Billions In Earmarks Inflate Defense Bill's Cost! This Is Why Bill's Get Delayed. This WASTE Has NOTHING To Do With Military Defense! This Money Should Be Spent On Our TROOPS! Part 1 of 2

San Francisco Gate

Billions in earmarks inflate defense bill's cost

written by Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, December 21, 2009

The Department of Defense didn't ask for money to update the old officers club in San Francisco's Presidio into a visitors information center and exhibition space. Neither did any other member of Congress - except House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Her (Nancy Pelosi) $5 million earmark request for the Presidio Heritage Center was approved by the Senate on Saturday as part of the $626 billion defense appropriations bill, the largest of the end-of-year government spending measures.

The bill, which includes $128 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, is expected to be signed by President Obama.

Pelosi's request was one of 1,720 earmarks - including several from Bay Area legislators - worth $4.2 billion in the measure.

That comes on the heels of Congress passing a $447 billion spending bill Dec. 13 that included 5,224 earmarks totaling $3.9 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group. The earmarks include $54 million for a flood-control project that will raise two trestles used by the Napa Valley Wine Train.

Earmarks down ... a bit

While the number and cost of earmarks in this year's defense appropriation decreased from last year, their inclusion comes after Obama promised to curb such hometown pet projects that circumvent the congressional approval process.

That didn't stop Rep. Sam Farr, D-Monterey, from requesting $1.6 million for a translation and interpretation program at a Monterey graduate school. It didn't stop Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, from asking for $1.6 million to update the electronic records system at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland.

And it didn't stop Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, and three other Bay Area members of Congress from soliciting $3.2 million for cleanup at the former Almaden Air Force Station.

'Pork-barrel project'

Watchdog organizations say money for the Presidio project is "curious" defense expenditure at best, and pork-barrel politics at its worst. The Presidio closed as a military entity in 1989 and was transferred to the National Park Service five years later. In March, Pelosi tucked $1.75 million for the center into a different spending bill.

"It is the epitome of what a pork-barrel project is," said David Williams, vice president of policy for Citizens Against Government Waste, a taxpayer watchdog group. "If this were a project that was meritorious, then why didn't the Pentagon request it?"

After the defense spending bill passed the House this week, Pelosi issued a statement praising the measure for making "critical investments in the success, health, well-being and training of our men and women in uniform."

Pelosi mentioned that the bill included a pay raise for military personnel and resources for everything from treating troops suffering from traumatic brain injury to money for "first-class equipment and armor."

But she didn't mention the money for the Presidio Heritage Center.

It is "curious" but not surprising why such a project would be in the defense appropriations bill, said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "It's because you wouldn't get a $5 million earmark in the Department of the Interior (appropriations) bill. It would stick out like a sore thumb."

Let Us Examine The Terms "DUE DILIGENCE" And "FIDUCIARY DUTY" And How Our Government Is Living Up To Them

These two terms keep flashing in my face everytime I think about how our government officials are acting. Now I've had my share of great successes and great failures. I like to refer to them as my mountaintop's and my valley's. Nonetheless, the risk taking that I have made didn't cause harm to anybody else. Those were choice's that I made on MY BEHALF. That was MY MONEY and MY TIME lost NOT somebody else's. I didn't have to answer to anybody else. Therefore, if things didn't work out how I planned all I had to do is dust myself off, eat rice for a few weeks and move on to my next plan. I'm older and wiser now and would like to think that I've learned from those choice's. I feel that I am more settled now. Although, I know in my heart that I have to take chances if I'm going to make my dreams come true. But I'm still MINDFUL that it is MY DREAM that I am pursuing using MY TIME and MY MONEY and not somebody else's.

Now I was quite different when I worked on somebody else's behalf. I took my "fiduciary duty" seriously. Why? Well for starters, I was representing another person and not me. That other person was putting their trust in me and looking to me for guidance. That is a lot of responsibility. Imagine another person giving you persmission to invest their life savings that they worked hard for years to obtain. It wasn't my money to invest as I saw fit. No No No. I had to invest their money according to their needs NOT MINE. Therefore, I had to make wise prudent investment decisions acting on their behalf. I wouldn't DARE take my kind of risks with their money. I couldn't live with myself if I lost their money. Why? Because they put their TRUST IN ME to do the RIGHT THING on their behalf. My mission statement started with strong work ETHICS, INTEGRITY and personal QUALITY service and I meant it. These principles were at the forefront of every transaction I did. The goal for any investor is preservation of capital (money), earnings and growth. The same holds true for me when I was an equity trader. I traded stocks and bonds for money mangers (small and large) and was responsible for getting the BEST PRICE on every trade I executed on their behalf. NOT ANY PRICE but the BEST PRICE. That's what they expected of me and that is what I delivered. Now let us take a good look at the definition of these two terms, "Due Diligence" and "Fiduciary Duty".

DUE DILIGENCE - 1. An investigation or audit of a potential investment. Due diligence serves to confirm all material facts in regards to a sale. 2. Generally, due diligence refers to the care a reasonable person should take before entering in an agreement or transaction with another party.

FIDUCIARY DUTY - A fiduciary duty is a legal or ethical relationship of confidence or trust between two or more parties. In a fiduciary relation one person, in a position of vulnerability, justifiably reposes confidence, good faith, reliance and trust in another whose aid, advice or protection is sought in some matter. In such a relation GOOD CONSCIENCE requires one to ACT AT ALL TIMES for the sole benefit and interests of another, with loyalty to those interests. A fiduciary duty is the HIGHEST STANDARD of care at either equity or law. A fiduciary is expected to be extremely loyal to the person to whom he owes the duty the ("principal") HE MUST NOT PUT HIS PERSONAL INTEREST BEFORE THE DUTY, and MUST NOT PROFIT from his position as a fiduciary, unless the principal consents.

Now did you read the definitions of the two terms above? If you didn't, I am going to ask you to read them. If you have to, read them 3 times so that the meanings sink in. The reason why I have posted those two terms is because our government at all levels has forgotten what they owe us. Most especially our federal government (ie; the president, the house and the senate). Our government is supposed to REPRESENT the American people. ALL OF US not just a select few. All of us TAXPAYING CITIZENS are considered the "principal" and our government is the acting represenative. All of us, INDIVIDUAL TAXPAYING CITIZENS, SMALL BUSINESS' and TAX PAYING CORPORATIONS PAY for their SERVICE (representation) acting on our behalf. And they get PAID WELL with the BEST BENEFITS plus on top of that AN EXPENSE ACCOUNT. Therefore, our government officials are responsible to do the "DUE DILIGENCE" expected of them acting on our behalf for every bill they intend to pass and that WILL BECOME LAW and affect ALL OF US! We, the TAXPAYERS MUST REQUIRE our government officials to meet their "FIDUCIARY DUTY" that WE ARE PAYING THEM FOR. If they want to continue to ACT like CROOKED SHADY SLIMY SALESPEOPLE they will be FIRED. Their POLITICAL CAREERS will be FINISHED! We become their TERM LIMITS! We need to STOP voting them back into political office because they talk the good talk and our country, state or city see's NO IMPROVEMENTS!

The federal government has been spending OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS for programs that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the WELFARE of our "NATIONAL" INTERESTS. These non-government programs are called "SPECIAL INTEREST" also known as "EARMARKS" or "PORK". Included in EACH BILL they have been passing are 1,000's of EARMARKS WORTH BILLIONS of TAXPAYER DOLLARS. I wish our federal government officials would look upon these expenditures as if they were paying WITH THEIR OWN MONEY. I'm sure they wouldn't SPEND $10,000 for a new toilet. I'm tired of hearing that they have to make DEALS in order to get a congressperson or senator to vote for a bill. That is so unbelievably WRONG (UNETHICAL) on EVERY LEVEL. What disturbs me the most is that everybody including the President is so damn complacent about it. They've been saying, "It's no big deal. That's the way things have always been done in Washington." WTF?! Isn't that why most of the Mafia's in the United States were indicted for? I say that your payoff sounds much like The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) passed in 1970 that made it a crime to belong to an organization that performed illegal acts. Well the organization in this case would be the Federal government and the illegal acts would be the "EARMARKS" that have NOTHING to do with the BILL (ie; military spending and health care).

Both the Democrats and Republicans are GUILTY of taking TAXPAYER DOLLARS that is SUPPOSED to be APPLIED to Federal Expenditures and using our money to PAYOFF their "SPECIAL INTEREST" in their district. These "SPECIAL INTEREST" are their political backers who make contributions to their campaigns. And you wonder why our country is in DEBT up to our ears. MULTIPLY Bernie Madoff a thousand times and you get a picture of the U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT that has been USING OUR MONEY for their MASSIVE PONZI SCHEME living the HIGH LIFE on our DIME and PAYING OFF THEIR BUDDIES on our DIME. Meanwhile, the official UNEMPLOYED number being reported right now is 15,408,189 vs. the ACTUAL UNEMPLOYED 26,468,991. The number of foodstamp recipients right now is 34,004,106 and the number of foreclosures year to date is 829,643.  The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting the U.S. population at 308,208,956. Please click HERE to be directed to the website I have taken this data from.

In closing, I would like for you to think about this scenario for a moment. Imagine yourself with a great idea and convincing your parents to loan you the money to launch your great idea. You promise to pay them back within a year. Your parents loan you the money that you need because they believe in you. Now fast forward one year later. Your parents follow up with you, they wouldn't normally. However, this time they need that money back to pay for something they need. To their surprise they find out that you didn't do what you told them you were going to do with that money they loaned you. Instead, they find out that you bought a new car, you bought new clothes, you've been traveling to nice exotic places, living the high life and have been blowing that money on your friends. WOW It's gone! Then you have the NERVE to tell your parents that you don't have the money to pay them back. How the hell do you think your parents are feeling at that moment? DISAPPOINTED? USED and ABUSED? TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF? RIPPED OFF? SAD? I'm using this analogy to DESCRIBE our Federal Government acting like this child and the U.S. TAXPAYER as the parents.

Don't you think the $100's of BILLIONS of taxpayer money that went to pay for SPECIAL INTEREST "EARMARKS" could be better used for programs such as re-fitting, stregthening the levies along the southern seaboard? Or how about IMPROVING our public education system? How about using our money to IMPROVE FEDERAL programs such as Child Protective Services? Do you know that so many children are being physically and psychologically abused and raped while Foster Care Parents are receiving FEDERAL DOLLARS for each child to raise them. How about IMPROVING the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) so that we don't suffer another financial collapse? There is NO reason to CREATE another fricken government agency. How about IMPROVING the FBI and CIA to PREVENT another terrrorist attack? Do you get my point? These BUFFOONS in Washington are mis-managing the TAXES they demand from us. They keep creating agency upon agency upon agency upon agency and NOTHING GET's DONE!

Many of You Have Sadly Isolated Yourselves in a Fish Bowl Surrounded by a Humongous Ocean Filled With Such Beauty and Colors!

As long as you remain in your fishbowl, your perspective will always remain LIMITED.

Take A Very Good Look At This Chart Folks... Is This The Hell I Mean The Change You Want For Healthcare Reform? This Will Become A BUREAUCRATIC NIGHTMARE For Us All With The IRS On Our Tail

I want you to take a good look at that chart. This is what the President and the supporters of the Health Care Reform Act want to IMPOSE on ALL OF US. Now I want for you to think about what I am about to share with you. ALL of the Health Care Reform supporters have indicated that this bill is being pushed through to cover an ESTIMATED 30 MILLION Americans. That estimate has changed frequently because it is a made up number. Nevertheless, what I want for you to think about is this there are roughly 307 MILLION Americans reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. That means that this Health Care Reform bill is intended for  10% of the U.S. population. YET, all of US will be affected.

What gets my goat is that the Health Care Reform supporters admit that 6% of the population WILL NOT BE COVERED. WTF?! We are going to TRANSFORM our ENTIRE health care system to cover 10% of the population that does not have health care insurance but 6% WILL NOT be covered?! Now stop to think about that for a moment. PAUSE. Does that MAKE SENSE TO YOU? What's worse is the 6% of the U.S. population that WILL NOT be covered will be PENALIZED for not obtaining health care insurance. If they are NOT able to pay the FINE or PENALTY, they will be sent to JAIL. Now how do you think our government is going to KNOW whether we have health insurance or not? Well, they are going to use the IRS to track every American. Every American will have to REPORT their health care insurance coverage to the IRS.

This Health Care Reform bill being PUSHED THROUGH will MANDATE meaning FORCE every American to PURCHASE A PRODUCT whether we want it or not. I've said this before countless times and I will say it again until you get it... THIS IS NOT FREEDOM of choice! Who do you think wins with this legislation their shoving down our throat? The Health Care Insurance companies they've been DEMONIZING all year long, plus the Pharmaceutical companies and the MOST OBVIOUS, well at least to me, the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT that we, THE TAXPAYERS have to pay for the rest of our lives and even upon DEATH the federal government will take 55% as a DEATH TAX which they call an estate tax.

I am also sick of hearing commentators comparing Auto insurance to Health care insurance. If you don't own a car, you obviously WILL NOT purchase auto insurance, right? Everyone in America DOES NOT own a car. If they don't own a car, they would have to take public transportation, walk or ride a bike. It's as simple as that. The reason why we purchase auto insurance is because a vehicle can become a deadly machine that can cause harm to ourselves and other people or property. Therefore, we purchase auto insurance protection to financially cover ANY KIND OF LIABILITY that was CAUSED with our vehicle! What's more, our auto insurance premiums are based on our DRIVING RECORD. Therefore, if we have a clean driving record we pay less. Our premiums (cost of insurance) will increase if we have an accident(s), a stolen vehicle, etc. How the cost of insurance premiums is determined is the ONLY thing that can be compared to health care insurance. The greater the liability you are to the insurance company, the higher your premium. It's as simple as that.

Now I want nothing more than to provide health care for those who are UNABLE to qualify for health care insurance and/or medicaid. However, this piece of shit health care legislation has NOTHING to do with that and EVERYTHING to do with CONTROL. All of the money they have been BLOWING / WASTING on SPECIAL INTEREST "EARMARKS" could have easily taken care of this matter. If you are a FREEDOM LOVING AMERICAN just say NO to this particular Health Care Bill and ask our government to start over! I have been recommending a MEDICAID REFORM BILL to include the 10% (30 million Americans). But that would be much toooooo simple wouldn't it?!

Health Care Mandates — A Tax on Breathing, or just 100% Tax on YOUR First $15,000? Loved Reading This OpEd! Had To Share With You. BTW, I'm A Former Democrat TURNED Unapologetic "Teabagger"

The Seminal

Health Care Mandates — A Tax on Breathing, or just 100% Tax on YOUR First $15,000?

written by Synoia

Wednesday December 16, 2009 9:59 pm

Well, you worked hard to get Democratic majorities in the House and senate, and on a campaign for CWCBI (Change We Can Believe In) to advance health care, exit two ruinous wars, clean up the environment, and to attempt to stop our favorite northernmost ball of mud becoming a baked Alaska.

CWCBI has come to mean Conservatives Will Continue Blocking Innovation, and the Change We Can Believe In has come to mean the coins in your pocket. It was not a lie, but a brilliant deception.

This deception now culminates in the wonderful, fulfilling, responsive, Health Care Reform Bill, aka: “You’ll be Paying Breathing Tax.” If you believed Social Security tax, Sales Taxes and Property Taxes to be regressive, You haven’t seen ANYTHING yet! Those are mere piker’s taxes! [Synoia forgot to include utility tax, gasoline tax, garbage tax, alcohol tax, tobacco tax not to mention the VALUE ADDED TAX that will affect every damn product we purchase Nancy Pelosi is intent on passing! The American Middle Class is going to get hit hard.]

The moneyed interests have now devised a plan to push you into poverty, using your favorite Government bureaucracy, the IRS, as the collection agency for the Insurance Industry – a brilliant move, because the Insurance Companies can now drop their sales, marketing and collection activities, and have outsourced the work to the Government. Not only do they no longer have to pay collections charges, they get to keep 30% of the money the taxpayer has to contribute!

Brilliant. Shift the cost of collections and the cost of sales and the cost of marketing to the taxpayers, and pocket the profit. Just brilliant.

Thank you oh great Baucus, have $1,000 for your “campaign contributions.” Now, Baucus, tell us what you’re going to deliver next? Estate taxes?

The poor tax payer, who now has to contribute 15% of their emoluments for social security, plus about 2% for Medicare, and now MUST contribute ANOTHER 20% of the first dollar they earn to the FIRE segment, who have NO normal business costs (Marketing, sales & collections).

37% of the first many thousand dollars earned , with sales taxes, 8% to 15%, Rent, and Property taxes. That’s 100% of the first $10,000 to $15,000 extracted before buying any food. Now to move on to the last drop of blood we can squeeze out of these indigents. Oh, not indigent? Just wait until your house get foreclosed.

Ha! And you were promised no new taxes by Obama. Well with an effective 100% tax rate on your first $15,000 of your income, how do you feel about the chosen one today?

Screwed? Not surprising you feel that way! But most of you are still going along with it. Oh, by the way, because of Guns, God and Gays, we’ve kept you divided from the others, smarter than you, who have figured out this scheme, the Teabaggers. Let’s hope Faux Noise can keep the divisiveness going for many years to come. All hail Ailes, O’Reilly, Woopert, and Sean H. All hail!!!

You though you had taken back control. Well welcome to the perfect (your benefit) is the enemy of the good (for us)..

Disclaimer: No scientific data was used in this diary. It was all written as I bent over clasping my ankles, waiting for the Audacity of Hope.

The Audacity of Debt

The Wall Street Journal

The Audacity of Debt

written by Opinion Editorial

Wednesday December 16, 2009

At least someone in America isn't feeling a credit squeeze: Uncle Sam. This week Congress will vote to raise the national debt ceiling by nearly $2 trillion, to a total of $14 trillion. In this economy, everyone de-leverages except government.

It's a sign of how deep the fiscal pathologies run in this Congress that $2 trillion will buy the federal government only one year before it has to seek another debt hike—conveniently timed to come after the midterm elections. Since Democrats began running Congress again in 2007, the federal debt limit has climbed by 39%. The new hike will lift the borrowing cap by another 15%.

There is surely bipartisan blame for this government debt boom. George W. Bush approved gigantic spending increases for Medicare and bailouts. He also sponsored the first ineffective "stimulus" in February 2008—consisting of $168 billion in tax rebates and spending that depleted federal revenues in return for no economic lift.

Democrats ridiculed Mr. Bush as "the most fiscally irresponsible President in history," but then they saw him and raised. They took an $800 billion deficit and made it $1.4 trillion in 2009 and perhaps that high again in 2010. In 10 months they have approved more than $1 trillion in spending that has saved union public jobs but has done little to assist private job creation. Still to come is the multitrillion-dollar health bill and another $100 billion to $200 billion "jobs" bill.

We've never obsessed over the budget deficit, because the true cost of government is the amount it spends, not the amount it borrows. Milton Friedman used to say that the nation would be far better off with a budget half the current size but with larger deficits. Mr. Obama and his allies in Congress have done the opposite: They have increased the budget by 50% and financed the spending with IOUs.

Our concern is that the Administration and Congress view this debt as a way to force a permanently higher tax base for decades to come. The liberal grand strategy is to use their accidentally large majorities this year to pass new entitlements that start small but will explode in future years. U.S. creditors will then demand higher taxes—taking income taxes back to their pre-Reagan rates and adding a value-added tax too. This would expand federal spending as a share of GDP to as much as 30% from the pre-crisis 20%.

Remember the 1980s and 1990s when liberals said they worried about the debt? We now know they were faking it. When the Gipper chopped income and business tax rates by roughly 25% and then authorized a military build-up, Democrats and their favorite economists predicted doom for a decade. The late Paul Samuelson, the revered dean of the neo-Keynesians, expressed the prevailing view in those days when he called the Reagan deficits "an all-consuming evil."

But wait: Those "evil" Reagan deficits averaged less than $200 billion a year, or about one-quarter as large in real terms as today's deficit. The national debt held by the public reached its peak in the Reagan years at 40.9%, and hit 49.2% in 1995. This year debt will hit 61% of GDP, heading to 68% soon even by the White House's optimistic estimates.

Our view is that there is good and bad public borrowing. In the 1980s federal deficits financed a military buildup that ended the Cold War (leading to an annual peace dividend in the 1990s of 3% of GDP), as well as tax cuts that ended the stagflation of the 1970s and began 25 years of prosperity. Those were high return investments.

Today's debt has financed . . . what exactly? The TARP money did undergird the financial system for a time and is now being repaid. But most of the rest has been spent on a political wish list of public programs ranging from unemployment insurance to wind turbines to tax credits for golf carts. Borrowing for such low return purposes makes America poorer in the long run.

By the way, today's spending and debt totals don't account for the higher debt-servicing costs that are sure to come. The President's own budget office forecasts that annual interest payments by 2019 will be $774 billion, which will be more than the federal government will spend that year on national defense, education, transportation—in fact, all nondefense discretionary programs.

Democrats want to pass the debt limit increase as a stowaway on the defense funding bill, hoping that few will notice while pledging to reduce spending at some future date. Republicans ought to force a long and careful debate that educates the public. Ultimately, the U.S. government has to pay its bills and the debt limit bill will have to pass. But debt limit votes are one of the few times historically when taxpayer advocates have leverage on Capitol Hill. Republicans and Democrats who care should use it to discuss genuine ways to put Washington on a renewed and tighter spending regime.

"Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren," Senator Barack Obama said during the 2006 debt-ceiling debate. "America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better." That was $2 trillion ago, when someone else was President.

U.S. National DEBT = over $12 TRILLION and Counting!

Our Political Leaders NEED A Little Friendly Reminder: I Submit To You The United States of America ~ Declaration of Independence!

I want for you to think about this for a moment. Why do think people are still flocking into the United States from other countries? Many are even risking their lives to get a taste of the FREEDOM many of us take for granted. Why do you think? Because they are leaving behind oppressive governments and undesirable living conditions. The United States may not be perfect. Nevertheless, we are still much better off than any other nation on this planet. The United States offers freedom from religious persecution (you can worship whomever or whatever you want or NOT), freedom to love whomever you want without persecution (ie; from whatever race, religion or gender), freedom from censorship (communication tools are not blocked by the government), freedom from LIMITATIONS! The opposite of FREEDOM is oppression. Oppression could be physical, psychological, emotional and even financial. If you are working your tail off and the government is taxing you up the wazoo, let's say 65% of your earnings that my friends is a form of SLAVERY! Because you are basically working to sustain government salaries and wonderful benefits and paying for government and non-government programs you know nothing about (EARMARKS), leaving you with enough net earnings to pay for a modest living that "THEY" deem acceptable. This administration is INTENT on taxing us any which way they can from every angle possible to be able to pay for the INTEREST ALONE on the debt they have incurred this year! You just wait and see.

The Declaration of Independence was the PROMISE;

The Constitution was the fulfillment.

Constitution of the United States of America

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution FOR The United States of America.

The Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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

• That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, DERIVING their just powers from the CONSENT of the GOVERNED.
  
  
• That whenever any Form of Government becomes DESTRUCTIVE of these ends, it is the RIGHT of the PEOPLE to ALTER or to ABOLISH it, and to institute NEW Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
  

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 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.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Click here to read the entire Declaration of Independence set forth July 4, 1776.

"The sacred RIGHTS of Mankind are NOT to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can NEVER be erased or obscured by mortal power."

Alexander Hamilton, 1775

Senate Health Bill Clears Crucial Test on Way to Final Passage At 1:15am EST

Bloomberg
Senate Health Bill Clears Crucial Test on Way to Final Passage
written by James Rowley and Kristin Jensen
Monday December 21, 2009 at 1:40am est

Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Legislation calling for the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health-care system in more than four decades survived a crucial test vote to stay on a path to final Senate passage later this week.

All 60 members of the Democratic caucus voted to curtail debate on the $871 billion measure against united opposition from Senate Republicans, who say the bill would raise taxes, hurt insurers and widen the federal deficit. Democrats scheduled the 1 a.m. vote to thwart Republican tactics aimed at preventing final passage before Christmas.

Barring surprise defections, the vote clears the way for passage by Dec. 24. The Senate must then draft a compromise with the House, which approved its own bill on Nov. 7. Both measures cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans and attempt to curb rising medical expenditures.

“Let’s make history,” Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin, who runs the Senate health committee, said before the vote. “The other side says no. We say yes. We say yes to progress, yes to people, yes to health care as an inalienable right of every American citizen.”

[WTF? Health care is NOT an inalienable right! Whatever happened to FREEDOM of choice! If a citizen is FORCED to purchase a product, where is the FREEDOM in that? Very tricky! They used the word IN-alienable vs. UN-alienable. You CAN NOT surrender, sell or transfer unalienable rights, they are a gift from the creator to the individual and can not under any circumstances be surrendered or taken. All individual's have unalienable rights. However, you can surrender, sell or transfer inalienable rights IF YOU CONSENT either actually or constructively. Inalienable rights are NOT INHERENT in man and can be alienated by government. Persons have inalienable rights. Most state constitutions recognize only inalienable rights.]

The victory for Democrats looked in doubt as recently as three days ago as Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson insisted on changes in the language regarding federal funding for abortion and sought key concessions for his home state. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid struck a deal with him late on Dec. 18 and Nelson pledged his support the next day for the legislation, President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

Biggest Since Medicare

Reid’s plan, representing the biggest changes to the health system since the Medicare program for the elderly was started in 1965, would cover 94 percent of eligible Americans under 65, and reduce the deficit by $132 billion over its first decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.

Like the $1 trillion House bill, the 10-year Senate plan requires that Americans get insurance or pay a penalty, while at the same time requiring insurers to accept all comers, regardless of preexisting conditions. It offers expanded government aid for the poor and sets up new online purchasing exchanges so the uninsured can shop for policies. [Just you wait and see, the IRS is being given more tracking power. Everybody will have to report what type of health care coverage they have to the IRS. You think the IRS is bad now. Once this health care bill passes, they will turn into the American Gestapo! No joke! Because health care insurance will be MANDATED by the U.S. federal government, meaning FORCED UPON the American people whether you want it or not!]

Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. and other health insurers would get millions of new customers, also a benefit for companies such as medical-device maker Medtronic Inc. of Minneapolis and drugmaker Pfizer Inc. of New York. Their industries would also face billions of dollars in new fees.

More Votes Ahead

The battle in the Senate isn’t over for Democratic leaders. They will be required to muster 60 votes for each of two other procedural votes before the Senate can agree on final passage, possibly on Christmas Eve. Democrats need only a simple majority of the 100-member Senate to pass the legislation. Today’s test vote to overcome a Republican filibuster was the most important, as the same 60-member bloc of 58 Democrats and two independents are expected to stick together to support final passage.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Democrats were defying the will of the people.

“Americans have already issued their verdict; they don’t want it,” McConnell said. “It raises premiums” and “raises taxes” and “plunders Medicare by half a trillion dollars.”

‘Defies Logic’

Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, the only Republican to vote for a Senate plan on the committee level, criticized Reid for pushing complex legislation through on an arbitrary deadline.

“It defies logic that we are now expected to vote on the overall, final package before Christmas with no opportunity to amend it so we can adjourn for a three-week recess even as the legislation will not fully go into effect UNTIL 2014,” Snowe said in a statement yesterday. [The federal government is going to have all of us start paying for services that will NOT be rendered until 2014! It's like rushing to purchase a home, any home (more like a MONEY PIT), not reading the purchase contract and then finding out that you can't move in for another 4 years but they want you to start making payments today. That sounds like big-time bullsh*t to me!]

Reid struck last-minute deals with Democrats to win their support, issuing a 383-PAGE amendment on Dec. 19 to go along with a 2,074-page measure released last month. [NOT ONE SENATOR THAT VOTED YES HAS READ THE DAMN BILL!]

Reid also boosted penalties for companies that don’t provide health insurance. Any company with more than 50 employees could face a penalty of $750 per worker, multiplied by the total number of full-time workers it employs, if just one obtains subsidized coverage through an exchange. That is up from a penalty of $400 in an earlier draft.

Medicare Cuts

The legislation depends on hundreds of billions of dollars of savings from Medicare to pay for the expansion of insurance. In a letter to Reid yesterday, CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said his agency expects the bill to lower the growth rate for Medicare spending, yet he urged caution.

“It is unclear whether such a reduction in the growth rate could be achieved, and if so, whether it would be accomplished through greater efficiencies in the delivery of health care or would reduce access to care or diminish the quality of care,” Elmendorf wrote. [Since when have any of you known the government to be EFFICIENT at anything they run?!]

Who Wins And Who Loses In Senate Health Care Bill... I'm Sure Inquiring Minds Would Like To Know!

The Associated Press

Who wins, who loses in Senate health bill

written by Erica Werner (AP)

Monday December 21, 2009 12:49am EST

WASHINGTON — The little town of Libby, Mont., isn't mentioned by name in the Senate's mammoth health care bill, but its 2,900 citizens are big winners in the legislation, thanks to the influence of Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.

After pushing for years for help for residents, many of whom suffer from asbestos-related illnesses from a now-closed mineral mining operation, Baucus inserted language in a package of last-minute amendments that grants them access to Medicare benefits.

He didn't advertise the change, and it takes a close read of the bill to find it. It's just one example of how the sweeping legislation designed to remake the U.S. health care system and extend coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans also helps and hurts more narrow interests, often thanks to one lawmaker with influence or bargaining power.

Here's a look at some other winners and losers in the latest version of the legislation, which was expected to survive an initial test vote in the Senate around 1 a.m. Monday.

WINNERS

_Cosmetic surgeons, who fended off a 5 percent tax on their procedures.

_Nebraska, Louisiana, Vermont and Massachusetts. These states are getting more federal help with MEDICAID than other states. In the case of Nebraska — represented by Sen. Ben Nelson, who's providing the critical 60th vote for the legislation to pass — the federal government (U.S. TAXPAYER) is picking up 100 PERCENT of the tab of a planned expansion of the program, in perpetuity (FOREVER). Vermont and Massachusetts get temporary increases in the federal share of their Medicaid tabs. In Louisiana, moderate Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu negotiated $100 million for 2011 before announcing her support for the legislation.

_Beneficiaries of Medicare Advantage plans — the private managed-care plans within Medicare — in Florida. Hundreds of thousands of them will have their benefits grandfathered in thanks to a provision tailored by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., that also affects a much smaller number of seniors in a few other states.

_Longshoremen. They were added to the list of workers in high-risk professions who are shielded from the full impact of a proposed new tax on high-value insurance plans. (Electrical linemen were already included, along with policemen, firefighters, emergency first responders and workers in construction, mining, forestry, fishing and certain agriculture jobs.)

_Community health centers. They got $10 billion more in the revised bill, thanks to advocacy by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

_A handful of physician-owned hospitals being built around the country — including one in Bellevue, Neb. — which would be permitted to get referrals from the doctors who own them, avoiding a new ban in the Senate bill that will apply to hospitals built in the future. Without mentioning Nebraska or other states by name, the Senate bill pushes back some legal deadlines by several months, in effect making a few hospitals that are near completion eligible to continue receiving referrals from the doctors who own them. The provision was described by a pair of health industry lobbyists who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. Chalk up another win for Nelson.

_AARP, the lobby for elderly people. The new Democratic bill has about $1 billion in extra Medicaid payments to states that provide visiting nurses and other in-home or community services to prevent low-income people from needing to be admitted to hospitals. In House-Senate bargaining, AARP also is expected to win one of their top priorities: a full closing of the so-called "doughnut hole," the gap in Medicare's coverage of prescription drugs.

_Doctors and hospitals in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, who will get paid more than providers elsewhere under formulas in the bill.

_The University of Connecticut, which could be the beneficiary of $100 million for construction of a hospital inserted at the behest of Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who faces a difficult re-election next year. The legislation leaves it up to the Health and Human Services Department to decide where the money should be spent, but spokesman Bryan DeAngelis said Dodd hopes to claim it for his state's university.

LOSERS

_Tanning salons, which are getting hit with a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services, replacing the cosmetic surgery tax.

_Progressives. They had to give up on their long-held dream of a new government-run insurance plan so that Democratic leaders could lock down the necessary votes from moderates.

_People making over $200,000 a year. A proposed 0.5 percent increase in the Medicare payroll tax was bumped up to 0.9 percent in the latest version, putting the tax at 2.35 percent on income over $200,000 a year for individuals, $250,000 for couples.

_Generic drug makers. They fought unsuccessfully to block 12 years of protection that makers of brand-name biotech drugs — expensive pharmaceuticals made from living cells — will get against generic would-be competitors.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO): Health Bill Spends $871B, Reduces Deficit By $132B! How On Earth Can The CBO Accurately Score A Bill They Had Not Read? When Harry Reid Added Last Minute Amendments!

The Hill
CBO: Health bill spends $871B, reduces deficit by $132B
written by Jeffrey Young
Saturday December 19, 2009 at 01:29pm EST

Congress’s budgetary scorekeeper affirms that the Senate’s healthcare reform legislation adheres to President Barack Obama’s pledge to spend less than $900 billion and reduce the federal budget deficit through the bill, which would extend health insurance coverage to 31 million people.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the latest version of the legislation introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would require $871 billion over 10 years in new federal spending, most of which would take the form of health insurance subsidies for low- and middle-income people and expansions of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

CBO Director Doug Elmendorf presented Reid with this preliminary cost estimate in a letter Saturday.

Those costs are more than offset during the 10-year budget period by $483 billion worth of spending REDUCTIONS in MEDICARE and $614 billion generated from an EXCISE TAX on high-cost health insurance plans, TAXES on healthcare companies, PENALTY FEES paid by employers who fail to offer insurance coverage and individuals who fail to purchase it and OTHER TAX effects of the bill.

The bill would require (FORCE) nearly all legal U.S. residents to obtain health coverage, extend Medicaid benefits to everyone earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level and provide subsidies on a sliding scale to people earning between 133 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

The legislation would bring the rate of insurance coverage for non-elderly legal U.S. residents to 94 percent by 2019, the CBO concludes. Of the 31 million newly insured people, 26 million would purchase insurance through the bill’s health insurance exchange and 15 million would join Medicaid.

Twenty-three (23) MILLION people would still lack (NOT HAVE) insurance, most of whom would be exempt from the individual mandate because they earn too much to qualify for subsidies but too little to afford coverage. About one-third of the remaining uninsured would be illegal immigrants, who are not eligible to participate in the programs.

A relatively new proposal to task the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which manages the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, to contract with private insurers to create two national plans to compete with other insurance on the exchange would have little effect. These provisions were added as part of a compromise between supporters and opponents of creating a government-run public option insurance program, which is not in the Reid bill.

“Whether insurers would be interested in offering such plans is unclear, and establishing a nationwide plan comprising only nonprofit insurers might be particularly difficult,” the CBO reports. “Even if such plans were arranged, the insurers offering them would probably have participated in the insurance exchanges anyway, so the inclusion of this provision did not have a significant effect on the estimates of federal costs or enrollment in the exchanges.”

The legislation would achieve deficit-reduction during its first 10 years largely because the spending cuts and tax increases would take effect several years before most of the new spending begins.

The CBO, however, says that the spending reductions and additional revenue would accrue at a faster rate than new spending during the second 10 years, leading to continuing deficit reduction in the future. “CBO expects that the legislation, if enacted, would reduce federal budget deficits over the ensuing decade relative to those projected under current law—with a total effect during that decade that is in a broad range around one-half percent of [gross domestic product],” the letter says.

Likewise, the estimate says that although the legislation would increase the federal budgetary commitment to healthcare by $200 billion over the first 10 years, “CBO expects that the proposal would generate a reduction in the federal budgetary commitment to health care during the decade following the 10-year budget window.”

As the budget office has throughout the year, it EMPHASIZES that this will only occur if Congress allows those cuts and tax hikes to take full effect and expresses skepticism that they will. “These longer-term calculations assume that the provisions are enacted and remain unchanged throughout the next two decades, which IS OFTEN NOT THE CASE for MAJOR legislation,” the letter says.

Trusting God part 6 of 6

Wow! I was looking for another message and was led to this message given by Joyce Meyer that I feel many need to hear right now. I will be back to type a transcript of the first 6 minutes of this message for my international readers who need to translate.

Trusting God part 5 of 6

Wow! I was looking for another message and was led to this message given by Joyce Meyer that I feel many need to hear right now. I will be back to type a transcript of the first 6 minutes of this message for my international readers who need to translate.

Trusting God part 4 of 6

Wow! I was looking for another message and was led to this message given by Joyce Meyer that I feel many need to hear right now. I will back to type a transcript of the first 6 minutes of this message for my international readers who need to translate.

Trusting God part 3 of 6

Wow! I was looking for another message and was led to this message given by Joyce Meyer that I feel many need to hear right now. I will be back to type a transcript of the first 6 minutes of this message for my international readers who need to translate.

Trusting God part 2 of 6

Wow! I was looking for another message and was led to this message given by Joyce Meyer that I feel many need to hear right now. I have typed a transcript of the first 6 minutes of this message for my international readers who need to translate.

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Colossians 1:4 (amplified) says, "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness.] So faith is leaning on the power of God, the goodness of God and the wisdom of God. So it literally means that God is able to do what needs to be done in my life, He wants to do what needs to be done in my life, and He knows how to do what needs to be done in my life and I need to lean on that.

Now another thing that faith is, is believing in the unseen. We have to understand that there is a whole world that we don't see. I'm sure that there's a whole lot of angels in here tonight. Seriously I would imagine that there are all kinds of angels in this building tonight. Ocassionally God will open someone's eyes and let them see into the spiritual realm. It doesn't happen, I don't think on a real regular basis. But if we could just see with our natural eyes some of the things in the spiritual realm, some of the things that God has planned for us, some of the demonic forces that try to hold back the goodness of God in our lives. If we could understand how important the word's of our mouth are and how our word's affect that spiritual realm. But faith is believing what you can't see because once you can see something you don't need faith.

Faith is believing the answer is coming before you see it. It is just like if on Sunday you're going to get a special gift or somebody is going to see you on Sunday that you really love and you haven't seen them for a long time. Well on Monday they're not there yet, but you believe Sunday is coming. And on Tuesday they're not there yet, but you believe Sunday is coming. And you know what, you're excited about Sunday. For you it's almost like it was just there. You're getting ready and you're making preparations. But you can't see Sunday. You haven't seen the person yet. All you've have is a promise. Why is it sometimes that we can get so excited about what people tell us they'll do and yet we have a difficult time getting excited about the promises of God until we see it. On Wednesday we believe that Sunday is coming. And the thing that's interesting is the longer we wait the more excited we get.

But with Christians it's just the opposite. The longer we wait the more discouraged we get. I mean by Saturday night you are really excited. I mean now it's the midnight hour and you have not seen anything. But for you Sunday is going to be here really soon. Well what would happen if we behave like that in our spiritual walk? The bible talks about waiting on God. Waiting on God is not a passive thing, it's very active. And actually if you study it out, it means to expect God. To be expecting God to do something. Those who expect, looked and longed for God is what the amplified bible says. That's what it means to wait on God. So really we should live expectantly. I believe everyday we should say early in the day something good is going to happen to me today, everyday I get better and better in every way. Well you say, "I've heard all that positive stuff." Well would you rather be negative? You know I called Joel last week I said, "Brother just keep smiling. Just keep on smiling no matter anybody says just keep on smiling." Why in the world would the world get mad at you because you smile. Is that not dumb. Goodness sakes. I mean the devil is running out of things to do if you're going to get mad at somebody because they smile. And for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about you know the media picks on Joel Osteen because he smiles alot. I said man I bet I have eaten with the guy who smiles while he eats. I mean I do not know how you smile while you eat. Does he smile while he's sleeping Victoria? Pretty much right?

Faith is believing what you cannot see. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith is the evidence of the things you cannot see." Faith is the title deed of those things you cannot see. But that you believe they are on there way. Mark 11:24 I think is worth looking at tonight. Somebody might think oh faith I want her to preach on my problems. Well if I can get you into the rest of God it won't matter to you what kind of problem you have. I don't think you have a problem in here tonight that this message won't cover. This is so good, Mark 11:24 says "For this reason I'm telling you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe, trust and be confident that it is granted to you and then you will get it." First you have to believe in that realm that you cannot see that you got it and that's what pulls it out of that realm into the seen realm. So in God's economy you've got to believe you've got it before you get it. And that is so hard sometimes for human beings.

Trusting God part 1 of 6

Wow! I was looking for another message and was led to this message given by Joyce Meyer that I feel many need to hear right now. I have typed a transcript of the first 6 minutes of this message for my international readers who need to translate.

*****************************************************************

I want to start out with a statement. Your real life, your real life is not really the life that goes on around you. It's not even the life that everybody thinks that you have. Your real life is the life that's in you. It's what's going on in you. The Kingdom of God is in you the bible says. When Jesus came to offer us a new life. He offered us really first and foremost a very special inner life. Yes he helps us with our circumstances. He's also telling people that no matter what your circumstances are, you can have a great life. Because your real life, is the one that goes on in you. And actually, a great life of that type is available to every person and is something that nobody can take away from you.

Now we all know that there are people that have everything that anyone would think in the natural should make them happy. They have money, they are famous, they have cars, they have things, they have boats, they can take vacation, they know everybody and yet they are miserable. I mean the world is full of people like that. And then there are other people who just don't seem to have any reason at all to be happy and yet they're just as happy as they can be. And so that in itself proves that your real life, your real life. You see we get too caught up in what we think this life is. You say, "You know I hate my life. I wish I had your life." No you really don't wish you had somebody else's life because no matter what it looks like on the outside there is something in their life that you wouldn't like too. You may say, "Oh I wish I had Joyce's ministry." No you don't because you might like certain parts of it, but you might not want the work that goes with it.

Don't ever want somebody else's life. Learn to love your own because it's the only one you've got so you might as well learn to love it. And the way you decide to look at it is what's going to make it good or bad. It's not really your circumstances. I'm telling you. And it's not that better circumstances can't make you feel a little better for a while. But I just want to get that point across that your real life is not the one that's going on around you, it's not the one that everybody thinks you have or even the one that you try to show them. But it's what's going on in us. Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within you." Righteousness, peace and joy. Now that's the life we want to go after. Having a right relationship with God, feeling right about ourselves through the blood of Christ. Having a good relationship with yourself. Wanting to change, knowing your weaknesses, but not getting overly upset about where you're at while your making the journey. You have to learn how to enjoy where you're at on the way to where you're going.

I want to talk to you tonight about trusting God. Just very simply trusting God. Because there is no rest without it. Hebrews 4 says, "Those who have believed God enter His rest." That Supernatural rest is such an awesome place to be. It's not a rest from work, but it's a rest in work. It's a rest of the heart. While you're doing what you were called to do. While you're raising your kids, while your paying your bills. While you're going through Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday there's a rest in your heart that just kind of says everything is okay, it's okay. You know even if its not always the way we'd like it to be, it's okay.

Do you know why I call my television program, "Enjoying everyday life."? Because I think it's a tragedy when we go through life and don't enjoy it. And whether you have remembered it for a while or not, Jesus said He came that we might have and enjoy life. And I spent a lot of years of my life as a Christian not enjoying life. Because I wasn't content, I was always wanting something that I didn't have, and I thought it was this and that, my husband, my kids, my neighbors, my aching back and on and on. I finally found out that it was my attitude. I had a stinking attitude. I just had a bad attitude. And you know what? If you have a bad attitude, there is nobody that can do anything about your life. I mean that's the truth.

God Is In Control...

This is such a beautiful song! Awesome TRUTH! Have no worries or fears. Allow God's WORD to be your anchor, your rock, your fortress. Put your TRUST and FAITH in the LORD our God and remember that God ultimately has the last WORD! Let the foolish leaders and elitist of this world continue to believe they have the upper hand. God knows who has been ABUSING their authority. I am confident that they will be brought to their knees if not extinguished altogether by a HIGHER POWER!

God Is In Control ~ by Twila Paris

This is no time for fear

This is a time for faith and determination

Don't lose the vision here

Carried away by emotion

Hold on to all that you hide in your heart

There is one thing that has always been true

It holds the world together

God is in control

We believe that His children will not be forsaken

God is in control

We will choose to remember and never be shaken

There is no power above or beside Him, we know

God is in control

History marches on

There is a bottom line drawn across the ages

Culture can make its plan

Oh, but the line never changes

No matter how the deception may fly

There is one thing that has always been true

It will be true forever

God is in control
We believe that His children will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember and never be shaken
There is no power above or beside Him, we know
God is in control

He has never let you down

Why start to worry now?
Why start to worry now?

He is still the Lord of all we see

And He is still the loving Father

Watching over you and me

God is in control

We believe that His children will not be forsaken

God is in control

We will choose to remember and never be shaken

There is no power above or beside Him, we know

God is in control

Praise to God for His Everlasting Mercy

Praise to God for His Everlasting Mercy

Psalm 118 (NKJV)

1. Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

2. Let Israel now say,

“His mercy endures forever.”

3. Let the house of Aaron now say,

“His mercy endures forever.”

4. Let those who fear the LORD now say,

“His mercy endures forever.”

5. I called on the LORD in distress;

The LORD answered me and set me in a broad place.

6. The LORD is on my side;

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

7. The LORD is for me among those who help me;

Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me.

8. It is better to trust in the LORD

Than to put confidence in man.

9. It is better to trust in the LORD

Than to put confidence in princes.

10. All nations surrounded me,

But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

11. They surrounded me,

Yes, they surrounded me;

But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

12. They surrounded me like bees;

They were quenched like a fire of thorns;

For in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

13. You pushed me violently, that I might fall,

But the LORD helped me.

14. The LORD is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation.

15. The voice of rejoicing and salvation

Is in the tents of the righteous;

The right hand of the LORD does valiantly.

16. The right hand of the LORD is exalted;

The right hand of the LORD does valiantly.

17. I shall not die, but live,

And declare the works of the LORD.

18. The LORD has chastened me severely,

But He has not given me over to death.

19. Open to me the gates of righteousness;

I will go through them,

And I will praise the LORD.

20. This is the gate of the LORD,

Through which the righteous shall enter.

21. I will praise You,

For You have answered me,

And have become my salvation.

22. The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

23. This was the LORD’s doing;

It is marvelous in our eyes.

24. This is the day the LORD has made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

25. Save now, I pray, O LORD;

O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity.

26. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!

We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.

27. God is the LORD,

And He has given us light;

Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

28. You are my God, and I will praise You;

You are my God, I will exalt You.

29. Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

The Branch of Righteousness and False Prophets ~ God Is In CONTROL

The Branch of Righteousness and False Prophets

Jeremiah 23:1-16 (AMP)

1. WOE TO the shepherds (the civil leaders) who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasturing! says the Lord.

2. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for and feed My people: You have scattered My flock and driven them away and have not visited and attended to them; behold, I will visit and attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the Lord.

3. And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries to which I have driven them and will bring them again to their folds and pastures; and they will be fruitful and multiply.

4. And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will fear no more nor be dismayed, neither will any be missing or lost, says the Lord.

5. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch (Sprout), and He will reign as King and do wisely and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

6. In His days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name by which He shall be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.

9. Concerning the prophets: My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, a man whom wine has overcome, because of the Lord and because of His holy words [which He has pronounced against unfaithful leaders].

10. For the land is full of adulterers (forsakers of God, Israel's true Husband). Because of the curse [of God upon it] the land mourns, the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. They [both false prophets and people] rush into wickedness; and their course is evil, their might is not right.

11. For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly and profane; even in My house have I found their wickedness, says the Lord.

12. Therefore their way will be to them like slippery paths in the dark; they will be driven on and fall into them. For I will bring evil upon them in the year of their punishment, says the Lord.

13. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err and go astray.

14. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness. They have all of them become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with [the bitterness of] wormwood and make them drink the [poisonous] water of gall, for from the [false] prophets of Jerusalem profaneness and ungodliness have gone forth into all the land.

16. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and fill you with vain hopes; they speak a vision of their own minds and not from the mouth of the Lord.