Imagine what America's legacy will look like
 in a history book some 500 years hence.

I can easily see some golden opening chapters
where the dream of a democratic Republic
 straight from Greco-Roman ideals  is realized.

 The nation which began bold and bright
 breaking away from the tyranny of the British crown,
rising to global dominance, and becoming a leader
 the rest of the world looked to,
then comes to the 21st century:

    The United States defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan,
 and thwarted the British Empire when they were just scattered
colonies in the wilderness.
But when faced with cave-dwelling terrorists in the 21st century,
 they became shrieking cowards who were willing to trade their
 Constitution, their freedoms, and their souls in exchange for
a Nanny State Fatherland.

    The average American had never read the Constitution,
    so was willing to believe whatever pundits said it said.

    The Founding Fathers called the Constitution
the "supreme law of the land" which officials had
the duty to "preserve, protect, and defend."

    George W. called it "just a piece of paper.


     6 million Americans had car accidents every year;
    560,000 Americans died from cancer every year
    (1,500 a day, roughly 1 in every 4 American deaths);
     there was 1 death every 27 seconds from heart disease;
     500,000 died from tobacco every year;
     100,000 died from alcohol every year;
     16,000 died from illegal narcotics every year;
     11,000 died from handguns every year.
     the list could go on and on.

  But what were 21st Americans concerned with?

  Terrorists... who killed around 4,000 Americans from 2001 to 2008.



     Poverty, health care, unemployment, education,
 environmental issues, and scientific advancement
were not nearly as important as the
issue of gay marriage. Or violence in video games.

     More people would vote for an American Idol
 than for an American President.
    Nearly half of the country believed that mankind
 had been sculpted out of clay. What about women?
 They came from his spare rib!

No wonder the proverbial "brain drain" saw an alarming
number of scientists leaving American shores
 for other nations.

    Many of the people who were quick to screech about
 "religious freedom" were unwilling to grant
other religions that freedom.



    The price of oil went up more then 300% in just 7 years
of the Bush Jr. Administration.

In 2008, many Americans were forced to choose between
 the price of gas and the price of food.


     "Mission Accomplished in Iraq?" It was a nice photo op,
but since that declaration, more than 4,000 American soldiers died,
more than 700,000 Iraqi civilians who had nothing to do with 9-11
were killed, and the mastermind behind the 9-11 attackers was
uncaught and unpunished.


    With world favor and near-unified domestic support on their side,
America rightly attacked Afghanistan which had in fact trained,
 housed, and supported the 9-11 hijackers.

 Then, seeing an opportunity to deepen the pockets of th
 military-industrial complex which Eisenhower specifically
warned the American people about, they decided to create
a permanent war economy.

Presidential candidate John McCain
gave the most optimistic prospect:
100 years mired in Iraq,
A country which neither attacked America
 nor had any connections to Al-Qaida whatsoever.


    A permanent war economy took the place
of ordinary economic output.

    "War is peace!" said George Orwell in irony.

    "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war,
we're really talking about peace," said George W. Bush in 2002,
without a shred of irony.



     Many of the loudest "endless war" supporters were people
who had never served in a war - George W. Bush, Dick Cheney
(applied for and received five draft deferments during Vietnam),
Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh.


     The American people allowed themselves
to become partisan sock-puppets.
Instead of discussion and compromise,
they took the cowardly road and parroted
their partisan masters.

    Part of the wickedness of Communist countries was how
one party dominated the political scene.

 How was America different? It offered two!


    Alleged economic stimulus packages?
Many would have preferred bread and circuses.


    $12 billion a month spent on the Iraq War...
instead of spending such funding on medical research,
education, job-creation, or social security.

     Ranks in Al-Qaida tripled since the Iraq invasion,
and got stronger each year.
 Bush's declaration that Osama would be taken "dead or alive"
 faded from public memory.


    Americans forgot who had the power
in their country - themselves.

    And they forgot something else...
that essential little sentence
from the Declaration of Independence:
"But when a long train of abuses
 and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object,
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism,
 it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government,
and to provide new Guards for their future security."

For those who truly love America, it's time
to remember that power does not belong to
Congress or the White House
or even the Supreme Court.

It belongs to each one of us
.

We make the future.

interesting is that North Dakota - is now the number one wheat producing state in the USA, when Kansas used to consistently DOUBLE North Dakota's wheat production

And the hits just keep on coming.

Global wheat stocks are at their lowest levels since 1979.
 The ongoing Australian drought is one of the reasons why.

After America, Australia is normally the second largest exporter
 of grain, and in a good year it would hope to harvest about 25 million tonnes.

But the country remains in the grip of the worst drought in a
 century, which is why the 2006 crop yielded only 9.8m tonnes.

This is the 2nd wheat producing country in the world, going from
 producing 25 million tonnes to barely 10 million tonnes of wheat...


Particularly interesting are these:
Australia's food bowl lies empty:

Uganda: 1.5 Million People Face Starvation Due to Foods, Drought
And it so it begins and will go on and on...

 The good news: consumer spending up again in April.
The bad news: it's because everything costs so damn much now

"Mission Accomplished" now over Five years ago.
How have you been enjoying the last 5 years
of peace and prosperity?



  I found this to be an interesting read.....

 By Don Robertson, The American Philosopher

We should all wince at the shocking truth here for the working poor
 who at long last got a now far less than meaningless
 minimum wage increase out of  Congress.

When I was a twelve year old kid just starting out,
 the minimum wage was a buck an hour (Thanks to Ike).

 That's what I was paid for the odd jobs I could wrangle
out of my surroundings as a twelve year old kid, you know,
 chump-change for the chump.

In 1962 a gallon of gasoline was 19.9 cents,
 meaning for the wages I was paid for my hours' work,
I could buy five gallons of gasoline.

At $3.00 a gallon, that would mean a twelve year old kid
starting out today would need to get $15.00 an hour to meet
with this casual measure of the cost living I enjoyed in
1962 as a twelve year old. (at $4.00 that would be $20.00
in a few more years $7.00 will be $35.00 are you keeping up)

And the much more realistic economic truth is, measuring
 the cost of living against the price of a gallon of gasoline
 doesn't really give a gage to the effect of the economists'
 and the politicians' "progress" since gasoline has not risen
anywhere near half as fast as most commodities.

In 1962 a loaf of bread was ten cents.
A quart of soda pop was a nickel.
 And it cost my in-laws just $75 to pay for the
hospital birth of my wife's youngest brother.

There were no such things then as Auto Inspection Stickers,
 Auto Insurance, Health Insurance, Pay Day Lenders, Credit Cards,
 a State Run Lottery, or any other of a broadened host economic
 vice-evils and increased expenses.


Much more progress like this, and you won't
have to worry about the price of gasoline.

For a song, you'll be able to commandeer
a human-powered rickshaw for your daily commute
 just like it used to be possible to do in China.

Just hire someone's twelve year old kid to do it.


What's going on is called, slavery, or, human bondage.
 It's reducing every human being and every kid to groveling
 like a starving whore in the streets.

So, when one of these kids today comes up behind you
and smashes your brains in for the few measely dollars in your wallet,
 understand just who and what put them up to it.

It's called progress.

 THE DANCER
 
  One day a fourth-grade teacher asked the children what their mothers
  did for a living.
 
  All the typical answers came up - teacher, nurse, businesswoman,
  saleswoman, doctor, lawyer, and so forth.
 
  However, little Justin was being uncharacteristically quiet, so when
  the teacher prodded him about his mother, he replied,
 
  "Well my mother's an exotic dancer in a cabaret and  takes off all her
  clothes in front of men and they put money  in her underwear.
  Sometimes, if the offer is really good, she will go home with some guy and
  stay with him all night for money."
 
  The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the
  other children to work on some exercises and then took little Justin
  aside to ask him, "Is that really true about your mother?"
 
  "No," the boy said,
  "She works for the Democratic National Committee
  and is helping to get Hillary Clinton to be our next President, but I
  was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids."

 

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a
well. The animal cried piteously for hours as
the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the
well needed to be covered up anyway;
it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and
help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began
to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the
donkey realized what was happening and cried
horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he
quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally
looked down the well. He was astonished at what
he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his
back, the donkey was doing something amazing.
He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel
dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it
off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey
stepped up over the edge of the well and
happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds
of dirt.. The trick to getting out of the well
is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of
our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out
of the deepest wells just by not stopping,
never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Re member the five simple rules to be happy:

Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.

Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.

Live simply and appreciate what you have.

Give more.

Expect less.


NOW ............

Enough of that . The donkey later came back,
and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him.
The gash from the bite got infected and
the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.


MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON:

When you do something wrong, and try to cover
your ass, it always comes back to bite you.