along?

The truth is there is a reason why this White House is now trailing behind its own low numbers and there is a reason why this White House is losing in key battleground states like Florida, Ohio and Virginia. The truth is people in these states have already made the decision about what they want to hear.

When we don’t hear the words of loyalty to the flag or loyalty to the themes of American life, we lose. When we don’t hear the words of praise for those who protect, us we lose. When we don’t hear about how the attack of 9/11 was aimed at us, we lose.

The 9/11 observance and the observance of Pearl Harbor are two seminal events in our history that should never change in tone or in their impact on the nation. In both cases the nation went to war, in both case heroes rose from obscurity. We should embrace these days and embrace the ones that continue to fight for us. We should remember why these events occurred and find ways to prevent them from occurring again. Changing the tenor or the tone of how we observe the day will do nothing to prevent these events from happening again. Changing the tenor and the tone will in all likelihood encourage others to commit similar acts of horror.

When we ignore the things that bind us like patriotism, like a common day of remembrance and the solemn tone that some want us to change then we lose the identity that was frozen in time as the towers collapsed. We should never forget, no matter who wants us to or who says we should not make it “just about us.”

The President wants us to change our view of 9/11. One man who will never change his view, because he lived 9/11 everyday of his presidency was George Bush. He said two things that we should remember:

“Americans are rising to the tasks of history, and they expect the same of us.”
George W. Bush

“Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.”
George W. Bush

You tell me. What do you want to hear?

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Listen to your gut. It will tell you all you need to hear about a person, a candidate and even an enemy. Listen to your gut. Mine tells me to leave 9/11 alone for the sake of those who can’t.

One man, one woman-one incident!

2011-08-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

Tuesday – August 30, 2011

One man, one woman- one incident!

Yesterday, I wrote about the National Purpose. I brought into focus many events that took place on August 29 throughout our history and that had an affect on the nation’s National Purpose. From the known to the unknown, a man or a woman a boy or a girl, have all contributed to the National Purpose when called upon or when single events dictated their service.

The story of our National Purpose will never end. It might change in depth and meaning, but the diary of our history is destined to go on.

I was watching the National Geographic Channel production of George Bush’s interview about 9/11. I watched and I thought about my impressions and the visions I witnessed on that day. Like millions, I was mesmerized by the visions of the terror I saw.

That night, I wrote the President a letter. I am sure that some staffer read it and maybe the President did, too. However, I would not blame him if he didn’t. That is not important to today’s story, but the words I wrote are. I do not have a hard copy, because I sent it e-mail to the White House website, but the words I used reflected my thoughts about how some of us are placed at the doorsteps of history. I remember saying I don’t think you wanted this, but you are now making history – all I could say was God’s speed as you write a page in history.

As we approach the ten year mark of 9/11, I will remember the sights the sounds and the anguish of those that lost someone that day. I will also remember how the president reacted and acted in the following days to bring about what the National Purpose was on that day, that week that month and the subsequent years of the Bush Presidency.

True greatness should never be sought. It should be measured by how that greatness affected people and the common purpose of those that serve or those that volunteer selflessly in times of disaster and in time of need. This was brought into light, as the President visited the site of the fallen towers and addressed the nation and all those that were working to clear the site. He was able to find the words with bull horn in hand and an arm around a fireman who was just there at that moment to bring focus on the National Purpose.

Those sounds and sights are what some of us remember and what some choose to forget, because it wasn’t their guy standing on that heap of destruction getting all the attention.

As I watched the coverage of Hurricane Irene and heard the President and the left say you will have the money to rebuild. The right was following with spoken caution about where those funds would come from. The word is the Congress will deliver, but other budgets will have to suffer, as a consequence.

When I consider the ongoing cost of 9/11, the escalating cost of Hurricane Katrina and now Irene I cannot fault the people who demand that the government assists in the rebuilding of the hard hit areas with timely aid. President Bush said of 9/11, “this is how war will be fought in the 21st century.” While hurricanes hit land, FEMA is usually on the ground ready to give aid when its time. The aid is always at the discretion of Congress and always gets caught up in the politics that follow the funding requests.

We all have our opinions of how 9/11 occurred. We all have our opinions on how these super hurricanes come to be. Isn’t it time that we now have the same opinion on how the country pays for disasters when they occur? Shouldn’t it be part of the National Purpose to do so now?

In my opinion, there should be a super fund to provide the necessary money to fund the rebuilding after these disasters occur. This disaster relief fund should be proposed as other unnecessary budgets should be cut or eliminated. In addition, the principal of baseline budgeting should be eliminated and year to year fiscal budgeting be put in its place. The notion that we did it this way last year has to change. A super fund can be designed to keep the funds intact and to grow the funds from year to year. This super fund should be kept separate from any other governmental funding program. This super fund can provide the flexibility needed and it can be designed to take the politics out of rebuilding areas that are devastated by man or by nature.

When government takes on the role of giving aid it should do so in a responsible way, so that one man or one woman can provide the direction in giving aid when and where it’s needed the most. Congress can manage the money. They can make the budgetary recommendations from year to year and they can approve the money going in and going out. But Congress and the President and other politicians should not be allowed to play the politics when our National Purpose is to provide safety and to provide a quick path back to normalcy.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Shouldn’t we do as much as we can to promote the National Purpose with using the best possible methods and providing the best possible services? Sometimes all it takes is one man or one woman with a common purpose to do just that.

The National Purpose:

2011-08-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

Monday - August 29, 2011

The National Purpose:

When I think of what The National Purpose means I conjure up visions of past history, the great feats of America and the accomplishments of great Americans that are known and greater Americans that are unknown who have all added to the greatness of a nation and the country’s National Purpose.

On today’s date, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused severe damage to the Gulf Coast killing 1,836 people who were, in the end, a part of the National Purpose in their own way. As a nation, we searched for the reason why, only to end up criticizing some and not blaming others when the National Purpose was questioned.

This weekend the country’s East Coast was ravaged by yet another Hurricane called Irene - that was downgraded into a tropical storm of immense size as it entered New York City. Lives were lost and property was damaged. Our leaders called for unity, as the National Purpose, this weekend in the wake of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 while the storm was gaining in strength.

We should not have to be reminded to search for our National Purpose in the wake of any disaster. Shouldn’t National Purpose be a part of our every day Common Purpose?

On today’s date, in 1982, George Brett got his 1,500 hit. This added to the National Purpose, as another accomplishment by another great American baseball player. This feat added to the simple landscape of what America is.

In 1968, on today’s date many unknown Democrats added to the National Purpose to change history as they nominated Hubert H. Humphrey as their presidential candidate. The convention was held in Chicago amid mass rioting and protesting all of which was a part of a changing National Purpose by unknown faces. Never the less, greatness rose to calm the day to only reaffirm the National Purpose.

On this date, in 1965, Astronauts Cooper and Conrad completed 120 Earth orbits in Gemini 5 setting a record in space travel that would further define America’s National Purpose after President Kennedy put forth an initiative to conquer space itself by going to the moon. He wouldn’t live to see it but he knew his words defined the National Purpose for generations of explorers and adventurers with dreams to come. In 1991 on this date, his son John F. Kennedy Jr. won his first court case as a young lawyer. The Kennedy family rose from obscurity to become the family that would define the nation’s version of Camelot. They defined again what the National Purpose was.

In 1966, on today’s date the Beatles performed their last public concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The British Invasion created what the National Purpose was for millions of young admirers. Years later the National Purpose was recognized by the timeless tunes of a timeless era.

In war, our National Purpose is always questioned for the moral value, but in the end war is defined by the generals, the colonels, the majors, the sergeants and the privates who go in harms way to protect and define what our National Purpose is. On today’s date, in 1945, General MacArthur was named Supreme Commander of Allied Powers in Japan. He is known for his words that defined the National Purpose, “I shall return”, because he did. The National Purpose then was to defend the weak, by winning the war that brought our National Purpose to bear.

On today’s date, in 1862, the Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) began. The Civil War was fought to define a National Purpose over States Rights and the freedom of millions. On today’s date, almost a century later, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was passed by Congress. This ended the question of how our National Purpose was limited to some Americans. On today’s date, in 1990, Saddam Hussein declared “America can't beat Iraq”. In the end, American soldiers beat back the forces that threatened our National Purpose.

In 1776, on today’s date the Americans withdrew from Manhattan to Westchester as our National Purpose was only beginning to be tested in ways that our enemies would only come to fear in future years. On August 29, 1786, Shays Rebellion in Springfield, Massachusetts began. Shays Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebels, led by Daniel Shays and known as the Shaysites (or Regulators), were mostly small farmers angered by crushing debt and taxes. Any failure to repay these debts often times resulted in imprisonment in a debtor’s prison or the claiming of property by the state. A Massachusetts militia was raised as a private army to defeat the Shaysites on February 3 of 1787. However, there was a lack of an institutional response to the uprising, which energized calls to reevaluate the Articles of Confederation and gave strong impetus to hold the Constitutional Convention, which began in May of 1787.
The United States may be unique, because it was formed as a voluntary association of States based on declared moral principles. These moral principles are known today as our National Purpose. Our National Purpose was also guaranteed in a Constitution that was new to the world.
The National Purpose is all around us. We don’t have to look for it and we don’t have to wait for disaster to rekindle it. All we have to do to see it is to walk down Main Street. We see it in our grocer’s face, as he practices commerce. We see it in the mailman’s face, as he works to deliver the mail in the rain, the sleet and the snow. We see it the fireman’s face and the policeman’s face, as they bravely deliver the public service. We see it as the old are tended to and the young are nurtured. We can celebrate the National Purpose by reading the names of those who were lost in war at our town’s memorials. We see the National Purpose as we maintain a set of morals that are based on a set of laws that bring civility and peace to our town squares. If you have any doubts, you can read about the National Purpose in our nation’s founding documents.

No matter how we are tested, be it by another man’s dangerous thoughts or be it the danger that nature sometimes delivers, our National Purpose should never be doubted, should never be politicized and can never be forgotten, because history is the diary of the National Purpose. Today, take that walk down Main Street and open your eyes. The National Purpose is right in front of you.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: America’s National Purpose will sometimes be questioned. Americans have that right, because it is a part of our set of morals to do so. The best part of the National Purpose gives us the morals to know when to question them and when to use them.

The cost of doing business!

2011-08-26T19:02:00.001-07:00

Friday – August 26, 2011

The cost of doing business!

I know you all have heard the term, the “cost of doing business”. Some of you have probably used it. When I have, it usually has been said after great deliberation. However, some just say it, because they think they have nothing to lose, because things will work out in the end. Some who spend other people’s money might say it, because they are not paying the bills.

When the attitude of those who work in government say it’s the” cost of doing business”, then it becomes an issue, because it becomes our problem. This week, I have been talking about the cost of what happens when government through its agencies enacts regulations. I wrote about the seeds of freedom and about finding the common ground.

I started the week with discussing what the liberal plan is going forward. It is no surprise that the liberal plan is to demonize and practice the politics of personal destruction. Congresswoman (D – CA) Maxine Waters started it when she said, "As far as I'm concerned, the Tea Party can go straight to hell." These words are the worst kind of words that an elected official can use. I guess its okay when someone who isn’t an elected official uses them, but when they do, the real picture of what we should be looking at becomes clouded. This is also part of the plan.

The president is vacationing this week on Martha’s Vineyard. This is a special place, because it is a resort town on the East Coast. It’s actually an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Many in the town who live there year round depend on the seasonal tourist trade. This year hasn’t been so good. Main Street on the island now has empty store fronts and the towns folk have found themselves out of work and in some cases out of business.

I do not fault the President to take some family time. This is part of the President’s job, too. Sometimes going on vacation is just the “cost of doing business”. Many in business find a way to write off vacations and many in business use a place like the Martha’s Vineyards as a way of doing business.

This was the choice the President made when a budget of about 10 million dollars was created for the presidential vacation. My only comment is: Martha’s Vineyards is the home to many liberals. The Vineyards usually will welcome a fellow liberal, some did this week and some were cool towards their visitor. The real issue here is how could that10 million dollars have been better used? Could it have been used to pay down the National debt? Could it have been used to invest in education? Could it have been used to help the poor people on the island to open up the empty store fronts that were closed? Could it have been used to help prop up more social welfare? The answer to this and many more questions is yes!

The “cost of doing business” was on full display this week. The President had some downtime on the golf course, the president went shopping and the president worked. He visited the CEO of Comcast. He met with advisors to draft up another jobs bill and came up with another idea of how to save the housing industry, by encouraging yet more low interest government backed loans to homeowners who are still in trouble with their mortgages. The “cost of doing business” was put on display this week when Warren Buffet bought 5 billion dollars of Bank of Americas stock; 50,000 shares to be exact. The bank has been hard hit by its holdings of tainted mortgages. The problem with housing is that when these stock sales occur and the government artificially props up the housing market instead of letting it hit bottom by itself and rebound by itself the cost of doing business becomes far more expensive.

417,000 jobs were lost last week. The economy hit a dead spot in mid July and the unemployment rate is now stuck at 9%. Couple that with the governments own forecasts this week which indicated a new era for America. It seems that the New Era in America is headed for continued low growth and high unemployment for the foreseeable future. Last month the country experienced 1 % in economic growth. This is the result of when the government takes the attitude of this is the “cost of doing business”.

While the East Coast is bracing for Hurricane Irene the “cost of doing business” will go up, because the hurricane will be blamed for all the bad news next week. The high unemployment figures, a downed market and yet more bad economic news will be used by the President as another excuse. The “cost of doing business” will again be on display, because someone will ask who’s going to pay.

Every week I end the FORUM with a quote. Today, I have a series of quotes from Jefferson himself. These quotes all relate to what I have written this week. Take the time to consider the words and then ask yourself who is right and who is wrong. Why is Main Street hurting and what is the cause? Is the loss of freedom and liberty something that we should fight or is that loss of liberty and freedom is just the “cost of doing business”?

Take a walk down Main Street this weekend and ask yourself those questions. Then, consider these words.

Jefferson on the Constitution:
“On every question of construction [of the Constitution] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or intended against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”

Jefferson on the issue of today:
“The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.”

Jefferson on Government:
“The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the States are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign affairs. Let the General Government be reduced to foreign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce, which the merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves, and our General Government may be reduced to a very simple organization, and a very inexpensive one; a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants.”

Jefferson on Taxes”
“Taxes should be continued by annual or biennial reenactments, because a constant hold, by the nation, of the strings of the public purse is a salutary restraint from which an honest government ought not wish, nor a corrupt one to be permitted, to be free.”

Jefferson on the economy and debt:
“I, however, place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.”

Jefferson on the value of the industrious:
“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.”

Jefferson on Liberty:
“Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.”

Jefferson on Democracy:
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

Jefferson on Prosperity, or what the cost of doing business should be:
“The happiness and prosperity of our citizens is the only legitimate object of government.”

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Finding these quotes was an easy thing to do, but applying them to our everyday life is something entirely different. The true “cost of doing business” lies somewhere in the words that I am ending the week with and asking you to consider.

A vote of no confidence:

2011-08-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

Thursday – August 25, 2011

A vote of no Confidence:

The President said, on July 3, 2008 that then President George Bush, “has a credit card from the bank of China, in the name of our children”, while he was complaining about the 4 trillion dollars that Bush had added to the National Debt during his entire 8 year presidency. He was campaigning against the spending and the waste then.

Fast forward 3 years and you will find that the President has added 4 trillion in his presidency so far in his first term. The CBO announced that there would be another trillion dollars added to the debt next year alone. So, let’s get this straight. President Bush added 4 trillion dollars in 8 years and this president has added 4 trillion dollars in just under his first three years and counting. This is an important scenario and one that should be highlighted whenever the economy is discussed. This is the reason the economy is not moving forward.

The CBO came out yesterday and announced that unemployment would be at a rate of 8.5 % for the next three years. This, coupled with the debt that keeps on soaring, is why many of the CEOs in the country are starting to give the President a vote of no confidence.

The Democrats were trying to make George Bush a one term President. They failed. Now the Democrats are complaining that the Republicans and the Tea Party are trying to make Obama a one term President. What’s the difference? There is no difference, it’s just the politics. But one thing does remain clear. The president campaigned on his theory of how economics works and he is now being proved wrong. This is why it is OK to give a vote of no confidence now.

The CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schults, has asked other CEO’s of great American companies not to give campaign donations to anyone in elected office until the balance sheet is cleared. I give this a vote of confidence. This is the start of a movement that should be encouraged. People donate large amounts of money to politicians for two reasons: access and influence. If more people would do the same as Schults is asking for then the influence and access that is gained through political donations will come to a halt. Maybe then people will get the message that it’s not about partisanship, it should be about citizenship.

The vote of no confidence is being felt in every corner of the economy lately. The president is meeting with business leaders for suggestions on what to do. What the president should be doing is meeting with those of us who are self employed and who run small businesses on Main Street to get a perspective of why there is a no confidence vote.

Part of the vote of no confidence is due to government regulations that hamper business growth and jobs growth. The CBO just came out with a new figure regulations are now 10% of GDP. I hate to be so dry with the figures I used yesterday and today, but these figures tell a story and these figures are the reason why there is now a vote of no confidence.

The EPA is about to come out with new regulations that would have been put into law if the Congress passed the cap and trade legislation. The EPA is usurping Congress and their ability to vote down bad legislation. The EPA will now add these regulations that will cost American industry billions. This money will go up the smoke stacks instead of down the drain.

The CBO just announced that there will be a reduction of 10 billion dollars in regulations, while the EPA and other agencies will enact new regulations that total 9.5 billion dollars in new cost to business. Where is the savings, it’s just a wash. There are new regulations on the amount of dust that can be allowed in the air, there are new regulations on the height of fences on cattle farms. These type of regulations tie business up instead of freeing business up to expand and create jobs.

There are 6.2 million Americans that have been out of work for 6 months. 7.33 million Americans are collecting unemployment insurance. In 2011 the Obama administration has proposed 340 new regulations at the cost of 65 billion dollars to business. No wonder there is a vote of no confidence. A new poll says that only 26% of Americans now favor how the president is handling the economy. This number is the lowest it has ever been. 2.4 million Job’s have been lost since the president took office a new record of job losses in any presidency. And we are supposed to be patient while we are told that things will work out. This administration is the first in 100 years to have more academics than business people among the ranks of advisors and cabinet members. Maybe this is part of the problem and another reason to give a vote of no confidence.

With all these new figures we are still not looking at the regulations that will be added into the economy under Obama-care and the new Dodd - Frank banking regulations bill that hasn’t even taken affect yet. One question I have is why is it possible that Chris Dodd and Barney Frank are still able to write new legislation when it was their original legislation that caused all this economic uncertainty in the first place?

There will be at least 59 more months of 8.5% or more unemployment that the CBO report is now projecting. The CBO also said that an additional 3 trillion dollars will be added to the debt on top of the 4 trillion the president has already accumulated. On July 3rd of 2008, the president said the amount of debt that has been accumulated under Bush was “irresponsible and unpatriotic.” I will use these words to describe this administration now.

I will use these words as a way to describe the administrators that legislate through the offices they hold in the bureaucracies such as the EPA that make law through the regulations they enact. The Congress is the only body in the government that can make law. Our government was originally designed through the system of checks and balances to prevent the things that are happening today in these agencies. I proposed a plan last week that would audit every agency and the charters that put them in business originally. What I think we would find would be the root of how government grows and how our money has literally disappeared.

A vote of no confidence on the part of every American has to be taken now so that our entire government goes through the house cleaning process that is now needed. This is why we must vote in new Representatives that are wise and realize just how prosperity works and how to grow the prosperity that is needed to take the government back from the few that regulate and that stealthily has taken our freedoms away.

When government and the people who operate the government through administrative functions consolidate ideology and start to legislate we must be prepared to call them “irresponsible and unpatriotic” and we must be prepared to take a vote of no confidence.
Jefferson wrote to Gideon Granger in 1800: "I do verily believe that a single, consolidated government would become the most corrupt government on the earth."
Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Let’s stimulate the patriotic forces necessary to make a no confidence vote and rid the agency bureaucrat and the politicians from the offices they hold. This is the only way that will ensure that our government serves us and not the bureaucracies that now rule our lives.

Just what is Common Ground?

2011-08-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Wednesday – August 24, 2011

Just what is Common Ground?

It takes leadership to find the common ground and to find solutions.

The left seems to be rigid and the right seems to be the ones that always bend. But with the left it is never enough. The right might have the best solutions; they might have the fairest solutions. The right might even have as some polls show the solutions that most Americans agree with.

But with the left it is never enough, because they just can’t get over the idea that some people in life have a rougher time than others. They can’t get over the fact that some have more money than others. They can’t get over the fact that some would give their wealth to help some others that they want to help, instead of what the government says should be the ones to help. They can’t get over the fact that we have a system that rewards individual excellence.

When an administration believes that a system that rewards individual excellence is flawed, then an atmosphere is created that does not provide for the proper leadership to do the things that are required to find the common ground and negotiate for a common ground.

When leadership is absent, the ability to find common ground is also absent. The President is meeting with Warren Buffet, the billionaire, and Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford Motor Co., to discuss what needs to be done on the job front. In other words, how can we create jobs in this economy? When a President of the United States continually meets with business leaders and gets the same answers, but packages those answers in combination with his theories and ideology, common ground still cannot be found. Warren Buffet is a one of the wealthiest men in the world. He believes that the super rich should pay more. So that advice will only bolster the President’s belief on who should pay more in taxes. The increase in revenue that will result from the rich paying more is miniscule and will only disappear into the entitlement abyss.

There is no doubt that a safety net must exist in this country. For instance, the safety net of Social Security was intended for short term relief when it was created. However, the left made it into the bureaucracy it is today so that tax dollars would fund the growing entitlement and every thing else under the sun. In time, like everything else the government manages, it grows into something it was never intended to be. Social Security is now a retirement benefit and/or a way of life. If the money that had been put into Social Security over time was untouched and still there, based on the original charter, it would be fully funded and it could handle the pay out to the baby boomers that are now entering the system daily. However, the government via the President and the Congress over time has raided the fund to the point that it will be broke by 2017. This is what government does. This is the model of the left. Healthcare will be no different, when it becomes a bureaucracy.

The model of job growth that the president will propose on September 5, will be just another government sponsored program with the rich paying their fair share. When the rich are required to pay their fair share it registers with those who want government aid and who want the government to provide for the masses. In other words the government is doing its job!

The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently came out with these statistics. In 1960, government spending was 27% of the nations GDP. Now the government spends 37% of our GDP. In 1980 the National Debt was 42% of the nations GDP. Now the National Debt is 100% of our GDP. The Tax Foundation recently published these statistics. In1986, 18% of the population paid negative or no tax. Today, 51% pay negative or no tax.

The solution is to view all entitlements as safety nets. The cost of these entitlements go up, because of fraud and because many who do not need the benefits collect them, because its law. Instead of asking the super rich to pay their fair share why not ask them to opt out of the entitlements altogether?

Many participants should be means tested and be given benefits based on their economic need and there income level at retirement. In other words if someone was fortunate to make millions during their careers their benefits might not be as much as those who were not as fortunate. We should not penalize someone if they want to work past the legal retirement age either. If they produce, they will be contributing to the economy.

Instead of another jobs plan that will cost more in tax payer dollars and do nothing to cure the spending and entitlement problem, we should be demanding that the government spend our money more wisely before they ask the rich or upper middle class to pay more in taxes. If we place wise, practical and experienced people in elected positions, then common ground can once again be attained over time.

The Politicians of today are nothing less than theoreticians. A wise experienced person would look at entitlements and see that the premise was good, but also see that the current programs really don’t help those that need it most today. A wise and experienced person would take an objective view of spending and realize that it can no longer be supported without reforms that would make entitlements a safety net instead of a way of life. In time, the entitlement crowd would become producers and tax payers, if they were given the means to wean themselves from government sponsored programs. In time, the entitlement crowd would come to see the benefits of being prosperous contributors.

The means are a simple thing called a job and a career. The means are a simple thing called a pro growth economy that encourages investment in business and in people. In time, if 100% of the people who worked paid their fair share we could have the safety net as it was originally intended by some wise people who were once office holders and who had the compassion to provide a short term benefit to the people by a limited government.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: You see common ground can be achieved, if we follow the original plan. This also includes the original plan of those who created the Constitution so that common ground could be achieved.

The open rebellion!

2011-08-23T04:58:00.001-07:00

Tuesday – August 23, 2011

The open rebellion!

On today’s date, in 1775, King George III proclaimed the colonies to be in open rebellion.

This was the preverbal slap in the face to the American colonies and to all Americans who had gotten behind the Olive Branch Petition that was sent to the King as a petition for peace. The petition assured the King that the Americans would remain loyal subjects and had no desire for independence, as long as their grievances were satisfactorily addressed. The Americans were represented by Richard Penn and Arthur Lee who had presented the petition to the Secretary of State for the American Colonies, Lord Dartmouth. It was two days later that King George issued his most famous proclamation. This is one of the last actions that persuaded many wavering American colonists that the King was actively seeking to destroy their God – given rights, which ultimately led to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence that was presented to the King the next year.

As I read about the Olive Branch petition and have related in past months important pieces of the history behind the Declaration, it dawned on me that we are still fighting for Independence and our God-given rights today.

It dawned on me that our government is calling for support from all sides to demonize the Tea Party and anybody who seems to be an extremist for the side of liberty. Yesterday, I wrote about Maxine Waters who said of the Tea Party, "As far as I'm concerned, the Tea Party can go straight to hell." Who was she addressing? For the most part, she was addressing some Americans who seem to think that their God- given rights entitle them to be the recipients of the redistributive policies that Ms. Waters supports.

Just as the early patriots were considered extremists, the patriots today should be proud and should be vocal in what they believe. Members of Congress, like Maxine, have been around far too long. I am sure that their intentions were noble when they first got into the game, but their intentions now are far from noble. The old style politician like Maxine does not and cannot represent the concerns of the majority of Americans who now understand just what is at stake.

Representatives who continue to call the modern day patriots extremists and who intimate that they are in open rebellion are no worse than the proclamation that King George issued 236 years ago.

The debate today is about ideas. The King’s ideas were far different than that of the patriots who wanted peace, through satisfaction of their grievances. The Tea Party members, the social conservatives, the fiscal conservatives, everyone who wants to reign in the government footprint and to reduce government spending, are communicating their ideas. Their ideas are not so far from the ideas that the early colonists asked King George to listen to and to act upon.

To differentiate the tax and spend group from the reduce tax and reduce spending group you must look at who the groups are represented by and what promises have been made.

You must also realize that many of the promises that have been made have not been delivered by representatives like Maxine Waters. Her quest has been to fight against those who have the wealth. Her quest has been to take the wealth from that group and give the wealth to the group she represents. The dirty little secret is Maxine has acquired wealth, as a result of the power she has been able to build over the years. Her supporters will never admit that, because their goal is to rob from the future to pay those in the present and pretend Maxine’s wealth does not exist.

It’s not a sophisticated idea to take wealth and redistribute it. However, it is sophisticated to use government for the services government should provide, and let private industry and private sponsorship develop the answers to the needs of the local community. The thoughts of the patriots were sophisticated because they knew the value of what limited government could provide. They knew that with limited government wealth could be generated and wealth would be passed down because of the independence they had.

Today the groups that believe they are entitled to the wealth of the nation don’t know what independence means, because some in government have prevented the idea of independence to take root. When this happens the essential values of America have been purposely lost for political value and political expediency.

You have heard the term “the seeds of freedom”. We cannot grow those seeds while subsidizing the liberty and independence that if let alone would grow freedom by itself. I believe that this was the true meaning behind the open rebellion that the patriots fortunately were accused of.

Today it’s okay to be accused of the same things that those who wrote the Olive Branch petition were accused of. If history repeats itself, representatives like Maxine Waters will in the end be defeated like King George III was. When this happens independence will give the light to the seeds of freedom. The quest for freedom spawned the tree of liberty that we knew would never die.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: I am pleased to think that I am in open rebellion, I speak what I think and I believe in what the early patriots fought for. To me that is a badge and a label to be proud of.

The Plan!

2011-08-22T05:49:00.001-07:00

Monday - August 22, 2011

The Plan!

There is a plan to solve the economic problems in the country. There is a plan to solve the political problems in the country. There is a plan to solve the immigration problems in the country. There is a plan to solve the unemployment problems of the country.

The plan is to blame the Tea Party. It’s an easy plan, because there is no single person to blame, except for a group of people who want to reduce the size of government and to reduce the size of the Federal Deficit. The current plan is what they object to. The current plan going forward is to keep borrowing for the increased spending habits of the Federal Government.

All the Democratic talking points are to now blame the Tea Party for the countries ills. The Democrats are saying that the Tea Party held the budget process hostage while the debate of the debt ceiling took center stage three weeks ago. Honestly can 1/8 of 1/3 of the government hold the budget process hostage in the 8 months they have served? They can’t, but the new talking points register with many voters, because the voter wants to be able to blame the other guy as being the problem.

Over the weekend Congress Woman Maxine Waters (D) California said: "As far as I'm concerned, the Tea Party can go straight to hell." The crowd, reportedly "more than 2,000 people," cheered her statement. The Congress Woman went on to say “I am not afraid of the big bad wolf.” Her comments were made at a rally in Englewood California in front of members of SEIU union members. The Congresswoman is under investigation for allegedly violating House rules by improperly intervening with federal officials on behalf of a local bank, One United Bank that her husband owned stock in and once sat on the board of directors. It’s not clear yet what would be contained in a Statement of Alleged Violations if the investigative subcommittee determines she acted improperly. Apart from the ethics violations investigation, I contend that her votes over the past 18 years have contributed to the debt and budget problems we have today.

The plan that the Tea Party rejects will not cure the country, the plan Maxine Water’s supports will only divide the country further and put the country further into the hole.

Whether you slice it or dice it, the Tea Party has not caused the economic problems that we have today. The problems we face today are a result of policies that have occurred over the course of the last 80 years. These economic problems are now the cause for uncertainty in just about every aspect of every American’s lives. It affects the discussion on taxes, it affects the discussion over immigration and it affects how unemployment is addressed going forward in the country.

Look back in history and find out for yourself when government started to grow and for what purpose. Find out when the federal budget started to grow exponentially. In the course of 80 years the American people have displayed needs, but have not paid attention to how those needs were being addressed. We have blamed and we have listened to what we wanted to listen to. We have let it happen to ourselves with the people we elect and how we view the performance of the people we elect. We have put self interest over the country’s needs.

We have allowed presidents to overrule the policies of Congress. We have allowed Congress and past administrations to create new laws that are, in many cases, unconstitutional and that don’t follow the blue print of what the forefathers set in motion. This is a result of pandering and yielding to special interests that work against the common good. Every time a right or a policy is diluted from its original intent certain freedoms are affected. Freedoms are violated for political correctness. Political correctness has diluted the national spirit of retaining what are time honored traditions and time tested correct paths.

The voices of those who want to bring back the correct paths as a way to solve the issues of today are now being demonized by an administration who wants to keep the current problems the issues going forward. The plan is to demonize and not to offer real solutions. Just listen to the talking points. If real solutions were offered, support would become the norm of the day. The norm of the day now is to say a plan is on the way. The plan will pit one party against the other and then force the Republicans via the Tea Party to reject the plan and be blamed for obstructionism. Some say this is politics. Some say this is one party not agreeing with the other; and then some say look at the blue print, follow the Constitution follow the path that the forefathers wanted.

I am asking one question; what is so bad about a single group of people that do not have an organizing body to want a semblance brought back to governing, who want true reforms made that will actually protect those Americans who cannot protect themselves and bring back the greatness of our nation through tax reform, immigration reform and budget reform? What is wrong with a group of people who do not want government to grow and who do not want to face a debt that cannot be paid back? What is wrong with a group of people who think that going back to the roots of the founding will actually put us on a track to progressing ahead in the 21 century? What is wrong with a group of people who want change and who do not want to hear the rhetoric of another plan that will be presented after Labor Day?

The nation’s first priority is to tackle the deficit. This week will bring continued swings in the financial markets around the world. It will reflect uncertainty in the over throw of Muammar Gaddafi 40 year reign of terror in Libya. A political vacuum will occur, because there is not a plan to contain Libya in now what will be the Arab Fall.

Europe is close to a recession and the United States is following quickly. The blame should not be put on the backs of those who want to cure it through a conservative fiscal approach of reduced spending and reduced government growth, with a strong, even-handed foreign policy. The blame should not be put onto a group of people who had nothing to do with causing the uncertainty that exists in every financial sector, not only in this country, but now in every political sector of the world. To blame is only a way to defer who is really at fault.

“Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers (administrators) too plainly proves a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing us to slavery”

“We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds...[we will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers... And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for[ another]... till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery... And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.”

“The system of banking [is] a blot left in all our Constitutions, which, if not covered, will end in their destruction... I sincerely believe that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity... is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

“A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement.”

“Agriculture, manufacturers, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are then most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise.”

This could be part of a plan going forward. Does this make sense? Will this plan take care of those that don’t think they can take care of themselves? Does this plan do for posterity, as it would do for those who are living today? Does this plan create uncertainty? Can any part of this plan be criticized for not doing enough? Can these words possibly be a part of a plan that can bring a semblance to a country and the world?

I would love to take credit for these words, but these are not my words, these are the words of Thomas Jefferson. These were his thoughts. If you have a problem with a group of people who want to recognize these words, don’t blame them, blame Jefferson. If you have a problem with these words, maybe its time you analyze how you came to the position of denying the credibility of these words.
Maybe the credibility of those who blame the other guy should now be examined.

The current plan going forward has not worked out so well, we all know it and the rest of the world now knows it. When Americans can finally determine that the Tea Party and Jefferson are not the threat and the fault of today’s current problems we, as a country, will then be able to blame the ones who are really at fault. The ones who constantly blame the other guy will never blame Jefferson directly, because to do so would be un-American. Now that you know what Jefferson thought and what the Tea Party represents, how can you or anyone say that they are to blame for the current problems we have in the country today?

Don’t blame me for being truthful; maybe that is what differentiates me from the other guy!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The plan is there, it’s been there all the time. It doesn’t take a Harvard grad who says he knows about constitutional law to say he’s got a plan. Remember what your wise Uncle told you: the one who always blames is the one who is at fault.

It's all in the title, Main Street!

2011-08-19T05:36:00.000-07:00

Friday-August 19, 2011

It’s all in the title, Main Street!

This week, I have started to define “what I would do” instead of complaining about what others do. A very good friend of mine asked me that question and it has stuck with me and it has motivated me. Sometimes friends have that effect!

In days gone by, when our country was governed under a constitutionally limited government, it must have provided a true sense of National Security in that the citizens of the newly formed United States of America had security in the National purpose. Its time has come to consider just what the National purpose of the country will be going forward, while keeping in mind what our founding principles are. You will notice that I didn’t say what the founding principles were. I believe the founding principals are still alive today, some of us have just forgotten about them.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to Samuel Smith in 1788: "We are now vibrating between too much and too little government and the pendulum will rest finally in the middle."

The full impact of bringing back a sense of national purpose is to appeal to the higher sense of the voter. The final impact of bringing that pendulum back to the middle will be to make an argument that appeals to the hearts and the souls of each American. The appeal will have to raise the conscience level and will have to appeal to each voter’s sense of purpose. Jefferson wrote in his Rights of British America in 1774: "The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest."

It is time to wake the public up from their long hibernation of relying on entitlements, relying on big government to do the smallest things that most in this country are capable of doing themselves. It is time to create the sense of community that has walked off of America’s Main Street. That process of thought, that has escaped some of us, created the most dynamic of economies, it built the highest buildings and it has created the highest standard of living in the history of the world. People from other countries stop and marvel at it and that is what motivates them to come to this country to partake in its freedoms, the liberty that is ours and the independence, that when practiced, will create the sense of community that we miss today. It is time to wake up the nation, one community at a time.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Stephens Smith in 1787: “Lethargy is the forerunner of death to the public liberty. “ Jefferson also said: “We have the greatest opportunity the world has ever seen, as long as we remain honest -- which will be as long as we can keep the attention of our people alive. If they once become inattentive to public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors would all become wolves.”

Some Americans are lethargic, because some have lost the confidence in their government from ever doing the right thing again. I come across many people who tell me one man cannot make a difference any longer. I say to them that they are just plain wrong. I tell them about what Jefferson wrote to C.W.F. Dumas in 1787: "To inform the minds of the people, and to follow their will, is the chief duty of those placed at their head”.

This was the thought of men at the time of our founding, this is part of the founding principles that I believe people still want to see, but more importantly still want to believe. But they can’t, because this is not what is practiced in Washington, in our City Halls and our State Houses. This is what I believe is appealing to the higher sense, this is what I believe will appeal to the hearts and souls when demonstrated. This is what must be on display to bring back the trust and to bring back laws that are designed for the benefit of the community and the benefit of America’s Main Streets.

The Main Street of America took another hit yesterday. The threat of recession is in the air, new claims for unemployment hit 408,000 people, home sales are down to an eight year low, and the market is in full swing because of world wide financial fears.

A little known title to many is The Philly Fed index (Philadelphia Federal Index) is at a negative 30 (-30) today. This is a regional federal-reserve-bank index measuring changes in business growth. The index is constructed from a survey of participants who voluntarily answer questions regarding the direction of change in their overall business activities. The survey is a measure of regional manufacturing growth. When the index is above 0 it indicates factory-sector growth, and when below 0 indicates contraction. This index is published by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank on the third Thursday of the month at 10 am EST. It is considered to be a good gauge of general business conditions. This little known titles report is what is sparking the fears of another recession.

When Jefferson spoke about honesty, the political pendulum, lethargy and the importance of informing the minds of people, he was speaking about leadership and the importance of other leaders to recognize when leadership is absent. He said to Edward Rutledge in 1796: “I love to see honest and honorable men at the helm, men who will not bend their politics to their purses nor pursue measures by which they may profit by their measures.” As Wall Street trades, Main Street feels the pressure. As the President uses his title to enact laws that will cost Americans, yet unborn, in ways we cannot fathom, all economic indexes are in the negative range. As some in Congress complain that the President is using his title for campaign purposes, while on official business, America did not grow this week.

The leaders of America fell short this week on the promise of the liberty that creates free markets and the freedom that should not bind us with laws that restrict via the regulations that the many faceless titles in Washington creates. Those titles with those unfamiliar faces stifled the independence that Jefferson spoke about when he said: "I will not believe our labors are lost. I shall not die without a hope that light and liberty are on steady advance." --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1821

Today, I hope that the history of Jefferson’s words made sense. I hope that the title of today’s FORUM struck a thread in your conscience. I will be doing more of this, as I move along Main Street in the coming months. Our Constitution was created to benefit the people of Main Street and it was written to protect the people of Main Street. Jefferson wrote: “The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Main Street is where you can get the pulse of America today. The pulse on Main Street is a bit slow, but you can strengthen it by relating to people by appealing to their higher senses. Its not about having skin in the game, it’s all about how to save the people on Main Street from all the faceless titles in Washington that think they know the people on Main Street.

The full impact!

2011-08-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

Thursday-August 18, 2011

The full impact!

The latest court ruling that says Obama-care is un-Constitutional might just be the one that triggers the public option. Last week’s court decision, in a 2-to-1 verdict in the 11th Circuit court in Atlanta, sets up a dramatic, seemingly inevitable election-year showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court over the legality of Obama’s signature legislative initiative.

Yesterday, I spoke about budgets and entitlements and their cost.

The President’s signature piece of legislation has not even been implemented and we know it will cost an additional 50 billion dollars right out of the box, because the assumptions that were made were the wrong assumptions to begin with. A baseline was established to determine the amount of Americans that would be covered under Obama-care. The assumption was based on the present number of Americans who now have healthcare Insurance. That number didn’t take into account the additions that would be made to the number in each household, because of the new law that makes it legal for 25 year olds sharing of their parent’s healthcare policy. The old cutoff was 21 years of age. This drastically affected the first assumption of cost by about 50 billion dollars. This is another example of how government doesn’t get anything right. This is another example of what happens when your sole purpose is to cater to a few for their votes so that you will keep your elected office. In this case, its cost to the tax payer is 50 billion dollars.

Healthcare expert and former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey said the “ruling effectively puts the brakes on cash-strapped states’ implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Many more states now will slow down or entirely halt their current efforts to create state insurance exchanges,” said McCaughey, who hailed the decision as, “a very important day for all Americans who care about individual liberty, and a very important day for those who are concerned about the economic growth urgently needed by this nation.”McCaughey predicted states won’t spend scare resources preparing to implement a law that appears very vulnerable to being thrown out as unconstitutional.

So far, federal judges in Florida and Virginia have ruled against the act, while judges in Michigan and Virginia upheld it. Judges appointed by Democrats have consistently upheld the law, while Republican judges generally ruled against it. But Friday, one Republican judicial appointee and one Democratic judicial appointee concurred that the individual mandate is un-Constitutional.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who has been leading a separate legal challenge to Obama-care in the Old Dominion, issued a statement congratulating the 26 state attorney generals who successfully brought the Constitutional challenge to the 11th Circuit Court. "The court determined that the power to force one citizen to purchase a good or service from another is outside the established outer limits of both the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause,” Cuccinelli stated.

“The court also ruled that, although the president and Congress want to now call the penalty a tax to make it pass Constitutional muster, the penalty cannot be sustained under the federal government's taxing authority because the penalty is clearly not a tax,” he said.

However, the little known Section titled 1334 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act pages 97 thru 100 states that the president has authority through an executive order to have the office of personal management enact that part of the law, which would be the public option. The single payer option would make it possible for the government to compete with private insurance companies with a mandated lower cost structure. This move would put the insurance industry out of business. The result of this would still allow the government to enforce Obama-care with all its un-Constitutional mandates, enforced by an executive order. The difference would be that government would be allowed to enforce the single payer option or the public option. Like most liberals, instead of abiding by the courts decision, it would be done by fiscal FIAT. When Nancy Pelosi said, “we have to pass the bill to see what’s in it”, she was not lying.

What needs to be done now is to have a bill in Congress move through the legislative process that would block all funding for the public option or dreaded single payer option. This approach would kill funding and force the Senate to go along with the block and let the courts figure it out.

The full impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not even known. But the way the president has set it up, with it becoming law in 2012 after the election, is to have no political liability, because he would not be up for re-election. The president really believes that this type of legislation cures all the ills of government and a society that doesn’t care for the indigent. The other side of this story is that taxes would significantly go up because someone has to pay for Obama-care.

The Presidents signature piece of legislation does nothing to encourage Tort reform. It will do nothing to prevent fraud and abuse, because it is the government administering the funds. Remember, it’s already 50 billion in the hole and it hasn’t even started!

The full impact of any government program always results in three things; loss of liberty, loss of freedom and loss in independence. The first thing to solve the healthcare debate in this country hasn’t been done. There has to be Tort reform, an effort to make healthcare competitive through market forces, insurance reform, big drug reform and fraud and abuse reform. These are the elements that will reduce cost, bring better service and keep what is best working for Americans and that is the delivery system.

Now, on to the economy. The full impact of this administration’s assumptions on stimulus is just beginning to be felt. Some of us have warned you about what happens when you assume. I was one of them. Former Obama economic advisor Jared Bernstein said on August 13, 2011; “At the time, we simply didn’t have good information. We now know, with revised data, in that very quarter when we made that wrong projection the economy contracted at a rate of almost 9%. The statistics were way off at the time its also the case that the forecast that we gave back then was the consensus forecast of the economic community it wasn’t that we were wrong everyone was wrong.” He is speaking about the stimulus packages and the presidents push for spending all that money. Assumptions were made and again; they were the wrong assumptions.

What you are witnessing is the administration coming up with a new job plan and deficit reduction plan on September 5th to counteract the old plan, which was designed to counteract the plan that counteracted the original plan, which was drafted with the wrong assumptions. The administration doesn’t have to pay back the money for the mistakes that were made, because the tax payer now has been forced to pick up that tab! I hate to say I told you, but I did.

In these two cases assumptions were made and the assumptions were the wrong assumptions. I will never understand why people, smart people and intelligent people, depend on the government to make the right assumptions. I will never understand why citizens will relinquish their freedoms, their liberties and their independence over the thought that government can do it better.

I had a conversation with a pharmacist who related a story about a well known local elected official. This local official came into the drug store to pick up the prescription that was ordered for him. This elected official did not have his government healthcare card for payment of the prescription, so the pharmacist said he’d take cash. The elected official said that his aide carried his card, so they tried to call the aide for the group number and other information. The aide could not be reached and to the elected official’s disgust he was forced to pay cash after the pharmacist said that he could not give him the prescription without payment.
The elected official could not understand that he had to pay for it himself, much like most of us do on a daily basis.

Some might say ok, what’s the point and some might already know what the point is. The point to this story is that this particular elected official felt entitled. He felt that he should have gotten the prescription given to him, because of who he was. You see, public officials always play by different rules, because they feel that the rules we are forced to live with don’t apply to them. The entitlement society also feels that the rules we, as tax payers, live by don’t apply to them at all. You get rid of the entitlement and then everybody will play by the same rules, what’s so wrong with that?

I know who this politician is and it is now time for him to leave the office he has held for decades. It has been his votes over the course of decades that have promoted an entitlement way of life and it has been his votes that continually support the bad liberal legislation that has come out of Washington. It has been his assumptions that have been at the center of his bad decisions to support the bad assumptions that were made at the top of his liberal party.

Until we decide to make our leaders accountable for their bad decisions, which are always based on bad assumptions, we will continually be stuck with the tab and the erosion of you know, our liberty, our freedom and our independence.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: These three stories are based on fact. These three stories go to the heart of the problem we have in this country today. They are: Bad assumptions, bad legislation and people who have voted for these two things continually for years. The full impact is what we are seeing today. Don’t think that a new set of assumptions will make for better legislation especially on September5. The track record just is not there. Don’t think that with this group your liberty, freedom and independence will grow - it won’t, and that’s the full impact.

It's time has come:

2011-08-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

Wednesday-August 17, 2011

It’s time has come:

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the National Debt. I tried to convey just how much money the government spends in a 24 hour period. Go to http://usdebtclock.org and watch the dollars pile up in the time that it takes you to read the FORUM this morning.

Yesterday, I wrote about my thoughts on tax reform. I quoted a little bit of Kennedy and then gave my two cents about what to do. I hope I made some sense about how the cents are collected.

Today, it’s time to consider how the government spends the cents that it collects because there is very little sense in the process.

Nobody, not even the head of the Federal Government, can give you an accurate accounting of what is spent on a daily, weekly and yearly basis by the Federal Government. The President has his own personal budget that some estimate to be as low as 5 million dollars and as high as 50 million. Why the President needs this kind of money is beyond me. This only opens the door to further secret dealings that most of us abhor anyway.

There are other secret budgets. These are known as Black Budgets that we have no information about and that we gladly give 1 trillion dollars annually to support. Some of these costs are needed, like the Secret Service budget that I believe is never disclosed. We have an intelligence apparatus to operate, because the bad guys make us spend our money to defend our way of life. The military takes a big chunk and that’s fine, because the government must constitutionally provide for the “common defense.” Some activities might challenge the Constitution, but that’s another discussion for another day. These budgets are needed and there could be some waste, however these budgets don’t necessarily cause a budget deficit. I believe there is a cost benefit associated with our National Security.

Our Federal Government operates on the basis of baseline budgeting. For instance, if the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) says it needs 100 billion dollars at the start of its charter to operate with, it will get that 100 billion dollars every year, plus what it says it needs in addition to that figure. In other words, the EPA is guaranteed the same baseline, plus. This only becomes a problem when there is no accountability to the public or to its original charter. Base line budgeting is for dummies, because it doesn’t take any sense of finance to create a budget going out for lets say five years, because all you need to do is add 20% to last years budget plus another 5% because you can. I agree that this is a simplified description of what occurs in the budgeting process, but it is also an accurate one.

This process becomes a problem when there is layer upon layer of agency and other agency sponsored programs that basically do the same thing. If every agency or any arm of the Federal Government adds extra money beyond what they need just because they can, no wonder the country is broke. No wonder that the debt clock keeps ticking and the number grows by the billions with in hours.

Yesterday, I related many quotes that were attributed to President Kennedy in his fight to reform the tax code. In 1962, the tax code was complicated, but it was nothing like it is today. It’s not only taxes, but it is the cost of government that drives up our taxes. In Kennedy’s day, we were talking about billions. Today we are talking in terms of trillions, over 14 and on the way to 19 trillion to be exact and counting.

No matter what government does, no matter how noble the intention is a new program always starts small and grows. The amount of money it takes to run a program just keeps getting bigger and bigger. With government there is never retreat there is always advancement, even if it is unwarranted.

So, where am I going with this? I gave a few examples of how budgeting works and I gave a brief perspective on cost and how that cost grows because it is allowed to because of no accountability. This is the problem with the bureaucrats and the bureaucracies they reign over. The bureaucrat always manages to increase their responsibility not only in scope, but in how they spend your money.

I will be working to advance a budget reform plan in the coming months, but today my goal is to make you aware of what the problem is.

I will be working on a proposal on how to audit the entire government’s function through a targeted financial review and through an organization audit of each agencies charter. This would be similar to what a company does when it acquires another company, it’s called due diligence. We will soon find that each agency has moved so far from there original charter that we just might find that some agencies aren’t needed any more. Along with each agency there are duplicate agencies that support duplicate functions. All these functions take personal and take money to run and to operate them. If we don’t have enough revenue this government for some silly reason thinks that we must fuel the cost of duplicated efforts because that’s what we did last year and the year before and the year before that. This is what needs to change.

If government managers really managed then they would find ways to improve the service and improve their respective bottom line. But government doesn’t hire managers they hire bureaucrats out of college and train them on how to spend tax payer money instead of making tax payer money work for the tax payer. This is the difference between the private and public sector.

In the private sector, if you don’t manage the company’s funds properly, within the law, you will get fired and possibly sent to jail. However, in the public sector if you don’t make waves, manage to spend the money so you can get more next year, you are then considered a fine government employee. There is oversight but there is no oversight in the process of allocation. You see with government there is no accountability because the money will always be there. When government spends it can only do it in three ways, it taxes or it takes it, and in the extreme it prints more of it when it needs to, it then sells the debt to get cash to fuel the sick behavior.

It’s the behavior of the beast that must be cured. When we have the cost of entitlements rise each year because of the scope and dynamics of the participants and the increasing government sponsored programs because of the politically manufactured needs of the participants it is no wonder that the debt clock keeps ticking as each dollar is spent. If a sensible tax structure was created that would pay for these entitlements and if reforms were made to cut fraud and abuse and if true budgets were sought and maintained then we could start to have a continued process of review, through audits and through recommendations that either cut budgets or that cuts out the redundancy and waist that we know exists.

At the end of this process we just might find out that our national defense would become a common defense on the war against the unnecessary growth of government and the cost to support that unnecessary cost. It takes political will and it takes a strong soul. These are the kind of people that we should attract to run for office because it will take a new type of politician to do the peoples work going forward.

Just yesterday, the European Union called for each Euro Region country to have a balanced budget and to monitor closely the expenditures and management of there bureaucracies. If Europe can do this we should be able to do it better here. This is the attitude we need to cultivate. However, when a government fights any form of accountability to its tax payer then a balanced budget amendment will never get passed. Again it’s the behavior of the beast that we must change.

As I said a few weeks ago, there will be another budget battle in Congress in September. This is the time when the budget appropriations are made to run the government and all of the governmental agencies. Congress is the only arm of government that can allocate tax dollars for this process. The president said yesterday he will have a budget plan and job plan in September, he said: “get it done.” I can guarantee that the new budget will come down exactly the way I referenced in today’s FORUM, because that’s the way we did it last year. I will also guarantee that there will be no Balanced Budget talk either.

Some in Congress agree that necessary reforms are needed and a balanced budget is part of the solution. Until political will can be achieved across the board nothing will be done to improve the sick behavior of this budget process. There will be cuts but not in the way that will cure the behavior and the current deficit structure.

Remember these words: “If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.”
-George Washington

This is sounding more and more like the breed of politician that is needed today. Those words were spoken for the first time when the course was set for the countries well being. It is not Washington’s fault that they have not been listened to. We know his words to be truthful, because we knew he could never tell a lie. His words are as truthful today as they were when he spoke them for the first time as President. These words have been forgotten by many, but are now being remembered by few today. I am proud to be one of them!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: It’s time has come to audit, to review and to do away with useless programs and useless agencies. We can replace what needs to be replaced so the needs of today and tomorrow can be met through the principals of our founding history.

Now, go check the debt clock again.

It's a matter of National Security!

2011-08-16T05:27:00.000-07:00

Tuesday – August 16, 2011

It’s a matter of National Security!

Well, if that doesn’t grab your attention, I don’t know what will.

The term National Security is sometimes used when this country launches a military operation designed to get rid of the bad guys. This goes on everyday. National Security is what we aim at, as a goal for our defense. Those in government sometimes like to talk about it to describe the technology we have to thwart off an attack by an enemy that is now emboldened. National Security means all of this and so much more.

Many people feel a loss of our National Security. However, in this case it doesn’t necessarily mean that our military is not doing its job, thank God they are. Many people who I talk with complain that our leaders are not providing the leadership that is required to take on all the things that the citizen sees that affect the feelings of being secure in the direction that the nation is headed. The citizen senses that the nation is not secure. This is what our leaders are refusing to acknowledge. In this case, National Security is meant as a catch all, because people don’t feel secure.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 20% of the nation's voters strongly approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -22, this figure is not going in a positive direction.

The President is out on the road this week spending tax payer dollars on a road trip to embolden his own security going forward. He feels that if he and his policies are secure then the nation will become secure. He couldn’t be more wrong. Usually when something like this is planned the buses that provide the transportation for the president and his entourage are rented. However, this President has purchased a fleet of buses; his bus cost 1.1 million dollars. The new busses are now officially listed as part of an official trip for the president. The reason is so that the tax payer can pay for them. He is out campaigning for his security and not the nation’s. He is not doing official business in his capacity as President. If this trip was for official business I would say ok the buses might be needed. But the fact of the matter is these buses are now part of his re-election campaign. I know the president needs protection but who is protecting us from the president’s policies? Of course this is just my opinion.

Where is the outrage from our Congressional leaders on this type of expenditure? There is no outrage, because they are out of town themselves. If I had my way there would be hell to pay and there would be an official inquiry into the activities of this president while on tour. Remember, federal law prohibits any personal business such as campaigning from any federal facility even the use of stationary is prohibited. This includes buses too. This might be a trite argument, but this emblematic of this presidency and the fundamental lack of leadership and more importantly the lack of respect that is on display towards the tax payer.

The President is out telling everyone they have to send a message to Washington. He says the system is not broken its Washington that is broken. Well, Mr. President, you are Washington and you might be the problem. The voter sent new people to do a new type of job in Washington and they have been met with opposition by you all the way. Mr. President you still have not come up with sensible reforms, a tax plan or even an economic plan to move the country forward. Let me give you a hint of what I would do. I would return the nation to its founding principles of a constitutionally limited government. I would encourage personal responsibility through economic reforms such as a flat tax that would provide economic growth and prosperity so that our posterity has a chance to move forward as well. That’s something you can feel secure with because every time it has been tried it has worked!

The president will be out this week talking about a whole list of new initiatives. One of his new initiatives will be taxes.

I favor lower taxes with out any deductions taken away. This is something the left does not favor. When we start talking about deductions the common target of the left is the interest on your mortgage and the loop holes the rich get. This is the same old argument and this is why people feel a loss of National Security, because, once again, all of the new initiatives are initiatives that have proven to be disastrous initiatives. Let’s have a new initiative that doesn’t create any more new initiatives. In short, people who pay taxes do not feel secure with the direction of this type of initiative.

Class warfare is not the answer; it never has been. The answer is making sure that the lower class is secure but motivated to better themselves and that the middle class and the upper class have the opportunities to invest and create the jobs that are needed to grow business and in turn, grow the economy. This is something that will positively affect the lower class as well. This is the only initiative that we need now. In addition, a fair tax or a flat tax that would require everyone to pay his or her fair share is the one that will create the kind of prosperity that hasn’t been seen in 235 years.

Let me list a few quotes. Take the time to consider them and after a minute or so ask yourself if you agree with them. I will disclose the author of these quotes before the end of today’s FORUM.

"Our tax system still siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power and reduces the incentive for risk, investment and effort – thereby aborting our recoveries and stifling our national growth rate."

A tax cut means higher family income and higher business profits and a balanced federal budget. Every taxpayer and his family will have more money left over after taxes for a new car, a new home, new conveniences, education and investment. Every businessman can keep a higher percentage of his profits in his cash register or put it to work expanding or improving his business, and as the national income grows, the federal government will ultimately end up with more revenues."

"In those countries where income taxes are lower than in the United States, the ability to defer the payment of U.S. tax by retaining income in the subsidiary companies provides a tax advantage for companies operating through overseas subsidiaries that is not available to companies operating solely in the United States. Many American investors properly made use of this deferral in the conduct of their foreign investment."

"The largest single barrier to full employment of our manpower and resources and to a higher rate of economic growth is the unrealistically heavy drag of federal income taxes on private purchasing power, initiative and incentive."

"It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high and tax revenues are too low ... Cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus."

Now here are the difficult questions. Would these words, if they were implemented today, help bring back a sense of security to the nation? Do you think these words display leadership? Do you think these words were part of a tax reform package? And finally, were these words spoken by a Democrat or a Republican?

Would you be surprised if I told you that I agree with all of these quotes and would you be surprised that I would consider making this part of a conservative political platform?

These words were spoken by President John F. Kennedy from April of 1961 through January of 1963. Similar words were spoken by Ronald Reagan. You see, there really can be compromise and there really can be a sense of national security, if new Leaders are allowed to lead in new ways.

I have now proven that I can cross over to the other side providing their ideas are good idea’s for America.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: National Security and a sense of security in your nation are often times very close in meaning. It’s now a matter of providing the right kind of leadership that is needed to provide the security in our nation that many do not feel today! Tomorrow, I will have another idea that its time has come.

Days gone by:

2011-08-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

Monday – August 15, 2011

Days gone by:

It used to be that a President’s words were met with certain action. It used to be that a President’s words were words that were met with a plan. It used to be that the president would lead a Congress and a Senate. It used to be that the President, the Congress and the Senate would work hand in hand to improve the condition of the country and to insure and inspire each and every one of its citizens that the country would grow and that the country would prosper. These are the guarantees that our posterity are depending on.

Those were the days that have now gone by. As we witnessed the straw poll in Iowa this weekend and we analyze the results, we cannot begin to think that the results are finalized and that the front runners will be the front runners in the next go around. I am not going to predict who I think will win. I am not going to predict what the front runner is going to say or is going to do next. But what I will do is begin to lay out a plan of where I believe the country should go and how we can get it there.

What I will begin to do today is to remind you of what I wrote on July 8, 2011. This will start to frame the platform that is necessary for any candidate to consider and the one that we should be considering when we vote for a new President, Senator, or even a Congressman. We should also take these thoughts and bring them down to a local level. When we vote for a Governor or a new Mayor or even a City Council member, we must start to analyze their positions, as they compare to what our forefathers conveyed in our founding documents.

Someone who I consider to be a close friend and who I also consider to be a great friend asked me this question last night, “what would I do”, if I had a chance to make a difference. I might add one more thing; Barbara is also a smart friend. The question was asked because of a discussion that I will put into context over the next few weeks. Today’s FORUM is a reprint of what I wrote on July 8, 2011. I am reprinting this article in hope that it will start to define an answer to the basic question of “what would I do.” I hope that this article will begin to answer the basic question that was asked of me by a friend!
________
July 8, 2011

The first view!

On today’s date, in 1776, John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

Upon finalizing the text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 Congress issued the Declaration in several forms. It was initially published as a printed broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public. The most famous version of the Declaration, a signed copy that is usually regarded as the Declaration of Independence, is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Although the wording of the Declaration was approved on July 4, the date of its signing has been disputed. Most historians have concluded that it was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4, as is commonly believed.
The sources and interpretation of the Declaration has been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution. Having served its original purpose in announcing independence, the text of the Declaration was initially ignored after the American Revolution. However, its stature grew over the years, particularly the second sentence, which brings human rights into the political structure of the colonies.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

This sentence has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language" and "the most potent and consequential words in American history". The passage has often been used to promote the rights of marginalized people, and came to represent a moral standard for which the United States should strive. This view was notably promoted by Abraham Lincoln, who considered the Declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy, and argued that the Declaration is a statement of principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted.

It is fitting that in July we talk about independence and it is essential that we understand the reasons why our independence was sought.

This week, I have tried to bring into focus some of the facts and a few of the political considerations that our forefathers were aware of and used to their benefit in developing the concept of independence from Great Britain. Jefferson who has been credited for the draft and the final wording was in fact in love with the idea of a separate nation under its own rule. He along with many of the original signers made it abundantly clear that with independence would come the question of self rule and that the governed have the final say over their government.
Jefferson wrote: “Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British Empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America.”

—Thomas Jefferson, November 29, 1775

By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year. Relations between the colonies and the mother country had been deteriorating since the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. The war had plunged the British government deep into debt, and so Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase tax revenue from the colonies. Parliament believed that these acts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their fair share of the costs to keep the colonies in the British Empire.
Many colonists, however, had developed a different conception of the empire. Because the colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. This tax dispute was part of a larger divergence between British and American interpretations of the British Constitution and the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies. The orthodox British view, dating from the “Glorious Revolution of 1688”, was that Parliament was the supreme authority throughout the empire and so, by definition, anything Parliament did was constitutional.

In the colonies, however, the idea had developed that the British Constitution recognized certain fundamental rights that no government—not even Parliament—could violate. After the Townshend Acts, some essayists even began to question whether Parliament had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colonies at all. Anticipating the arrangement of the British Commonwealth by 1774 American writers such as Samuel Adams, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson were arguing that Parliament was the legislature of Great Britain only, and that the colonies, which had their own legislatures, were connected to the rest of the empire only through their allegiance to the Crown.

Now that you have the first view of how our Declaration of Independence came to be, we must start to ask the same questions that Jefferson, Adams and Wilson were asking. The questions today are the same as they were then. It is over jurisdiction; the rights of separate state legislatures, our fundamental founding principles and “among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The answers to the essential questions we have today should be viewed through the prism of history and what the historical facts tell us. The first view of our independence was through “certain unalienable” rights and not through what politicians believe our rights should be.
If I were fortunate enough to be representing the people today, I would be looking to find the answers through the prism of what Jefferson and Adams view was. I would be testing legislation through the Constitutional litmus rather than the entitlement litmus that runs Washington today. I would be looking at tax and spending issues through the prism of wealth generation and not through the prism of shared responsibility and spreading of the wealth. I would be looking to create equal opportunity and not making an attempt to equalize the results of equal opportunity.
If I were fortunate enough to represent the people, I would not make a career out of it, but rather to create the view of what was seen through the creation of these words: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

In order to grow a more perfect union, our posterity must be given the chance to experience the promotion of general welfare, not through entitlements but through free enterprise, free markets and the freedom that our way of life brings if unaltered and if kept alone. Those who believe in liberty and who were taught to respect the law and who through moral standards create the wealth are the ones that will create an environment for our posterity to do the same. This is what I believe was the first view that our forefathers saw.

I end each week with a quote: “If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.”

-George Washington

The first view is the correct view, because it is unhampered and it is so inspiring. But then again, this is just my opinion.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The prism in which I speak of can be viewed for the first time if you view the original context of what independence, liberty and freedom was designed to give. Government could never provide it because the view of the forefathers put the responsibility into the hands of the governed. We must view the principals of what Jefferson put into words and what Lincoln saw.
_____

My dear friend Barbara, I hope that I have begun to answer your question of what I would do if I were fortunate enough to represent the people. And to the rest of the readers, I hope that I am fortifying what you already know about me.

Through this month of August I will state in clear terms what I would do in many areas of what the daily debate brings to us all.

This is an important month, there is a fair amount of history and there will be a fair amount of opinion, this I will guarantee!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: A prediction is always based on conjecture. Fact, however, is based on history and future fact is a result of how we view the past history of “days gone by.”

Quite the field:

2011-08-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Friday – August 12, 2011

Quite a field:

Yes, I watched, I listened, I learned and I saw the great potential of possible Republican Presidential Candidates on the FOX debates. Some of the questions were meant to bring emotion and some were meant to bring out the character of the person.

All choices are on Romney, with Bachman in second, Gingrich third and don’t count out Paul yet. However, there will be two more candidates that will pop up that were not at the debate Thursday night. Ultimately, we will have four candidates to choose from. The winner of Saturday’s Iowa straw poll will either surprise us or confirm what many of us already believe.

One thing is for sure, each one of the candidates we saw on Thursday night’s debate are far more qualified than the present occupant of the White House. We must remember that qualifications matter in the election of 2012. We must also remember that the House will be in play and that the Senate will also be the focus of the election.

I am concerned about one thing that could tilt the presidential election by a factor of two or three percentage points. It is the movie that is now being filmed about the raid that got Osama Bin Laden. Obama will do everything in his power to make it about him. What we cannot forget is that when Obama got Osama it was due to the Bush era policies that were in place that gave the White House the intelligence that proved to be deadly for Osama.

It never ceases to amaze me that it only takes a few people to formulate an opinion as fact when they see a movie. It only takes a few points to turn an election, especially when a movie will favor one side and distort the truth to give credit where credit is not due. I am not saying the president should not get the credit for killing Osama. But what I am saying is that it takes many more pieces of the puzzle that were in play far before Obama got into office so that we could get the kill. That little fact has been forgotten.

I would venture to say that the Bush administration would not condone such a movie or take an active part in the making of the movie, as this White House is doing, by giving intelligence briefings to the producers and writers of this movie. That is the difference between the two administrations and the two men.

This movie will make a few more of the liberal elite richer, but it will not make the economic engine work that will make it possible for every American to become prosperous. A movie cannot make or create our liberty, freedom and independence. It can not create prosperity for all. Instead, it will create prosperity for a few in Hollywood, because they are the ones that create the myth that movies are made of.

I just hope that America does not buy into this scheme and that America pays close attention to the other factors that are far more important to the debate of the day and the context of what the debates centered on Thursday night. One thing for sure, the Iowa straw poll will tell us all something.

Yes, it is quite the field. It will be an interesting election and it will also bring out some that feel a duty to run. These are the people that we should be making a movie about, because it will be these people who will bring the changes that are so desperately needed in government and in our towns and cities. These unknown candidates will be the hero’s because they are the ones who are telling the truth.

George Washington said: "The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations."

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: As we look at the field of contenders don’t forget what the name American means. It won’t be told in a movie. It won’t be told in a debate. It will only be told and understood when the vote is cast for reasons of liberty, freedom and independence. The field of politician’s love to promise everything, but they have recently failed to provide the liberty, freedom and independence that make Americans, Americans.

A complicated mess!

2011-08-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

Thursday – August 11, 2011

A complicated mess!

The market sunk another 500 points yesterday, which was the 9th worst day on record. The other world markets tanked yesterday amid fearful and complicated economic predictions.

The market is zig – zagging, because it is volatile and investors, along with traders, feel it. There is no confidence and there is little that this administration can do, because they do not know what to do to cure the economy. The traders on Wall Street do not look at the long term. They look day to day and react to the news on a day to day basis. The traders are doing their job.

But who are the ones that aren’t doing their job? Every morning I wake up, take a pill, have a cup of coffee, walk the dog and leave for work. I am sure that millions of other people do the same, not necessarily in that order, but at some point they leave to do a day’s work as well. If you are unemployed, I am sure you have the same regime, except going to work. But you none the less look for work!

It becomes a complicated mess when we do our respective jobs on a daily basis and we suffer for it. It becomes a complicated mess when we do our jobs and the public union workers do theirs with scheduled breaks, scheduled holidays and work rules that would put a private sector business out of business. We go to work and hope that our 401(k), Roth’s and our other investments grow. Others go to work with the knowledge that their public sector pensions will not be affected by this complicated mess that our economy cannot seem to get out of. However, those who work in the private sector and those who are out of work in the private sector still have to pay the salaries the benefits and invest in the union workers pension, so when they retire it is there, unaffected by the complicated mess that our government and the unions have caused.

It becomes a complicated mess when riots in London have consumed that city with fire and with looters who think they are entitled to everything under the sun. It becomes a complicated mess when these rioters are on average 18 to 20 years of age. These rioters want a cradle to grave society with guarantees of government sponsored programs that pays for housing, education, healthcare and food. In short, they believe they are entitled to have a part of somebody else’s wealth.

It becomes a complicated mess when 50% of Americans in this country don’t pay income taxes and 15% of Americans are on food stamps. We are not rioting yet, but there are a significant portion of Americans who would riot, if they got the chance.

Yesterday, in Wisconsin the Public Sector Unions, Auto Worker Unions, the SEIU, along with a multitude of other Unions spent 35 million dollars in an ill fated recall campaign of Republican Senators. The Republicans were targeted by the democrats and the union’s when a Republican Governor Scott Walker enacted the reforms that he was elected to do. The Unions took Democracy out of the voter’s hands and gave it to the Union Bosses who don’t believe in the Democracy that our fore father said was ours. They striped the notion of the will of the people and changed it to the will of the Union’s over the will of the people. There is no doubt in my mind that the unions and the Democratic Party are conspiring together in this movement to take the will of the people out of the public arena.

This becomes a complicated mess when our liberties and freedoms are affected when a major political party of the government teams up with the Unions. How can we move ahead with democracy when a small group can simply recall a politician while being supported by the unions and a major political party because they don’t like the outcome of an election?

It becomes a complicated mess for the Unions when the recall campaign didn’t recall the amount of senators that was needed to give back the Unions control through the Democrat party. It becomes a complicated mess for them when they lost 35 million dollars of dues that could have gone to pay for something a little bit more useful. My question is why don’t the union members complain or why don’t those who want a free ride complain that the loss occurred? One reason, it doesn’t dawn on them and the second reason is intimidation and the third they are just plain stupid to keep going along with the scam of taking dues.

There are a number of other recall campaigns across the country that is designed to take the power away from the voters. It becomes a complicated mess when Americans now see what the extreme left will do to gain control. It becomes a complicated mess when the common voter, who knows what is right, cannot be guaranteed that their vote will be the one that is listened to, because some Union wants to discount that voice and that vote.

All this complication is a result of an ideology and a belief in big government and big government programs. The world’s big banks are now out of money, because of the liberal belief in no responsibility on the part of the consumer to pay back loans. The world’s financial systems are stressed because of the liberal belief of redistribution and punishing those who are successful.

Many of the looters in London and many of the liberal youth here in this country are saying one thing. It is the rich that have caused the imbalance in society and in the financial circles that are in stress. These people are not born with this thought in mind. However, they have been encouraged by those who believe in the redistributive model that has proven to be flawed. It becomes a complicated mess when you want to ignore these people but can’t, because of the pervasive behavior of some that pray on those who don’t know better.

It becomes a complicated mess when the leader of the free world is “economically unsophisticated” and the followers of his ideology are socially unsophisticated. It becomes a complicated mess when the Secretary of the Treasury is powerless to do anything right, because he is now forced to carry the presidents water not to mention his baggage.

It becomes a complicated mess whenever the president opens his unsophisticated mouth that the markets react by tanking. It becomes a complicated mess when the president takes the biggest corporate jet, Air Force One, on a vacation after he complains about business owners taking their own jets on trips to do business that will generate wealth and jobs. It doesn’t become a complicated mess that the economic roller coaster will take a break zig-zagging, because the president is out of town on vacation and will not be saying a word. This is probably the best thing the man can do for his country right now. However, it will become a complicated mess again when he gets back to the Oval Office and speaks again, knowing that his words will cause complication for everyone once again. Take a break next week, because the president is.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The simple cure for this complicated mess is just simple words that convey one message. We are out of money, we cannot continue to pay for your free life style, and you have to grow up and get a job and earn your own money now. Some times this advice is given to a lazy spoiled child, and when it is given and the lazy child is kicked out onto the streets, guess what, they wise up. They get a job and realize that this is true independence. Independence is not a complicated mess. It only becomes a complicated mess when people don’t do
a thing to encourage it.

Oh I forgot one other thing when an “economically unsophisticated” President cannot create a plan to move an economy forward and create jobs no one can be independent.

Don't forget what I wrote on Monday!

2011-08-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

Wednesday – August 10, 2011

Don’t forget what I wrote on Monday!

In my FORUM on Monday I wrote - everything is in the rating! New Presidential tracking polls are showing just that.

The Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 21% of the nation's voters strongly approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21; the lowest it has ever been.

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell another point on Tuesday to reach another two year low. At 60.4, consumer confidence is down four points since Standard & Poor’s downgraded the federal government’s credit rating. It’s important to note that confidence had fallen to a two-year low the day before the downgrade occurred, so the S&P action has served to reinforce the underlying trend rather than shift perceptions.

Overall, the Rasmussen Consumer Index is down four points from a week ago, down eight points from a month ago and down 2 points from three months ago. Confidence is now just six points above the lowest levels of the post-9/11 era.

Data for these updates is derived from a series of nightly telephone interviews and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. As a result, today’s update is the first based entirely upon interviews collected after the downgrade.

After falling to new lows for three straight days, investor confidence stabilized on Tuesday. The Rasmussen Investor Index regained just one-tenth of a point on Tuesday to 64.8. Investor confidence is down four points from a week ago, down 12 points from a month ago, and down 31 points from three months ago. Investor confidence has not been lower since March 13, 2009.

In Mondays FORUM I wrote: “Today, our debt rating is a double AA, instead of the triple AAA that the president inherited. “

Rush Limbaugh was quoted as saying: “Let me repeat this as the Media tweak of the Day: ‘What we have witnessed since Friday is Obamageddon, Barackalypse Now. And the only silver lining out there is that as far as 2012 goes, Obama's now Debt Man Walking." He also said “Obama is always running around complaining and whining and moaning about all that he inherited from George W. Bush “Well, he inherited a AAA credit rating and an unemployment rate of 5.7 percent.”

But one person who does not buy into the theory that Obama is deliberately undermining the economy is Donald Trump. The billionaire developer said on Monday that “the president is incompetent, not malicious.”Trump also said: “There is a theory that he is doing it on purpose, but I absolutely do not believe that. He’s just ill-equipped to be president,” Trump told New York’s WOR radio. “Tremendous wrong moves are being made.”

I believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of what Limbaugh and what Trump have said. It goes to the point of what I wrote yesterday: do we want glory or failure?

In World War II, we had a triple AAA credit rating. During the Korean and Viet Nam wars we had a Triple AAA credit rating. After 9/11 and during the Iraq War, we had a triple AAA credit rating. During the financial crisis of 2008 we had a Triple AAA credit rating. Today, during the Obama administration we have a double AA credit rating. For what purpose did we lose it? I believe it is because of an ideological hatred of American capitalism and a love of class warfare. This has been building for three years during this presidency and it finally broke the proverbial camel’s back last week. The president has finally managed another major accomplishment on that list he told us he had. On that list he said he'd only done about 70 percent of it so far. Obama and his fellow Democrats have finally been able to convince the world that we are now just another country, after all. There's nothing exceptional about us or our economy any longer.

The president’s only plan forward this week is the old one that democrats always use. The president said we must raise taxes on wealthier Americans and make modest adjustments to popular but expensive entitlement programs.

As Obama said on Monday, "Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America. No matter what some agency may say, we have always been and always will be a triple-A country" – after he spoke these words the market registered record setting steep declines, dropping more than expected, you see “everything is in the rating.” Today he has said nothing and the markets seemed to have stabilized after the Fed announced yesterday that interest rates are expected to stay the same thru 2013.

In today’s world the new trade routes are not found by mapping out new compass points as you circumnavigate the world’s seas as Captain Gray did when he sailed the Columbia around the world in 1790 with our flag on its mast. The new compass points are to attract business with incentives while practicing free trade. When I say free trade I am not saying to give our trade away for free.

Through tax incentives and invoking similar trade tariffs on other countries like they impose on us business will relocate back here as a result of the competitive manufacturing environment that would be created here. There have been 2.9 million jobs lost here while 2.4 million jobs have been created overseas as a result of this imbalance.

Only through competitive regulations and competitive labor cost’s can we start to exploit advantages here instead of losing the trade war and the manufacturing war to the countries that now enjoy a triple AAA credit rating. The problem is our country is not making money off our trade. For example if we impose an additional 5% trade tariff on China our trade deficit would go down with them. Those additional funds could be used to pay back the money we have borrowed from them.

As I wrote on Monday, everything is in the rating. Wouldn’t it be great if we could boast that 2.9 million jobs have been created because we got serious about our economic survival? Wouldn’t it be great if we could get our triple AAA rating back in 2013 instead of the 20 years that is now predicted?

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The only rating we have to fear is the double AA rating we have now because that could turn into an A rating. Isn’t that enough to create new tactics and isn’t that enough for some new legislation that makes it rougher on the other guy, instead of the old way out of just raising taxes on the guys here?

Glory and failure!

2011-08-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

Tuesday – August 9, 2011

Glory and failure!

I sat down today and I thought long and hard about what to write. Can’t say there isn’t anything in the news. Can’t say that I couldn’t make a case for what is in the news, good and bad. Can’t say that I don’t put words on paper, after two years, I think I have proven that I can.

So what can we discuss or what can you read that hopefully contains something that you can take away and share?

Let’s start with a bit of history. On today’s date, in 1790, the ship Columbia returned home to Boston after a three year journey. This ship’s story is now hidden in the pages of history, but it had a glorious past. It was the first ship to sail the great oceans of the world with the U.S. flag flying, as it cut through the waves, as its captain circumnavigated the sea.

The ships captain, Robert Gray (May 10, 1755 – c. July, 1806), was an American merchant sea-captain who is known for his achievements in connection with two trading voyages to the northern Pacific coast of North America, between 1790 and 1793, which pioneered the American maritime fur trade in that region. In the course of those voyages, Gray explored portions of that coast and, in 1790, completed the first American circumnavigation of the world. Perhaps his most remembered accomplishment from his explorations was his coming upon and then naming of the Columbia River, in 1792 while on his second voyage.

This story is a story that started with a dream and ended in glory. The journey was not a failure. The journey created the routes of commerce that helped open our nation’s trade routes to the world. It also demonstrated to the world that our nation, after its recent victory of the Revolution, was a nation on the move. It demonstrated that a new great American tradition of exploration was about to begin with a new flag atop its mast.

I am wondering today as I write this FORUM what stories of glory do we have to tell our kids today, our grand kids or any body that will listen. The story of glory in our nation is becoming one of lost murky tales that always fault the American tradition instead of building upon that great tradition of our glory.

Just this month alone the market has crashed. We are finding out more about the extra cost of the Healthcare plan that many of us opposed. These extra costs will only contribute to the soaring deficit that is now impeding future stories of glory that will be replaced with future stories of failure. Our military has suffered a great loss that will take years to overcome with the deaths of 22 Navy Seals from the glory filled Seal Team 6. This month has seen a president go on the defensive with blaming everything and everyone else for this nation’s financial downgrade. Just today, we are learning that there will be a Senate inquiry into the S&P downgrade. Just today, the president’s team has released its strategy of how they will destroy Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican Candidate for President.

This month we have heard the president blame the world and our recent economic meltdown on a Tsunami and other natural disasters. The only disaster that has been caused is by the man who coined the term man made disasters.

Today, we have learned that a new Gallop Poll has 51% of registered voters saying that the president does not deserve re-election.

We have witnessed the failure of our government and our leaders to challenge NASA with a goal and a mission that would have guaranteed our nation’s foothold and continued footprint in space. Instead, our nation will hitch hike a ride into space on a Russian space ship. This is not glory, this is failure at it’s highest levels. Where and how is the American flag going to wave in the future?

Many in the country have not felt that glorious feeling of being able to go out and get that job that was advertised or that they heard about through the grape vine. That grape vine does not exist and that is a failure. Instead, they feel failure when they have no where to turn. Our economy is now being propped up artificially with low interest rates to artificially sustain the economy with more artificial federal buying of our own securities. This is not glory this is the failure of a big government.

Many are blaming Congress. Many are blaming the Tea Party. Let’s look at who is really to blame. Let’s start asking the right questions and looking for the right truth to be told. The path to glory is a hard climb. But the path to failure is one that should never be walked upon.
Glory is being free to create wealth and do with wealth as you please. Failure is having your wealth assessed as punishment for being successful. Social justice when it is used to even out the outcomes based on equal opportunities is a failure. Glory is accepting opportunities and making them better opportunities for those who need a real break.

Ask yourself why do we accept failure and why not demand glory? That is what our flag stood for in 1790. It’s time we search for a way to make it wave a little easier.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Failure and glory are sometimes two things that stand together side by side. Failure and glory is something you choose. When the path to failure is consciously chosen, you have to accept the results even if every one is questioning the results. When the path to glory is chosen, there will be no question about accepting the results.

Everything is in the rating:

2011-08-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Monday- August 8, 2011

Everything is in the rating:

When you don’t know about something or question something, you might look at a rating to determine an opinion or to get the needed information to make a decision. For instance, there are consumer ratings to view for products, such as toasters and cars. When you read a review for a play or a movie you are reading a rating. When you go to a fine restaurant that is rated a two star or a three star you are going there, because of that rating. However, sometimes ratings get clouded with personal perspectives, personal feelings and personal politics.

This is also true of credit and financial outlook ratings. As you know, the United States of America had its debt rating lowered last Friday evening. Our rating was considered a Triple AAA since 1917. For the first time in our history, it went from the gold standard of that triple AAA to a rating of double AA. This is because there is a lack of confidence by the S&P in our ability to pay our debts. This is because our debts are riseing faster, as compared to the GDP nothing more nothing less. Moody’s and Fitch, two other rating services, have now issued concerns over downgrading their triple AAA rating of the United States to that of what the S&P downgraded us to.

All of these ratings are applied with the same criteria to other countries and other financial instruments around the world. This is not confined solely to the United States alone. France and other countries in Europe and Asia now have a higher rating than we do.

To understand the ratings and what these levels mean you must know the basic levels and what they mean. Every time you go down in the rating it is considered a downgrade.

The S&P defines there ratings as:

The triple AAA means the Borrower has an extremely strong capacity to meet their financial commitments.

The double AA means there is a very strong capacity to meet or pay back financial commitments.

The single A rating means there is a strong capacity to meet financial obligations, but they are more vulnerable to changing economic conditions and or other changing commitments.

A Triple BBB rating is the lowest grade suitable for investment.

A D rating is the worst it signals a possibility of financial default.

However, there is no such thing as the “tea party down grade” that seems to be the talking point of the day. David Axelrod, the president’s wordsmith, coined that term on CBS’s Face the Nation. John Kerry said the same when he went after the Tea Party; saying the Tea Party didn’t wanted tax increases and that is what caused the debt crisis and the subsequent downgrade. He went on to say, “The media has got to begin to not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is factual.” John Kerry ABC News - August 5, 2011.

The Tea Party has been demonized as being the creator of this debt crisis. The Tea Party did not spend the nation’s wealth. The Tea Party did not put the country into a financial tail spin. The Tea Party simply wants the country to live within their means, so that there is a country left to live in. These are my talking points and mine alone.

The S&P warned us that if our debt and spending habits were not addressed there would be a downgrade. Our debt and spending habits were not addressed in the debt deal and the S&P made good on their warning. Say what you will this happened on this presidents watch and no bodies else’s.

Some say the S&P has missed every financial debacle in recent history. Don’t forget the others like Moody’s and Fitch have too. They only give a rating on the information they have. For example, the Democrats made it a point to say that the S&P missed the housing crisis. They did, but everybody else did as well, and don’t you think the information they got was the same that every other investor got? Don’t you think that Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd gave a robust picture of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? At the time, Barney Frank said that Fannie and Freddie were stable and safe and a good investment opportunity. If you view history, through the prism of fact, you will see how the housing crisis started and how it burst. Again, we have the Democrats not stepping up to take the responsibility.

Today, the President made a speech. The President played the blame game nothing more and nothing less. The market has lost 1,100 points in two days of trading. Today was the biggest one day loss, since 2008. Today is day 800 that this President and this Senate have not submitted a budget. Today, our debt rating is a double AA, instead of the triple AAA that the president inherited.

If I were the S&P, I think I would have given a lower rating of a single A or a triple BBB, because this government has no intention on curbing their spending or their borrowing. Our government has no intention on stopping the growth of government either. This President has proven that he is a borrow and spend President. He is not a save and pay President. Past history has proven that, as well.

Part of the equation of solving the debt is getting a handle on three entitlements: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. When these entitlements were created there were 35 people working for every 1 recipient. Today there is 1 person working for 35 recipients. Until we, as a nation, can get a handle on this and realize that growing government is not the answer and that partisan politics will not return our triple AAA debt rating it will only get worse.

A plan to create jobs through taking down the regulations and the dismantling of hurdles that this president has put on small business is crucial. A review of governmental agencies to reduce redundancy and a plan to perform due diligence is needed. A balanced budget is needed to reign in spending and curb borrowing. And finally a commitment to end partisan politics through statesmanship is required.

A plan to create jobs through reducing the small business tax will turn the economy around because there will be more tax payers. When there are more tax payers paying taxes then a plan to create a surplus must be implemented. When Corporations are given the incentives to create jobs here and produce their products here then we will not have the need to borrow for the expenses that the government is obligated to pay. However this all hinges on getting a handle on the entitlements that have proven to have cost us dearly.

Hear is the good news and the bad news: The bad news first: no jobs, the value of real estate is still in the dumps, because of the Obama downgrade interest rates will now jump, but the good news is that the price of oil is coming down, because the demand is now decreasing.

Now I have a request of you. Come up with your own rating system of your government and your president. I currently give our government an E. I give the President an F. But then again, that’s just me talking about my rating system.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Everything is in the ratings. It can make you go to a movie, eat in a restaurant, buy a car or it could make you not want to invest in one thing and make you invest in the other. Unfortunately, that is what is happening now. The United States is not considered a safe bet. That is something a new president will now inherit!

It's the relationship!

2011-08-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Friday – August 5, 2011

It’s the relationship!

I do not like to gloat; I do not like to take credit; I do not like to predict doom and gloom; I do not like to see my country in trouble. But it is and I told you so.

This is not a day to celebrate; America is hemorrhaging. The nation’s debt is now 97.2% of GDP. You might as well call it 100%. The nation’s debt is now consuming all that is good in our traditions and in our security. We are now a debtor nation. Our individual relationship with government should be questioned. Our individual desires as citizens along with doing the right things as citizens and playing by the rules as citizens, and now suffering for it, is what should be at the forefront in any future debate.

The DOW fell 513 points yesterday, the largest drop since December 1 of 2008 when the financial crisis hit. It was down 4.31% yesterday, it has fallen 10 out of 11 sessions and it is now down 10.54% over a ten day period. It is also the lowest close since December 9 of 2010. The Market is the barometer of confidence in the economy. I predicted that the market would fall last week when the debt deal was being negotiated when everyone else said it would rise.

The cure can no longer be the norm of printing more money because the world’s economy is now a reflection of the American economy.

Our debt today is at 97.2 % of GDP, The bush debt was 69.4% of GDP and the Clinton debt was at 37% of GDP. This trend of upward spending was eventually going to burst the economic bubble; it happened yesterday on Obama’s watch. The president said, Wednesday night at his birthday bash, “I didn’t think the climb was going to be as steep as it is.” He then went on to blame the nation’s financial crisis and the world’s economic condition in part on the Tsunami that hit Japan. He blamed, he’s blamed and he will continue to blame until his work is done. His work has now shown the results that a lot of us warned you about. It is his work and ultimate goal of economic transformation that will transform our relationship with government to that of more government control.

Our economy is now at a stand still. The President has announced his mid west bus tour to discuss the economy and jobs. Is this something that we should feel good about? Is this bus tour going to provide some divine inspiration to fuel a solution? Is this bus tour going to provide the jobs that he is solely responsible for loosing? Will his solution be another divine inspiration like an electric car? The government has bought 1,250 units of the Chevrolet VOLT the public has only bought 125 units to date. Oh by the way you subsidized the sales of this vehicle with $7,500 per vehicle with your tax dollars, did you get a new car? The president put all his hopes on this transformation to green technology and green jobs. It failed because it was a false premise to think that government is the sole creator of jobs and that the divine wisdom of this president would save the Union.

Wednesday night the President had a birthday party and fundraiser. The guests paid $38,500.00 to attend. If they wanted a picture with the president it cost the guests an additional $10,000.00. Now I have a divine inspiration, this idea just might help save the economy. Why doesn’t the president hold fundraisers every day up to the election so that the cash he raises can pay for the damage he has done? He is the only one who seems to be bringing in the cash these days. He will have 1 billion dollars in his campaign war chest very soon. He has about 86 million now. Why doesn’t he start giving this money to the souls that he has caused such hardship for? Now that is compassion and that is spreading the wealth around, something he said he would do in his last campaign.
As Thomas Paine a famous American author wrote: December 23, 1776: “THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”
What happened this week is the failure to recognize and understand the traditions that made this country great. What happened this week is the failure to listen to the words of history. What happened this week is the failure of the President of the United States to recognize what our history was and what defined us as a great nation and a compassionate society. That is the president’s failure and it should no longer be ours to deal with.
Taxes, healthcare, uncertainty on a whole list of concerns, gold going up and the price of oil coming down are all signs of a stagnant economy, an economy that is in freefall and an economy that is not performing. Unemployment is stuck at 9.1% we are still loosing 400,000 jobs a month and creating ¼ of that in new jobs. This is not progress this is more of the same and it is on this president’s watch. It is because of his policies and his ideology. This is not the fault of congress or another natural disaster. It is the fault of a national disaster that emanates from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue you won’t need the zip code for this one.
On today’s date in 1861 the The Revenue Act of 1861, formally cited as Act of August 5, 1861, Chap. XLV, 12 Stat. 292, included the first U.S. Federal income tax statute (see Sec.49). The Act, motivated by the need to fund the Civil War, imposed an income tax to be "levied, collected, and paid, upon the annual income of every person residing in the United States, whether such income is derived from any kind of property, or from any profession, trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere, or from any other source whatever.
Rates under the Act were 3% on income above $800 and 5% on income of individuals living outside the country.
This single act changed the relationship between the citizen and their government. But this single act was also a needed tool to win the freedom and independence that gave the liberty to many that did not have it. This was reasonable then because it was needed then. But like anything a government does it grew into a beast that ultimately consumed more and more of our revenue.
When your government takes in 2.2 trillion dollars in revenue a year and spends 3.7 trillion dollars a year on programs that most of us derive no benefit from then your relationship with your government is violated. When your government does not listen to the will of the people then your relationship with your government is violated. When government thinks they know more about what you need and does not let you make your own decisions then your relationship with your government is violated. When your president takes credit for the good things and does not take the blame for the bad then your relationship with him and your government is violated. It’s like any marriage when the other one in a relationship does not live up to expectations then your relationship is done.
Its time to dig deep into your soul and ask yourself this one question, “What kind of a relationship do you want with your government”? Because that affects what kind of country we will become. After a little searching of the soul you just might demand that your government redeem itself by giving us our liberty back so that our freedom is unhampered so that we are able to gain our independence once again. This is the freedom that will bind and that will not “try men’s souls.”
Thomas Paine said: “He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”
This special relationship is what we must extend to our neighbors because in the end it is the relationship that makes America strong and that will ensure a secure America for our posterity.
Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives
A footnote: There comes a time when the realization of our individual relationship with our government and each other and each others neighbors is what must be strengthened through the words and actions that unite instead of words and deeds that consumes then divides us.

Where are we?

2011-08-04T13:51:00.001-07:00

Thursday August 4, 2011

Where are we?

This is a question that is frequently asked when people are lost or who are questioning a relationship. When someone needs direction they might ask, where are we, especially when they are in a group. In a relationship, it becomes more of a personal question that is usually a one on one type of question. This one on one question should also be asked of government, because you do have a relationship, if you realize it or not.

I believe that many in America are lost. Many people come to me and ask simple questions. They are: What do you think of Sarah Palin? Is Mitt Romney going to get the nomination? What the heck is happening in Washington? Did you hear about the latest spending spree? What do you think about what is happening in the Mid East? I always have an answer. Some might not like what I say, but none the less I have an answer.

These are simple questions with complex answers and intriguing results. These questions are also how people search for answers. That is why it is so important to voice your ideas and your thoughts. Most of the time I answer a question straight forward, but sometimes I like to get a bit philosophical.

Someone asked me a question at the barber shop. Ok, it was my barber and I thought twice about how to answer it, because he held the razor. My barber is a great guy, he works his chair and he works for the owner of the shop. He asked me why there is such a debate over the debt ceiling in Washington and what’s going to happen when poor people lose their aid and all the other help that government programs give. Where is the justice in that? He said we can’t have these people just go homeless.

I listened and then I asked the question, why do you think we need to spread the wealth around? He said: well, the Republicans have all the money and thank God the Democrats are there to decide how to spread it around. He said, “I think they call that social justice.” He went onto say that the rich needs to pay for more, because the poor needs more help, because the Republicans have ruined the economy. He said I agree with the president when he said the people who own corporate jets can afford to pay more. The barber believes social justice will make things even, he told me as much. He went on to say a bit more about how the rich people keep minorities at the level they are at. What I have written pretty much sums up what he said. I waited until my neck was shaved and then I asked, do you think I am a liberal? He said I don’t know. I am just speaking my mind.

I waited all of three seconds to process what he had said. My first words were that his premises are faulty and his thoughts couldn’t be more wrong. I asked how many people he personally knows who fly around on corporate jets. He said one, the Republican Donald Trump. I said you are right, but doesn’t he deserve to fly one around, because he worked for it? Doesn’t he deserve to fly one around because he employs many people? And then I said, you haven’t answered the question, because you don’t personally know Mr. Trump and you don’t personally know any one who owns a jet. I said my point in all this is there aren’t enough jet owners around to tax for purposes of spreading the wealth around and if people like Trump were taxed on that then they might not be able to hire as many people as he does. I said you have bought into another faulty premise. I asked the barber if he had Trump’s money what would he do with it? He said go to Disneyland. I then said, you better just keep cutting hair and not talk politics.

As all of this went down, I was thinking of how I could relate this in a FORUM and still be polite in the words I chose. I was polite and I paid my bill. I will go back and I will give my barber a history lesson and the history what our liberty, freedom and independence gives us if we treat it in the way it was intended to be treated.

After considering this brief interlude into the mind of a liberal or someone that is just not informed it dawned on me. This is the way our government, our leaders and yes the President probably want things. No accountability of real history and confusion over the facts. Keep the people fighting the war on class warfare -distort the truth, because that makes it easier to gain the social justice of spreading the wealth around. Then it dawned on me how many people are like the barber and how many people are like me. I guess it depends on the city and the state you live in or it might be as simple as how they process what they hear or maybe it’s a little bit of both.

I have been reading about some of the modern leaders of the twentieth century. I wrote about one of them yesterday. Senator Everett Dirksen was a compassionate conservative. He fought for fiscal responsibility he also fought for the rights of man. He authored much of the civil rights legislation of the sixties. He never thought that by giving the rights that were constitutionally due to some Americans that some others would turn that into an industry for social justice peddling and an excuse for government to spread the wealth around. A conservative notion of spreading freedom and rights around has turned into a spending spree by the liberals. This spending spree has now crippled a nation and its entire people through entitlements and bloated civic programs that never are accountable until someone makes a demand on social justice to settle the accounts.

In short, poor people are not poor, because rich people are rich. Equal opportunity has to be judged, but it should not be judged and viewed through the prism of equalizing the results to satisfy those that demand social justice in the form of tax dollars from the system.

Dirksen said many things and Dirksen was many things to his country. However, he never intended social justice to be used to rob a nation’s wealth through legislation and with the self appointed power that office holders have given themselves today.

Dirksen said: “There is no force so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” My idea of social justice is how to create jobs that provide the opportunity for every American to grow and prosper. Conservatives know that government can never create the type of job that will make people rich. Conservatives know that social justice when it is used to rob a nation of its wealth will at some point fail to keep the peace and break the backs of those who have played by the rules. The time has come for new ideas based on the principles of unbridled free enterprise, determination, creativity and the desire to succeed with compassion is the best formula for successful social justice to occur.

Dirksen also said, when he was in the Senate, “We are becoming so accustomed to millions and billions of dollars that "thousands" has almost passed out of the dictionary.” The time has come for new ideas that will create a force so powerful that bankrupt politicians can no longer serve, let alone pass the legislation that robs our liberty, freedom and independence. I believe this is called compassion for all.

Dirksen said, “When all is said and done, the real citadel of strength of any community is in the hearts and minds and desires of those who dwell there.” I believe in this quote because America is the community that the world sees as the heart and soul of freedom. It was the desire of people like Benjamin Franklin who wanted to create a place that was free of government rule and policies that stifle freedom. It was also men like Dirksen who kept that fight alive in the twentieth century.

Now how’s that for an idea whose time has come.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: To answer the question, where are we, it should be answered in this way. The true essence of social justice should be measured by the heart and soul of the compassion that is served with fair ideals and that is based on the freedoms that we have been given to better our selves and our community. We now know that entitlements have robbed us of everything that is good including our ideals and the liberty, freedom and independence of those that want to better them selves. Today, in the hopes of spreading the wealth our national debt is now equal to the countries GDP. More on this tomorrow!

It's in the Congressional record, if you don't believe me!

2011-08-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday – August 3, 2011

It’s in the Congressional record, if you don’t believe me!

Many people who visit my site on the internet only know me by the stories, the facts and the words I use. Most of what I write just comes to me when I sit down to start the FORUM each day. However, sometimes, I look up pertinent dates in history and sometimes I listen to the news for inspiration. And then sometimes somebody gives me a story about histories record. Today, I have a story that my twin brother, Mark, told me about. He told me about a speech that Senator Everett Dirksen gave on the Senate floor which was entered into the Congressional record in June of 1965.

Most of you who know me by the words I write don’t know that my brother Mark is my identical twin. He is older and wiser than me - by only 8 short minutes. My brother and I have been through thick and thin together. My twin and I have some great stories about growing up - this includes all the twin stuff that only twins can understand. I love my brother, so I am dedicating this FORUM to him, because of the story he told me about as he read yesterday’s FORUM.

Yesterday’s FORUM was titled: “There’s sense and then there are cents.” I related the title to Benjamin Franklin, his life and the times he lived. I wrote about the sense he had, and the stories he told about how to save the cents you have. These stories are still pertinent today. The early patriots had for the first time in their lives their own money, because of the liberty, the freedom and their new found independence that Franklin’s signature was in part responsible for.

Yesterday was also the 235 anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence that holds Franklin’s signature today.

Today’s FORUM, and the story I am referencing , is about how government through the laws that are passed will always try to take a bit of your liberty, a bit of your freedom and a bit of the independence that we are supposed to enjoy and pass down to our posterity.

Today, our debt limit will rise to over 16 trillion dollars because of the debt deal the President signed. Today, the Republicans are being blamed, because it is perceived that the Tea Party caused the crisis over what was normally a done deal before it got to the president’s desk. It was the Tea Party who had the good sense to question the spending and question the sense in raising the debt ceiling by that much without any assurances of paying down the cents that caused the debt crisis in the first place. Vice President Biden even called the Tea Party members in the House “terrorists.”

Today, the Democrats are trying to gain the high ground, because of the Senate’s action with their bi-partisan approach. The president said: “We have avoided default”. This may be true, for now, but there will be another debt ceiling crisis after the election of 2012. Our government has once again kicked the can down the road and we will once again be forced to pick up the tab on that “can” as it continues to be kicked down that same road.

All the while, the President has escaped the scrutiny that should have been the story of the day. Record levels of unemployment, a falling stock market all add up to uncertainty. Many of the nation’s companies are not expanding and creating jobs here, because they do not have confidence in the economy here today. The president has once again escaped all the scrutiny that should have been focused on him today.

The president’s birthday is this Thursday but he will celebrate it in Chicago today. The president will be given campaign donations as birthday gifts tonight at fundraisers for him. This president and his party should now be made irrelevant to the issues that today presents.

The story that my brother told me about was this: In 1965, the raising of our debt ceiling was also an issue and there was also a public debate. The ceiling was a huge $328 billion dollars then. Senator Everett Dirksen, a Republican and a conservative, was against raising the debt ceiling and questioned the sense of doing so, because he new the value of cents. Dirksen was, in his day, the conscience of the Senate. He was not only a proponent of civil rights legislation; he authored much of that legislation in the 60’s. He said: “a billion here, a billion there pretty soon your talking about real money.” Though he did not create these words, the quote is attributed to him as its author.

In June of 1965, Dirksen took to the floor of the Senate and, in his special way, told two stories that reflected the scope and the concern of his time over the debt. Yesterday, I asked where are the Franklin’s now, in the 60’s we came close in that spirit but today our leaders have failed to put the concerns of a nation into words that matter. In 1965 the debt ceiling was a staggering 328 billion dollars today 46 years later that amount is just a drop in the bucket. Today the government spends 100 billion dollars every 10 days!

The Senator, in his gruff style, was known in the Senate as “the Master of Ooze.” The story my brother told me about are the two stories the Senator told, they are:

"As I think of this bill, and the fact that the more progress we make the deeper we go into the hole, I am reminded of a group of men who were working on a street. They had dug quite a number of holes. When they got through, they failed to puddle or tamp the earth when it was returned to the hole, and they had a nice little mound, which was quite a traffic hazard.
"Not knowing what to do with it, they sat down on the curb and had a conference. After a while, one of the fellows snapped his fingers and said, ‘I have it. I know how we will get rid of that overriding earth and remove the hazard. We will just dig the hole deeper.'" [Congressional Record, June 16, 1965, p. 13884].

On the same occasion, Dirksen relied on yet another "spending" story, one he labeled "cat in the well":"One time in the House of Representatives [a colleague] told me a story about a proposition that a teacher put to a boy. He said, ‘Johnny, a cat fell in a well 100 feet deep. Suppose that cat climbed up 1 foot and then fell back 2 feet. How long would it take the cat to get out of the well?' "Johnny worked assiduously with his slate and slate pencil for quite a while, and then when the teacher came down and said, ‘how are you getting along?' Johnny said, ‘Teacher, if you give me another slate and a couple of slate pencils, I am pretty sure that in the next 30 minutes I can land that cat in hell.' "If some people get any cheer out of a $328 billion debt ceiling, I do not find much to cheer about concerning it." [Congressional Record, June 16, 1965, p. 13884].

These words and these stories tell of a time when caution was permitted to be recognized and when people were not demonized for having the sense to be cautious about the cents they were committing to the nation’s debt. As we relate these two stories to today’s story, caution was not permitted to rule the day, because of a President who has now placed us in a deeper hole which is now closer to H***. A few more trillion and a few more slate pencils, but who’s counting?
My twin brother Mark is pretty smart. My twin brother and I are reflection’s of eachother!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Sense and cents counted in yesterday’s world. In today’s world, our government spends trillions with no sense of responsibility for the cents. I guess some would say we have come along way. But the question I have is with all the proof about the failed premises of the liberal, how can they still be permitted to be relevant? “But the basic difficulty still remains: It is the expansion of Federal power, about which I wish to express my alarm. How easily we embrace such business.” Senator Everett Dirksen

There's sense and then there are cents:

2011-08-02T05:31:00.000-07:00

Tuesday – August 2, 2011

There’s sense and then there are cents:

Who said, “A penny saved is a penny earned”? This quote is attributed to Benjamin Franklin; one of the most famous Americans of his time and continues to be in our time. Benjamin Franklin held many titles including leader, scientist, and world traveler. Besides his many contributions to the scientific world, Benjamin Franklin is known for his inspirational quotes.

During his lifetime, he witnessed the creation of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and Handel’s “The Messiah”, the death of Peter the Great, the discovery of Pompeii, the French and Indian Wars, which was followed by the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War and the adoption of the Georgian Calendar. Through all of this, Franklin made his own mark on the world with his many inventions. Always a practical man and wanting to make life easier for himself and others, a few of Franklin’s inventions include: Swim Fins in 1717, the lightning rod in 1752, the iron furnace stove in 1742, the odometer in 1775 and bifocals in 1784.

I am giving you this brief history, because of all the founding fathers, Franklin was the one that truly knew what sense was, because he had it and, as a result of having sense, he was able to save his cents. Hence a penny saved is a penny earned.

Franklin made it a point to impart his wisdom to others. In 1758, he wrote and published: “Way to Wealth,” a speech of various maxims that attempted to help people live frugal lives. However, “A penny saved is a penny earned” was not his only famous quote he said: “I didn’t fail the test; I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.” - “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something.” – “Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.” These were truly remarkable words, said in a remarkable time.

On today’s date, in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was formally signed. Franklin was one of the signers. The difference between today and Franklin’s time is that people wanted to serve their country to appeal to its higher sense. Today, when the country needs a Franklin, we cannot find anyone close anywhere in our Government today. Today, we need to search out those people who will serve and who know what the higher sense of serving is all about and who know how to save the cents, so that dollars can be earned. Today, we need people with a sense of what right is and what wrong is. Today, sense and cents will make the difference.

Today, you will not hear that this is the 235 anniversary of the formal signing of the document that spelled out what liberty, Freedom and Independence are. Today, you will hear about the passage of the debt bill that has very little sense applied to it and that doesn’t save the cents of a nation. This was a horrible process that yielded a horrible product.

Today, the question we must ask is; how can you add seven trillion dollars to the National debt and call it a cut in the debt and retain your Triple A credit rating? The credit rating agencies said if you want to avoid a downgrade you must cut four trillion dollars from your overall spending and get a handle on your entitlement cost. This debt deal does not do that. You will not hear this perspective anywhere. What you will hear is that you can trust the process because the process worked. It is not perfect but we have to settle on something.

When a nation continually sends the same people to do the nation’s business nothing will change, because the same people will settle on the same things. When a nation sends a Franklin to do the nation’s business the nation will get a solution based on sense, so that the nation can have its cents applied to what is important to the liberty, freedom and independence of the citizenry, based on the premise of our founding documents. I am beginning to think that just because our current leaders didn’t sign our documents of liberty, freedom and independence they are not so important. Maybe we should have them sign a copy every now and then. I would if I were asked!

The other battle that now looms is in September. Congress will meet to appropriate the funds to keep all the agencies and the other costs of doing business in the government appropriated. Sense would dictate that each agency would have to prove what they need instead of what they want. Sense would dictate that each agency would be audited and each agencies charter would be reviewed for relevance in today’s world, instead of what that agency was created to do 30, 40 and even 50 years ago. Sense would say that you don’t get the nation’s cents, because your agency is outdated in today’s world.

This is just somebody who has sense talking about the cents that you are required to pay for many services that you don’t even get to enjoy. But that’s just too sensible to even talk about, let alone apply.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The new politician will have to be able to make the old politician irrelevant in the discussion of 2012. I may be ready to do that very soon!

It's not today - it's tomorrow!

2011-08-01T05:20:00.000-07:00

Monday - August 1, 2011

It’s not today - it’s tomorrow!

The questions facing this country are complex, to say the least. I am not one to say that one party has all the answers, but I am not one to agree that the answers are somewhere in the middle.

The questions today and the deals made today will have an affect on all of our tomorrows. What we are witnessing today is unprecedented. At no other time in our history have we had such a divided government. At no other time have we had a government that has tried to take over every segment of the economy and consequently our lives and do it with such an ideologically based party and president.

I do not blame the current impasse on the Republicans or the Tea Party members of Congress. I blame this impasse on the party that has brought us to where we are today. I blame the president and I blame his party.

The conservatives have the right ideas, but they don’t go far enough. The liberals are lost in their failed premise, because of an ideology that has now been proven to have failed at every level.

The current debt plan coming out of the Senate has minimal cuts the first year and raises the debt ceiling that provides for more future spending. The current plan also calls for large cuts up to 50% in the military. This is a typical liberal thing to do, when the budget needs to be cut. Worse yet, these cuts would be instituted, as a punishment, if a 12 member panel cannot agree on deeper cuts across the board later this year. Our military has been stretched along with all of its resources. The military has been active with a decade of wars. We cannot afford to cut there when we have to add and replace the used up resources now.

Worse yet, the deal that is being agreed to will be voted on in less than 24 hours. This is another no review, no discussion and a big “trust me” bill from your government. The plan calls to raise the debt ceiling by another 2.4 trillion dollars through 2012. The actual cuts only call for 900 billion dollars. This crisis has been brewing for six months only to be agreed to literally at 8:00 pm last night. Are we going to pass the bill only to see what’s in it later on? This is the other $64,000 question that we will have to pay for.

This only demonstrates one thing. The majority of the politicians were not serious about cutting the real costs of government at the beginning of this process. Now that we are at the end of the process, the figures tell the story. It doesn’t do a thing for today or for tomorrow. In this case tomorrow,
August 2, is the deadline for an agreement over this whole debate. At the end of this process, the United States debt might still be down graded even if a default is avoided tomorrow.

I said the liberal premise of big government with big government programs is an ideology that has failed. The liberal premise of big government is now unaffordable. As a result, we have come to a cross road in America. With looming deficits, looming downgrades and the prospect of default with a double dip recession, the prospect of a healthy tomorrow cannot even be talked about in real terms tomorrow when the deadline is reached.

At this point, in the Reagan Presidency, the United States had a 7 % growth rate. The difference between then and today is that Keynesian economics is a model that this administration is following - big deficits, big government spending, and big programs. This approach when tried in a free market has always failed. It failed in the Carter days and it is once again failing today under Obama. Why, because no administration has ever been successful in transforming what America does best. That is practicing free market principals.

It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback this morning. So what I am going to say now should set me apart from the other pundits. It should also be a part of the way forward beginning tomorrow even under this current debt deal which does not provide for any sustainable long term solutions.

Our economy lacks certainty. As a result, our debt is now an uncertain investment opportunity. If our economic future is being held hostage by a still looming debt and big spending on failed big government programs the S&P along with Moody’s will downgrade our triple A rating. The triple A rating is enjoyed by only 17 countries in the world today. Tomorrow that may change. This means the prospect of double digit interest rates will become a reality and the interest on student loans will go up. A retracting stock market is most certain and that would cause the nation’s 401K’s, and Keogh plans to retract and it would cause the investments in many of the nation’s IRA plans to go south.

Double digit interest rates would mean that credit would be harder to get and big ticket items such as Car Loans would be on the decrease. This is only what the obvious economic tracking would show. Other underlying economic factors, such as housing starts and manufacturing would be significantly impacted in a negative way. The prospect for long term economic repair might be years away instead of months away.

Tax reform needs to occur with regulatory moratoriums on agencies such as the EPA. In fact all government agencies should have regulatory reforms with moratoriums placed on them now.

Aggressive trade agreements need to be pushed through congress at a lightening fast pace. Import and export duties need to be reformed. Along with lowering taxes for business so that jobs moving offshore come back onto our shore.

The government needs to stop propping up the housing market. Let housing take its natural course and let home values come back to a level that is realistic. Help the home owners who have followed the rules and don’t reward those that haven’t.

Finally, stop the unnecessary assault on business. Entrepreneurship and small business is the productive part of our economy. So why penalize it with more regulation, higher taxes and an environment that doesn’t provide for any expansion policies that are required in a free market economy?

In this whole debate we have lost track of the essential aspects of what makes our economy work. During the Reagan era more jobs were created because more companies were started. This simply provided for more tax payers. If there are more tax payers paying a fair tax then the revenues coming into the Federal coffers grow. If spending is reduced by a few percentage points and capped along with entitlement reform then our economy grows. Confidence comes back and a growth cycle is encouraged by the entrepreneurs that our economy has come to depend on for growth.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the value of Goods and services that the United States Produces is not growing. If these reforms were part of the debate today then our GDP would be growing exponentially instead of the 0.4% growth rate in the first quarter and a marginal growth rate of only 1.3% for the second quarter. As I said earlier during the Reagan years our growth rate was 7%. That was due to supply side economics which encouraged investment, entrepreneurship and the lost commodity of confidence not only by the rating agencies but by the investors who invest in ideas and people.

Keynesian Economics and Supply Side Economics cannot work together. The debate today should be over what we want for tomorrow as a nation. The debate today should be over letting the people decide if they want our government to work under the principles of a balanced budget tomorrow. The debate today should include an amendment that the people decide on and not the President, the Senate and the Congress.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Today take a step back and consider what you want done tomorrow and then support someone who will act on what you want!

It's time!

2011-07-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

Friday – July 29, 2011

It’s time!

Time is relative. Time goes by fast and time can delay the inevitable.

I don’t worry about time being relative or even time going by fast, but what I do mind is when time is used to delay the inevitable. Time has been used to get a bad debt bill that originated from a good debt bill in order to stop a worse debt bill. As a result, both debt bills sponsored by the Speaker and the Senate
are just not enough. Both have come short in saving our economic liberty, our economic freedom and our economic independence. But then again, that’s the great compromise that we are forced to accept, because of a president who has sunk the world’s greatest economy!

The president still says he will veto a bill, if the debt ceiling is not raised enough to get him through the next election. The president is now using time for his own benefit. The president has wasted time and the president has squandered his time, because through this process he still has no plan!

After all is said and done, there will probably be a combination of the Boehner bill and a Reid bill. The president will have to sign the compromise just to settle the dust that has been raised by his lack of leadership and his innate ability to waste the people’s time while playing the politics for the sake of the people.

In one month the government issues over 211 million checks to individuals. This covers Medicare, Social Security, Food Stamps, Disability SSI, and checks for Active & Retired Defense Personnel. I wrote something two weeks ago that really put a perspective on what time and government can do to rob our wealth. What I wrote was in 69 out of the last 80 years the government spent more money than it took in.

In all the time that has been spent over the debt crisis in rebuttal efforts by both parties and in posturing by the president we still haven’t addressed a solution to the spending problem. I wrote about what a solution is versus a deal in Yesterdays FORUM. In all the time that has been spent in this month of July our National debt has risen, some 211 million checks have once again been written, the nations wealth has not increased, our dollar has decreased in its stature and in its trust. Our GDP is also at an all time low 1.8%. This has all happened in the time the President has been in office.

I view the month of July, all 744 hours of it, as Liberty time. I view the month of July as a time when our forefathers decided on a course and acted on that decision. I view the 744 hours that are always in the month of July as a time to review how our liberty our independence and our freedom came to be.

I view what has happened in the 696 hours so far in this month of July as how much liberty and Independence we have lost because of those who want to decide on just how much liberty, independence and freedom we deserve and are now allowed to have. Time does strange things when you start to account for it.

235 years ago John Adams wrote, in a letter to Abigail Adams, in July of 1776: “The second day of July, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.” We started this month with a bit more of the liberty, freedom and Independence that Adams wanted to celebrate forevermore. But as the month is closing we are being told that August 2, is the day of financial Armageddon if a debt deal isn’t done. You notice no one in Washington is using the word solution.

224 years ago James Madison wrote, in the Federalist Papers, No.14, on November 30, 1787: “They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. They reared the fabrics of governments which have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a great Confederacy, which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate.” I believe in these words and I believe that when a government spends more than it takes in to perpetuate a model opposite of what Madison intended, we have not perpetuated and improved upon the model the revolution was fought over.

223 years ago James Madison said, in an address to the Virginia Convention in June of 1788: “I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” If you take this quote at face value and consider that it took 223 years to accomplish what Madison warned against, then I guess our time has been used very well.

In 1834, Madison also wrote, in “Advice to My Country”: The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated.” Today, I cannot think of one leader that holds this thought in mind when a vote as critical as the debt debate is being tallied for political, ideological and personal victory. This, unfortunately, is more dangerous than the foreign enemies of our country represents.

It’s time to consider what Ronald Reagan quoted, in The Political Chameleon, by Edmund G. Brown: “One thing our Founding Fathers could not foresee-they were farmers, professional men, businessmen giving of their time and effort to an idea that became a country-was a nation governed by professional politicians who had a vested interest in getting re-elected. They probably envisioned a fellow serving a couple of hitches and then looking early to getting back to the farm.”

For the sake of our liberty, it’s time to do the people’s work, by people who come from the ranks of the people. You can quote me on that!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: It’s time!

A deal or a solution:

2011-07-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

Thursday – July 28, 2011:

A deal or a solution:

Webster’s defines the word deal as: Part or Portion, to distribute playing cards to players in a game. To sell or distribute something as a business. To take action with regard to someone or something. An arrangement for mutual advantage. To engage in bargaining. In Britain, a deal is a board of fir or yellow pine lumber nine inches or wider and three, four or five inches thick.

So be careful who you use the word deal in front of.

The word solution is defined as: an action or process of solving a problem. An answer to a problem. A set of values of the variables that satisfies an equation.

These are two distinctly different words that seem to make their way through our lives depending on what we desire in any given conflict. We make a deal when we buy a car or a house. We come up with a solution when our expenses are more than we take in. We come up with a solution when we can’t afford to pay the electric bill, because we spent the money for that new jacket. I think you know where I am going with this.

It dawned on me today that in Washington the word deal is used a lot. The president wants a debt deal by August 2nd. The Speaker won’t make a debt deal until 3 trillion dollars are cut from the budget. Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, says the deal that the Speaker wants is DOA in the Senate. The word balanced budget is only being kept alive by the members of the Tea Party in the Republican caucus.

Do you see the confusion in all of this? In the meantime the citizens, the tax payer in this case, will have to take what ever is decided in the back rooms as the best deal that could be made. The best deal is seldom the solution especially when the people we elect give us a 14 trillion dollar deficit and we still will borrow 9 trillion more over the next decade. This is no solution, but it’s a deal when we can borrow more on the credit card.

The part of the solution to the deficit problem is, as I wrote about two weeks ago, is the base line budgeting approach that was put into place in 1974. The baseline approach gives a constant number every budget year. It guarantees a sum of money that is tied to the debt ceiling increases that allows us to borrow more. If this base line approach is not there then we can start at zero dollars each budget year and work up the numbers that we need to satisfy a balanced budget. In other words, apply the same accounting principles that a company has to do to establish their budget to operate the business with.

Though this sounds simplistic it does work. It dawned on me today that this magic date of August the 2nd, the day of financial Armageddon that the president has been talking about, might be moved back by three weeks, because there was an unexpected tax windfall of funds coming into the treasury from taxes. I wrote two weeks ago that the government doesn’t really know how much money is coming in and what the expenses really are. It’s a floating number on any given day.

When the president said that unemployment would go no higher than 8%, if his stimulus package went through, we believed him. Trillions of dollars later it’s at 9.2% and growing, because the economy is now shrinking again. When the president gave the military the order to bomb Libya the president said it would be days, not weeks, to oust Qadaffi. It has now been months and the Libyan leader is still there. When the president said it would be Armageddon, if we didn’t have a resolve to the debt deal, we are now again finding out another story. Part of the solution that we do not insist on is being told the truth. I believe that Congressman Ryan, who put together the original and only budget proposal, was the only one telling the truth and who was demonized in the process.

The solution to revamp the government policy on spending and to reform all entitlements is not to deal, but to initiate an action or a process of solving the problem. The solution is to eliminate discretionary spending and put a freeze on earmarks is to eliminate dealing and forget about mutual advantages and stop the bargaining process. The solution is to pay the debt and don’t borrow in the process. The solution to all of this is to establish a set of values to identify the variables that satisfies an equation to solve the debt.

Our form of government works with compromise, but I fear the days of compromise are over. We must find the solutions that will enable the great people in the future who serve to once again do the people’s work. We must insist on truthfulness and trust and when a deal is struck it must be one that satisfies a solution rather than who got the best deal.

I usually quote a founding father, but today I am quoting President Calvin Coolidge. In a remark to Stanley King in 1930 he said: “If our institutions and our cities and states and nation only spent the money they had in hand, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in today.” It’s a funny thing a few politician’s are saying this today. I think they call themselves the Tea Party.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: I pick the word solution and not the deal. With a deal you cannot be assured you will get the best deal, if you can’t do it yourself. This is also the solution, because we cannot trust government to make the best deal, especially when a date is picked for our financial Armageddon.

Just think!

2011-07-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday – July 27, 2011

Just think!

In July of 1775, Maryland issued currency depicting King George III trampling the Magna Carta. This one event in American History is but a footnote to the Revolution today. However, just think of what the symbolism was meant to depict. In those days the States issued their own currency and the States had their own laws. Maryland was concerned that the colonies were going to be taxed, because of the debt incurred by the King.

In July of 2011, 236 years later, we are still looking for the symbolism that depicts what this president has done and is now doing to the country. Just think 236 years ago there was a king, today we have a president who would like to be King. There is no difference between trampling the Magna Carta or the Constitution.

King George III misread the American population as this president, who would like to be King, is doing now.

Just think about all that this President, who would like to be King, has done to violate States rights and the Constitution with his healthcare bill and now denying a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Just think about the impact that this president, who would like to be King, will have on future generations of Americans, if this president, who would like to be King, has his way.

Future generations will be no different than the serfs and servants to the crown were 236 years ago. Just think about that!

Yesterday, I started the FORUM with some figures. It was the National debt figure. Yesterday the National debt yesterday was $14,539,336,700,785 today over 24 hours later, at the writing of this FORUM, it is $14,542,185,909,146. You can do the math on how much it has increased more than 24 hours later. The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate just how much of your money this president, who would like to be King, is spending. Spending gives the politician power, it gives them clout and it gives them votes.

Just think about the right and the wrong of how this president’s policies have destroyed this economy. The president wants to punish those that work and create wealth and reward those that don’t work to create wealth.

I said two weeks ago that the Congress should pass a bill that only cuts and caps the spending. The president and the Senate could have been forced to sign it into law just on that principle. I also said that, following that bill, a separate bill which proposes a balanced budget amendment with nothing else attached to it should be passed in the Congress. After its passage, with over 68% of the people’s support, it would then be sent to the Senate and then the president to sign it into law. In today’s environment it would have been difficult to say no to a separate bill like a balanced budget amendment. Just think if that had happened. We would not be pressed against the wall today. Senate majority leader, Harry Reid (D), supported a balanced budget amendment in 1997. Senator Durbin (D) supported a balanced budget amendment in 1995. The list goes on. These senator’s words would come to haunt them today, if the Congress had pushed it. Just think two separate bills, two separate issues, two separate votes, which would be supported by the people, might have prevented the stalemate today. Just think about how this would have changed the minds of the S&P and Moody’s.

Just think of how the Republicans, who control 1/3 of the government, might have changed the structural problems of our budgeting and spending.

The president does not like those who disagree with his policy initiatives. The president, who would like to be King, would have been forced to change his ideology, because of the people’s wishes. The president, who would like to be king, could not have garnered the support from his party with an approach that was designed to force the issue and consequent passage of two bills that would have put the president’s policies on permanent hold.

Just think how the country would prosper, if the president’s policies were put on permanent hold.

Just think of what passing the right bill, for the right reasons, would mean for the country.

Thomas Jefferson said, in his first Inaugural address, on March 4, 1801: “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”

Just think if someone early on had uttered these words in the debate over the debt today, what the out come of the debate could have been. Guess what someone just did!

Just think if our laws were written and better yet, if the thought behind them appealed to our higher senses, we would not have the moral deficit that created the immoral deficits that we face today.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Just think of the things that should be happening and the words that should be said and then ask why they haven’t been said!

What's the main stumbling block?

2011-07-26T05:17:00.000-07:00

Tuesday - July 26, 2011

What’s the main stumbling block?

Well, we’re still a country and our economy is still here though sour, at best. We still have a triple A debt rating. The U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate are still in business. And there is yet another sex scandal on the hill. David Wu, a Democrat Congressman, is the center of today’s controversy. All is well and the State of the Union is strong.

At the writing of this FORUM, at 8:00 pm EST on July 25th 2011, our national debt was $14,536,336,700,785.If you check http://usdebtclock.org this morning you will see what approximately 12 hours can do when there is no balanced budget amendment and the government is free to spend at our expense. All is well and the State of the Union is strong.

The question is: how do we really measure the strength of our union? This is why our debt rating is so important and why we must maintain the triple A debt rating we have now. I am just as confused as you might be as to what debt plan is the best and what debt plan should be favored. The House has one and they are willing to bend. The Senate has yet another plan, but it’s not as good as the House plan. The president still doesn’t have a plan, except the one that gets him past the next election.

The president will not sign on to a plan that doesn’t include a debt ceiling hike that won’t let him get past his re-election in November. The House wants to have two hikes between now and the election. The Senate wants to have one after the election and promises, with no specificity, that there will be cuts, but doesn’t say how deep they are willing to cut. What we do know is that cuts in entitlements are not included in the Senate plan.

So, you tell me. What is the main stumbling block in all of this? I will give you a hint: his initials are BHO, the president.

The latest Gallup poll for July 18 thru 24 showed that the polled 3,577 adults had gave the president an approval rating of only 43%. This is the lowest it has been since he became president. In the same poll, his disapproval number of 48% is now a consistent number. This number must have the president and his men in a deep quandary as to how they can get an acceptable outcome to the situation they have caused.

But if the president is only concerned about one thing, that being his re-election, why must we suffer for his antics and his self centered, narcissistic, troubled personality? We have no choice, because he is president. Bill Daly, the president’s Chief of Staff, said Sunday, “The reason they question (the S&P and Moody’s) our economy right now and the reason we may get downgraded is the present political system can’t deal in a serious way with our deficit.” He is right, but I think he is describing his boss.

If we get downgraded, it will be the president’s fault. He has done nothing except to call commissions and not follow their recommendations. He has done nothing to reduce the spending or to reduce the tension between the two parties. So, if you ask me who the stumbling block is, I say the president. But then again, that’s just me with another opinion.

When our leaders look at themselves as being more important than the cause they represent, it becomes incumbent upon the people to act. When a president looks at himself as being more important than the country he has sworn to protect and defend, it becomes incumbent upon the people to act. Many of our forefathers knew that this approach is the only approach that will protect and keep the state of the union strong. When a president purposely tries to manipulate the House and the Senate to protect himself, it becomes incumbent upon the citizen to act. When the president becomes the stumbling block, it becomes incumbent upon the people to act.

It’s no longer about the president’s ideology, it is about his survivability. To Obama, it’s about his legacy and nothing else! In the meantime, the citizen can either become weak or strong. It’s the difference between the citizen being dependent or the citizen exercising their individual independence. When a president takes away the ability of the citizen to remain strong and the ability to live independently of government, then the accomplished goal of making the citizen weak and dependent can be accomplished. This is why the president wants all the hard decisions to be made after the election. We cannot trust that the hard decisions will be made, because he has no intention on making the needed, hard decisions that will keep the union strong.

The president spoke last night. He blamed Bush and made himself out to be the Liberal version of Ronald Reagan. He did this, because he knows he is in trouble with his base, his party and with the Republicans. He knows that Reagan took his case to the American people on many occasions. He knows that Independents gave Reagan the presidency. He acted like he was the balance and his program is the balance that will bring the country back from crisis. His speech was disgraceful, because it exhibited what the rest of the world fears; a leader that has no rudder to steer the ship of state and a leader that has lost his credibility. This cannot be blamed on George Bush.

Thomas Jefferson said, in his first annual message to Congress, which is now termed in today’s parlance The State of the Union. He said on December 8, 1801, “Agriculture, manufacturers, commerce and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left to individual enterprise.”

I didn’t hear anything like this in last night’s speech. I haven’t heard anything like this during President Obama’s first term. The lack of these four pillars is the stumbling block that Obama has created.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The stumbling block that we have today is not our political system. It is the head of the political system. It is the president that is now stumbling, because of the blocks that his ideology has constructed.

Time and again!

2011-07-25T05:29:00.000-07:00

Monday – July 25, 2011

Time and again!

What does this title mean, time and again? It says a little bit about what time is and it says a little bit about how time repeats itself.

When you apply this old saying to your personal life, you might see how month after month things don’t change much. You have your bills to pay, you have the scrapes and bruises that your children come home with, you have the visits to the grocery store and the visits to the vet, if you have a dog or cat. Your 401(k) goes up and it goes down. And lastly, every week we ask the $64,000 question: am I going to be employed next week?

While time can repeat itself in our daily lives, the one thing that’s for sure is we can’t make up for lost time. The only things we can’t repeat are the days that we lose, because of indecision and bad decisions. The same can be said for Washington.

The current debt crisis is now being blamed on Speaker of the House, John Boehner. Speaker Boehner walked out of the meeting with the President last Friday, because the President “moved the goal post”, according to the Speaker. According to the President, Speaker Boehner wouldn’t sign on to additional revenue enhancers.

Time and again we see the President and the Democrats use a play on words that sounds great. My gosh - to be able to enhance revenue must be a good thing, because who wouldn’t want to enhance their own revenue? This sounds like it could be an investment opportunity! It sounds like someone else might pick up the tab! But what it really means is that the president proposed an additional tax on the rich, something that the Speaker just couldn’t live with.

The president also wanted to raise the debt ceiling until after the 2012 elections. Who wouldn’t want to put off another debt crisis until after his re-election? Time and again, it is just politics as usual.

A year ago, the president and the Democrats knew that we would be having this debate now. The problem is that they thought they would still control the House and still control the entire government. Fast forward a year and we have the stalemate we have today. Democrats control 2/3 of the government and the Republicans control 1/3, with over 68% of the people agreeing with them and their plan.

The Republicans presented a proposal. It was called Cut, Cap and Balance. They passed it in the House, only to be voted down in the democratically controlled Senate, at the behest of the democratically controlled White House. Another plan was submitted by the Senate, which favored the Liberal view of how to run a country and a government. Where has that gotten us in the last four- six years? As an example of where it has this gotten us is; the President announced on Friday that Chrysler has paid off their loan. In the bail out process, Chrysler was given to a foreign based auto maker FIAT with tax payer dollars buying it for them. We were told that in the end there would be a return on the investment. However, in the end, when the math was done, the tax payer came up short by 1.3 billion dollars. Why, because the U.S. government sold their shares in Chrysler at a loss to the Italian auto maker. Who profited? The Italian auto maker and the Italian government - the American tax payer picked up the tab! Have you heard the old adage “pretty good for government work?” This one story alone should be enough to explain why government is not a good steward of the nation’s wealth.

The president wants to raise the debt ceiling by another 2.4 trillion dollars, because he wants to spend more. The tax payer cannot afford this and the credit rating agencies who put a rating on our debt know it.

The president has once again failed in his duty to lead and to make the right decisions for the country. He knew a year ago that something had to be done to prevent this debate from occurring today. Time and again he has failed to come up with a plan and the Senate has failed, because they could have negotiated when the House came up with their proposal after all it is their responsibility to do so.

As we anxiously await the results of the Asian Market today, we also are waiting to see the results of what our markets do. This is of course related to the debt deal that Washington can’t seem to agree on, because of indecision and mostly because of the bad decisions that comes out of Washington.

Bad decisions are the result of the kind of decisions we are facing today. 16 years ago the country had an opportunity to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Time and again we visit the same questions, with the same outcome.

The president asked on Friday “where is the leadership?” My response is if there was true leadership coming from the White House, instead of the child’s play we have seen, the job would have been done right, before the desperate decisions that have to be made today.
So where do we stand this morning? You still have your bills to pay, but chances are the interest on those bills will rise. Your kids will still come home with their scrapes and bruises, but chances are the doctor bill will go up, because his expenses will rise, because his cost of doing business is rising. You will still visit the grocery store, but you will pay more at the check out line, because of inflation which simply means: an increase in the supply of currency or credit relative to the availability of goods and services, resulting in higher prices and a decrease in the purchasing power of your money. Your dog or cat will still need to see the vet, but the vet is just another doctor for the family with rising costs himself. Your 401(k) will take the hit next month, because of the sell off that might take place because of the “no deal or bad deal situation in Washington.” But what I fear most is; you will still be asking the $64,000 question: am I going to have my job next week?

Just as the S&P and Moody’s are losing faith in our credit and ability to pay our bills, business will lose faith and pull back as well. As a result, of all of this our financial rating will be down graded, because there will be no full faith and credit in the dollar and the United States any longer.

Time and again we have seen this, but not to the degree of a lowered credit rating. You can blame Congress, you can blame the Senate. You can blame the S&P and Moody’s. Blame China and the European Union. Blame George Bush. But the smart money will go to the source and that is the President of the United States. We will be better off when he is booted out of town. This is what elections are all about. The presidential election in 2012 should be about nothing else except for what happened in July of 2011.

Mr. President, per your instructions, Congress came up with a proposal, it was the first and only proposal to be passed and that is what should be negotiated. Quit moving the goal post and find your place on the field.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Time and again we see the same stuff it never changes. Time and again we see the same characters that never change. Time and again we wish for a change. The system works; it’s the leaders who don’t work within the system. John Adams said to Horatio Gates in a letter on March 23, 1776: “I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all.”

It's a position you can feel comfortable with!

2011-07-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Friday – July 22, 2011

It’s a position you can feel comfortable with!

Over the course of the last two weeks, I have had fun with the word position. Webster’s defines the word as: an act of placing or arranging: The laying down of a proposition or a thesis: A point of view adopted and held.

In the political arena a position is often held, regardless of the effects and regardless of the possible outcomes to decisions made, because of the position that is held.

This becomes a problem when tax payer money is involved and when the blank check is given to irresponsible people.

The taken position or the view adopted by the conservative is that big government, big spending, big tax and big entitlement government has produced enormous cost and uncertainty on the part of small and big business owners. The left is now calling anyone who takes a position like this an anarchist!

The taken position or the view adopted by the liberal is that big government, big spending, big tax and big entitlement government will produce the growth needed to provide certain outcomes. It is the certain outcome that is the result of the position of the liberal that concerns me.

Today, the new jobless numbers are out, 418,000 people filed for new unemployment benefits last week. This number of new claims has stayed in the 400,000 plus level for two months running. It took a dip in the spring, but has now risen again at a steady pace. Our growth rate is now 1.2% to 2%. When our economy is performing at 4% to 5% growth the number of new time claims should be at the 320.000 level not the level that was reported this week. China will have a 9% growth rate this year.

The unyielding position taken by the White House, early on in its tenure, has now resulted in what many economists have feared a double dip recession. This position was not mentioned by me, though I agree with the position.

Bernie Marcus, Co-Founder of Home Depot, said yesterday: “His – the presidents – output is absolutely, incredibly bad… Even brain dead economists understand that when you raise taxes, you cost jobs… he - the president - doesn’t understand the problems businesses face.” Mr. Marcus went onto say, “If Home Depot was started today he doubts if it would last in this kind of environment.” This position was not mentioned by me, though I agree with the position. The CEO’s of Coke and Pepsi also had similar positions yesterday.

It is now becoming the position of the business community that the policies of this president have caused anemic growth and have ruined the economy of the world’s richest nation. My position on this is: where have these business leaders been for the past three years? Where have the normally outspoken leaders been and why are they now just coming out of the closet with critical opinions and positions about this president.

It is my position that bigger government creates bigger waste. Bigger government employs more bureaucrats that are unelected and who are unaccountable to Congress and the citizens of the United States. These bureaucrats make decisions based on their positions. The decisions made affect every American. It has been discovered by a Senate panel that the EPA has given away 27 million dollars in grants to foreign countries to promote the climate change agenda in 2009. This was not a Bush era position. A partial list of the breakdown is: $718,000 went to China to assist with control of air emissions. $700,000 went to Thailand to collect methane from pig farms. $150,000 to Interpol for Climate change programs and $15,000 went to Indonesia’s “Breath Easy”, Jakarta campaign.

Another waste of tax payer money by the unaccountable bureaucrat has cost the SEC and the tax payer 557 million dollars. Yes, 557 million. The SEC signed a ten year lease for office space in downtown Washington D.C., only to find out it didn’t need it. The contracts and the paper work that normally makes its way through the bureaucracy were distorted. The figures and many of the details of the lease agreements were covered over by white out and, as a result, these pertinent figures were not reviewed. No reason has been given as to why the figures were hidden from the review panel. No reason has been given as to why the review panel didn’t ask the obvious questions. The tax payer is on the hook, once again, by the bureaucrats in Washington D.C., who are unaccountable. My position, once again, is bigger government causes bigger waste. But then again, that’s just me!

Another wasted program of a big government is two Navy ships that were built and never set out to sea will be scraped at a cost of 300 million dollars each. The ships were built, outfitted and sent to a dock never to see the sea. My position, once again, is bigger government causes bigger waste. But then again, that’s just me!

Yesterday, we saw the United States surrender its position in space. Our foot print that could never be overstepped in scope and accomplishment is now gone with the landing of the last Shuttle flight Atlantis. Gone are the imagination of the creators, gone are the imagination of the explorer, gone is the imagination of a generation of Americans who will not witness another launch of an American Space Ship that carries Americans into space for a generation. With all the waste that has been identified in today’s FORUM an argument should be made that all that money could have gone to fund NASA and prevent the layoffs of thousands of employees at NASA and its supplier base, which will now be reported in next weeks jobless numbers. My position, once again, is bigger government causes bigger waste. But then again, that’s just me!

I know someone who has a great wit. Lori said to me yesterday, when we were discussing some of the problems of big government, “You know they are lying, when you see their lips move.”

This comment is so true. We have seen this act out this week in the budget debate alone. We have now seen the waste that big government causes. In all of these examples, decisions were made based on positions and based on what people in government say when they move their lips.

It’s not the position of being on the right or being on the left. It’s the position of what is right and what is wrong that is missing from today’s political debate. Adults know the difference; business leaders know the difference; many children by the age of five know the difference from right and wrong. But when it comes to the politician their wrong position usually overrides the citizen’s right position. But then again, that’s just me with yet another position!

On today’s date, in 1775, George Washington took command of the U.S. troops who would fight the Revolutionary War. These troops gave us the freedoms we have today. These freedoms created the world’s most powerful economy, it has also given the world its many advancements. General Washington, as he was known then, acted and commanded in a way that men worshipped and men would follow. The positions in Washington today do not come close to what Washington held in his heart when he took command.

I always end the week with a quote. Today I want to share the words of Washington. Not the city, but the man: “There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.”

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: To insist upon the truth is a duty that each American owes to every other American. A position that is not truthful reduces the capacity of Americans to have trust in their leaders. It may also negatively affect the positions in away that might not help their fellow citizens. That’s a position every American should feel comfortable with. But then again that’s how I roll!

It's the position that others are now taking:

2011-07-21T13:25:00.001-07:00

Thursday – July 21, 2011

It’s the position that others are now taking:

The world is watching the debate that is taking place in Washington today. I don’t believe that the world is watching what we are doing on the job front, because we are not talking about that this week, but they are looking to see how we control our spending and our debt because that is what we are talking about now.

It seems that this administration is hell bent on not doing what is necessary to create jobs, so it might be a moot point to talk about that today.

But what shouldn’t be moot is how we go about solving and curing our spending habits which have now affected our long term debt and debt rating. In 69 out of the last 80 years, since we have had a debt ceiling, the federal government has spent more than it has taken in. If we analyze the headlines, during every administration, in that time frame, we will see that the arguments have been the same whenever we have had the debt ceiling debate. The only thing that has changed is the players and the dates. However, what has changed now, in 2011, is that we have fewer tax payers, bigger entitlements and we will now hit the dead end on the road that we have been kicking the can down for 80 years.

There has always been wiggle room and room for compromise in this debate, but now the reality of a D-day is settling in. The latest proposal from the Senate does not lower spending; it cuts spending against the baseline and does not provide cuts in actual spending. For instance, the Senate proposal calls for raising the baseline by 9 trillion dollars. If they cut 3 trillion from that baseline, they will still add 6 trillion to the national debt. At this rate we will be at 100% of our GDP in a few short years. This is not serious planning; it is the old Washington shell game. They will take symbolic cuts in some areas, only to add more funding in other symbolic areas. This is the position that others are now taking.

If we raise the debt ceiling and make serious cuts with a long term plan that shows we are serious about lowering the debt and controlling our spending habits then the S&P and Moody’s will feel comfortable in keeping our triple A rating, especially if a balanced budget amendment is part of the deal. However, if we have a weak plan, with small numbers over a short term, then our debt rating will be lowered. They have told us as much! This is the position others are taking.

If the debt rating is lowered our economy will take the hit. It’s all about controlling our debt and coming up with a serious long term plan, instead of one that is for the short term and that symbolically shows bipartisanship. The world doesn’t care about our politics. The world cares about America’s dollar and its credit. We, as citizens, should also be concerned about what the world is seeing and what they are observing when a final decision is made.

At this point it’s all about politics and not economics that is the position that others are also taking. This is why we shouldn’t trust the six page overview from the gang of six. The gang of 6’s proposal, put forward in the Senate yesterday, is based on the recommendations of the Simpson and Bowles plan. This is fine, but it doesn’t go as deep. The gang of 6’s proposal calls for slashing 3.7 trillion over ten years, why not the larger number that the House plan called for. The gang of 6’s proposal is to reduce the public debt by 70% by 2021 why not by 2018 and aim higher. The gang of 6’s proposal calls for a reduction in the marginal tax rates while abolishing the AMT. This is also good, but the rich will be taxed more; and what about the 50% of Americans who don’t pay tax? They still get a free pass and someone has to pay for that shortfall. In addition, the Senate proposal calls for discretionary spending caps through 2015 why not make it through 2021 with larger caps. Lastly, the Senate plan does not include a balanced budget amendment. I said yesterday that this is the single most important thing that we can do for the viability of the economy, our spending levels and our debt. More important than that it’s our country’s financial viability and credit worthiness. Until this is done, nothing will significantly improve.

That is the position that others are now taking.

On the political side, the Tea Party members are being demonized, the conservatives are being called extremists and the Republicans are being set up for the hit. Is this what should be happening? The administration has not offered any proposal for over two years. Isn’t it time that someone gets serious and demonstrates extreme measures to get the job done?

Both Obama and Biden were strongly opposed to raising the debt ceiling whenever the question was debated, when they were Senators. Why is there a change in their opinion now? It’s because they have control and they want to fundamentally change America! This is the position they have taken!

In today’s debate there should be two questions that haven’t been asked. How to move this country forward in a financially responsible way? And how do we secure the necessary resources, so that the people who really need those resources get it?

We also need to answer some other fundamental questions. Just what kind of a country do we want? Is it in our best interest to expand the nanny state? Or is it in our best interest to provide the resources to expand our liberty our freedom and our independence.

In days gone by, we relied on the writings of Dickenson, Paine, Adams, Franklin and Jefferson to give us light and provide us with the direction that gave us our liberty our freedom and our independence. Today, the list of pundits, journalists, talk show hosts, entertainers, news reporters, press secretaries and the lists goes on, will shape and will distort whatever the message is for the day. Go back and read some of the earlier writings that gave us a platform that we relied on up to 80 years ago.

Go back and read about the importance of paying our debts. Read about the dangers of big government and read about why the country had a revolution. If you do you might have a position that others are not taking.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: No matter what the position is it will always be debated. However, there are certain fundamental rights and certain fundamental principals that should not be ignored. It is the position that incorporates those elements that will be the most successful for the country!

A new position that is becoming clearer:

2011-07-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

Wednesday-July 20, 2011

A new position that is becoming clearer:

What a difference a day can make. While the Republicans passed their cut, cap and balance bill in the House, a new bill in the Senate was proposed.

I said last week that the next two weeks we would hear about many more positions. But the one position that we haven’t heard about is the president’s. He has not given any real direction on the debt ceiling debate and the budget debate, because he still doesn’t have one. This might be old news, but what is happening now is serious business.

I think the reason the president hasn’t offered a plan is that he can’t. All of America now knows that his original plan didn’t work out so well. So he will support another plan in order to save his you know what, if that one doesn’t work. He will never support a Republican plan, because he knows that one will work but more importantly it is a Republican plan. So he will compromise and support the gang of 6’s new plan. He does this because he can say that it is the Senate who acted in a bipartisan way and not the republicans regardless if their plan is the best plan for America.

The new plan that was proposed in the Senate is designed to take away the steam that the Republicans in Congress had. I think that the Republican Senators who broke in support of the cut cap and balance plan were premature and did harm to their own party. They will tell you they followed their conscience. They will find out very soon that when you sell your soul to the Democrats you lose. It’s my position that the band of six should be deep sixed.

The new proposal will likely increase taxes, it does not seriously cut spending where it is needed the most, more importantly though, it doesn’t include a balanced budget amendment like the Republican plan does. This is now a battle of wits between the Senate and the Congress. Both houses are now fighting for a position. And what is the president doing - nothing. He is staying out of the fray, he is not getting involved and his fingerprints are not on any thing. In other words, he has created the diversion away from the economy, he has put blame on the Republican House and things are as confused as ever. It’s just the way he likes things to be. At some point he will make himself the victor.

I wrote about the bully pulpit some weeks ago. I said the Republicans have to use it for their advantage, so the president can’t. Well, no one listened and predictably the president will use it very soon.

What bothers me most is that the new plan proposed by the gang of six does not have the details attached to it. It is like the health care bill, when Former Speaker of the House Pelosi said, “we will have to pass it, so we can find out what is in it.” My position on that is the same today as it was then. Is this any way to run a government?

To prove my point, Democratic Senator Mark Warner from Virginia said about the gang of 6’s plan: “Virtually half the United States Senate came in a bipartisan way and said. Hey it ain’t perfect, but this makes sense as a way to move forward.” It only seems that if something isn’t perfect then why introduce it? If it ain’t perfect why sign onto it? This is the reason why we find ourselves in the position we are in today. Is this new position becoming clearer? All this is – is a 6 page overview that says trust me.

Another way forward is a position taken by Steve Wynn. He isn’t a politician he is a business man who creates jobs. From building the buildings that people visit and that servers make tips in he has successfully brought the new face to Las Vegas. He said yesterday: “Well, my customers, and the companies that provide the vitality for the hospitality and restaurant industries in the United States of America, they are frightened of this administration. And it makes you slow down and not invest your money.

Everybody complains about how much money is on the side in America. You bet. And until we change the tempo and the conversation from Washington, it is not going to change. And those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President.
And a lot of people don’t want to say that. They say, oh God, don’t be attacking Obama.
Well, this is Obama’s deal. And it is Obama that is responsible for this fear in America. The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don’t invest, they are holding too much money.

You know, we haven’t heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody is afraid of the government and there is no need soft-pedaling it. It is the truth. It is the truth.
And that is true of Democratic businessmen, and Republican businessmen, and I am a Democratic businessman, and a Republican — I support Harry Reid, I support Democrats and Republicans, and I am telling you that the business community in this country is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he is gone, everybody is going to be sitting on their thumbs.”

I couldn’t have said it better. This is a position I can live with, but then again that just me!
The basic plan that is needed in America today is one that will cut spending, that will provide sustainable caps in spending and force a balanced budget amendment any thing else is just window dressing. My position is if these crucial steps are taken now then we can focus on taxes.
I might add one more thing: jobs, there is still nothing coming out of the White House that will create the jobs so we can create more tax payers, but I think Steve Wynn has said all there needs to be said on that subject in today’s FORUM!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: If some of this stuff isn’t becoming clearer by the day I don’t know what else to tell you. If it is becoming clearer, organize with your friends, ask me how to do it and then let’s just do it. Now that’s a position you can live with!

The president's position and mine:

2011-07-19T19:50:00.001-07:00

Tuesday – July 19, 2011

The president’s position and mine:

Last week, I wrote that the next few weeks will be loaded with various positions. My actual words were: “In the next few weeks it will be all about position. It will be all about one party taking advantage of the other parties’ hard line positions. It will be all about who can demonize those positions most. It will be all about a president, who is hanging on by a thread. It will be about his position and his policies.”

There are many proposals that are being knocked around Washington today regarding the debt ceiling debate. One of them is the Cut, Cap and Balance approach, so that the debt ceiling can be raised. The Republicans offered this so that the President can have some breathing room. It’s okay that they would offer a proposal like this. It makes sense, but don’t let the president get away from taking any responsibility. I wouldn’t, but then again, that’s just me!

There was another offer by the Republican Senate Minority leader that would have given Obama the authority to raise the debt ceiling himself. Whether it would have solely given the president the approval or some kind of joint approval process with Congress is still somewhat unclear.

My position on this approach is this: why give in or cede this president or any president that kind of power with that kind of authority? Congress constitutionally is the only branch of Government that can approve any expenditures of the people’s money, so why give it up? Why even suggest that through crafty wording that we can violate any thing in the Constitution or the 14th amendment is beyond me? But then again, that’s just me!

My position is that the Cut, Cap and Balance approach is fine, if it is exclusive of any White House interference, if the President doesn’t offer any direction. He hasn’t up to this point - he has been AWOL with any real plan. It’s just the same as not voting. If you don’t vote or get involved and you hate the way things are going you shouldn’t complain. But then again, that’s just me!

The President said yesterday that he “would veto” any bill that has any balanced budget wording or a balanced budget amendment attached to it. The president can’t have it both ways. The American people can’t afford it if the president, if the congress and if the Senate cannot work within a balanced budget. 49 States have a balanced budget amendment in their Constitution; so why shouldn’t the Federal Government?

With a balanced budget amendment the Federal Government would be forced to live within their means. For instance, there is approximately 200 billion dollars coming into the federal coffers every month. That 200 Billion would be the budget that they would be allowed to spend. If they can’t live on that, then there certainly is something wrong.

The reason the president and many members of Congress and the Senate have always been shy of passing a balanced budget amendment is that they will loose power. Think about it. If they can’t spend, then they can’t secure the votes which insures them a job for life, while the tax payers pay them to do it. A balanced budget may be the only thing we need to cure the country’s financial ills.

Unfortunately, that would take time. So why not pass a Cut and Cap bill now and exclude a balanced budget amendment to the same bill. Force the Senate to pass it and force the president to sign it. This approach simply cuts spending and caps it now. Congress could then leave the balanced budget amendment for another separate bill to follow with nothing attached to that. I can guarantee that any Congressman, any Senator who would vote against a balanced budget amendment, would be in serious trouble back home.

If the president vetoed a separate bill like a balanced budget amendment he would sure have to answer for it. It is close to the election now the timing is right so let’s use the timing at hand for the benefit of the tax payer and to also call the presidents bluff. Remember, last week his position caused him to say “don’t call my bluff.” But then again, that’s just what I would do.

It’s ridiculous that every American and every American family and every American business has to live within their budget ; why shouldn’t the Federal Government?

What I fear is that history will repeat itself. Sixteen years ago, while Bill Clinton was President and the Republicans owned both Houses, there was a similar debate. The debate centered on out of control spending and raising the debt ceiling. It’s the same argument we are having today. The threat then, as it is today, was that the government would shut down, if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised. The Republicans passed a temporary spending bill that would have kept the government going. President Clinton vetoed it and the government shut down anyway. The Republicans were blamed for the shut down and Clinton came out of it smelling like a rose, even though his signature on the veto shut the government down.

I fear this president today will play the same trick and the same kind of game, even though he says he deplores those games, because the American people deserve better from the people who were elected to serve them. I think he doesn’t believe the words that he speaks, because his actions do not follow along the same path. But then again, that’s just my observation.

The question I have of you is this: are you willing to go along with the president and his position or are you willing to demand that the government cuts the spending and caps the spending? Are you willing to demand a balanced budget amendment and demand that your representatives do what they were elected to do? Maybe you have forgotten what a Representative’s job is. They are elected to vote your conscience, within the law and within all ethical standards. The way I see it, it’s not the conscience part that bothers me, because many of them don’t have one and we know the law doesn’t necessarily apply to them, but the ethical part is something they can’t run from nor should they be permitted to get a pass on. Something I read some time ago made a lot of sense: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.”

I feel that many of these thoughts all of these directions and certainly the regard for the intent of these words have become a fading memory to many that we have elected! We are seeing the results of when that happens.

The President’s position is that of a bigger government. He believes that government should ultimately control everything we eat, everything we buy and every thing we produce through the type of jobs we are permitted to have. And lastly, he would have the government control the amount of money we can keep for everything we do. I would only hope that your position is just the opposite of that. Remember, there is no law or amendment yet that gives the Federal Government or a president that kind of control over you.

That is the difference between the President’s position and mine!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The president will only get control of our money through taxes and through who he taxes, if he is permitted to do so. Once the wealth of a nation is taken away, the liberty of the posterity that we were told to bless will no longer be able to promote its own general welfare.

Just another position!

2011-07-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

Monday – July 18, 2011

Just another position!

On today’s date, in 1768, The Boston Gazette published “The Liberty Song”. This is the first patriotic song ever published in America. The song went like this:
Come, join hand in hand, brave Americans all, And rouse your bold hearts at fair Liberty's call; No tyrannous acts shall suppress your just claim, Or stain with dishonor America's name.
In Freedom we're born and in Freedom we'll live .Our purses are ready. Steady, friends, steady; Not as slaves, but as Freemen our money we'll give.
Our worthy forefathers, let's give them a cheer, To climates unknown did courageously steer; Thro' oceans to deserts for Freedom they came, And dying, bequeath'dus their freedom and fame.
The tree their own hands had to Liberty rear'd, They lived to behold growing strong and revered; With transport they cried, Now our wishes we gain, For our children shall gather the fruits of our pain.
Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all, By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall; In so righteous a cause let us hope to succeed, For heaven approves of each generous deed.
“The Liberty Song” was written when John Dickinson set out to reflect on the political strife caused by the Townshend Acts of 1767. These were the latest in a series of British crown taxes levied in the Colonies. The song reflected his position. He wrote the words to fit the famous music of the anthem of the British Royal Navy which is the “Heart of Oak.” Dickinson adapted the lyrics from David Garrick who wrote the music to celebrate the three great victories of the Seven Year’s War.
When Dickenson wrote the lyrics, he knew about John Hancock’s ship, the Liberty, which had been seized by the authorities for smuggling. This seizure, along with anger over the acts, precipitated riots and led to the declaration of suspension of English imports by the Boston merchants in August of 1768 which were to begin on December 31.

“The Liberty Song” was sung throughout the colonies at political meetings, dinners and celebrations; it is likely that it was the first song to express American patriotism. The most famous passage in the song is the source of a phrase known to many Americans today: “By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.” Loyalty withstanding, Dickenson still worried about his conservative form and that the lyrics were to “fiery.”

Every day, when I sit down to put my position out there, I give great thought to the words I write. I give great thought as to if I’m right or if I am wrong. I give great thought as to what people are thinking all the time. I give great thought and wonder if I am touching a nerve or if people are just sloughing off what I write. None the less, I still take a position, because I believe if you have one you should let it be known. I make my positions known, because I can - but more importantly, because I care about the positions that others take. If you have a position and don’t let it be known you shouldn’t complain. But then again that just me, writing another position!

I believe John Dickenson believed in that, as well. He was an American lawyer and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. He was a militia officer during the American Revolution. He was a Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania and Delaware. He was a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was considered to be one of the wealthiest men in the colonies at the time. He realized that when government or even a King taxes the wealth then wealth ceases to exist.

He is known as the “penman of the Revolution” for writing his “letters from a farmer in Pennsylvania”; upon receiving news of his death on February 14, 1808 President Jefferson recognized his as being “among the first of the advocates for the rights of his country when assailed by Great Britain” whose “name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the revolution.” He is the namesake of Dickenson College and Penn State University’s Dickenson School of Law.

John Dickenson knew that his positions would be known through his writings and through song. I am not comparing myself to the greatness he achieved, but there is a similarity. We both put pen to paper. His, of course, was recognized as being great. Unfortunately, that sometimes comes with death. So I am not too anxious to achieve greatness, if that is when it is measured. However, the positions that I take are based on beliefs that haven’t changed from the time of Jefferson and Dickenson. That is a position!

The President said over the weekend when asked about the debt dilemma: “We are asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share.” This is also a position, but this position is also one that caused a revolution. That revolution was started by a song and through letters that took an opposing position.

The President said over the weekend when asked about the debt dilemma: “The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically, because they have boxed themselves into various positions.” What does this mean? As I see it, it is just another way the President can blame someone else for his failures. This is my position.

We have a president that has done nothing but blame or divert blame and plan parties around his golf game. You could make a song out of that, but I’m not going there. Or you could write a letter or write a FORUM that states a position and that is read by hundreds, thousands and possibly millions and that is where I am willing to go to get my position across!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: I hope that my positions are taking hold. I hope my positions aren’t too “fiery” or considered just another position, if they are just bear with me, because it is all for a purpose! That’s all I am going to say on that position.

It's all about position!

2011-07-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

Friday – July 15, 2011

It’s all about position!

So far this week, I have written 7,454 words describing various topics. I have written about some of the history of The Declaration of Independence, what I would do in office and who is doing what to whom. I have also written about the common folk.

As they would say in the old days, the ink I have put on paper, today it’s a word document, were meant to mean something. With today’s FORUM I will have written 9,266 words describing liberty, freedom and independence in my terms. Though most of which is my view, I believe that I do come close to what many Americans now believe. The Gallop pole has 58% of the people on the side of the Republicans regarding the debt ceiling debate and in a generic test pole a Republican candidate would now beat the president by 8 percentage points, if the election were held today.

The president is playing on the fears of everyone without doing a thing to contribute to the nation’s health. He is saying social security checks will not be mailed out to seniors if the Republicans don’t come up with a deal. The fact of the matter is that the Republicans have presented a plan to the Democrats, including the president, the democrats haven’t in return. It’s easy to demonize a plan when you don’t have any ideas or a plan yourself. The president says we must be fiscally responsible we must pay our bills. The president also said we must cut costs but the president won’t say how and for what. The president refuses to listen to those that give him the specifics that he is asking for. But the press still says the president is the only adult in the room. Is there something wrong with this picture?

The government takes in 200 billion dollars a month in revenue. One side says this amount can pay the interest on the debt and it can pay for every social security check paid in a month’s time. It can cover the pay to the military and our veteran’s. It can pay the Medicaid and Medicare payments. With all these payments that can be covered why does the president say he can’t guarantee that social security checks will be paid? Why two stories, this should be a black and white issue either you have the money or you don’t. You either have the tax revenue or you don’t. What I think is that no one knows how much money there is and no one for sure knows what can be paid or what should be paid. The president is the only one in the room that can make the decision not to print the social security checks. If the checks aren’t printed it shouldn’t be the republicans fault. But they will take the fall for it if the press has their way. Is there something wrong with this picture?

There was a rumor that the president wanted to have the speaker of the House come visit him at Camp David this weekend to see if they can strike a deal over the debt ceiling issue and spending. The Speaker said even if there is a rumor of this kind of visit, I will say if you want to talk, we can do it here in Washington we don’t have to travel to Camp David. Is there something wrong with this picture?

The President’s birthday is on August third, a day after the mandated date of financial Armageddon August 2nd. He is having a birthday bash in Chicago on the third with an elaborate fundraiser honoring him. He has already raised 86 million dollars well on his way to a billion. Is there something wrong with this picture?

The president steamed out a budget meeting after Congressman Cantor said no to what was on the table. The president got up and as he exited the room he said even Ronald Reagan wouldn’t sit around for this, or words to that effect. He also said “don’t call my bluff.” Is there something wrong with this picture?

The President’s Press Secretary told reporters prior to another briefing given by the President, before he spoke, that the president was going to speak and that they, the press, could not ask any questions. Is there something wrong with this picture?

The words that I have inked on paper this week have meaning, just as these examples of the President’s behavior do. I have been writing about liberty, freedom and independence all week and what has the president done. The president has offered a day at Camp. The President seemed more interested in creating the draw for his birthday party and another elaborate fundraiser so he can be the first candidate in history to raise a billion dollars a lofty accomplishment. Remember the president said we need to do big things. In my opinion the president still hasn’t gotten serious about his job and this situation. The president stormed out of the room and lost his temper, because he couldn’t get his way, because someone else in the room said his way is unacceptable. The President refused to take questions from reporters about the situation of the debt. Is this what we elect presidents for? Do we elect Presidents who want to put fear into the hearts of social security recipients? Do we elect Presidents who distort the truth for political gain and for purposes of demonizing the other guys?

Remember one thing it has been the republicans who have been doing the heavy lifting. They have presented plan after plan and they have even offered last minute concessions as recent as yesterday to get a debt deal done. It is not about just cutting a deal. It is about the long term viability of the countries economic stability. It is about meeting a challenge or kicking the can down the road again.

This all might seem like a game to some but there are structural problems that need to be fixed. It is also about government coming into your home and dictating the kind of light bulbs you will buy. It’s all about government taking away your child because they might be obese. Its all about the First Family saying do as I say but don’t do as I do, and its ok for me to eat lobster but you shouldn’t because of all that butter. It is all about government growing or government shrinking. It is about entrepreneurial endeavors or government sponsored endeavors. This game that some call showmanship is serious business. The decisions made today will affect generations to come. This is no laughing matter when the media continues to mock the republicans and support the guy that has created the mess that we are now trying to clean up. It’s all about the positions you take!

In the next few weeks it will be all about position. It will be all about one party taking advantage of the other parties’ hard line positions. It will be all about who can demonize those positions most. It will be all about a president who is hanging on by a thread. It will be about his position and his policies. It is about liberalism and the two brothers that I wrote about yesterday. It’s about the two brothers serving in the halls of congress for years and who have contributed via their votes to the mess we are in today. It’s about the positions they have taken for a combined time served of 61 years. We now know their positions and their votes over that time have been the wrong votes. It will be all about the members of the democratically controlled Senate rejecting anything the house puts forth.

Plato said: "This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector." Early on the president positioned him self as the protector and now we are closer to true tyranny than we were 235 years ago.

Thomas Jefferson said: "Those who wish to be ignorant and free, believe in something that never was and never shall be." He also said: "What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that its people preserve the spirit of resistance." What is happening now is that America is standing up and America is watching the debt ceiling debate in ways they have never watched before.

James Madison said "If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within." Today the nation has been taken over by those who don’t believe in the greatness of a nation that was conceived in liberty. The president has led in this effort his entire life!

Lincoln said: “a house divided against it self cannot stand.” Today I fear that the house is divided by purposeful positions of a president that wants it that way. The question is why?

Mark Twain said: "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." I could have not said it better.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, President and 5-Star General said: "If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom. "Some people want it this way. However, government ultimately will have it that way if given the chance.

According to the press the only adult in the room is Barack H. Obama he said on October 30th, 2008: "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." This was the position that a lot of us warned many of you about. This position is the result of what we have today!

Thomas Jefferson said: "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent" I cannot remain silent any longer. We all have the fundamental right to stand up and say no to tyranny. We all have the fundamental right to stand up and say to our government and our president enough is enough, just restore my liberty, give me my freedom and let me be independent of government regulation its controls and the dependency it creates.

I guess this is my position. But then again that’s how I roll!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: It’s ok to have a position, its even better when people agree, but when people disagree then someone must listen. The job of a president is to listen and to lead it is not to transform and not to bring fear to people who are defenseless because they need the government. You see if dependency was not the goal of government then we wouldn’t be having the discussion today about our position.

The common folk:

2011-07-14T08:27:00.001-07:00

Thursday – July 14, 2011

The common folk:

When The Declaration of Independence was written it was the common folk who sent the big thinkers to do the job they couldn’t do. Later when the Constitution was passed and our government was a formal governing body it was the common folk who sent legislators to represent them in the halls of their new government.

In those days those that served were also considered the common folk. They went to serve their newly formed country and their new constituents a few weeks out of the year and when they were done they went back home to tend their farms, work on the docks, run their stores or produce the trade that would be sent west or exported abroad.

In those days the government provided for the general welfare and the defense of the nation; they also worked to secure the happiness of the common folk. There were no entitlements no special interests and no wasted funding on silly pet projects. It seemed that the common folk were quite happy with their circumstances and they wanted their liberty, their freedom and their independence. This is what they fought for a few short years earlier.

In those days the common folk participated in the process. If their representative didn’t serve them they were united in finding someone else that would. In those days the representatives served a term or two and no longer. It was that simple. We didn’t have a true party system in those days and those that fought for their idea’s ended up compromising to pass needed legislation, that’s how things worked in those days.

Moving ahead 223 years later we should be asking the question who are the common folk today? The answer might come in many forms. However, one thing would be consistent in the answer and that would be not many in Washington D.C. especially our elected officials.

For instance in my State our U.S. Senator and his brother a U.S. Congressional Representative both democrats from my district has served since I was able to vote. I am now 57 years of age. These two brothers are far from being considered the common folk although their roots were born from the common folk.

Each Memorial Day both brothers march in our small towns typical Big American Parade that goes down our typical tree lined American Main Street. Each year they are lauded with great applause along with the even amount of groans; I have to admit I am one of the groaners, but that’s just me. Unfortunately those two brothers will never have to leave until the common folk votes them out. They will never leave on their own accord.

I believe I represent who the common folk are in my town. I have never voted for the two brothers because I have a certain perspective about things. I know their history and now I know the result of their voting history. Their history, like many others who have served for years and who are responsible for the conditions we have today, must be revealed in an understandable way so that the other common folk who vote will vote them out. The problem is these two brothers give a lot of tax payer money out to fund many of the programs that some of the common folk want. However, the programs and now the process have bankrupted the country.

The two brothers have never looked down the road far enough or even worried about the affects that their liberal spending habits have had on America. The two brothers have consistently espoused the liberal line of equalizing the results. They believe that there is never enough money when it comes to evening out the playing field for all. In short, it is the ability to give the wealth away that makes it possible for them to remain in office. Take that away and the two brothers won’t know what to do in office.

223 years ago elected members of congress weren’t kept around long enough to do the damage that these two brothers’ have done today. Because of the power we give to them today they are able to create the personal fiefdoms that they enjoy today. This is something that Jefferson wanted to avoid when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

In my July 8 FORUM I wrote about how I would approach holding office if I were fortunate enough to have a position like the two brothers have. I consider myself to be the common folk because I am to set in my ways not to be considered anything else.

The culture in Washington today is to rule and not to serve. The culture in Washington today provides all the opportunities so that the rulers can take away our liberties our freedoms and our independence by mere virtue of the power that is vested in the offices they occupy sometimes for life. The problem today is that most common folk don’t realize that their tax dollars are being used to take their liberties, their freedoms and their independence away. This is what the politician knows but their constituency doesn’t realize.

Today we are having a debate about the financial future of the country and the future liberties, freedoms and independence of the common folk. One plan that was introduced by the Republican Minority Leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell would give the President the authority to raise the debt ceiling a total of three times before the next election. Never before in American history has any president ever had that kind of control over the common folk like this plan would give to him. I was stunned when I heard the basics of this plan. I was stunned that a member of the senate would ever consider giving this type of power to this president.

In July of 1776 we declared independence from a king that ruled over the colonies and that taxed the colonies to pay for the huge debt that the British Empire had incurred. It was the common folk like Sam Adams that raised a revolt that started our journey towards independence 235 years ago.

Getting back to the plan, one school of thought about McConnell’s proposal is that the Republicans are setting the president up to take the fall. I believe they are taking the position of: if you think things are bad now just wait and see how bad things can really get.

My problem with this plan is that this president cannot be trusted with this kind of power; it would in essence make him KING.

I say this because it is his lack of experience in these matters that has ruined our economy. Why let him further ruin it? China a communist nation will have a 9% economic growth rate this year, the economic growth rate today of the United States is at 2% and this president says we should be happy with it. The other problem I have with this plan is the Democrats control 2/3 of the government and if they get this kind of power it won’t matter who controls the remaining 1/3. We cannot play politics we have to face the reality of having no money because we are broke partly because of the two brother’s ideology and their voting habits. We are dependent on China and the other countries that are still buying our bonds. If these countries stop buying the bonds that we sell to raise the revenue that we recklessly spend, where will we be economically? The answer is up a creek with out a paddle.

However, the one common folk that is writing this FORUM today has another plan. If I were in office I would present the most optimal plan of cutting cost across the board by reducing redundancy in government and eliminating the process that allows wasted funding of non essential grants and programs like the ones that go to NPR, ACORN and Media Matters. I would reduce the size of the government itself, agency by agency with a complete financial audit starting with the EPA. I would prosecute the uncommon folk if they were found to have abused the money that the common folk give in the way of the taxes they pay. I would reform entitlements with individual accounts set up for social security recipients that would give them financial options. I would revamp Medicare and Medicaid based on the individual ability to pay. I would reduce the obstacles in the way of regulations and taxes that are stifling business growth and then I would ask for more, maybe some tight regulations on the unions. I would eliminate the process of earmarks and in return give necessary funding to the states based on what the census says about population and other competitiveness measurements. I would conduct a review of all expenditures with an audit in the short term to find out the effectiveness and the results achieved of everything else the government buys and pays for. I would make the representatives in congress work for the funding they are sent to Washington to secure in other words no blank checks because you got one last year. I would provide for the line item veto and go one step further. I would introduce an amendment to the constitution that requires a balanced budget. We came close to getting that done 16 years ago. If we had passed the amendment then we would be in a far better position now. Hind sight really is 20 – 20.

Many politicians have said these things before but at the end of the day many politicians haven’t had the political will to go through with it. They become anything but the common folk when they start tasting the power that they derive from their office. This is not their fault this is what the culture in Washington does.

I would put all of this into a bill and get it passed in the house because the Republicans can, they control the house and that gives them control of 1/3 of the government. It would then go to the senate for passage and the president’s desk to sign if it passes the Senate. All the common folk in America would be witness to the process and witness to the actions by the people who vote against passing the bill. By the way, many of the politicians like the two brothers I mentioned earlier who have put us into this situation probably wouldn’t vote for it any way. If it stalls in the Senate then we will know who is for true reform and who isn’t.

Of course the senate would never pass it and it would never reach the presidents desk for his signature. But it would send a signal. The signal would be that the Republicans are serious because they are using their control of 1/3 of the government they control for the good of the common folk.

The majority of Americans would support this type of plan and they would protest against any one who would refuse this plan. It is the common folk the majority who are now represented in the polls. According to Rasmussen Reports the daily tracking poll of the president today is a negative 15, this is compiled by taking his approval of 23% and his disapproval of 38% and subtracting the difference to give a – 15 rating. The republicans need to stand strong and use this moment to exploit the president’s weakness to their advantage. This is the nasty part of politics but it is a necessary part of the process to win. Many of the common folk want them to do this now. It’s called political will.

We must be reminded of the words that should remind us of few things:

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable."- John F. Kennedy

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it."- Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural

"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
-Thomas Jefferson, American Declaration of Independence

"To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men."- Abraham Lincoln

These words are as important today as they were when they were spoken for the first time. These words should inspire each and every one of us to bring back the common folk for the common need of serving the common folk and nothing else. The big ideas that gave us liberty, freedom and independence were meant so the common folk could prosper. When government controls the means by which the common folk can prosper it then becomes incumbent upon the common folk to do something about it.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: It is not so uncommon to want what is guaranteed. It’s just that some of us forget what the guarantees are and what the limits of government are as written in the constitution described in the bill of rights and explained in the Declaration of Independence. These documents are not so common in the history of the world but the common folk who created them still remained the common folk even when they served.

DMI:

2011-07-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday – July 13, 2011

DMI:

What does today’s title mean? You will look at it you will wonder and think DMI then the question mark appears. When we look at this month, in retrospect, some of us will think about The Declaration of Independence. Some of us will think of Jefferson and yet some of us will think about the fireworks that we all saw just two weeks ago on the 4th. Some of us will think about none of this and that is tragic!

When I think about the history that this month represents to America, I get inspired. You may not, but I do. But then again, that’s just me!

I get inspired, because the thoughts of establishing a government were big thoughts in 1776. The thoughts about what kind of government to establish were even bigger. The thoughts were pure and the thoughts could be trusted, because I believe the men who had those big thoughts had the trust of the people in mind. But then again that’s just me espousing on my thoughts again.

The words Liberty, Freedom and Independence were all connected into a strand of what would become pure American DNA. It is a DNA that would become multi cultural in spirit and in tradition. Then it became multi - influential in many parts of the globe.

So far this month, I have written about a few things that we should consider in July. I wrote about the first view of what I thought the forefathers saw after the Declaration of Independence was written. I brought into perspective what the great map of the United States must have represented to those with the big thoughts. I also wrote about what I would do and how I would approach representing the people, if I were fortunate enough to have that kind of position. My point in all of this is to start drawing a distinction between the common folk and the representatives that represent us. They too will call themselves the common folk. But I think we know better.

The words Liberty, Freedom and Independence for purposes of today will be called LFI. The words Deception, Manipulation and Infiltration will be known as DMI and that is today’s FORUM.

There is one political face that uses LFI in her speeches in her interviews and in her daily life. That is Sarah Palin. Michelle Bachman, who is a presidential candidate, is a close second. But to prove a point, lets just stay with Governor Palin for my argument.

The Governor was criticized for using the term “Death Panels” in explaining the part of Obama Care that deceptively explained the rationing portion of the bill. Well guess what? Besides every Republican being against the bill and figuring out for themselves that the death panels were in the bill 8 Democrats have now come out and said they want that portion of the bill out, because of the rationing that they described as Death Panels that would become the reality of the bill. In other words, they saw what the Governor saw and they finally realized that they were manipulated into voting for passage of the Health Care bill.

In essence, there will be a panel of non elected people who are not confirmed by the Congress and who will be appointed by the President. They will be infiltrated into the system with no FBI background checks. This panel will be deciding on the distribution of health care for each American. They will decide each individual case based on cost, availability of funds in that state and that states number of operations that would be similar to what your request is. They will decide on who will receive the care and who will get a pill. No lie, this is the truth.

There will be a Constitutional challenge to this, because the Constitution says that only the Congress of the United States can decide on how to spend and allocate the people’s money and not a self appointed board appointed by the president, who aren’t accountable to anyone and who will make up the president’s new bureaucracy. The Governor was mocked and called every name in the book. Even non- American for her comments about the death panels. But what is not being mentioned is the Governor used LFI in her arguments on how Obama Care will rob the wealth and violate our personal liberties, she was right.

It was the President along with all the president’s men and the Secretary of HHS that employed DMI. It was all the democrats in congress the senate and their leaders who also employed DMI to pass the legislation that is now law.

Remember what former Speaker of the House, Pelosi, said, “We have to pass the bill to find out what is in it.” Now that we are finding out what is in it, like the Death Panels, many politician’s are back tracking. They are also using LFI for their political survival while covertly still using DMI to pass other LFI robbing legislation.

The debate today is over the debt ceiling. I believe the Republicans have been using LFI in their arguments over spending in not wanting to create more debt. It has been the Democrats who have once again used DMI in hopes of making the Republicans look like the demons in creating bad legislation.

The President, yesterday, employed DMI when he was asked the question - can you guarantee that millions of Social Security checks will be written on August 3rd, if the August 2 deadline is not met in passing any legislation that dealt with the Debt ceiling? He said, “I cannot guarantee that the checks will be sent out, because we might not have the funds in our coffers to cover the checks.” The debt ceiling argument has nothing to do with entitlements like Social Security. The debt ceiling has to do with how much money the Congress says we can legally borrow. The president used deception, he used manipulation and he infiltrated the mind of each senior with his brand of propaganda. Any one who gets a government check will get that government check on August 3rd.

For instance, the money we all have invested in Social Security does not exist, because we borrow against those funds. It is the bonds that we sell in order to get the cash. If we cannot sell the bonds based on the reckless spending of this president then we will have a problem. As Speaker Boehner said, this is the Presidents problem. This is also a reason why the FED will do QE3 to generate more cash that basically doesn’t exist.

Yesterday, one of the president’s men, Jeffery Imelt, the CEO of General Electric, said to a number of small business owners at the United States Chamber of Commerce meeting in Washington: “People that are part of the business sector, the people in this room and all of our colleagues, we have to stop complaining about government and get some action underway. There is just no excuse today for the lack of leadership.”

In essence, he is saying: hire people and don’t worry about anything else. Anybody in the business community will tell you that they can’t hire, because you must expand before you fill the empty spots that you think you might have. Why hire if you are not expanding? The opposite is occurring. Small business is retracting today.

Where is the deception, where is the manipulation and where is the infiltration in what Imelt said? The deception comes in when Imelt the CEO of GE the nation’s largest corporation has secured all sorts of government contracts and all sorts of tax breaks because of his relationship with Obama and not because of big thoughts of leadership on Imelts part . GE also contributed heavily to the president’s election efforts and is now doing so for his re-election efforts. GE also has a large lobby. Imelt can say anything. However, he says what the president wants him to say. The manipulation comes in when Imelt tells a group of business leaders there is no excuse today for the lack of leadership. Manipulation becomes an asset and a tool when you use it to make someone else feel that they are the problem. The infiltration comes in when GE and the Unions get the breaks and the business owners at the Chamber who probably have non union shops and businesses don’t get the breaks or the perks and a guaranteed wage let alone a guaranteed job!

There was not one mention of LFI in what Imelt said. If I gave the speech to the Chamber audience, I would have said there is no excuse of the lack of leadership from the White House. The deficit the debt and the spending by big government is the problem. The main reason why you are not expanding your business and hiring is because of that and that alone. I would have went on to say until some action on that gets underway we will see more of the same of what the small business owners in America are fighting today. I would have also told the audience about the great map for some added inspiration. And you know I would have used LFI to get my point across. But then again, that’s just how I roll!

While Congressman Rangle of New York asks the question, “what would Jesus do about the debt and taxes”, we must be reminded that the Congressman was recently censured for tax evasion, but he still serves. Rangle employed DMI during the Congressional investigation and while he was on trial.

Senator John Kerry is complaining about the lack of leadership on the Republican side over the question of tax hikes. We must be reminded that he to evaded paying taxes on his yacht by storing it another state, the legality was in question, ethically he failed, but at the end of the day he moved it to where it should have been and paid the tax so he wouldn’t be charged with tax evasion.

Tim Giethner, the Secretary of the Treasury, who said that if we don’t get TARP and all that other stimulus money we would crash the economy and go into a depression. We must also be reminded that he to evaded paying taxes on his personal income. He also said, “I never really had a real job.”

In these three examples, DMI has been used to cover tracks and to cover passing their form of wealth robbing legislation. In all these examples, where are the words used to promote Liberty, Freedom and Independence or LFI? I can think of one person, who speaks regularly about it, and she isn’t even a candidate, but she has been demonized for using LFI. We must be reminded that she has done nothing to hurt anyone like the individuals I have used as examples today.

When we look at DMI - deception, manipulation and infiltration and the ill affects that it has on America, we must start to figure out how to get rid of it so we can get more of LFI - Liberty, Freedom and Independence. Big thoughts like the ones our forefathers had would never need any DMI to win the day. But then again, that’s just me espousing my big thoughts.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Lately, I know my FORUMS have been long, but there is a reason. There is so much to say and so much to fight for. It’s not about DMI its all about retaining the LFI that the big thinkers in 1776 thought we would have today in July of 2011.

What is victory and what is defeat?

2011-07-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday-July 12, 2011

What is victory and what is defeat?

When we consider the question of victory and defeat, I believe that most of us would choose victory over defeat. I think it is fair to assume that defeat is not in most of our thoughts or in our vernacular on a daily basis. At least that is the way it is for me. But then again that’s me.

Last Friday, I wrote about what I would do if I were fortunate enough to represent the people. Yesterday, I echoed those words again.

Today, I am echoing some other words by some other people who do serve the people. The names don’t matter, but the thoughts do. Some say the American public thinks there should be shared sacrifice. Some say the rich, like millionaires, don’t pay their fair share in taxes. Some say no pain, no gain. Some even went as far to say we should raise taxes on the rich, so we don’t cut spending that would help the poor.

Yesterday, I wrote about a great map. Last week, I wrote about the first view our forefathers had when they heard the words of The Declaration of Independence for the first time. Though I am writing my opinion, I believe that opinion of mine is pretty close to what they saw and felt in their gut.

Yesterday, I wrote about a map in hopes of tying in the theme of Independence a little bit more this month: This great map two centuries ago illustrated what the Eastern part of the country meant to a new country’s liberty and freedom after a Declaration of Independence was written. The great map, as you moved west a century later, pictured Detroit as its future manufacturing capital which was surrounded by the majesty of The Great Lakes. Moving further west, you would have found the land of 10,000 lakes, which has at its tip a great river called the Mississippi, which connected North and South with commerce, the trade in those days was primarily produced here at home. The golden prairies followed on that great map and at its core the typography that outlined the grandeur of the Rockies held the stories of the great men of the mountains that paved the way so trade and intellectual property could be sent to the West Coast, where it was illuminated by the sunshine that starts every morning to its east. This was the goal by those who created it all.

Today, the President wants to tax the rich now and cut spending later. He also wants to raise taxes on the middle class. Many are asking the question: why raise taxes on anybody, when the economy has gotten worse in just the last six months alone? Only the president can answer that and he hasn’t.

The rich, as the president believes them to be, only constitute 1% of the tax payers. They already are scheduled, by law, to pay an additional 1 trillion dollars over the course of ten years. The law is scheduled to take affect in 2014. In addition, tax hikes for everyone that are scheduled to pay for Obama Care will also go into affect by 2014, when Obama care is enacted by law. And the president still wants more out of us.

The Associated Press said of the debt debate: “Proposals under consideration include raising taxes on small business owners and potentially low income families. You won’t hear about that from Obama. Instead, the President focuses on the very rich and speaks euphemistically.”
You might say that my thoughts are a bit fragmented today, even the spell check on the computer say they are. This is intentional on my part, because I am trying to prove a point. That point is this: the president’s plan, his wishes, his demands, call it what you want, are fragmented and this is why there is no consensus in Washington and worse, no confidence in what comes out of Washington.

Everyone on the left today will demonize the Tea Party. There is no reason to because the Tea Party is the only group who is making any sense. Don’t demonize them; support them, because they are not a fragmented group. Their thoughts are not fragmented, because they say one thing and one thing only: “Taxed enough already.”

The month of July in our history is loaded with significant events; tomorrow date holds two of them:
The Ordinance of 1787 was passed on July 13, 1787. The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio, and also known as the Freedom Ordinance or "The Ordinance of 1787") was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States. The primary effect of the ordinance was the creation of the Northwest Territory as the first organized territory of the United States out of the region south of the Great Lakes, north and west of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River. It also said that a territory can become 3 to 5 states at 60,000 in population. This ordinance also excluded slavery.

On July 13, 1832 the source of the Mississippi River was discovered.
I didn’t know this bit of history yesterday when I wrote about my thoughts of the great map, though these two dates helped with the growth of the map. That’s not important. What is important is that the greatness of the great map and the movement of the country was always towards Independence. We continually asked how a nation can make more of it.

Liberty and freedom was also the result of the movement towards Independence. The other question of how do we secure our future as a country and how do we secure, as the Constitution says, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” A country full of opportunity for the living and the unborn, our posterity, was the answer then and still should remain the answer today.

We have not run out of land, because of the westward expansion, but we are running out of opportunities that the westward expansion provided. We are running out of opportunities, because there is no more confidence with what that map gave. What is coming out of Washington is not creating the view that must have been present when that expansion to the west started. The confidence that was displayed by the early settlers and the early patriots is absent from the current scene. It is confidence in victory of thought and victory over peril that made America strong.

We now are experiencing defeat, because of the paralysis that the rich, the small business owner and now the struggling middle class are experiencing. This is what diminishes the opportunity for victory. And the president still wants more out of us.

It is no wonder that the next great horizon of America is now in question. It is no wonder that the next great horizon is being eclipsed by the nations that were kept in our rearview mirror, because of our victories.

All is not lost. Define for yourself what victory is. When you do, you will come to see that low taxes, reform of entitlements and freedom to expand liberty through independence are what worked before the malaise of Obama. Victory in 2012 will give victory in the biggest repeals in American history. When that happens, the world will see what victory is and they will feel the defeat when we restore the opportunities that those who created it all saw for the first time!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Victory is for the living. Opportunity is what we must guarantee for our posterity. This is all the victory that I need and this is what I am focusing on so that defeat is in our rearview mirror.

The killing field:

2011-07-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

Monday – July 11, 2011

The killing field:

The FORUM from last Friday covered a lot of material. When I started to write two years ago on a daily basis, I was lucky if I could fill a half sheet of paper. I am not trying to put a lot of words on the sheet now so that it weighs a lot in hopes that it passes with a good grade.

What I am finding out is that there is so much material. There are so many facts and there is so many ways of posturing my thoughts and conveying those thoughts in a well articulated way so that my argument is well positioned, but better yet, my proof in defending my argument is understood and one that could be considered. I am not trying to change minds. What I am trying to do is make people think twice about their position and what effect their position has on the survival of our liberty and our freedom which is now under assault.

I wrote on Friday: “If I were fortunate enough to be representing the people today, I would be looking to find the answers through the prism of what Jefferson and Adams view was. I would be testing legislation through the Constitutional litmus rather than the entitlement litmus that runs Washington today. I would be looking at tax and spending issues through the prism of wealth generation and not through the prism of shared responsibility and spreading the wealth. I would be looking to create equal opportunity and not making an attempt to equalize the results of equal opportunity.

If I were fortunate enough to represent the people, I would not make a career out of it but rather to create the view of what was seen through the creation of these words: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

In order to grow a more perfect union, our posterity must be given the chance to experience the promotion of general welfare, not through entitlements but through free enterprise, free markets and the freedom that our way of life brings if unaltered and if kept alone. Those who believe in liberty and who were taught to respect the law and who through moral standards create the wealth are the ones that will create an environment for our posterity to do the same. This is what I believe was the first view that our forefathers saw.”

These words could be a part of a future campaign speech or it could be a part of what I truly believe. Seeing that it is not a speech yet, you can trust that this is what I truly believe.
I was stunned when I heard what Bill Maher said last week. When I consider what I believe and what people like Bill Maher believe, I ask that you go to your higher sense and let him know that he is absolutely wrong and that his ignorance has now made him a part of the killing field.
Maher said: “If you can look at a crime where everything points to one answer and not see it you are a dumb****. If you can look at the deficit and not see that the problem is that the rich stop paying taxes you’re a Republican. Yes, Republican base, you are just like that jury. It is pathetically clear who’s killing the middle class but you keep letting them get away with murder.”

His remarks were in reference to the Casey Anthony verdict by a jury of her peers. How he got from there to what he said is any ones guess. What he didn’t say is, like it or not, our system worked for Ms. Anthony. I don’t blame the jury. I blame three people for the verdict. I blame Nancy Grace, I blame the judge and I blame the prosecutor. I would like to know what political party they attach themselves to. You’ll notice that I didn’t blame one Republican.
Our jury system and our court system are connected by strands of legalese, legal posturing and legal evidence. The facts Mr. Maher didn’t fit into his pathetic monolog was that the prosecutor failed to convict the defendant. The prosecutor overcharged the defendant. The judge didn’t manage the trial and Nancy Grace sensationalized it from the get go. If the case were not sensationalized, it would have become a local court case, with a verdict that was in line with the alleged crime. In the end, after three years, Ms. Anthony was not proven guilty. The verdict was not the result of a Republican, nor was it because the rich don’t pay taxes.

How Mr. Maher got from murder to taxes and then interjecting the Republicans is beyond me. I don’t think I want to get into the mind of Bill Maher, because it just might scare me to much. Oh by the way, 100% of the O.J. jury were all registered Democrats, but who is keeping score?
Some other facts that Mr. Maher didn’t work into his monolog is that the income tax breakdown in the US lets the poorest which constitute 40% of tax payers, pay nothing. My source for this information comes from the tax foundation analysis of the IRS. It was also George W. Bush who took the poorest off the tax roles when he proposed his tax cuts. This part of the tax cut should be repealed.

The problem we have in the country today is 9.2% unemployment and that rate is rising. Last month only 8,000 jobs were created. That breaks down to just 1 job created for every 1000 people out of work. This statistic and the creators of this statistic are part of the killing field that I am writing about today.

As the debt ceiling debate continues in Washington, the lawyers, the strategists and the politicians are making their arguments. At the same time, the only city in the country that has posted gains in home values, and that has posted huge increases in housing sales is Washington D.C. At the same time, the only city that is showing job gains in America is Washington, D.C. It is the rest of the country that has posted the largest drop in home values since the great depression and it is the rest of the country that is posting more jobless claims. It is the rest of the country, not Washington, D.C., that has become the killing field by those in Washington, DC.
In Washington this week a new bill called - The better use of the light bulb act – will be sponsored. This bill is designed to let consumers buy the kind of light bulbs they want. In January of 2012, incandescent light bulbs, the one Thomas Edison lit the world with, will be outlawed in the United States. The new ban will require every American to buy the new Compact Fluorescent Bulb which contains Mercury.

The typical 100 watt Incandescent light bulb has a cost of (.60) sixty cents per bulb. The typical 25 watt CFL which contains mercury cost ($3.40) three dollars and forty cents per bulb. These new light bulbs are not made here in the United States they are made solely with 100% content coming from China. You tell me who killed the light bulb jobs and the industry here and then sent it to China. It was not the Republicans, like Bill Maher would have you believe. It was not the Casey Anthony jury that Bill Maher would have you believe. It was your local Democratic party, headed up by the job killer himself, the President in Washington D.C. I have one question. How many homes and how many people were employed in Washington D.C., to kill this industry in the killing field of America?

What ever happens in Washington this week, there still will not be a growth agenda from this administration. High growth equals low unemployment levels. Bad economic policies by the Administration and the Democrats equal high unemployment levels like the current level of 9.2% that was reported last week. Either of which could never be determined by the Casey Anthony jury, Mr. Maher.

One statistic from the G.W. Bush Institute reports that a 1% increase in growth each year for ten years would cut $750 billion dollars a year from the deficit if jobs were being created that kept American dollars here at home. Low deficits mean low unemployment rates. In order to do this, the Corporate Tax rate in America must be lowered; currently it is the highest in the developed world and is the main cause of businesses moving off shore.

I hope that I have offered some new evidence to back up my argument about the killing field that is occurring all over the great map of America.

This great map two centuries ago illustrated what the Eastern part of the country meant to a new country’s liberty and freedom after a Declaration of Independence was written. The great map, as you moved west a century later, pictured Detroit as its future manufacturing capital which was surrounded by the majesty of The Great Lakes. Moving further west, you would have found the land of 10,000 lakes, which has at its tip a great river called the Mississippi, which connected North and South with commerce, the trade in those days was primarily produced here at home. The golden prairies followed on that great map and at its core the typography that outlined the grandeur of the Rockies held the stories of the great men of the mountains that paved the way so trade and intellectual property could be sent to the West Coast, where it was illuminated by the sunshine that starts every morning to its east. This was the goal by those who created it all.

I still believe in this great map, but it can no longer remain the killing field by people who either don’t understand or would like to change what that great map once represented.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The killing field must now become the field that creates new economic life through ideas of great people who are willing to take great chances at their personal expense. Entrepreneurs that made the great economic contributions of the last two centuries can still be the example today to new entrepreneurs if given the same great chance and the same great opportunities. But these opportunities cannot be killed in the field by those who don’t understand the great map.

Today’s FORUM is dedicated to two great friends, Dan and Glen. Thanks for the support!

The first view!

2011-07-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

July 8, 2011

The first view!

On today’s date, in 1776, John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

Upon finalizing the text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 Congress issued the Declaration in several forms. It was initially published as a printed broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public. The most famous version of the Declaration, a signed copy that is usually regarded as the Declaration of Independence, is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Although the wording of the Declaration was approved on July 4, the date of its signing has been disputed. Most historians have concluded that it was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4, as is commonly believed.
The sources and interpretation of the Declaration has been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution. Having served its original purpose in announcing independence, the text of the Declaration was initially ignored after the American Revolution. However, its stature grew over the years, particularly the second sentence, which brings human rights into the political structure of the colonies. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

This sentence has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language" and "the most potent and consequential words in American history". The passage has often been used to promote the rights of marginalized people, and came to represent a moral standard for which the United States should strive. This view was notably promoted by Abraham Lincoln, who considered the Declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy, and argued that the Declaration is a statement of principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted.

It is fitting that in July we talk about independence and it is essential that we understand the reasons why our independence was sought.

This week, I have tried to bring into focus some of the facts and a few of the political considerations that our forefathers were aware of and used to their benefit in developing the concept of independence from Great Britain. Jefferson who has been credited for the draft and the final wording was in fact in love with the idea of a separate nation under its own rule. He along with many of the original signers made it abundantly clear that with independence would come the question of self rule and that the governed have the final say over their government.

Jefferson wrote: “Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America.”
—Thomas Jefferson, November 29, 1775

By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year. Relations between the colonies and the mother country had been deteriorating since the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. The war had plunged the British government deep into debt, and so Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase tax revenue from the colonies. Parliament believed that these acts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their fair share of the costs to keep the colonies in the British Empire.
Many colonists, however, had developed a different conception of the empire. Because the colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. This tax dispute was part of a larger divergence between British and American interpretations of the British Constitution and the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies. The orthodox British view, dating from the “Glorious Revolution of 1688”, was that Parliament was the supreme authority throughout the empire and so, by definition, anything Parliament did was constitutional.

In the colonies, however, the idea had developed that the British Constitution recognized certain fundamental rights that no government—not even Parliament—could violate. After the Townshend Acts, some essayists even began to question whether Parliament had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colonies at all. Anticipating the arrangement of the British Commonwealth by 1774 American writers such as Samuel Adams, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson were arguing that Parliament was the legislature of Great Britain only, and that the colonies, which had their own legislatures, were connected to the rest of the empire only through their allegiance to the Crown.

Now that you have the first view of how our Declaration of Independence came to be, we must start to ask the same questions that Jefferson, Adams and Wilson were asking. The questions today are the same as they were then. It is over jurisdiction; the rights of separate state legislatures, fundamental principles and “among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The answers to the essential questions we have today should be viewed through the prism of history and what the historical facts tell us. The first view of our independence was through “certain unalienable” rights and not through what politicians believe our rights should be.
If I were fortunate enough to be representing the people today, I would be looking to find the answers through the prism of what Jefferson and Adams view was. I would be testing legislation through the Constitutional litmus rather than the entitlement litmus that runs Washington today. I would be looking at tax and spending issues through the prism of wealth generation and not through the prism of shared responsibility and spreading the wealth. I would be looking to create equal opportunity and not making an attempt to equalize the results of equal opportunity.
If I were fortunate enough to represent the people, I would not make a career out of it but rather to create the view of what was seen through the creation of these words: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

In order to grow a more perfect union, our posterity must be given the chance to experience the promotion of general welfare, not through entitlements but through free enterprise, free markets and the freedom that our way of life brings if unaltered and if kept alone. Those who believe in liberty and who were taught to respect the law and who through moral standards create the wealth are the ones that will create an environment for our posterity to do the same. This is what I believe was the first view that our forefathers saw.

I end each week with a quote: “If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.”
-George Washington

The first view is the correct view, because it is unhampered and it is so inspiring. But then again, this is just my opinion.
Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The prism in which I speak of can be viewed for the first time if you view the original context of what independence, liberty and freedom was designed to give. Government could never provide it because the view of the forefathers put the responsibility into the hands of the governed. We must view the principals of what Jefferson put into words and what Lincoln saw.

The old one two:

2011-07-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday-July 7, 2011

The old one two:

Everyone in Washington is talking tough. Everyone in Washington is holding their ground, with regard to raising the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is the limit at which the government can borrow money.

On May 16, of this year, the United States hit it’s legal debt limit of $14.3 trillion. Unless that limit is raised, the Treasury will, on Aug. 2, be unable to pay its bills. It will have to either stop spending money on government programs or default on paying the nation’s creditors. This is the standard line, none of which is likely to happen.

The White House is trying to convince Congressional Republicans that the debt ceiling needs to be raised. The impasse is how to constrain the deficit’s rapid growth due to governmental spending. Meanwhile, some people have theorized that there’s a way to get around the debt limit.

Several law professors and Senators, even Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, have suggested that section 4 of the 14th Amendment, known as the public debt clause, might provide a silver bullet. This provision states that “the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law ... shall not be questioned.” They argue that the public debt clause is sufficient to nullify the ceiling — or can be used to permit the president to borrow money without regard to the ceiling.

The Supreme Court has addressed the public debt clause only once, in 1935, in the case of Perry v. United States. The court observed only that the clause confirmed the “fundamental principle” that Congress may not “alter or destroy” debts already incurred.
Some have argued that this principle prohibits any government action that “jeopardizes” the validity of the public debt. By increasing the risk of default, they contend, any debt ceiling automatically violates the public debt clause.

This argument goes too far. It would mean that any budget deficit, tax cut or spending increase could be attacked on constitutional grounds, because each of those actions slightly increases the probability of default. Moreover, the argument is self-defeating. If it were correct, the absence of a debt ceiling could likewise be attacked as unconstitutional — after all, the greater the nation’s debt, the greater the difficulty of repaying it, and the higher the probability of default.
Both approaches provide the false hope of a legal answer that obviates the need for a real solution.

The Constitution grants only Congress — not the president — the power “to borrow money on the credit of the United States.” Nothing in the 14th Amendment or in any other Constitutional provision suggests that the president may usurp legislative power to prevent a violation of the Constitution. Moreover, it is well established that the president’s power drops to what Justice Robert H. Jackson called its “lowest ebb” when exercised against the express will of Congress.
Worse, the argument that the president may do whatever is necessary to avoid default has no logical stopping point. In theory, Congress could pay debts not only by borrowing more money, but also by exercising its powers to impose taxes, to coin money or to sell federal property. If the president could usurp the congressional power to borrow, what would stop him from taking over all these other powers, as well?

There comes a time when true leaders must say enough is enough. Yesterday, the title of the FORUM was “the responsible one”. I tried to put into words the intent Jefferson had when writing the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was the responsible one who through his words illustrated the words of independence to a nation that was in need of a leader.

In short, today’s FORUM simply says that the Republicans should not give into the demands of the Democrats or the president. The Republicans should be saying that the Democrats demands are irrelevant, they are wrong for the times and that raising the debt ceiling will rob future generations of their wealth. The Republicans must start driving home the point that the president and the democrats and no one else are the ones that are responsible for the nation’s ills today. The president should be called down on his attempt to make this crisis political and on his attempt to walk away from the responsibility of his actions.

The president’s rhetoric about the tax breaks for corporate jets, as being the problem of why there is a debt crisis, is insane and is ludicrous. The president must be given the old one-two in the most American of ways. The president must be stopped and the Republicans must stand their ground and not give in to the demands of the Democrats. If the Republicans say no to raising the debt ceiling, the president will be forced to run the government on what the government takes in. What is so wrong with that?

The country will not default on making the payments or making the payments on the interest owed. The country might have to reduce the size of government so that the cost of entitlement spending is possible for the short term, what is so wrong with that?

The Democrats are talking about raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans as a way to create more revenue. It is a proven fact that raising taxes only hurts economic growth especially in a downward economic cycle. We need new jobs so that there are new tax payers contributing to the system so that we don’t have to borrow money to keep the entitlements afloat. The problem we have today is that we spend more than we bring in. The other part of the problem is that 48% of Americans don’t pay any tax at all. The question must be asked: who is responsible for that?

Until an argument can be made over the truth of our debt nothing will be done. Raising taxes and eliminating the depreciation on corporate jets alone will not solve the problem. Waging war on the middle class and initiating class warfare alone is not the way out of the dilemma that we find ourselves in.

The way out is having the Republicans stand their ground and give the opposition the old one-two punch. This consists of telling the truth and facing the facts and giving a reason why we should not rob our posterity for false prosperity today.

It offends me that the president thinks that he has a Constitutional right to borrow on the nation’s credit. If the forefathers thought this was true, then their words about liberty, freedom and independence would never have seen the light of day.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The old one-two punch is strictly an American thing. Giving the old one-two is what Washington continues to do to us. It’s time to reverse that trend!

Todays FORUM is dedicated to my good friend who just joined!

The responsible one!

2011-07-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday - July 6, 2011

The responsible one!

When we ask the question who is responsible for a crime, a heroic effort or a job well done, we usually get the answer quickly. The answer can come by what a witness says, a co-worker’s observation, a video taken by a passer by and even through written history.

Usually we find out who the responsible one was when something good happens but when something bad or unexpected happens this is when it becomes a bit more difficult.

This week we celebrated our 235 birthday of declaring independence from Great Britain and King George’s oppressive taxes and his oppressive rule over the colonies.

When we ask the question who is the responsible one, who gave us Independence, we can name off a list of patriots like Franklin, Payne, Adams, Hamilton and Jefferson. But, for today’s FORUM, let’s just say Jefferson was the responsible one. It is easy to credit Jefferson for the Independence that we celebrated on Monday, because he wrote the Declaration of Independence. After all it was submitted by him and it was written in his long hand style of the written word.

The question I have today is this: did Jefferson raise the bar so high that no one else could be the responsible one in giving us independence or in securing our independence. Is the bar raised so high that no one else today thinks that they could fill Jefferson’s shoes or walk a mile in them?

Today, we are waiting for the president’s summit tomorrow, Thursday July 7, regarding managing the nation’s debt and questioning just how high we should raise the debt ceiling, so that the nation can borrow more to spend more. Tomorrow, we will see the president act like the responsible one by coming forth and bringing the two sides of Congress together to find common ground.

When Jefferson and the delegates met, to initially discuss the notion of separation and declaring independence, it was for very much the same reasons that the summit is being held tomorrow. The difference between then and now is that we had responsible people who looked at the nation’s wealth, its promise and the notion that government is to be ruled by the governed.

It took responsible people to secure our independence, our liberty and yes, the freedom that was ours to take, because it was ours to have. While the president and some in Washington speak the words of liberty, freedom and say they want to give us independence from government, they have actually been doing the opposite.

Today’s title “The responsible one” should describe the one person who has striped us of the wealth, the leadership position in the free world and has reduced the capacity for this nation to remain the financial leader of the world. The responsible one has given us record deficits, record unemployment and record government growth into every aspect of our lives.

The responsible one today, the president, remains the leader of the free world. If he wants to lead the free world, why destroy all that secures this nations leadership position? This is the $64,000 question.

Leadership is not asking the other side to surrender. Leadership is not demanding that the rich pay their fair share. Leadership is not creating stimulus after stimulus so that your political allies can profit at the cost of their vote. The question of the debt ceiling, the creation of crisis is not independence and is not what the responsible one 235 years ago by the name of Jefferson had envisioned when he took pen in hand to write what became one of the worlds greatest documents of freedom. In fact, the responsible one 235 years ago has not been out done by the authorship of another document anytime else in history.

The responsible one today had a Twitter session answering questions about the debt and tomorrow’s summit. I don’t want a president spending time on Twitter. I want him to be responsible by following what the rules of the game are. I want a responsible president to manage the nation’s economy with fiscal strength and with moral authority. Jefferson had it, but this president doesn’t. The debt ceiling question can be solved if we solve the problem of spending. The president released a report on the effectiveness of his stimulus. It has cost 666 billion dollars to save or create the 2.4 million jobs that the responsible one said he has created. The 666 billion dollars that was spent to save or create those jobs equates to $278,000 per job. It would have been cheaper to just give each one of those who got those jobs $100,000 cash for their trouble and for the exchange of their vote.

The question we are not asking all those who are responsible is why can’t the government just live within its means? This is the $64,000 question that no can answer let alone gives a chance to be asked.

It took a responsible hand to create the freedom that was born 235 years ago. It also takes an irresponsible hand that will further destroy it tomorrow.

On today’s date, in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was announced on the front page of the “Pennsylvania Evening Gazette.” On today’s date, a year earlier in 1775, Congress issued the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms”, listing a list of grievances against the King, but denying the intent to be independent. Even then politics played a role, but the politics led in the direction of independence. Today the politics are reversing the course set in motion by the patriots 236 years ago. The president, the responsible one, today, is leading in the politics of the reversal of our independence instead of the politics of preserving our independence.

Today, we need a leader that recognizes what independence gave us; not only by the words, but in the spirit of the responsible one who put the words to paper and whose actions caused other men to take action.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: 235 years of independence was the result of responsible leaders, 3 years of the loss of independence can be blamed on one person who now is the responsible one for the loss of our independence.

235 and one day!

2011-07-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday-July 5, 2011

235 and one day!

Today, our country is 235 years and one day old! Why is this significant? Why even bring it up?

For some, today was just another day in 2011. Or it was just another day in which we went back to work after a long holiday weekend. For others, the day was consumed by driving back home from the summer visits during the July fourth holiday.

Today, I realized something that was very personal. I thought about liberty, freedom and Independence in a new light. I thought about how the day after the Declaration of Independence was introduced how it must have changed the perspective and the lives of those who stood by the adoption and passing of the document, not to mention a nation that was in revolt.

For me, today, when I thought about the historical aspects of the July fourth holiday I got some sort of renewed spirit. I wanted to know more of what our forefathers wanted us to do to invigorate, restore and inspire people to want more of what the Declaration of Independence was meant to be and what is was meant to give us.

Today, I realized that we must remind people of what the document was and the history behind the document. A day after our July fourth holiday the leaders in the Senate and our leader in the White House called for a tax hike on the rich, or those who make more than $250,000 a year to pay for the abuses that our government has inflicted upon us. Our Independence was established over a principle: no taxation without representation. You would have thought that some Senator or some Congressman would have pointed that out; or at least reminded a few of. Today, if you lose your job and you are above fifty years old, chances are you will never find a replacement of that job. The sick thing is that in 2007 it took a fifty year old five months, on average, to find a replacement and it usually paid more. This is the result of the loss of liberty, freedom and independence.

We must renew a spirit that has been long lost even in the most conservative of circles. We must dedicate ourselves to living the words of the Declaration and to inspire others to do the same. What most forget is that the Declaration of Independence started a movement which culminated with the most indelible words ever written: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

Two months earlier, John Adams drafted the preamble that would explain the purpose of the resolution to write the Declaration of Independence. He wrote then: “This day the Congress has passed the most important resolution, that ever was taken in America.” John Adams, May 15, 1776.

For some, it is an easy task to live the words of independence and see the benefits that independence gives. For others it becomes an out dated obsolete document which came to light for a brief moment in another century.

This July fourth holiday marked a personal achievement for me. I have been writing and speaking about liberty, freedom and independence for two years now in a public platform. I have been doing it my way and in my time. I have been learning what I wanted and at a pace that suited me. I have made progress and I believe that my efforts to practice what I preach are now being listened to.

I believe that the spirit I am seeking is one that will help me move forward at a greater pace in the remaining portion of this year.

My focus now will be to renew what the lady of liberty is all about. My focus will be to research more of what the forefathers said and what their desires were. I am beginning to think that our forefathers left us a will. In this case their will spells out what they wanted us to do with their riches. The riches I speak of are the gifts they to us in the form of liberty, freedom and independence. There will was designed to guarantee the rights and privileges under law, they bequeathed to us their fortune of thought and wisdom and in that will they told us how to protect it. They also said that if we didn’t protect it we would lose the riches that were bequeathed to all of us.

When I wrote, I viewed today in a different way I gave thought to many of the words and the actions displayed by the men of revolution and the men that stood tall the day after there words were announced to the world.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: It didn’t take 235 years and one day to write the Declaration, but I fear it will take less time before we are told to forget about it. In the remaining portion of this year I will remind all not to forget.

The time and the day and a year after!

2011-07-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Monday- July 4, 2011

The time and the day and a year after!

At the time of the signing of the Declaration the US consisted of 13 colonies under the rule of England's King George III. Leading up to the signing, there had been growing unrest in the colonies surrounding the taxes that colonists were required to pay to England. The major objection was "Taxation without Representation" -- the colonists had no say in the decisions of English Parliament.Rather than negotiating, King George sent extra troops to the colonies to help control any rebellion that might be arising. The following timeline will give you a perspective of the history that lead to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and America's break from British rule.

In 1774 - The 13 colonies sent its delegates to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to form the First Continental Congress. While unrest was brewing, the colonies were far from ready to declare war.

April 1775 -- King George's troops advance on Concord, Massachusetts, prompting Paul Revere's midnight ride that sounded the alarm "The British are coming, the British are coming." The subsequent battle of Concord, famous for being the "shot heard round the world," would mark the unofficial beginning of the American Revolution.

May 1776 -- After nearly a year of trying to work out their differences with England, the colonies again sent their delegates to the Second Continental Congress. June 1776 -- Admitting that their efforts were hopeless, a committee was formed to compose the formal Declaration of Independence. Headed by Thomas Jefferson, the committee also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston and Roger Sherman. June 28, 1776 -- Jefferson presents the first draft of the declaration to congress.

July 4, 1776 -- After various changes to Jefferson's original draft, a vote was taken late in the afternoon of July 4th. Of the 13 colonies, 9 voted in favor of the Declaration; 2, Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted No; Delaware was undecided and New York abstained. John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. It is said that he signed his name "with a great flourish" so "King George can read that without spectacles!"

July 6, 1776 -- The Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first newspaper to print the Declaration of Independence. July 8, 1776 -- The first public reading of the declaration took place in Philadelphia's Independence Square in mid afternoon. The bell in Independence Hall, then known as the "Province Bell" would later be renamed the "Liberty Bell" after its inscription - "Proclaim Liberty Through out All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof."

August 1776 - The task begun on July 4, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was not actually completed until August. Nonetheless, the 4th of July has been accepted as the official anniversary of United States independence from Britain.

July 4, 1777 -- The first Independence Day celebration takes place. It's interesting to speculate what those first 4th festivities were like. By the early 1800s the traditions of parades, picnics, and fireworks were firmly established as part of American Independence Day culture.

As we end our day this year we should remember the time line that lead to our independence, we should remember the day on which our independence was established and we should remember the fight for our independence. Treat all this history with respect and be conscience of the time at which it occurred, the day at which it started and let’s look forward to next year when we meet once again to celebrate our independence!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Today marks the beginning of the second year of pinecone conservatives. The fight for our liberty and the fight for our independence did not happen overnight. The fight for Liberty, freedom and independence is a lifelong story that many patriots over the course of 235 years have helped to make possible. The time is marked by days and the days are marked by years but as the years grow so should our liberty, freedom and our independence. Happy Birthday America!

A comment and Independence:

2011-07-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

Friday- July 1, 2011

A comment and Independence:

Are off color comments appropriate? Are some of the phrases in the Declaration of Independence appropriate?

Americans will judge what is appropriate and what isn’t, based on their ideology and or their political leanings.

When the President stands in front of both Houses of Congress, during the State of the Union Address, was it appropriate for a Supreme Court Justice to mouth the words “ not true” or a sitting Congressman yelling “you lie”? Are these statements appropriate?

Never before have we had a president confronted with the word lie in the House of Congress. Never before has a liberal commentator, like Mark Halperin, said of the president, after being asked how the president did in his news conference, on a National Cable TV news show Morning Joe on MSNBC, that he was being a D*** (description of the male sexual organ). Is this appropriate when Mark asked if there was a seven minute delay and both hosts said yes, go for it?

After the inappropriate comment, the White House called the producers of MSNBC and complained about the use of the D word and, consequently, the news commentator Halperin was suspended. The White House also complained that the news Channel MSNBC hadn’t done enough to get people who are on the president’s side on the news shows for interviews. Was that appropriate for the White House to do that?

These incidents of a judge, a congressman and a liberal commentator all mean something. It means that two nationally known political individuals said that the president was lying. After a fact check was done, it was found that the president wasn’t exactly being truthful. It also means that a nationally known liberal member of the press is now being punished by describing how in his opinion the president was behaving. The slang word that was used, at best, was probably inappropriate especially when the seven minute delay wasn’t working after being told it was, so maybe he should have used the word penis, which is never bleeped. I would have used the A word, but that’s me. By the way I did watch the news conference and I agree with the liberal Halperin’s assessment!

These incidents might seem small, they might seem trivial, they might even sound a bit nuts, but the actions taken by the White House do have an impact on our Independence. In these three examples, the White House was put on defense. In the most recent example, over the comment by Mark Halperin, he was the first commentator to be suspended after the White House complained.

Wasn’t George Bush called worse? Isn’t being called a loser by the Senate Majority leader far worse or at par with these recent comments? Isn’t being compared to Hitler far worse than being compared to a slang word? Did the Bush White House ever complain and ask that some one be indefinitely suspended from their employment during their eight years in office? Did the Bush White House ever complain about the people who were being interviewed not being on their side during their eight years in office?

Does the question of sides have an impact on our Independence? I believe it does. If one side or political band as Jefferson explained it wasn’t victorious 235 years ago, about the question of Independence and freedom, we wouldn’t be here today discussing this.

It is a fact that every dictator in modern history took control of the press and insisted that the news outlets be it the state or public news outlets issue the appropriate propaganda. Look at Hitler, look at Chavez, look at the North Korean leader and look at the Islamist leaders. When the White House gets involved at this level it does affect our Independence.

When I bring up the case of a news commentator, a Justice of the Supreme Court and a sitting Congress man being disgusted over the words and behavior of the President, we should be alerted to the reasons why and not necessarily the political side of the person.

I wanted to write about some other aspects of our Declaration of Independence today, but I thought it was important to write about how Independence works. In most cases it works because people sometimes tell the truth and sometimes lie and sometimes act like a D***. I will let you decide who is telling the truth and who might be lying and who might have been acting like a D***.

Go out and celebrate your Independence this weekend. Enjoy the freedom that was derived from the gift of the written word and the mindful courtesy that Jefferson knew would be an integral argument in gaining our Independence.

Jefferson once said: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is natural manure.”

Jefferson once said: “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”

Jefferson once said: “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty”

John Adams, after deciding to cast his vote for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence he said: "If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending; if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious objective of our contest is obtained, we must fight; I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms, and to the God of Hosts, is all that is left us!"

Have a great Fourth of July be mindful of how all this Independence happened and how all of the freedom even the freedom of speech we enjoy must be protected. Be mindful that those who want to protect it might say some unsavory things from time to time. However, in the end, words always lead to actions. Be alert to the actions that takes your liberty and independence away, rather than continues it!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: This is the time to celebrate liberty don’t be afraid to make a comment and practice your Independence!