Status: Single
City: DALLAS
State: Texas
Country: US
Signup Date: 7/30/2007
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Friday, November 20, 2009
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http://online.wsj.com/video/war-on-terror-comes-ho...
The height of Stupidity!
-Charles Lingerfelt, Candidate for U. S. Congress
Congressional District 30
Dallas County Texas
http://www.Lingyforcongress.com
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Friday, October 30, 2009
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Dismantling America
By Thomas Sowell
October 28, 2009
(Note
from Jan: This profound article by Thomas Sowell speaks for many of us.
I could not have said it better so I am just forwarding it as
is! )
How much of America would be left if the federal government continued on this path?
President
Obama has already floated the idea of a national police force. Just one
year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government
official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply
one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily
cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90
percent? Did
you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk
radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers -- that
is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend
on the government liking what they publish? Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments? Scary
as that is from a medical standpoint, it is also chilling from the
standpoint of freedom. If you have a mother who needs a heart operation
or a child with some dire medical condition, how free would you feel to
speak out against an administration that has the power to make life and
death decisions about your loved ones? Does
any of this sound like America? How about a federal agency giving
school children material to enlist them on the side of the president? Merely being assigned to sing his praises in class is apparently not enough.
We
already have local police forces all across the country and military
forces for national defense, as well as the FBI for federal crimes and
the National Guard for local emergencies. What would be the role of
a national police force created by Barack Obama, with all its leaders
appointed by him? It would seem more like the brown shirts of dictators
than like anything American.
How far the President will go depends, of course, on how much resistance he meets. But the direction in which he is trying to go tells us more than all his rhetoric or media spin. Barack
Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of
America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country.
Jeremiah
Wright said it with words: "God damn America!" Bill Ayers said it with
bombs that he planted. Community activist goons have said it with their
contempt for the rights of other people. Among
the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who
have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools
as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most
Americans and to a captive audience of children. Those
who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those
people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point
completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what
such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely
these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House? Nothing
is more consistent with his lifelong patterns than putting such people
in government -- people who reject American values, resent Americans in
general and successful Americans in particular, as well as resenting America's influence in the world. Any
miscalculation on his part would be in not thinking that others would
discover what these stealth appointees were like. Had it not been for
the Fox News Channel, these stealth appointees might have remained
unexposed for what they are. Fox News is now high on the
administration's enemies list. Nothing
so epitomizes President Obama's own contempt for American values and
traditions like trying to ram two bills through Congress in his first
year -- each bill more than a thousand pages long -- too fast for
either of them to be read, much less discussed. That he succeeded only
the first time says that some people are starting to wake up. Whether
enough people will wake up in time to keep America from being
dismantled, piece by piece, is another question -- and the biggest
question for this generation.
(Note from Jan: Never lose hope or the
heart grows sick. Continue to pray without ceasing for our great nation
and that evil-doers would be brought down. But God has a covenant with
Israel, not America!)
---------O--------
Friends: If you are of the opinion that it's time for Eddie Bernice Johnson to be "GONE" --- and "settled in" back here in Texas with her liberal leftist agenda, then I need your "Help" in retiring her!!
We are working daily to build a great Campaign with Volunteers,
"Foot Soldiers" and dedicated workers. Together, with God's Wonderful
Help we shall prevail. We will be "Walking the District" again this Saturday morning - 10a.m. to 12 Noon. Please call me to see where we will meet at 9:30a.m. -- Mobile: 972.533.3804
We are "putting together" an army of Field Captains and Lingy
Leaders to get the job done. If you want to share in the 'glory' of
retiring Miss Eddie, we all must 'pay the price!' Victory is neither
caught, nor bought! Victory is fought!! And, I am "ready for the fight.
All my life nothing has come easy. I was a "fighter" when I was born -
and my father was in the South Pacific "doing duty" in World War II. I
will gladly 'fight the fight," run the race and keep the faith in the
'Fight' we are presently in to save our nation. I will fight the 'good
fight' in standing with the Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence. I will raise my head high against all evil which seeks to
destroy this great nation and people. I will "fire when I am fired
upon," and I will be there 'STANDING' when the last enemy rears its ugly head. And, if need be, I will destroy him too for attacking America!
She's beautiful- my friend! She is worth the saving -- and there are some in this great nation who are never gonna wave the white flag to anything -- or ANYONE!!Count Me IN!!!!!! "I Need Your Help and I need Your support!" (Senator Robert F. Kennedy)
God bless you all, Charles Lingerfelt Candidate for U. S. Congress - District 30
Charles Lingerfelt
Campaign for U. S.
Congress, District 30 Dallas County Texas
P. O. Box 360722 Dallas, Texas 75336
"It Isn't All About Change...It's About Direction!"
------------------------------..------------------------------..------------------------------..------------------------------..----------
Volunteer and ‘Foot Soldier’ Form
Charles Lingerfelt for Congress
Name:_______________________..Cell Phone:__________
Address:_____________________ City:_______Zip:_____
Home Phone:____________ Office:_____________
Email Address:______________________..______________
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Organizing a Coffee:____ Organizing a Luncheon:_____
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Please Make All Checks Payable to: Charles Lingerfelt for Congress
Mail to: P. O. Box 360722 - Dallas, Texas 75336
Thanks for your Support! Paid For By the Committee to Elect Charles Lingerfelt
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Sunday, October 18, 2009
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Preparing for civil unrest
By Claire Wolfe
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The most remarkable thing about civil unrest is that there hasn't been more of it.
Politicians are making a hash of this
country—and much of the rest of the civilized world. We know it. They
know it. They know we know it. But we don't feel we can do anything
much to stop them.
That right there is the pre-condition for civil unrest—when people are frustrated and politicians are nervous.
Worse, that was how things stood before last fall's crash. Before
pols on both left and right launched the biggest mass transfer of
wealth in history—transferring our wealth (what we had left of it!) to
their friends on Wall Street and in the banking industry. In other
words, that's how things were before things got bad!
Now everybody's talking about the
ongoing catastrophe (even if we are in a momentarily sunny mood). But
almost nobody is talking about the logical—maybe even
inevitable—consequences of cynical or desperate politicians abusing an
already fed-up populace: civil unrest.
I mean people taking to the streets. Or mass resistance. Or crackdowns because the government fears we might do something to upset its apple cart. It's going to happen. Somewhere. At some time. It's going to.
One of the few VIPs to mention the
matter openly was Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor
and the ultimate insider's insider. He commented on the millions of
unemployed or soon-to-be-unemployed and the "...public awareness of
this extraordinary wealth that was transferred to a few individuals at
levels without historical precedent in America." He told "Morning Joe"
Scarborough, "Hell, there could be even riots." I'd say that's an
understatement.
Although few in power are talking about
it, rumors abound that governments at many levels are planning for
civil unrest. One rumor is about a document supposedly being circulated
right now among top federal officials. It's called the "C&R
Document"—with C&R standing for "conflict & revolution." The
much-storied paper is said to be a plan for controlling the American
people when we get out of hand. True? Who knows. But the very rumor
tells us a lot about these times.
Other things are not mere rumor. When
the federal government established a North American Army command in
2002, its purpose wasn't to repel foreign invaders. It was domestic
operations—something long and rightly forbidden by the Posse Comitatus
Act. In February of 2009, when military commanders in Canada and the
U.S. signed a pact allowing their armies to operate inside each other's
country they didn't even bother to get authorization from Congress—an
illegal and unprecedented move. And once again, the purpose was
handling "domestic civil emergencies."
For several years, the Centers for
Disease Control tried to get states to adopt something called the Model
State Emergency Health Powers Act (MEHPA). This act would allow state
governments to become police-state dictatorships in event of any
ill-defined health emergency—vaccinating people by force, destroying or
seizing property without compensation, and rationing medical supplies,
food, and fuel. To their credit, most state governments rejected the
act. A few adopted portions of it before a fervent opposition campaign
caused the CDC to back off. However, the concept of a health
dictatorship hasn't gone away. Not hardly. Within days of the news that
a new strain of swine flu had arisen in Mexico in April 2009, states
were again considering legislation to give themselves martial-law
powers in event of an epidemic.
And what of the dozens and dozens of
federal agencies that now have SWAT teams? Seriously, what justifies
the Bureau of Land Management or the Department of Housing and Urban
Development having paramilitary units?
Now maybe you like the idea of an Army
that watches over its own citizens. Maybe it makes sense to have a
government seize total dictatorial power in event of a health
emergency. Maybe you believe SWAT teams will never be used except
against bad guys. But do you really trust these people?
After all, these are the same folks, and
this is the same mentality, that not only spent $325,000 to produce a
souvenir photo of a presidential 747 zooming low over the Statue of
Liberty, but ordered the New York Police Department, the FBI, the
Secret Service, and the New York mayor's office not to tell the public.
Never mind that they realized full well that passenger jets and
military planes plunging low over Manhattan would evoke panic.
Still, peace reigns. Mostly. At least
here in North America. But not everywhere. Not long ago, France was
brought to its knees by night after night of rioting. In that country
it's become almost common for workers to hold their bosses hostage in
hopes of winning economic concessions. Greece, too, saw its normal life
and business shut down by days of rioting. So did Iceland—a country
that's normally the picture of civility.
Can the U.S. be forever immune?
It might not take much—and it could be
something out of the blue, something impossible to anticipate—to set us
against each other and against the "Trust us; we'll fix it" political
crowd.
In a way, this national silence on a
matter so many people are afraid of is similar to the silence about
general preparedness issues before 9-11 or Hurricane Katrina. Only
Mormons and us wingnuts spoke of preparedness way back when. Since
then, of course, advice on preparedness is mainstream and common.
In another sense, this silence is
different. Because when unrest finally erupts, it's not going to be us
merely taking care of ourselves. It's going to be "us against them." It
might be workers against bosses. Or the poor against bankers. Or blacks
against Hispanics. Or little folk against Big Men in public office. Or
farmers against the USDA. Or xenophobes against xenophiles. But however
it happens, the implications aren't as Boy-Scoutish as just taking care
of ourselves in an emergency.
Defining civil unrest
Look up "preparations for civil unrest" on Google and...What's that echo I hear?—you'll find nothing that's going to help you. In fact, you won't even easily turn up a good definition of what civil unrest is.
Like "indecency," the definition seems to be in the eye of the beholder.
I wouldn't consider a peaceful anti-war
march to be civil unrest, for instance, but a police chief might.
Similarly, I wouldn't consider acts of localized non-violent
lawbreaking (like environmental activists chaining themselves to a
tree) to be civil unrest; but a timber company official probably
believes otherwise.
Civil unrest occurs when anger, frustration, or fear turn disruptive on a mass scale. Or when government officials crack down because they anticipate
such disruptions. Crackdowns can lead to further frustration, leading
to further crackdowns and so on—especially when the crackdowns look
unwarranted and tyrannical.
In other words, civil unrest can arise from the anger of people or the folly of government or both together.
Anger over an unpopular policy, a new
war, a collapse of the currency, panic over a pandemic, a food
shortage, a bank run—anything like that could cause civil unrest,
especially in a population that's already on edge and no longer trusts
its authority figures.
Another thing you won't find via Google
is how various types or levels of unrest are likely to affect us and
how we should respond, if we're affected. Again, although the men and
women at the top are quite concerned for their own sakes, they (and
their media mouthpieces) would rather not talk about what we should do
in event of civil panic.
But that's not good enough for we independent-minded people, is it?
Here are my definitions of levels of civil unrest and a little bit about how they might affect us:
LEVEL ONE: The lowest
level of civil unrest is when people turn on their own neighborhoods—as
happened during the race riots of the 1960s and the Rodney King riots
in Los Angeles. Level One civil unrest can be deadly and destructive,
but primarily to people who live, work, or must travel in the immediate
area. Level One unrest is spontaneous, Dionysian, is confined to a
narrow geographical zone where the protestors live. Police response may
be harsh, but it's localized. Unless you're in the middle of it, you're
unaffected.
LEVEL TWO: Level Two
civil unrest may also be focused on a single area. But in this case,
rioters or protesters have deliberately targeted a business district, a
facility, a transportation system, or an organization to impose maximum
disruption. One example: the World Trade Organization protests in
Seattle in 1999; young people with violence in mind and rage in their
hearts attacked an entire downtown, affecting hundreds of businesses
and tens of thousands of workers who hardly knew what hit them. Another
example: This spring, protesters in Thailand shut down the Bangkok
airport, affecting who knows how many individuals and businesses. Level
Two unrest is usually planned or semi-planned. The target is chosen
deliberately. Although still focused in one area, Level Two can disrupt
normal life and business in a whole region or country.
LEVEL THREE: Level
Three comes when mass unrest or authoritarian crackdown causes
disruption at state or regional level. Then, no matter what the
original cause or location of the trouble, everyone in the region is
affected. Effects might include travel restrictions, random ID checks,
mass arrests, food and fuel rationing, controls on money and banking,
roadblocks, and other harsh "emergency" restrictions.
LEVEL FOUR: Level Four
is Level Three—but on a national or even international scale. It's
martial law. If things ever get this bad, it's likely that the
government itself will be a far bigger threat to everyone's well being
than whatever the original cause of the clampdown was.
And of course, any level of
civil unrest can lead to laws, regulations, and harsher police policies
that end up affecting everybody in the long run.
Yes, it can involve us
We make a mistake if we think civil unrest is strictly an urban phenomena. It can happen anywhere.
When 400 government agents and soldiers
descended on one isolated family in the Idaho mountains, the
roadblocks, helicopters, Humvees, media presence, and furious
protestors surrounded the Randy Weaver family and brought the normal
life of Boundary County, Idaho, to a halt. The siege against the Branch
Davidian church in Waco, Texas, wasn't conducted in the inner-city,
either. Yet both of these were large scale catastrophes with all the
hallmarks of civil unrest—individuals or groups resisting, government
insisting.
I can easily envision strictly
rural-based unrest that urban dwellers will never even hear about
(except perhaps in highly distorted reports). What happens, for
instance, if farmers, 4H families, owners of saddle horses, and holders
of small chicken flocks decide to resist en masse the
National Animal Identification System (NAIS)? It's easy to imagine, in
these crazy days, USDA SWAT teams descending on the countryside to make
arrests, forcibly register or destroy non-compliant animals, and burn
down non-registered facilities.
The future could see rural resistance to
invasive census-taking, forced vaccination programs, land takings,
water-rights policies, or the destruction of herds for real or bogus
health reasons. As country people increasingly see governments as
foreign organizations driven by the interests of city dwellers,
pharmaceutical companies, and mega-agri-business, it wouldn't surprise
me.
If we ever have serious food shortages, expect rural areas to be besieged.
Even when civil unrest confines itself
to the cities, airports, or highways it can affect us in crazy ways.
Here's a funny example of unpredictable (in this case mild)
consequences. A friend was due to have her first book published in
Canada. She was very excited—then disappointed when weeks dragged by
and the book didn't appear. Turns out that a band of Indians was
blocking a highway bridge the printer's truck had to cross. The union
truckers, in solidarity, refused to route around the protest. Just one
small consequence. But you can see the unpredictability.
The simple truth is that we don't know
what kinds of unrest to anticipate. We don't know when, or if, we'll
see civil unrest. But thinking about the problem and preparing
ourselves mentally and physically to deal with it should be just
another aspect of our personal preparedness.
What we can do
1. Keep standard emergency preps up to date. First thing to do is make sure all our typical household preparedness supplies and plans are current. As BHM
readers know, backup food, water, and other supplies are our mainstay
for everything from bad storms to long-term unemployment, from power
outages to social breakdowns. During civil unrest, especially at Level
Three or Four, we might not be able to get out to buy things we need—or
we might consider it more prudent to stay at home. On the other hand,
if we ourselves are part of the unrest, we may need those supplies to
sit out a siege.
2. Don't fall into foolish complacency.
We who live in the country tend to have an "it can't happen here"
attitude toward political violence or social upheaval. We see those
things as urban pheonomena. And mostly, they are. But there's no
ironclad rule that says they have to be. If anything disrupts the
supply chain, for instance, rural areas could be the first to be cut
off from food, medicines, fuel, or other necessities. If government
breaks down to the point where it can't deliver food stamps, housing
vouchers, social security, or bureaucrats' pay, the rural poor and
unemployed could become just as restive as their urban counterparts.
3. Watch your health.
As I write this, the airwaves are shrilling about swine flu. This
outbreak may fizzle; after all, perfectly normal flu kills many every
year without causing panic, martial law, or incessant media coverage.
On the other hand, it's certain that one day some illness will rampage
across the globe. Few things inspire public panic more quickly than
contagious disease, and once again rural areas are not immune. Take all
the standard recommended precautions like frequent handwashing. Make
sure your preparedness kit includes surgical masks and disposable
gloves as well as a selection of frequently updated medications. And be
ready to lay low at home for a long time in the event a serious plague
gets loose.
4. Make common cause with your neighbors.
I've said it before, but establishing a strong bond with people in your
community—right now—is vital to every sort of emergency preparedness.
In event of a Level One or Two emergency, these are the folks who could
come to your house to make sure you're okay. They might give you a ride
out or a place to sleep if you accidentally end up in a "hot zone" of
riot or protest. In a deeper or more long-term emergency, they could
pool resources with you to make supply runs. They can advise you if
they've spotted a roadblock. They might let you cross their land to
avoid a route that has become dangerous.
5. If you grow crops or raise food animals
and the unrest is due to a food shortage (or something has driven city
people out into the countryside), prepare to protect your resources day
and night. Here again neighbors can do each other valuable services,
like taking shifts guarding fields, barns, private roads, and gardens.
Yes, this is an apocalyptic scenario. Not a likely one. But if it
happens, it's a Level Three or Level Four emergency—delivered to your
own front yard.
6. Get advance word on local conditions when traveling.
We're used to hopping into our vehicles or onto airplanes and going
wherever we want to go. But as the worldwide economy deteriorates, it's
wise to keep an eye on our destination. Right now, this warning
pertains more to overseas travel than jaunts within the U.S. If you
plan to go abroad, visit online sites like Travelfish.org. They'll have
bulletins about adverse conditions in areas you plan to visit; you may
even be able to receive alerts via email that will warn you about
anything from political protests to disease outbreaks in places you
plan to go.
7. Watch for signs of trouble when in an unfamiliar area.
Sometimes the only advance notice you get is the notice your own senses
give you. When walking, driving, biking, or otherwise traveling in
unfamiliar places, stay in what gunfolk call "condition yellow." This
is different than the meaningless colored threat levels the Department
of Homeland Security puts out. It just means "be alert!" Never simply
allow yourself to slouch along obliviously. Always be aware of who's
nearby and what's going on around you. If you spot trouble developing,
turn. Avoid it if at all possible.
8. If you stumble into a "hot zone" of unrest,
be prepared to think on your feet. Not many people are qualified to
give you advice about how to behave if you unavoidably find yourself in
the midst of trouble—a riot, a mass protest that suddenly engulfs your
familiar downtown, a spot where police are bashing heads or hurling
tear gas seemingly at random. That's because not many people have ever
been there and every catastrophe is different. If street-level chaos
surrounds you, do your best to keep a cool head, move away from the
worst of it if you get the chance, and get inside if possible.
9. If you're swept up in mass arrests during a riot or demonstration,
the officers probably aren't going to be listening to your
protestations of being an innocent bystander. You'll only tick them off
and possibly get a charge of resisting arrest. The best advice I've
received from my friends who've been busted during out-of-hand
protests: Go along as best you can. Usually, all charges in such cases
are either dropped or reduced once calm is restored. Only if we've
reached the extreme point where police are rounding people up and
throwing them into detention camps or "disappearing" them is fighting
cops on the street likely to be worth it; then...fight like a demon.
10. Have a good lawyer and carry his or her card with you.
Once again, in the heat of chaos it may not do you much good. But that
card will come in handy later. Besides, if you and a police officer
have an encounter in calmer circumstances, a lawyer's card, along with
your calm assertion of your legal rights, will help you to be taken
seriously. Police officers are like anybody else; they're more likely
to go after easy targets than ones who are obviously knowledgeable and
prepared. My lawyer has a helpful little list on the back of his card
of the things you should do—and not do— when accosted by a police
officer.1 I'd trust that more than my own nerves in a tight situation.
11. Be careful of roadblocks.
This is a hard one. If we reach Level Three or Four of unrest, we may
not only see the obnoxious police "checkpoints" we're burdened with
today. We might also see two other things. One would be expanded police
roadblocks, with warrantless searches, harsh questioning, and possibly
mass arrests. Another could be "freelance" roadblocks—roadblocks set up
by anybody from political protesters to highwaymen. (Just as gangs of
home invaders now masquerade as SWAT teams, highwaymen might masquerade
as government officials to rob the unwary.) If it's humanly possible,
avoid roadblocks. It's not illegal to turn away from them, as long as
you don't disobey any traffic laws. Police do consider it suspicious
behavior and may come after you, even if you've done nothing wrong; but
in a time of civil unrest, avoiding a roadblock could save your skin.
Of course, both police and freelancers will set up their blockades to
make them as hard as possible to avoid—all the more reason to be alert,
know where roadblocks are likely to be, and have a mental map of
alternate routes. If, in a time and place of unrest, you're in a line
approaching a roadblock, watch what happens to the people ahead of you.
If you see any sign that the motorists ahead are being abused, get out
of there.
So far, we've talked mostly as if civil
unrest is something apart from us—something we might have to be wary
of, something we might stumble accidentally into. But the fact is that
as our country becomes less free, we might of course be the civil
unrest.
We might resist having our premises
tagged for NAIS or having our herds slaughtered for real or bogus
health reasons. We might end up fighting evictions (as farmers and many
rural dwellers have for centuries during hard times). We might be the
ones who say, "Hell no, we won't go!" when the mobile vaccination van
comes to town, or the ones who try to keep our neighbors from being
rounded up and sent to camps. Times are uncertain. We simply don't know.
But in every case, preparedness, foreknowledge, and a cool head will come in handy.
Some of us already have lines in the
sand that would inspire us to resist abuses of authority. And that,
right there, is something our would-be masters fear—our disobedience.
What will happen? And when? Nobody has a crystal ball. But the
combination of public frustration and governmental apprehension is an
explosive one. Someday, somebody will light the match.
1 Here's the copy on the lawyer's card (capitalization his):
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IF YOU ARE ARRESTED OR CONFRONTED BY THE POLICE:
1. FIRST, ask to call your lawyer.
2. Be courteous; do not resist.
3. Do not consent to search or entry.
4. Do not talk about anything; do not admit OR DENY anything.
5. Ask if you are free to go. If you are, GO.
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I've had several different lawyer's
cards over the years that say similar, but slightly different things.
Another great source of information on how to handle yourself when
confronted by police is the DVD Busted: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters.
It's great because it shows very realistic scenarios and coaches you
vividly on how to navigate them. Clips from "Busted" are online at the
link above.
Comments regarding Claire Wolfe's articles may be addressed to clairew@backwoodshome.com.
Comments may appear online in "Feedback" or in the "Letters" section of
Backwoods Home Magazine. Although every email is read, her busy
schedule does not permit a personal response to each one.
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Friday, October 09, 2009
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Tuesday, October 06, 2009
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Category: News and Politics
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
My Announcement is now scheduled for Saturday, October 10th. 2009 - - - 2p.m. to 4p.m.
The location for the Announcement is at: Pleasant Oaks Park Recreation Center 8701 Greenmound ~ Dallas, Texas 75217
We are planning a nice Patriotic gathering for the occasion and we will have some "Special Singers"
with us - - along with some other Guests as well. All North Texas Republican Candidates are invited to attend and will be recognized! Notify us if you plan to attend: CharlesLingerfelt4Congress2010..@gmail.com
Please feel free to invite your friends, neighbors and relatives. I
will be introducing to you my Campaign Manager, my Planning and
Steering Committee, my Family and other key persons involved in this
Campaign.
Directions to the location:
From I-635 in Mesquite, take the Bruton Road Exit and go West on Bruton Road for about three miles to McCutheon - - - Turn Right on McCutheon and go one block to Greenmound - - - Turn Right
on Greenmound to Pleasant Oaks Park Recreation Center on the left! Drive into the Parking Lot on the Left and park - - - The entrance to the Building is on the Right! Enter the Building and walk to the Left and enter the South Gym on the Left!
Shake hands and Be friendly and find a good seat wherever you want!!
We Will start the program promptly at 2p.m. and we should be concluded by 3:30p.m. Casual Attire is Fine!!!
Charles Lingerfelt
Campaign for U. S. Congress, District 30 Dallas County Texas P. O. Box 360722 Dallas, Texas 75336 It Isn't All About Change...It's About Direction!
http://www.myspace.com/..Clinger_KAS
http://www.myspace.com/..ClingerAmericanaKAS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?..v=TG4fe9GlWS8Mark Levin blasting leftist idiots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?..v=BIh-KecdD3E&NR=1
"To educate a man in mind only, and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." Theodore Roosevelt http://www.facebook.com/..charles.lingerfelt1
"As our president bears no resemblance to a king so we shall see
the Senate has no similitude to nobles." --Tench Coxe, An American
Citizen, No. 2, 1787 http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/..15523565/1322781786/name/..TeaPartyCommercial..wmv
*
"The time is now near at hand which must probably
determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to
have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are
to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness
from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn
Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this
army" - Gen. George Washington, to his troops before the battle of Long Island~ 1776
*
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Saturday, October 03, 2009
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http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids....
Here's a few Pics of some of my Students in Kurdistan - Northern Iraq, where I teach English, Government and Democratic principles.
Also, some of my heroes, friends and family in America.
Hope you enjoy!
Charles Lingerfelt
Dallas, Texas USA
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Thursday, October 01, 2009
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Alexander's Essay – October 1, 2009
Not Yours To Give
"I cannot undertake to lay
my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to
Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their
constituents..." --James Madison
David Crockett
My paternal ancestors settled in East Tennessee about
10 years before it was admitted to the Union (1796). Not far from where
they settled lived a fellow who was the region's most famous
frontiersman.
David Crockett was his name.
He has been immortalized as a folk hero, known for
his battles with the Red Stick Creek Indians under Andrew Jackson, and
his last stand at the Alamo with fellow Patriots James Bowie from
Kentucky and William Travis from South Carolina.
Crockett battled the Creek side-by-side with fellow
Tennessean Sam Houston, but both men were friends to the Cherokee
clans, which were composed of highly civilized native peoples living in
the border regions between Tennessee and North Carolina.
At the end of his formal service as a soldier, he was elected Lieutenant Colonel of the Tennessee Militia.
Crockett is less known for the several terms he
served in Congress between 1827 and 1835 during the presidency of his
old commander, Andrew Jackson. Crockett's friend, Sam Houston, had been
elected governor of Tennessee. (Houston, who would later become
governor of Texas, is the only American in history to serve as governor
of two states.)
Though he had little formal education, Crockett
exuded a commanding presence and was feared, if not loathed, by his
more refined congressional colleagues for his backwoods rhetoric.
In one of his more legendary orations, Crockett
proclaimed: "Mr. Speaker ... the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr.
Everett] talks of summing up the merits of the question, but I'll sum
up my own. In one word I'm a screamer, and have got the roughest
racking horse, the prettiest sister, the surest rifle and the ugliest
dog in the district. I'm a leetle the savagest crittur you ever did
see. My father can whip any man in Kentucky, and I can lick my father.
I can out-speak any man on this floor, and give him two hours start. I
can run faster, dive deeper, stay longer under, and come out drier,
than any chap this side the big Swamp. I can outlook a panther and
outstare a flash of lightning, tote a steamboat on my back and play at
rough and tumble with a lion, and an occasional kick from a zebra."
Crockett continued, "I can take the rag off --
frighten the old folks -- astonish the natives -- and beat the Dutch
all to smash, make nothing of sleeping under a blanket of snow and
don't mind being frozen more than a rotten apple. I can walk like an
ox, run like a fox, swim like an eel, yell like an Indian, fight like a
devil, spout like an earthquake, make love like a mad bull, and swallow
a Mexican whole without choking if you butter his head and pin his ears
back."
What I wouldn't give to hear a tad more of that on the floor of the House these days!
Though his rhetoric may have been unorthodox, Crockett was a man of principle.
His fervent opposition to Andrew Jackson's Indian
Removal Act of 1830 (forcing removal of the peaceful Cherokee tribes
along the infamous "Trail of Tears") cost Crockett his congressional
seat, but he declared, "I bark at no man's bid. I will never come and
go, and fetch and carry, at the whistle of the great man in the White
House no matter who he is."
But it was Crockett's stalwart opposition to
unconstitutional spending that is most worth noting given today's
congressional penchant for such spending in the trillions.
According to the Register of Debates for the House of
Representatives, 20th Congress, 1st Session on April 2, 1828, Crocket
stood to challenge the constitutionality of one of the earliest welfare
spending bills.
While the exact text of his speech was not recorded
in full (as that was not the practice of the time), the spirit of his
words was captured years later under the heading "Not yours to give" in
the book "The Life of Colonel David Crockett" by Edward Ellis.
Ellis wrote, "One day in the House of Representatives
a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a
distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made
in its support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when
Crockett arose..."
According to Ellis, Crockett said, "Mr. Speaker; I
have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much
sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as
any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead
or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of
injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument
to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as
an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the
right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we
please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to
appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have
been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr.
Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in
office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the
government was in arrears to him.
"Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We
cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the
payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to
appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right
to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on
this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay
to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it
will amount to more than the bill asks."
Though the measure was expected to receive unanimous support, after Crockett's objection, it did not pass.
Be sure you are right...
Ellis recounts that Crocket was later asked by a
friend why he had opposed the appropriation, and he replied: "Several
years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with
some other members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a
great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We
jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all
that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made
houseless, and, besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they
had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and
children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them.
The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their
relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon
as it could be done."
Crocket explained, "The next summer, when it began to
be time to think about election, I concluded I would take a scout
around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but,
as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up.
When riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a
stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming
toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to
the fence. As he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but,
as I thought, rather coldly.
"I began: 'Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and..."
His constituent interrupted, "Yes I know you; you are
Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the
last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now,
but you had better not waste your time or mine, I shall not vote for
you again."
Crockett replied, "This was a sockdolager ... I begged him to tell me what was the matter."
The farmer said, "Well, Colonel, it is hardly
worth-while to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be
mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you
have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are
wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case
you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for
expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the
privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the
purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by it only to say that
your understanding of the Constitution is very different from mine; and
I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not have said,
that I believe you to be honest. But an understanding of the
Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the
Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly
observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and
misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is."
Crocket responded, "Well, my friend; I may as well
own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that
a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of
$20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with
a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there,
you would have done just as I did."
But the farmer fired back, "It is not the amount,
Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place,
the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for
its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing with the question. The
power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most
dangerous power that can be entrusted to man. ... So you see, Colonel,
you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It
is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress
once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution,
there is no limit to it, and no security for the people."
Thus, Crockett explained of his opposition to support
the widow of that distinguished naval officer: "Now, sir, you know why
I made that speech yesterday."
Today, there are but a handful of Senate and House
incumbents who dare support and defend the Constitution as Crockett
did. But there are candidates emerging around the nation who, with our
support, will deliver orations as brazen and eloquent, and stand firm
behind those words.
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
P.S. In prayer, I have made the commitment to God that if elected to the U. S. Congress in 2010, I will travel to Washington, DC 'in the spirit' of Colonel David Crockett to "support and defend the Constitution as Crockett
did." Charles Lingerfelt
Campaign for U. S. Congress, District 30 Dallas County Texas P. O. Box 360722 Dallas, Texas 75336 It Isn't All About Change...It's About Direction!
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Friday, September 25, 2009
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Dear family and friends:I received the following from Mike Porter last evening. It is the 'details' of the upcoming
Voting Center for The Continental Congress to be held in November. I am a "candidate" for the Continental Congress, and would appreciate your "vote" for me when you go Vote.As I understand it, there will three(3) elected from each state for this Congress. I would consider it an "Honor" to be one of the representatives for the people of the state of Texas.This is only the second time that a Continental Congress has been held here in America. The first one was held in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1774. It convened in Philadelphia's Carpenters Hall on September 5, 1774. The idea of such a meeting was advanced a year earlier by Benjamin Franklin, but failed to gain much support until after the Port of Boston was closed in response to the Boston Tea Party.
Twelve
of the 13 colonies sent delegates. Georgia decided against roiling the
waters; they were facing attacks from the restive Creek on their
borders and desperately needed the support of regular British soldiers.
The Congress, which continued in session until late October, did
not advocate independence; it sought rather to right the wrongs that
had been inflicted on the colonies and hoped that a unified voice would
gain them a hearing in London. Please Note that the location for the "vote" is: Ridgeview Presbyterian Church at
12717 Marsh Lane --which is just north of LBJ on the west side of Marsh. -- Dallas, Texas --- 10a.m. til 6p.m.I am "Urging" you to be a part of this historic occasion, and Please remember me when you vote --- If that is Your pleasure!
God bless you and your family --
Sincerely,
Charles Lingerfelt
BROTHER CHARLES,
HERE IS THE LOCATION OF THE THE DALLAS COUNTY CC2009 VOTING
CENTER. THE VOTE WILL BE ON OCT 10 FROM 1000 TO 1600 HRS. PASS THIS
AROUND SO WE CAN GET YOU ELECTED TO THE CONGRESS.
-------- Original Message --------
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Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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Category: News and Politics
New Nationalism Speech
Theodore Roosevelt
1910
Print this Page
We come here to-day to commemorate one of the epoch-making events of
the long struggle for the rights of man�the long struggle for the uplift
of humanity. Our country�this great Republic�means nothing unless it means
the triumph of a real democracy, the triumph of popular government, and,
in the long run, of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed
the opportunity to show the best that there is in him. That is why the
history of America is now the central feature of the history of the world;
for the world has set its face hopefully toward our democracy; and, O my
fellow citizens, each one of you carries on your shoulders not only the
burden of doing well for the sake of your country, but the burden of doing
well and of seeing that this nation does well for the sake of mankind.
There have been two great crises in our country�s history: first, when
it was formed, and then, again, when it was perpetuated; and, in the second
of these great crises�in the time of stress and strain which culminated
in the Civil War, on the outcome of which depended the justification of
what had been done earlier, you men of the Grand Army, you men who fought
through the Civil War, not only did you justify your generation, but you
justified the wisdom of Washington and Washington�s colleagues. If this
Republic had been founded by them only to be split asunder into fragments
when the strain came, then the judgment of the world would have been that
Washington�s work was not worth doing. It was you who crowned Washington�s
work, as you carried to achievement the high purpose of Abraham Lincoln.
Now, with this second period of our history the name of John Brown will
forever be associated; and Kansas was the theatre upon which the first
act of the second of our great national life dramas was played. It was
the result of the struggle in Kansas which determined that our country
should be in deed as well as in name devoted to both union and freedom;
that the great experiment of democratic government on a national scale
should succeed and not fail. In name we had the Declaration of Independence
in 1776; but we gave the lie by our acts to the words of the Declaration
of Independence until 1865; and words count for nothing except in so far
as they represent acts. This is true everywhere; but, O my friends, it
should be truest of all in political life. A broken promise is bad enough
in private life. It is worse in the field of politics. No man is worth
his salt in public life who makes on the stump a pledge which he does not
keep after election; and, if he makes such a pledge and does not keep it,
hunt him out of public life. I care for the great deeds of the past chiefly
as spurs to drive us onward in the present. I speak of the men of the past
partly that they may be honored by our praise of them, but more that they
may serve as examples for the future.
It was a heroic struggle; and, as is inevitable with all such struggles,
it had also a dark and terrible side. Very much was done of good, and much
also of evil; and, as was inevitable in such a period of revolution, often
the same man did both good and evil. For our great good fortune as a nation,
we, the people of the United States as a whole, can now afford to forget
the evil, or, at least, to remember it without bitterness, and to fix our
eyes with pride only on the good that was accomplished. Even in ordinary
times there are very few of us who do not see the problems of life as through
a glass, darkly; and when the glass is clouded by the murk of furious popular
passion, the vision of the best and the bravest is dimmed. Looking back,
we are all of us now able to do justice to the valor and the disinterestedness
and the love of the right, as to each it was given to see the right, shown
both by the men of the North and the men of the South in that contest which
was finally decided by the attitude of the West. We can admire the heroic
valor, the sincerity, the self-devotion shown alike by the men who wore
the blue and the men who wore the gray; and our sadness that such men should
have to fight one another is tempered by the glad knowledge that ever hereafter
their descendants shall be fighting side by side, struggling in peace as
well as in war for the uplift of their common country, all alike resolute
to raise to the highest pitch of honor and usefulness the nation to which
they all belong. As for the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic,
they deserve honor and recognition such as is paid to no other citizens
of the Republic; for to them the republic owes it all; for to them it owes
its very existence. It is because of what you and your comrades did in
the dark years that we of to-day walk, each of us, head erect, and proud
that we belong, not to one of a dozen little squabbling contemptible commonwealths,
but to the mightiest nation upon which the sun shines.
I do not speak of this struggle of the past merely from the historic
standpoint. Our interest is primarily in the application to-day of the
lessons taught by the contest a half a century ago. It is of little use
for us to pay lip-loyalty to the mighty men of the past unless we sincerely
endeavor to apply to the problems of the present precisely the qualities
which in other crises enabled the men of that day to meet those crises.
It is half melancholy and half amusing to see the way in which well-meaning
people gather to do honor to the men who, in company with John Brown, and
under the lead of Abraham Lincoln, faced and solved the great problems
of the nineteenth century, while, at the same time, these same good people
nervously shrink from, or frantically denounce, those who are trying to
meet the problems of the twentieth century in the spirit which was accountable
for the successful solution of the problems of Lincoln�s time.
Of that generation of men to whom we owe so much, the man to whom we
owe most is, of course, Lincoln. Part of our debt to him is because he
forecast our present struggle and saw the way out. He said:
"I hold that while man exists it is his duty to improve not only his
own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind."
And again:
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the
fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.
Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
If that remark was original with me, I should be even more strongly
denounced as a Communist agitator than I shall be anyhow. It is Lincoln�s.
I am only quoting it; and that is one side; that is the side the capitalist
should hear. Now, let the working man hear his side.
"Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other
rights. . . . Nor should this lead to a war upon the owners of property.
Property is the fruit of labor; . . . property is desirable; is a positive
good in the world."
And then comes a thoroughly Lincoln-like sentence:
"Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let
him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring
that his own shall be safe from violence when built."
It seems to me that, in these words, Lincoln took substantially the
attitude that we ought to take; he showed the proper sense of proportion
in his relative estimates of capital and labor, of human rights and property
rights. Above all, in this speech, as in many others, he taught a lesson
in wise kindliness and charity; an indispensable lesson to us of today.
But this wise kindliness and charity never weakened his arm or numbed his
heart. We cannot afford weakly to blind ourselves to the actual conflict
which faces us today. The issue is joined, and we must fight or fail.
In every wise struggle for human betterment one of the main objects,
and often the only object, has been to achieve in large measure equality
of opportunity. In the struggle for this great end, nations rise from barbarism
to civilization, and through it people press forward from one stage of
enlightenment to the next. One of the chief factors in progress is the
destruction of special privilege. The essence of any struggle for healthy
liberty has always been, and must always be, to take from some one man
or class of men the right to enjoy power, or wealth, or position, or immunity,
which has not been earned by service to his or their fellows. That is what
you fought for in the Civil War, and that is what we strive for now.
At many stages in the advance of humanity, this conflict between the
men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned
more than they possess is the central condition of progress. In our day
it appears as the struggle of freemen to gain and hold the right of self-government
as against the special interests, who twist the methods of free government
into machinery for defeating the popular will. At every stage, and under
all circumstances, the essence of the struggle is to equalize opportunity,
destroy privilege, and give to the life and citizenship of every individual
the highest possible value both to himself and to the commonwealth. That
is nothing new. All I ask in civil life is what you fought for in the Civil
War. I ask that civil life be carried on according to the spirit in which
the army was carried on. You never get perfect justice, but the effort
in handling the army was to bring to the front the men who could do the
job. Nobody grudged promotion to Grant, or Sherman, or Thomas, or Sheridan,
because they earned it. The only complaint was when a man got promotion
which he did not earn.
Practical equality of opportunity for all citizens, when we achieve
it, will have two great results. First, every man will have a fair chance
to make of himself all that in him lies; to reach the highest point to
which his capacities, unassisted by special privilege of his own and unhampered
by the special privilege of others, can carry him, and to get for himself
and his family substantially what he has earned. Second, equality of opportunity
means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest service
of which he is capable. No man who carries the burden of the special privileges
of another can give to the commonwealth that service to which it is fairly
entitled.
I stand for the square deal. But when I say that I am for the square
deal, I mean not merely that I stand for fair play under the present rules
of the game, but that I stand for having those rules changed so as to work
for a more substantial equality of opportunity and of reward for equally
good service. One word of warning, which, I think, is hardly necessary
in Kansas. When I say I want a square deal for the poor man, I do not mean
that I want a square deal for the man who remains poor because he has not
got the energy to work for himself. If a man who has had a chance will
not make good, then he has got to quit. And you men of the Grand Army,
you want justice for the brave man who fought, and punishment for the coward
who shirked his work. Is that not so?
Now, this means that our government, National and State, must be freed
from the sinister influence or control of special interests. Exactly as
the special interests of cotton and slavery threatened our political integrity
before the Civil War, so now the great special business interests too often
control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit.
We must drive the special interests out of politics. That is one of our
tasks to-day. Every special interest is entitled to justice�full, fair,
and complete�and, now, mind you, if there were any attempt by mob-violence
to plunder and work harm to the special interest, whatever it may be, that
I most dislike, and the wealthy man, whomsoever he may be, for whom I have
the greatest contempt, I would fight for him, and you would if you were
worth your salt. He should have justice. For every special interest is
entitled to justice, but not one is entitled to a vote in Congress, to
a voice on the bench, or to representation in any public office. The Constitution
guarantees protection to property, and we must make that promise good.
But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation.
The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists
that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth;
who insists that the creature of man�s making shall be the servant and
not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States
must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have called
into being.
There can be no effective control of corporations while their political
activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy
task, but it can be done.
We must have complete and effective publicity of corporate affairs,
so that the people may know beyond peradventure whether the corporations
obey the law and whether their management entitles them to the confidence
of the public. It is necessary that laws should be passed to prohibit the
use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for political purposes; it
is still more necessary that such laws should be thoroughly enforced. Corporate
expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by
public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources
of corruption in our political affairs.
It has become entirely clear that we must have government supervision
of the capitalization, not only of public-service corporations, including,
particularly, railways, but of all corporations doing an interstate business.
I do not wish to see the nation forced into the ownership of the railways
if it can possibly be avoided, and the only alternative is thoroughgoing
and effective legislation, which shall be based on a full knowledge of
all the facts, including a physical valuation of property. This physical
valuation is not needed, or, at least, is very rarely needed, for fixing
rates; but it is needed as the basis of honest capitalization.
We have come to recognize that franchises should never be granted except
for a limited time, and never without proper provision for compensation
to the public. It is my personal belief that the same kind and degree of
control and supervision which should be exercised over public-service corporations
should be extended also to combinations which control necessaries of life,
such as meat, oil, or coal, or which deal in them on an important scale.
I have no doubt that the ordinary man who has control of them is much like
ourselves. I have no doubt he would like to do well, but I want to have
enough supervision to help him realize that desire to do well.
I believe that the officers, and, especially, the directors, of corporations
should be held personally responsible when any corporation breaks the law.
Combinations in industry are the result of an imperative economic law
which cannot be repealed by political legislation. The effort at prohibiting
all combination has substantially failed. The way out lies, not in attempting
to prevent such combinations, but in completely controlling them in the
interest of the public welfare. For that purpose the Federal Bureau of
Corporations is an agency of first importance. Its powers, and, therefore,
its efficiency, as well as that of the Interstate Commerce Commission,
should be largely increased. We have a right to expect from the Bureau
of Corporations and from the Interstate Commerce Commission a very high
grade of public service. We should be as sure of the proper conduct of
the interstate railways and the proper management of interstate business
as we are now sure of the conduct and management of the national banks,
and we should have as effective supervision in one case as in the other.
The Hepburn Act, and the amendment to the act in the shape in which it
finally passed Congress at the last session, represent a long step in advance,
and we must go yet further.
There is a wide-spread belief among our people that, under the methods
of making tariffs which have hitherto obtained, the special interests are
too influential. Probably this is true of both the big special interests
and the little special interests. These methods have put a premium on selfishness,
and, naturally, the selfish big interests have gotten more than their smaller,
though equally selfish, brothers. The duty of Congress is to provide a
method by which the interest of the whole people shall be all that receives
consideration. To this end there must be an expert tariff commission, wholly
removed from the possibility of political pressure or of improper business
influence. Such a commission can find the real difference between cost
of production, which is mainly the difference of labor cost here and abroad.
As fast as its recommendations are made, I believe in revising one schedule
at a time. A general revision of the tariff almost inevitably leads to
logrolling and the subordination of the general public interest to local
and special interests.
The absence of effective State, and, especially, national, restraint
upon unfair money-getting has tended to create a small class of enormously
wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and
increase their power. The prime need to is to change the conditions which
enable these men to accumulate power which it is not for the general welfare
that they should hold or exercise. We grudge no man a fortune which represents
his own power and sagacity, when exercised with entire regard to the welfare
of his fellows. Again, comrades over there, take the lesson from your own
experience. Not only did you not grudge, but you gloried in the promotion
of the great generals who gained their promotion by leading their army
to victory. So it is with us. We grudge no man a fortune in civil life
if it is honorably obtained and well used. It is not even enough that it
should have been gained without doing damage to the community. We should
permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to
the community. This, I know, implies a policy of a far more active governmental
interference with social and economic conditions in this country than we
have yet had, but I think we have got to face the fact that such an increase
in governmental control is now necessary.
No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned.
Every dollar received should represent a dollar�s worth of service rendered�not
gambling in stocks, but service rendered. The really big fortune, the swollen
fortune, by the mere fact of its size, acquires qualities which differentiate
it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively
small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes,
and in another tax which is far more easily collected and far more effective�a
graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against
evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate.
The people of the United States suffer from periodical financial panics
to a degree substantially unknown to the other nations, which approach
us in financial strength. There is no reason why we should suffer what
they escape. It is of profound importance that our financial system should
be promptly investigated, and so thoroughly and effectively revised as
to make it certain that hereafter our currency will no longer fail at critical
times to meet our needs. It is hardly necessary to me to repeat that I
believe in an efficient army and a navy large enough to secure for us abroad
that respect which is the surest guaranty of peace. A word of special warning
to my fellow citizens who are as progressive as I hope I am. I want them
to keep up their interest in our international affairs; and I want them
also continually to remember Uncle Sam�s interests abroad. Justice and
fair dealings among nations rest upon principles identical with those which
control justice and fair dealing among the individuals of which nations
are composed, with the vital exception that each nation must do its own
part in international police work. If you get into trouble here, you can
call for the police; but if Uncle Sam gets into trouble, he has got to
be his own policeman, and I want to see him strong enough to encourage
the peaceful aspirations of other people�s in connection with us. I believe
in national friendships and heartiest good-will to all nations; but national
friendships, like those between men, must be founded on respect as well
as on liking, on forbearance as well as upon trust. I should be heartily
ashamed of any American who did not try to make the American government
act as justly toward the other nations in international relations as he
himself would act toward any individual in private relations. I should
be heartily ashamed to see us wrong a weaker power, and I should hang my
head forever if we tamely suffered wrong from a stronger power.
Of conservation I shall speak more at length elsewhere. Conservation
means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right
and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of
our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by
wasteful use, the generations that come after us. I ask nothing of the
nation except that it so behave as each farmer here behaves with reference
to his own children. That farmer is a poor creature who skins the land
and leaves it worthless to his children. The farmer is a good farmer who,
having enabled the land to support himself and to provide for the education
of his children, leaves it to them a little better than he found it himself.
I believe the same thing of a nation.
Moreover, I believe that the natural resources must be used for the
benefit of all our people, and not monopolized for the benefit of the few,
and here again is another case in which I am accused of taking a revolutionary
attitude. People forget now that one hundred years ago there were public
men of good character who advocated the nation selling its public lands
in great quantities, so that the nation could get the most money out of
it, and giving it to the men who could cultivate it for their own uses.
We took the proper democratic ground that the land should be granted in
small sections to the men who were actually to till it and live on it.
Now, with the water-power, with the forests, with the mines, we are brought
face to face with the fact that there are many people who will go with
us in conserving the resources only if they are to be allowed to exploit
them for their benefit. That is one of the fundamental reasons why the
special interests should be driven out of politics. Of all the questions
which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of
its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance
with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for
our descendants than it is for us, and training them into a better race
to inhabit the land and pass it on. Conservation is a great moral issue,
for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance
of the nation. Let me add that the health and vitality of our people are
at least as well worth conserving as their forests, waters, lands, and
minerals, and in this great work the national government must bear a most
important part.
I have spoken elsewhere also of the great task which lies before the
farmers of the country to get for themselves and their wives and children
not only the benefits of better farming, but also those of better business
methods and better conditions of life on the farm. The burden of this great
task will fall, as it should, mainly upon the great organizations of the
farmers themselves. I am glad it will, for I believe they are all well
able to handle it. In particular, there are strong reasons why the Departments
of Agriculture of the various states, the United States Department of Agriculture,
and the agricultural colleges and experiment stations should extend their
work to cover all phases of farm life, instead of limiting themselves,
as they have far too often limited themselves in the past, solely to the
question of the production of crops. And now a special word to the farmer.
I want to see him make the farm as fine a farm as it can be made; and let
him remember to see that the improvement goes on indoors as well as out;
let him remember that the farmer�s wife should have her share of thought
and attention just as much as the farmer himself.
Nothing is more true than that excess of every kind is followed by reaction;
a fact which should be pondered by reformer and reactionary alike. We are
face to face with new conceptions of the relations of property to human
welfare, chiefly because certain advocates of the rights of property as
against the rights of men have been pushing their claims too far. The man
who wrongly holds that every human right is secondary to his profit must
now give way to the advocate of human welfare, who rightly maintains that
every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community
to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it.
But I think we may go still further. The right to regulate the use of
wealth in the public interest is universally admitted. Let us admit also
the right to regulate the terms and conditions of labor, which is the chief
element of wealth, directly in the interest of the common good. The fundamental
thing to do for every man is to give him a chance to reach a place in which
he will make the greatest possible contribution to the public welfare.
Understand what I say there. Give him a chance, not push him up if he will
not be pushed. Help any man who stumbles; if he lies down, it is a poor
job to try to carry him; but if he is a worthy man, try your best to see
that he gets a chance to show the worth that is in him. No man can be a
good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare
cost of living, and hours of labor short enough so after his day�s work
is done he will have time and energy to bear his share in the management
of the community, to help in carrying the general load. We keep countless
men from being good citizens by the conditions of life by which we surround
them. We need comprehensive workman�s compensation acts, both State and
national laws to regulate child labor and work for women, and, especially,
we need in our common schools not merely education in book-learning, but
also practical training for daily life and work. We need to enforce better
sanitary conditions for our workers and to extend the use of safety appliances
for workers in industry and commerce, both within and between the States.
Also, friends, in the interest of the working man himself, we need to set
our faces like flint against mob-violence just as against corporate greed;
against violence and injustice and lawlessness by wage-workers just as
much as against lawless cunning and greed and selfish arrogance of employers.
If I could ask but one thing of my fellow countrymen, my request would
be that, whenever they go in for reform, they remember the two sides, and
that they always exact justice from one side as much as from the other.
I have small use for the public servant who can always see and denounce
the corruption of the capitalist, but who cannot persuade himself, especially
before election, to say a word about lawless mob-violence. And I have equally
small use for the man, be he a judge on the bench or editor of a great
paper, or wealthy and influential private citizen, who can see clearly
enough and denounce the lawlessness of mob-violence, but whose eyes are
closed so that he is blind when the question is one of corruption of business
on a gigantic scale. Also, remember what I said about excess in reformer
and reactionary alike. If the reactionary man, who thinks of nothing but
the rights of property, could have his way, he would bring about a revolution;
and one of my chief fears in connection with progress comes because I do
not want to see our people, for lack of proper leadership, compelled to
follow men whose intentions are excellent, but whose eyes are a little
too wild to make it really safe to trust them. Here in Kansas there is
one paper which habitually denounces me as the tool of Wall Street, and
at the same time frantically repudiates the statement that I am a Socialist
on the ground that that is an unwarranted slander of the Socialists.
National efficiency has many factors. It is a necessary result of the
principle of conservation widely applied. In the end, it will determine
our failure or success as a nation. National efficiency has to do, not
only with natural resources and with men, but it is equally concerned with
institutions. The State must be made efficient for the work which concerns
only the people of the State; and the nation for that which concerns all
the people. There must remain no neutral ground to serve as a refuge for
lawbreakers, and especially for lawbreakers of great wealth, who can hire
the vulpine legal cunning which will teach them how to avoid both jurisdictions.
It is a misfortune when the national legislature fails to do its duty in
providing a national remedy, so that the only national activity is the
purely negative activity of the judiciary in forbidding the State to exercise
power in the premises.
I do not ask for the over centralization; but I do ask that we work in
a spirit of broad and far-reaching nationalism where we work for what concerns
our people as a whole. We are all Americans. Our common interests are as
broad as the continent. I speak to you here in Kansas exactly as I would
speak in New York or Georgia, for the most vital problems are those which
affect us all alike. The National Government belongs to the whole American
people, and where the whole American people are interested, that interest
can be guarded effectively only by the National Government. The betterment
which we seek must be accomplished, I believe, mainly through the National
Government.
The American people are right in demanding that New Nationalism, without
which we cannot hope to deal with new problems. The New Nationalism puts
the national need before sectional or personal advantage. It is impatient
of the utter confusion that results from local legislatures attempting
to treat national issues as local issues. It is still more impatient of
the impotence which springs from over division of governmental powers, the
impotence which makes it possible for local selfishness or for legal cunning,
hired by wealthy special interests, to bring national activities to a deadlock.
This New Nationalism regards the executive power as the steward of the
public welfare. It demands of the judiciary that it shall be interested
primarily in human welfare rather than in property, just as it demands
that the representative body shall represent all the people rather than
any one class or section of the people.
I believe in shaping the ends of government to protect property as well
as human welfare. Normally, and in the long run, the ends are the same;
but whenever the alternative must be faced, I am for men and not for property,
as you were in the Civil War. I am far from underestimating the importance
of dividends; but I rank dividends below human character. Again, I do not
have any sympathy with the reformer who says he does not care for dividends.
Of course, economic welfare is necessary, for a man must pull his own weight
and be able to support his family. I know well that the reformers must
not bring upon the people economic ruin, or the reforms themselves will
go down in the ruin. But we must be ready to face temporary disaster, whether
or not brought on by those who will war against us to the knife. Those
who oppose reform will do well to remember that ruin in its worst form
is inevitable if our national life brings us nothing better than swollen
fortunes for the few and the triumph in both politics and business of a
sordid and selfish materialism.
If our political institutions were perfect, they would absolutely prevent
the political domination of money in any part of our affairs. We need to
make our political representatives more quickly and sensitively responsive
to the people whose servants they are. More direct action by the people
in their own affairs under proper safeguards is vitally necessary. The
direct primary is a step in this direction, if it is associated with a
corrupt-services act effective to prevent the advantage of the man willing
recklessly and unscrupulously to spend money over his more honest competitor.
It is particularly important that all moneys received or expended for campaign
purposes should be publicly accounted for, not only after election, but
before election as well. Political action must be made simpler, easier,
and freer from confusion for every citizen. I believe that the prompt removal
of unfaithful or incompetent public servants should be made easy and sure
in whatever way experience shall show to be most expedient in any given
class of cases.
One of the fundamental necessities in a representative government such
as ours is to make certain that the men to whom the people delegate their
power shall serve the people by whom they are elected, and not the special
interests. I believe that every national officer, elected or appointed,
should be forbidden to perform any service or receive any compensation,
directly or indirectly, from interstate corporations; and a similar provision
could not fail to be useful within the States.
The object of government is the welfare of the people. The material
progress and prosperity of a nation are desirable chiefly so long as they
lead to the moral and material welfare of all good citizens. Just in proportion
as the average man and woman are honest, capable of sound judgment and
high ideals, active in public affairs�but, first of all, sound in their
home, and the father and mother of healthy children whom they bring up
well�just so far, and no farther, we may count our civilization a success.
We must have�I believe we have already�a genuine and permanent moral awakening,
without which no wisdom of legislation or administration really means anything;
and, on the other hand, we must try to secure the social and economic legislation
without which any improvement due to purely moral agitation is necessarily
evanescent. Let me again illustrate by a reference to the Grand Army. You
could not have won simply as a disorderly and disorganized mob. You needed
generals; you needed careful administration of the most advanced type;
and a good commissary�the cracker line. You well remember that success
was necessary in many different lines in order to bring about general success.
You had to have the administration at Washington good, just as you had
to have the administration in the field; and you had to have the work of
the generals good. You could not have triumphed without the administration
and leadership; but it would all have been worthless if the average soldier
had not had the right stuff in him. He had to have the right stuff in him,
or you could not get it out of him. In the last analysis, therefore, vitally
necessary though it was to have the right kind of organization and the
right kind of generalship, it was even more vitally necessary that the
average soldier should have the fighting edge, the right character. So
it is in our civil life. No matter how honest and decent we are in our
private lives, if we do not have the right kind of law and the right kind
of administration of the law, we cannot go forward as a nation. That is
imperative; but it must be an addition to, and not a substitute for, the
qualities that make us good citizens. In the last analysis, the most important
elements in any man�s career must be the sum of those qualities which,
in the aggregate, we speak of as character. If he has not got it, then
no law that the wit of man can devise, no administration of the law by
the boldest and strongest executive, will avail to help him. We must have
the right kind of character�character that makes a man, first of all, a
good man in the home, a good father, and a good husband�that makes a man
a good neighbor. You must have that, and, then, in addition, you must have
the kind of law and the kind of administration of the law which will give
to those qualities in the private citizen the best possible chance for
development. The prime problem of our nation is to get the right type of
good citizenship, and, to get it, we must have progress, and our public
men must be genuinely progressive.
Posted By: Charles Lingerfelt Candidate for the U. S. Congress District 30 - Dallas County Texas Consistently Conservative Republican
It isn't All about Change..... It's about Direction!
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
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Current mood:  determined
Charles Lingerfelt for Congress
P. O. Box 360722 Dallas, Texas 75336
Now, let's try This again!!
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
As you know, we
"Postponed" my Announcement for
Congress due to the
rain and dismal, inclement weather last Saturday - the
12th.
It is now scheduled for Saturday, October 10th. 2009 - -
- 2p.m. to 4p.m.
The location for the Announcement is at:
Pleasant Oaks Park Recreation Center
8701 Greenmound Dallas,
Texas 75217
We are planning a nice Patriotic
gathering for the
occasion and we will have some "Special Singers"
with us - - along with some other Guests as well.
All North Texas Republican Candidates are
invited to
attend and will be recognized! Notify us if you plan to
attend:
CharlesLingerfelt4Congress2010@gmail.com
Please feel free to invite your friends, neighbors and
relatives.
I will be introducing to you my Campaign Manager, my
Planning and Steering
Committee, my Family and other
key persons involved in this Campaign.
Directions
to the location:....
From I-635 in Mesquite, take the Bruton Road Exit and go West on Bruton Road
for about three miles
to McCutheon - - - Turn Right on McCutheon and go one block to Greenmound - - -
Turn Right
on Greenmound to Pleasant Oaks Park Recreation Center on the left!
Drive into the Parking Lot on the Left and park - - -
The entrance to the Building is on the Right!
Enter the Building and walk to the Left and enter the South Gym on the Left!
Shake hands and Be friendly and find a good seat wherever you want!!....
We Will start the program promptly at 2p.m. and we
should be concluded by 3:30p.m.
Casual Attire is Fine!!!
Charles Lingerfelt
Campaign for U. S. Congress,
District 30
Dallas County Texas
P. O. Box 360722
Dallas, Texas 75336
It Isn't
All About Change...It's About Direction!
http://www.myspace.com/Clinger_KAS
http://www.myspace.com/ClingerAmericanaKAS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8
Mark Levin blasting leftist idiots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIh-KecdD3E&NR=1
"To educate a man in mind only, and not in morals is to educate a
menace to society." Theodore Roosevelt
http://www.facebook.com/charles.lingerfelt1
"As our president bears no resemblance to a king so we shall see the
Senate has no similitude to nobles." --Tench Coxe, An American Citizen,
No. 2, 1787
http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/15523565/1322781786/name/TeaPartyCommercial..wmv
*
"The time is now near at hand which must probably
determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to
have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are
to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness
from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn
Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this
army" - Gen. George Washington, to his troops before the battle of ..Long Island..~ 1776
*
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