Baptist Pastor vs. Border Patrol

By Kellene Bishop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUzd7G875Hc

This video of Steve Anderson is just over 8 minutes long. The contents of it are disturbing to me from a standpoint of freedom, but even more disturbing to me are the comments of ignorant fools in response to this video. Lest any more of you should grossly err in your judgment of this situation, allow me to enlighten you.

The time to stand up for your rights is ANY and EVERY time they are being violated.

One person on YouTube commented that this person should not have “taken the law into his own hands.” Sorry folks. The law is FOR the people, not issued in hopes that power-drunken agents such as these will honor it. It is for ALL of the people. It is your DUTY to know what the laws are and push back. For too long the overwhelming majority has been apathetic to their rights under the laws, and this is exactly why such atrocities of law have occurred in this situation. Do you naively believe that only the military is empowered to support and sustain our Constitutional rights? How is that fair that our soldiers have to lose their lives to defend our freedoms, but every citizen in this country doesn’t have to do their part as well? As insignificant as this act may seem to others in the nation, in my opinion there is virtue and righteousness in affirming our rights under all circumstances.

Another ignoramus commented that “from what he was able to find out, this guy isn’t a very good person.” Others accused him of being a “know-it-all” and a pompous @$$, etc. Guess what, folks? The rights of the U.S. Constitution are ensured for all people, including someone who may come across to some as a jerk. That’s why some personalities are permitted to grace your television sets and radio stations. There is no U.S. law which states you must comply nicely when your rights are or are not being violated. There is no requirement that you speak softly, etc. So whether you support the personality traits of this person is completely unimportant. As an American, his rights are his rights regardless.

As the result of his FIRST Amendment right (which is not a coincidence that such a right is in the first position of all outlined rights in our Constitution) this individual has the right to free speech. Thus anything he may have said which would make a person angry is unacceptable grounds for the actions of these so-called agents.

Several foolish posters commented that “all this guy had to do was answer the questions.” Again. They are wrong. If a police officer comes to your door and begins asking you questions, you are under NO obligation to answer such questions. Answering questions by law enforcement is not a requirement. In fact, in accordance to the Fifth Amendment, we have the right to not say ANYTHING which may incriminate us. Even the Miranda Rights reaffirm such. Not answering questions does not negate any of your other rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Another fool posted a supposition that Congress has granted the Border Patrol broad authority of search and seizures. Guess what. I don’t care if the President himself gave the Border Patrol agents permission to behave this way, it’s illegal! Pure and simple. No law can be passed in this country which is at odds with the U.S. Constitution. The only way that this act could be made “legal” is if there was a Constitutional Amendment fully ratified. Congress also recently passed an enormous bill without even reading it. Does that make it right or legal? No. It’s malpractice. And such a foolish comment flies in the face of all of those who have died so that we may now possess those rights. Until I see a Congressman who will pay the “uttermost farthing” to protect my rights as did our Founding Fathers, then such a Congressman does not receive any honorable attentions from me. Too many of our Americans today are sheep. They feel that simply because the President declares something, or the Congressmen say it and then sign it, that it’s law. Sorry folks. All laws MUST be in alignment with the U.S. Constitution. New laws can specify, clarify, and even give consequences for violating the laws and rights of the U.S. Constitution, but they cannot circumvent or violate them.

Then there are the masses of individuals who would judge this person because he’s a Baptist Pastor. He’s accused of being difficult by being non-compliant. Boy howdy am I ever GRATEFUL for my non-compliant Founding Fathers, as well as my non-compliant Savior who did NOT “save” the Jews based on their short-sighted expectations and demands. Too many individuals wrongly presume that as a Baptist pastor, he should be a mouse and comply. Sorry, you’d be wrong again to presume such. This guy did not spew foul language at these agents. He did not “get in the way” of their tazers and metal batons. These “agents” made a choice to act in the manner in which they did. As such, Jesus would condemn them, not the person upon whom they acted. It’s alarming to me just how many folks believe that standing up for your Constitutional rights is an act of deviance in the Christian world—especially in light of the fact that God inspired the men who served as our Founding Fathers of this nation. God is fully invested in our rights being upheld in this nation.

The fact that the dog was brought into this as grounds for the search is laughable as well, since the Fourth Amendment requires that probable cause be established by “oath or affirmation.” Clearly Fido didn’t say anything. He was merely used as a pawn for their designs. Isn’t it ironic that law ENFORCEMENT officials don’t care much for a person who actually helps them understand the laws of which they are to enforce? Case in point, if a 31-year-old man has sex with a 14-year-old girl, even if it’s consensual, it’s illegal. Coinciding with that, even if the American people are willing to have their rights raped and pillaged “consensually” it’s still illegal and in direct violation of our Bill of Rights. Even honest citizens with nothing to hide are violated whenever we consent to the erosion of our rights and liberty.

Another aspect of this incident is the excessive force. Hmmm… how many drug traffickers have made it across the border without their windows bashed in, or having been cut, tazed, and battered? Even if this guy WAS a drug dealer, they are NOT permitted to treat him as such. That’s right. Even if he was verbally belligerent, had a couple of kids and some drugs in the back of the car, the Border Patrol are not permitted to handle the situation the way they did. This constitutes “unreasonable search.” But hey, it’s not unreasonable seizure because they found NOTHING. (Although, due to the damage they inflicted on the vehicle, they did in fact illegally “seize” this man’s car.)

This person is rumored to have had a “run-in” with Border Patrol previously in which he also refused to answer their questions. However, posting a video on YouTube complaining about your previous treatment with Border Patrol does not give an “agent” free reign to violate your Constitutional rights. Plain and simple, Folks.

While it may take a while to get this all sorted out, anytime a person legally defends their rights of this nation, they have my wholehearted support. I may not agree with their personality traits, their religion, or their other beliefs, but they are indeed correct in asserting those rights.

Bottom line, if you will not stand up for the Constitution, who will?

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

NY Times Reports More Consequences of Illegal Immigrants

If the threat of being deported or incarcerated does not stem the tide of illegal immigration, perhaps the threat of completely losing one’s children will do the trick. While this may sound harsh, it is the consequences of illegal acts perpetrated by the illegal immigrant parents. The enormous problem I have with this article is that it is titled “After Losing Freedom Some Immigrants Face Loss of Custody of Their Children” These parents never had freedom. Freedom is only given to the just and the law-abiding citizens in this country. It is not, and should never, be granted to individuals who were merely able to prolong the consequences of their illegal acts long enough to give birth to children in this nation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/us/23children.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

The Heartstrings That Will Bankrupt “U.S.”

Women. Suppose you’re single and met a man who just pulled at your heart strings. He was tall, dark, handsome, well off and said everything you had ever hoped to hear. Remember, he’s pulling on your heart strings big time. If after you start dating, he informs you that he has every intention of never being faithful to you. Would you continue dating him? Come on. The guy actually told you upfront what he was apt to do. He was honest with you, right?

Ok, let’s try another angle.

“If I can just successfully commit this crime, then my kids will have a better life.” Do you think that such an illogical statement has ever come to the mind of a bank robber, or an extortionist, or a blackmailer? What about another kind of criminal: One that doesn’t have children yet, but knows that if they can bear children within the border of the United States of America, they not only have a better chance of getting away with their crime by preying on the hearts of American citizens, and also survive on the welfare programs of our nation. Meet this nation’s most expensive criminal—the illegal immigrant. In fact, bearing children in the U.S. is such a better life for “profitable” illegal immigrants than where they came from, that the majority of illegal immigrant parents live in circumstances of poverty and thus reap extensive benefits of our welfare programs.

Heartstrings will bankrupt us all, folks.

Let’s be perfectly blunt here. Do you really think it’s fair for law-abiding citizens to wait, dot their “I’s”, cross their “T’s” and pay the proper price to become citizens of the U.S. while others simply circumvent “the system,” sneaking in like a thief in the night, only to be rewarded? Yes, REWARDED. And we reward them in a big way here in the U.S. due to the faulty interpretation of the 14th Amendment.

The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1 reads: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside (bold and italics added). Our government officials have interpreted this Amendment to mean that if a child is born in the U.S. then he/she is automatically adopted as a citizen of the U.S. But are they truly subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. under such circumstances? Now, let’s look at this for a moment. The consequences of this politically motivated interpretation are dire for our nation.

More bluntness here. Please don’t feel sorry for the illegal immigrants who live in poverty. They do so because their illegal status makes it difficult to obtain jobs in which they can be gainfully employed. Statistically speaking, many are very gainfully employed--with a house that’s fully paid for, a car that’s paid for, and tens of thousands of dollars in cash on hand at any given moment. It’s called drug trafficking work, and apparently it pays very well. Unfortunately, such “workers” regularly show that they have no income. (Come on, really. Would you report your illegal income when you see political leaders who don’t even have to report their legal income?) As such, these individuals still qualify for much federal and state assistance including medical benefits.

I spoke at length with a senior DEA agent this past weekend. He gave me a very interesting view on the consequences of this situation.

As a DEA agent he is repeatedly arresting illegal immigrants for drug trafficking (and who are usually guilty of many other crimes as a part of this trafficking). Unfortunately, he stated that the majority of these traffickers have their wives and their U.S. citizen children as a part of the game. When the parents get arrested, the children inevitably get placed in our foster care system. Note that since the income of these drug traffickers is illegal, although quite abundant, many of them make use of our welfare programs such as W.I.C, food stamps and other programs in addition to their ill-gotten gains. Needless to say, the I.R.S. has no record of a drug trafficker paying taxes on their income either.

When a U.S. child is disabled in our nation, they are given disability and social security benefits, but such benefits are paid to their legal guardians, legal or not.

In addition, a study released Tuesday, April 14, 2009 by Pew Hispanic Center reported that children of immigrants are twice as likely to live in poverty, which means that they are also living off of our nation’s welfare programs, education and healthcare. While many illegal immigrants were not permitted to receive welfare previously, many states have passed laws allowing them to receive benefits which were originally intended for our nation’s citizens. Nearly one-third of their children live in poverty which is double the rate of legal U.S. citizen children.

Seven percent of the children enrolling in your child’s school are children of an illegal immigrant according to this same study. And yet illegal immigrants are typically not property owners (due to lending regulations), thus they do not pay taxes to support their children in school.

There are approximately 5.5 million children of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. presently who are recognized as legal citizens. As such, the parents of such children are able to literally live on your dime without contributing to society in the form of taxes, community activism, or contributing to the law-abiding culture of our society.

In America, education is the largest public cost of caring for these children due in part to the language barriers necessitating special teachers, paid lunch programs, and larger class sizes. This price tag is estimated today to be above 13 billion dollars, not counting any special education programs according to Donald Huddle of Rice University. An additional $2 billion goes towards special care programs in our schools. This number is expected to actually be quite conservative given that the cost for education of these children in California alone was posted at $3 billion in 1993. The illegal immigration population has nearly doubled since then. Health care is at least triple that cost for the nation both public and private costs combined. (For more information, click here)

Think of the impression that such parents may have on their children. They begin their relationship with our nation by defying our laws and are financially rewarded for it. Hmmmm. I wonder what message this sends to their children? Go ahead. You take a guess. Are they naturally inclined to obey the laws of our nation or defy them?

Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security reported that over 100,000 parents of “legal” U.S. children were deported in 2007, thus prompting them to make alternative considerations prior to deportments. In other words, the fact that they got away with a crime, but were able to procreate may be reason enough to reward them with amnesty in our nation. I truly believe that by our government even entertaining the proposal to allow such parents to stay here, they are simply reinforcing criminal acts. Once you get away with one crime, why not another, and another?

How do these children grow up and vote? Do they vote for the best candidate who promotes honor and virtue? Or do they vote for the person who’s most likely to keep their parents in the country?

Did you know you’ll now have to work until May 29 of each year JUST to pay your taxes? You presently pay more in taxes than you spend in housing, food and clothing for your family! While I’m not one to believe in scarcity, the fact of the matter is our nation is in serious peril. Contrary to what the Federal Reserve and Congress believe, there is a FINITE amount of money that this nation has at present and that finite amount is in the largest negative balance than ever before. Millions of legitimate Americans are suffering financially with no “bail out” in the form of food stamps, health benefits, W.I.C. in-state tuition prices, preferential and even mandatory admittance into colleges or FREE education. Heart strings or not, the crimes of these parents must not be rewarded socially, emotionally, or financially.

Even if we accept the current interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, let’s ask ourselves this question. Was such a law intended to affect the U.S.-born children of a few thousand, or even tens or hundreds of thousands of immigrants who made the difficult journey and entered our country through Ellis Island or other authorized ports of entry? If our forefathers had known that 1 million to 3 million illegal immigrants (solely from one country) would attempt to illegally enter our country every year, would they have desired to generously grant birthright citizenship to the children of these same immigrants who flagrantly violate our laws? Will you be as generous at the cost of the well being of your own family? It becomes even more painful when we realize that countless illegal immigrants intentionally give birth to “anchor babies” for the specific intent of later legalizing their immigration status.

Not that I give merit to the legal actions of other countries as a basis for our behavior, but it’s interesting to note that in November 2004, Denmark rescinded automatic citizenship due to the unforeseen financial crisis it placed upon their country. Ireland did so a year prior to that. Most of Europe was being overrun with immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East and thus are considering the same measures at present.

Bottom line, we literally cannot afford to grant legality in the midst of illegality. It makes for a horrible relationship.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Delta Insults Humanity Again

Common Courtesy is No Longer Common

I’ll admit it. When I fly, I usually fly first-class due to the fact that I’m a bit claustrophobic. Sitting in the small seats towards the back gives me a great deal of anxiety, to the point that when I fly, I’m willing to choke up the first class fare. First class round trip with Delta Airlines is usually around $1500. I have come to enjoy the perks of actually getting smiles from the flight attendants, complimentary entertainment, padding in the roomy seat from top to bottom, a little beverage prior to leaving, a hot towel to clean my hands with, and access to a restroom close by. Having endometriosis and problems arising from such a case, sometimes makes that restroom a lifesaver.

By contrast, regular fare is about $500 nowadays. The seats are crowded both side to side and front to back which is even further emphasized when you are 20 to 30 pounds overweight. I can feel the metal through the seat “cushions” grating on my back and buttocks for the entire flight. The flight attendants are noticeably less attentive—sorry, but I’ve found that to be the case on countless occasions. There are almost always loud and rowdy children in the regular fare seats (Yes, I DO love children, just not ornery ones who are seemingly ignored by their parents throughout an entire 4 hour flight). And there are 2 bathrooms being shared by hundreds rather than a small handful in first class.

So today when I read on the news that a man on a Delta flight was arrested, put into handcuffs and spent 2 days in jail for his anxious response to a bathroom emergency on an international flight, I was absolutely disgusted.

Apparently, Mr. Correa of Concord, OH really had to go. But when his pathway was blocked by a beverage cart, he requested to use the business class restroom. He was refused. I find this completely ridiculous on so many counts.

1) I have seen regular fare customers frequently use the first-class restrooms without so much as a cross look from a flight attendant. Delta does not practice any semblance of consistency in enforcing this ludicrous FAA regulation.

2) It seems apparent that the flight attendant would rather the man degrade himself and put passengers at risk by having a urination accident in his pants, than move the blasted beverage cart or allow him to use the business class restroom. I mean really, just how clean and safe would YOU feel knowing that a man just peed uncontrollably (or worse) on the floor near you on the airplane? Talk about a bio-hazard! The man was clearly desperate to use the bathroom for Pete’s sake! Do they teach these flight attendants to be inhumane before allowing them to work an international flight?

3) With so many individuals out of work at present, you would think that any company would have the pick of the litter in selecting conscientious and courteous individuals. This flight attendant represents Delta and the business culture perpetuated by Delta.

4) Apparently the man’s request to use the business class restroom on an international flight was against FAA regulations. For one, I firmly believe that most flight attendants are just as ignorant of real FAA regulations as most of the local police departments are of U.S. Constitution law. So having a flight attendant taking a stand based on a supposed FAA regulation is hard to swallow. (See http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=94191 and http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56544 for more evidence that police just don’t know the law.) And besides, are you kidding me? The government now gets to tell people where they can pee??? And hey, we even get to pay for such ridiculous rules! I suppose they’re going to try and tell us it’s for our safety. That’s right. Keeping bad guys from the business class section of the plane will certainly save lives. Or perhaps they were trying to provide some in-flight entertainment for the rest of the passengers as they watched a 43 year-old man be degraded by having to ask to use the potty like a 1st grader.

Personally, when I spend so much money to ride in a more expensive class, I’d like to presume that such a premium price gives me access to a bathroom when I need one. Then again, I’d like to think that the toilet seat would actually be bigger than a Frisbee as well (One can dream, can’t they?). However, I would NEVER deny someone else from using that same bathroom in an emergency simply because I spent more for my ticket than he did. After all, while I may be a “first class passenger” that doesn’t negate me from being a human being.

To see the complete article go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30108454/

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

The Truth About Guns in Mexico

After hearing enough of the inflated and downright false statistics of the guns in Mexico being provided by the U.S., I’ve decided to get right down to the facts. First of all, when you hear these statistics, consider the source. I personally believe that anything that comes out of the mouth of Hilary Clinton or Dianne Fienstein—especially when it has to do with guns or self-defense--to be dramatically skewed.

Of all the guns in Mexico, simply because there are some U.S. guns, does not mean they have all come from legal channels in the U.S. Gun smuggling goes both ways. In the event that the U.S. government issues guns to the Mexican Military in an effort to fight whatever wars rage in their land, it’s important to note that such guns would come with a caveat to be used for such purpose. The fact that they are still ending up in the hands of drug-runners and immigrant criminals is not a reflection on the U.S. government, rather an expose on the corruption of government officials in the U.S. In addition, according to Mexican Congressman, Robert Badilla, over 150,000 Mexican military members have abandoned their military duty and have taken their guns with them.

The saying has been spread about by truly ignorant politicians and their loyal subjects (a.k.a. the mainstream media) that 90% of the guns in Mexico came from the U.S. This is yet one more example of a lazy, knee-jerk media we have reporting our news to us today. In fact, 83% of the guns in Mexico do not even have serial numbers or can even be traced via U.S. technology as they come from Asia, Israel, South Korea, China, Spain and Columbia. However, of the guns that have been found WITH serial numbers, 90% OF THOSE GUNS have come from the U.S. This fact means that only 17% of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico have come from the U.S.! And that my friends, is how such a ridiculous rumor has been perpetuated.

For more information on this topic go to http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/02/myth-percent-guns-mexico-fraction-number-claimed/

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

The Name Game

by Kellene Bishop

“A rose by any other name is still a rose.” Isn’t it interesting how our government has camouflaged its selected names of programs and legislation in order to falsely influence the American people as to what these issues really are? You’ve heard of oxy-morons such as “military intelligence” in jest, I’m sure. But when it comes to many of the name games our government plays, there’s nothing funny about it.

1) National Security Letters: The name implies that these are letters which provide or promote security to our nation, when in fact they are used abusively by the FBI, CIA, DOD, and NSA to as a weapon against law-abiding citizens. Additionally there is no limit to the amount or type of information which can be seized via an NSL. And they are now to be complied with without exception. Today, in order for any federal agent (FBI, DOD, or CIA) to write an NSL, they must only comply with the requirement that they claim—not provide any evidence thereof—that the desired records may be related to an ongoing terrorism investigation or intelligence activities. These warrants require the production of “any tangible things” such as books, records, documents, lists, etc, without any consideration given to any reasonable time frames or costs to produce such information. Oh, and by the way, there is NO judicial oversight on the use of these, not even from Congress. As if that’s not enough, whoever receives such a “letter” is legally gagged from telling anyone about them, even if it’s your own attorney who receives it. The attorney can’t even tell YOU that he’s about to turn over all of your files to the FBI. Now how’s that for national security?

2) Federal Reserve: Contrary to what their own website states, as well as that of other government agencies, there is nothing “federal” about the Federal Reserve. They are not a part of the US Government. In fact, in an interview with Alan Greenspan, when asked, “What should be the proper relationship between the chairman of the Federal and the President of the United States?” Greenspan responded, “Well, first of all the Federal Reserve is an independent agency. And that means basically there is no other agency of government which can overrule actions that we take, so long as that is in place and there is no evidence that the administration or congress or anybody else is requesting that we do things other than what we think is the appropriate thing, then what the relationships are don’t frankly matter.” While the Federal Reserve behaves as a 4th branch of our government, there is no governing authority over them other than for Congress to rule that we will no longer do business with them. Good luck with that, right? In addition, there is no longer any “reserves” backing the currency issued by the Federal Reserve. We don’t even require them to issue a report that tells us how much currency is in circulation so that we can be sure our money still holds its value. Ultimately, the Federal Reserve name is just as contrived to deceive as was a local computer company in my neck of the woods called “Totally Awesome Computers” (It went bankrupt).

3) Carbon Credits: Wow. This name sounds like the U.S. taxpayers might actually get a credit for something, right? Wrong. These two words combine to become the most threatening level of taxation that our nation has ever seen. As a result of the passage of a “Carbon Credits” program, countless energy companies will be required to pay for the air they use. As a result, they will of course pass these fees on to their consumers. Electricity, gasoline, natural gas, kerosene, coal, and even solar energy just became significantly more expensive. As the result of this “credit” every American household can expect an average of a $3,000 INCREASE to their electric bill every year. That’s just ONE source of energy you use. If I continue to tell you about all of the other ramifications, I’m afraid that there will be a run on the pharmacies for anti-depressants nationwide.

4) The G.I.V.E. Act: Once again, a very deceptive name. The only thing this act gives is unconstitutional orders. While admittedly it’s been scaled down a bit from its first version as HR 1388, (and changed HR and Senate numbers multiple times) it’s still ridiculously named. The original proposal under HR 1388 would REQUIRE citizens of America in a wide range of ages to provide a mandatory period of “service” to their communities in whatever fashion the government deemed necessary. In addition to that, the House of Representatives even added an amendment that stated that while individuals were in the process of providing this “voluntary” service, they were prohibited from engaging in numerous acts of free speech. Yup. That’s a GIVE act, alright. Giving American citizens the ole heave ho, at least.

5) The Patriot Act: This is the mother of all misnamed issues. I’m convinced that our Founding Fathers and all those who sided with them during the Revolutionary War feel that their true title of “Patriot” has been mercilessly molested. There is nothing Patriot or patriotic about this act. It consistently tramples on countless constitutional amendments in the name of protecting our nation from terrorism. Now we are instructed to not even use the word “terrorist” or “enemy combatants” but we’re still stuck with this offensive violation of our rights to free speech. The not-so-Patriot Act has Congress giving his agents permission to listen to our phone calls, read our e-mails, and obtain unlimited amount of personal information about us. The “war on terror,” which gave birth to this heinous beast, has quickly disguised itself as an enemy intrusion on American’s privacy, freedom of movement and thought, individuality and civil liberties. Does that mean that the terrorists have essentially won now?

Ultimately the lesson we all need to learn here is that we cannot afford to be mindless sheep armed with good hearts. We must be more proactive in discovering and educating ourselves with the abundance of truthful information that is available to us. Getting our misinformation from the mass media will be no excuse when we appear before our Creator and attempt to explain to Him how we let something so valuable as freedom disintegrate from our nation. Each and every one of us is endowed with the freedom to choose, thus God’s perfect law will require that each and every one of us be held responsible for what we did with those choices. I believe that an understanding of this responsibility is why our Founding Fathers sacrificed all that they had to give us the rights to freely choose freedom. Indeed, when we’re before the Creator of Truth, we surely won’t be able to play the politicking finger pointing game. The blame will be ours regardless of how the program was masqueraded.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

The Shell Game: AIG and the USA

I understand that when I write this it will be evident that I’m clearly not an ordinary American. And I’m completely OK with that. Here goes… I don’t believe that the AIG CEO should have been drawn in front of the cameras and skewered by Congressmen. I don’t believe that AIG honoring contracts to pay $165 million in bonuses is a heinous act. In fact, I feel that this whole parade of finger pointing at AIG is simply an effort to take the focus off of who is truly at fault in the first place. This whole debacle is merely the result of a government gone bad—publicly—making even more horrible mistakes as they try to fix their egregious errors, and getting caught with the consequences.

AIG is completely responsible for the debacle they created in the first place. Clearly they got carried away with their own sense of power and influence and wrote too many checks they could not cover. And they talked a good talk to many other key financial institutions worldwide to get them to play in their power game as well. So what did that get us? Financial ruin. Now let’s look at this for a moment… These people are supposedly uber-giants of expertise in financial management and yet they could not manage their own house! They got completely drunk with their power and just like an inebriated lug of a giant they lost their reasoning and functionality abilities and stumbled—hard! OK. So we’ve got a giant who’s in a drunken stupor about to self-destruct and take down questionably innocent bystanders in his wake. What do we do? Well, yeah, we give the alcoholic lush MORE power. No, we don’t take his license or privilege away. No, we don’t put him into any kind of treatment. Instead, we find him an even better “dealer” to work with (a.k.a. the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury) who can simply bail them out. We give him an even more audacious privilege of using the tax payer dollars and that of several generations to come to “get him back on his feet.” And then when he functions the same way he did previously, and even has the audacity to honor contracts, we react to publicly condemn him? Condemn the giant so that nobody is wise to the “dealer” who feeds and encourages his misbehavior. Now that’s quite the deception isn’t it? (Side bar: It’s interesting to note that Congress doesn’t really care about the legality of contracts. They don’t even enforce the most significant contract we Americans have to protect us, that of the U.S. Constitution.)

Here’s the perfect part of this deception, folks. If (and I’m SOOO inclined to say “when”) AIG can’t pay us all back, what happens to them? If they go bankrupt, what recourse do we, the tax payers who’ve been yoked with indentured servitude in order to lift this giant’s sorry caboose back up, get back? What’s our collateral on this loan we’ve been forced to issue at the risk of death, jail time, or social and emotional ruin? Not one blasted thing! Nothing. We probably won’t even get a sincere apology from a public official when it does go belly up. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the primary people making these decisions are themselves so completely disconnected from the real picture due to their own wanton consumption habits. They are endowed with their salary for the rest of their life, benefit from a royal health plan, and yet some even fail to pay their own taxes.

AIG clearly has their own problems. But just as I shake my head in disbelief when women refuse to leave their abusive husbands, I just can’t figure out what kind of maniacal plan the Secretary of Treasury and the Federal Reserve had in mind on this one. Who gave them the authority to determine that one business gets bailed out above another? That one business is any more important to our social fabric than another? That the consequences called Real Life don’t apply to these companies? Even worse, IF you’re going to perform such an unprecedented act, aren’t you at least willing to go through the homework of everything that act entails, i.e. reading all of the contracts that are presently in place, properly appraising just how much their other assets really are worth, etc?! Gentlemen, don’t approve the act of an AIG bailout 100% and then get mad when something happens that you didn’t know about – i.e.: the AIG bonuses. You had every opportunity to know everything there was to know. It’s called a test. A real life test. You know, the kind of real life testing that all of your schooling and life experiences are supposed to prepare you for so that you’re actually competent enough to take the job that the American people pay you to do! And clearly you screwed up! It’s your own freaking fault that you didn’t know about it! Just as it’s your own freaking fault that you overpaid for assets in the tens of billions of dollars! So let’s be perfectly clear about this… whoever closed the bail out deal with AIG in the first place is 100% responsible and should be FIRED and perhaps even have charges filed for willful negligence at best, or treasonous acts at worst.

How dare our government condemn Madoff when they are doing the EXACT same thing with all of our money? And lest anyone forget, yes – it’s OUR money, not the government’s. We earn it while we work on the frontlines while we simultaneously are shown how little responsibility and accountability means to those who are in power. And yet we still provide our tax dollars for the purposes of paying for a government to protect our freedoms.

The U.S. Government is mismanaging funds.

They are playing a shell game.

The Federal Reserve just keeps printing money and yet REFUSES to provide our country with an accounting of just how much money (via the M3 report) they are printing, thus we are unable to define for ourselves what our currency is really worth. How in the world is that any different than Madoff having his CPA send out false solubility reports to his investors?!

Oh, and one last point I’d like to make here. So, you have a government who has totally screwed up publicly enough that even the mainstream media can’t ignore it, and so what do the do to truly fix the problem? They paint every recipient of that $165 million bonus share as some kind of a criminal—even a terrorist if you will—against the sovereignty of this American people. And to show you just how big and powerful they are, they actually draft a bill which would directly tax all of these financial terrorists with a 90% tax! Using taxes as a weapon, you say? How can they do that? They can’t. It’s called a direct unapportioned tax, and it’s 100% illegal and completely unconstitutional, for the very same reasons why your present federal income tax is illegal. You don’t believe that our wonderful U.S. government would commit such an illegal act? Really? You just watched them try to do it right in front of your eyes against the AIG bonus recipients!

Of course the government did nothing to preemptively thwart the payment of the bonuses to AIG executives. That’s because, very much like the ridiculous stimulus bill, they didn’t even bother to comprehend the entire picture of their actions. This is the same government who overpaid by over $70 billion dollars for the assets it purchased from the companies it bailed out! Whether or not there was a senator who acknowledged and attempted to keep the bonuses in the contract is beside the point.

I say kudos to the AIG Executive who resigned in the New York Times today! And I don’t care whether or not he does donate any of his money to charity. Legally, contractually, it’s his money. The U.S. Government simply bought into a Lion’s Zoo and is now whining when they got bit! And now they are claiming foul because many of the vital AIG personnel refuse to work under such circumstances. Can you blame them? Sure you can’t relate to such a huge bonus in your own life. I get that. But it’s what the guy signed on for. It was part of the reason why he left his previous job to take a position with AIG 11 years ago. And now he’s being asked to work for free for an undetermined period of time while AIG fixes all of their screw ups and be persecuted by nearly an entire country in the meantime. Does that sound like a job you’d want to keep? Heck, when I heard during the live Congressional questioning that the CEO was working for $1 and taking all of the crap from Congress, I would have quit on the spot and told Congress that they can fix their own mess and not use me as a whipping boy.

Here’s some wisdom my mother taught me. “Be very aware of what people say about other people, because they are likely to be saying the same thing about you when you’re not around.” You’ve seen what the U.S. Government is willing to do when we are looking. Now, get a clue as to what they are doing when we’re not watching!

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.