Morality and the Law

Is Obama Committing Political Suicide

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:44:24 GMT

MORALITY AND THE LAW CLI

By Stephen Ellis

IS OBAMA ATTEMPTING SUICIDE

Nobody asked me, but…

Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden to be his running mate, in my opinion, is tantamount to attempting political suicide. Not that there’s anything wrong with Joe Biden. The senior Senator from Delaware is probably one of the best Senators in our Congress today; he has long been the chairman of the foreign relations and the judiciary committees. There is no doubt that he would be an excellent addition to this nation as a vice president.

But Obama has to get elected first, and his naming someone other than Hillary Clinton to be his running mate will probably cost him the presidential election…and it may even cost him the Democratic presidential nomination.

One of the biggest problems that a young man like Obama has in becoming an “instant celebrity” is that he becomes surrounded by people who think he is God and they treat him like he is God. They constantly remind Obama that he came out of nowhere and beat the favorite, Hillary Clinton, in electing the numbers of delegates necessary to be nominated. The press, until now, has favored Obama over John McCain. Obama has raised significantly more campaign funds than has John McCain.

The problem with this is that the candidate begins to believe it himself and starts to think of himself as being able to do no wrong.

But it’s not true! And “truth” has a way of catching-up with you.

The people around Obama may forget to remind him that Hillary Clinton garnered significantly more popular votes than he did. They may forget to remind him that the Clintons are experienced politicians with more than a few tricks up their sleeve. The “snubbing” of Hillary Clinton as Obama’s running mate may cause a significant split in the nomination process.

Obama’s advisers who treat him like untouchable royalty have probably not mentioned that while the elected delegates to a convention are supposed to cast their votes as the voters said to cast them, they are under no obligation to do so. The Clintons are owed a lot of political favors, and it would not surprise me to see some of Obama “committed” delegates change their vote if Hillary creates a floor-fight at the Democratic Convention.

Then, too, what will the voters of America do? More than half the registered Democratics wanted to see Hillary Clinton nominated for president. They accepted Obama’s probable nomination because he won the needed numbers of delegates…or because they simply did not like or trust John McCain who seems to be little more than a continuation of the George W. Bush policies for America. But they held out very strong hope that Hillary would be Obama’s running mate…which would have solidified the Democratic Party and created a virtual landslide election over the Republicans.

Just look at the polls: In the past couple of weeks when Obama starting hinting strongly that Hillary would not be his running mate, Obama has lost a minimum of five percentage points. Now that his announcement concerning Biden has been made, just watch Obama’s poll figures start sliding even more.

Although it is an unlikely scenario, if Hillary Clinton decides to have a floor fight at the Democratic convention, she starts with almost as many delegates as Obama. There are significant numbers of voters and delegates who might more strongly support an Obama- Biden ticket if Obama had another ten years of experience…but who are afraid that in an Obama/McCain race Obama may run a poor second. Most feel that it is extremely important to this country that we have a Democrat in the White House. If Clinton can get a few of Obama’s “committed” delegates to switch their allegiance from Obama to her, Barack Obama may not even wind up being the Democratic nominee.

The majority of registered Democrats will not switch allegiance and vote for McCain, but a surprisingly strong number of Democrats have said that, without Hillary, they are simply not going to vote…and that has the same effect as voting for McCain.

There is no doubt in my mind that an Obama-Clinton ticket would win. But the selection by Obama of Joe Biden…as good a man as he may be…may condemn this country to another eight years of a Bush-type administration.

As I said, nobody asked me.

More on the US Recession

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:59:03 GMT

MORALITY AND THE LAW CL

By Stephen Ellis

WHEN WILL THE RECESSION END

Nobody asked me, but…

A lot of my readers have asked me when this recessionary trend will end and we can go back to being a prosperous nation. My answer is that while I’m knowledgeable about economics (I was on JFK's and Sam Yorty's economic advisory committees), I really don’t know! I’m not a pundit on TV who has answers for everything, and the last I heard, neither Obama nor McCain have asked for my opinion on the subject.

A lot of it goes back to our dependence on foreign oil. A healthy percentage of every dollar we earn goes to fill the pockets of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), and the oil companies. This has had a material effect on our general economy, on our unemployment rate and on the fact that a lot of businesses are either ready to file bankruptcy or are very close to it.

To date, everything that moves, moves on oil. Trucks that deliver the food to market, ships that carry the merchandise we import and export, trains, airlines, cars, etc. When it costs more to move the merchandise, the wholesalers and retailers have to raise the price of everything they sell in order to make-up for the extra cost of transportation.

Companies that are dependent on transportation have to cut expenses and so jobs are lost that would, otherwise, have remained. Automobile manufacturers (the heart of our economy) have to re-tool to build cars that use less fuel. It could easily take ten years for an automobile manufacturer just to recover the costs of re-tooling. Lots and lots of jobs will be lost until the re-tooling is complete. Utilities that sell energy have tocut their costs…again more jobs are lost.

I’m not suggesting that we didn’t see this coming. In fact, I’ve been warning about it for more than twenty years. But we are now paying the price for the stupidity of our elected officials who thought “cheap oil” would never end.

Let’s look at the real estate market: The slowdown in real estate values and sales was, plain and simply, caused by “greed”: the greed of builders and the greed of lenders. When a builder builds a house (or an entire community), he/she is risking an enormous amount of money, and won’t see any profit until that house (or community) is sold. So, in order to make the most profit, they want to sell their home(s) quickly. The best way to do this is to make the price appear to be so low that no one can refuse to buy: offer the property for little (if any) down payment and a monthly payment fee that is the same (or less) than renting an apartment. So the builders and the lenders made a corrupt deal. The lenders will offer loans that start-out with “nothing” down and a few years of less than realistic mortgage payments. O.K., the amount owed on the house goes up, but as long as the housing market was booming and the value going up at 10% or more per year, there was no problem. The builders were delighted,because as soon as their house(s) were sold, they got all their money and profit and could walk away unfazed.

But when the housing market slowed a little, the “scam” exploded. People who should not have purchased homes now found they owed more on their mortgages than the home was worth. The sub-prime market was born.

The lenders didn’t care, because the way the mortgage market worked, a big-name lender would lend the money, and then pool together a group of mortgages and sell them to the secondary mortgage market. The lenders got all their money back and were able to use the same money to lend again. The lenders made a continuing profit for “servicing” the loan.

But when the investors and buyers of the secondary pool of mortgages starting getting drenched with mortgages that weren’t paying, they stopped buying the mortgage pools…and the lenders were finding that they had to lend their own money and wait for the borrowers to repay the mortgages. The secondary market in mortgages has completely dried-up. So now that the lenders have to risk their own money, they are trying to be certain that they don’t get any bad loans. They are demanding exceptionally high down payments and are virtually examining their borrowers with a high-powered microscope.

The result is that there are millions of buyers who would like to buy a home…but coming up with a 20% or 30% down-payment is just “impossible”. If you want to buy a $500,000 home it is not unusual for a lender to demand a $100,000 to $150,000 down payment…and most people…even people with years of excellent credit, can come up with that kind of down payment.

The result is the loss of thousands of real estate jobs, thousands of jobs with lending institutions…and the worst is still to come: banks can’t make money unless they lend money. The super-stringent loan regulations the lenders have imposed are hurting the lenders themselves more than anyone else…and some banks are starting to face heavy losses and possible bankruptcy. More jobs to be lost.

Next week I’ll talk about some possible solutions.

As I said, nobody asked me.

PASSOVER AND EASTER

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 04:31:43 GMT

MORALITY AND THE LAW XXXVII

By Stephen Ellis

HAPPY EASTER AND HAPPY PASSOVER

With two of the most traditional religious holidays upon us, I thought I should say a few words about the Jewish Passover and the Christian Easter.

I have received a number of emails from readers (apparently I do have quite a few readers) concerning my views on religion. Although I am not among the "faithful", I do have an enormous respect for those who are in so long as they are not so adamant about their beliefs that they are willing to kill others because they believe differently.

There are four or five major religions in the world. The religions of the West are primarily, Christianity, Muslim and Judaism. The great religions of the East would include Hindu, Muslim, Zoroastrian and Buddhism. There is a significant distinction between the Muslims of the East and those of the West. The Muslims of the East hate only believers in Hinduism and the Muslims of the West hate everyone who is not a follower of Islam. Muslim hatred is not confined to other religions, there is a warlike hatred and an almost constant war within Islam between those of different sects. Hatred is not confined to the Muslims or followers of Islam. Among the most orthodox members of Judaism and Christianity there is a hatred for anyone and everyone who has not accepted their rabid line of thinking.

It becomes very interesting when you stop to realize that all the religions of the West emanated from a Jew named Abraham, and even the religions of the East (except Hinduism and Buddhism) came from the same patriarch…Abraham of the Old Testament.

To me, it really doesn’t make any difference whether my readers are Jewish, Christian Muslim, etc. My belief is that any person of faith has the right to believe as they wish, but should never become so adamant about their beliefs that they feel they must try and covert others to their way of thinking..

Historically, assuming the Old Testament (or Torah) is reasonably accurate, it all started with Abraham who, ostensibly, was visited by the Archangel Gabriel, and told about the one God who created the Heavens and the Earth. One of Abraham’s "wives" was Hagar who bore him a son named Ishamel. When Sarah, Abraham’s first "wife", became jealous of Hagar, she insisted that Hagar and Ishmael be thrown out of Abraham’s house. Abraham yielded to Sarah’s wishes and Hagar and Ishmael were cast out of Abraham's house.

Hagar and Ishmael trekked across the desert. Ishmael was very intelligent, and he had learned a lot from Abraham who was the greatest religious leader of his time. While trekking across the desert, Ishmael picked up one of the billions of black stones that fleck the white desert. When Ishmael encountered some of the nomadic tribes in the desert, he told them that this black stone was given to him and to Abraham by the Archangel Gabriel and was a holy stone. The simple people of the desert believed him and believed Ishmael to be a holy man.

They fed him, clothed him and gave him gifts

That same black stone now rests in a huge Ark in Mecca and is known as the "Kabba Stone" Every year, millions of Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca to see or be near the "Kabba Stone". Even more important, the people of the desert began to believe that the Archangel Gabriel was the direct link to the one God about whom Abraham had preached.

The story of Passover is beautiful:

Abraham had several other sons (no record is mentioned of his daughters because, at that time, women were only good for child-bearing). Abraham’s favorite son was Joseph. Joseph was such a favored son of Abraham that Abraham’s other sons became very jealous of Joseph. Abraham had a blanket or cloak made just for Joseph. It was distinctive because it was a cloak of many colors. Joseph would tend sheep for his father wearing that cloak.

One night, a passing caravan, enroute to the land called Mitzrayim (now called Egypt), came upon Joseph’s brothers and asked if they had anything to sell. They said they had a slave to sell. Joseph.

The brothers bound Joseph and sold him to the caravan leader. Then they took his many-colored cloak and smeared it with sheep’s blood. They took the cloak to their father and told Abraham that Joseph had been killed and eaten by wolves.

The caravan took Joseph to Mitzrayim (Egypt) where they sold him as a slave. But Joseph had learned much from his religious leader father. Joseph began to tell the other slaves that he could interpret their dreams. Word spread among the slaves that Joseph was a holy man.

Soon, the Pharoh himself summoned Joseph into his presence and asked him to interpret a dream. Joseph told the Pharoh the there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, and convinced the Pharoh to store food andsupplies for the seven years of famine. The Pharoh rewarded Joseph by giving him his freedom and making him the Pharoh’s number-one advisor.

A famine did come to the Middle East and Mitzrayim was the only land prepared for it. Abraham and his family were not prepared for it, so Abraham sent his other sons to Mitzrayim to get food and supplies. They came before Joseph. Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize Joseph. Joseph told them to return to Canaan and come back with their father and his entire family. They did so, and Abraham recognized his son. Joseph forgave his brothers and asked that they all move to the land of Goshen (the most choice land in Mitzrayim). They did so, and at the end of the Book of Genesis all was happy.

But the Pharoh dies and was replaced by another Pharoh. Joseph died and was replaced by another advisor. After two or three generations, the Mitzrayim Pharohs started to ask why the Jews were occupying the best land and the native citizens of Mitzrayim got land that was arrid.. The new Pharohs started to take away the privileges the Jews had enjoyed. Then the Jews were moved from the land of Goshen to arrid, barren land. Finally, the Jews were enslaved by the Pharoh.

It was during the time of forced slavery that (ostensibly) the Pharoh’s daughter found the baby Moses floating in a wicker basket and adopted the baby as her own. Moses grew up as an adopted son of the Pharoh. Somehow Moses learned that he was Jew and was greatly saddened by the plight of his people. He went to the Pharoh and asked him to "Let his people go."

When the Pharoh refused, Moses (ostensibly) asked God to send down some plagues on Mitzrayim: a plague of locusts (frogs), a plague of the rivers turning red with blood, etc. Finally, when the Pharoh continued to refuse to give the Jews their freedom, God (ostensibly) told Moses that He would send the Angel of Death to Mitzrayim and kill the first-born male of every family there. That to protect the Jewish families, the doorway of every house should be marked with the blood of a lamb so that the Angel of Death will know to "Pass Over" that door and not kill the firstborn male child. Thus the name "Passover" was given to commemorate this event.

Whether or not you believe that Moses led his people for forty years to cross the Sinai desert, or whether or not you believe that on this journey Moses found a burning bush where God inscribed the stone tablets known as the Ten Commandments, or whether or not you believe that Moses parted the Red Sea which later swallowed up the pursuing Egyptian army…is not important. People of faith will believe, others will not. What is important is that the story be retold every year as it has been told for thousands of years. The story of Passover, the Ten Commandments, etc, is the very foundation of Judaism.

In the same way, the beautiful story of Easter is told: That after being crucified on the cross, the body of Jesus was placed in a cave. A Roman guard stood watch because (ostensibly) Jesus was a great religious leader and the Romans did not want the "faithful" to try and steal the body. But two days later, the body of Jesus disappeared from the cave and appeared before all of his disciples (the Last Supper) where they shared the Holy Grail which Jesus called his blood and ate of the bread that Jesus called his body. Jesus assured them of a life after death. Easter commemorates the story of Christ’s resurrection and is, to the Christians, the story upon which their religion is based.

So, whether you believe that Moses set his people free and brought down the Ten Commandments from God, whether you believe that Christ was resurrected on Easter, whether you believe the Kabba Stone was given to Ishmael by the Archangel Gabriel…or whether you don’t believe any of it…

If you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim or Atheist, it makes no difference. We all came out of the same womb. Whether you are a person of faith or a complete agnostic. It doesn’t matter. What is important is that the stories and traditions of whatever you believe, be carried on.

Happy Easter and Happy Passover!

Paris Hilton

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:39:50 GMT

MORALITY AND THE LAW XC

By Stephen Ellis

THE MORALITY OF PARIS HILTON

No BLOG this week could be complete unless it discussed the Paris Hilton matter…about her going to jail and all the hullabaloo about Sheriff Lee Baca, Judge Michael Sauer, about her being released from incarceration then being sent back to jail; about the hue and cry of the public regarding “celebrity justice”…

People who read my BLOG regularly know that I frequently take unpopular positions. In this case, I feel that what was done to Hilton is a gross miscarriage of justice.

Having read the comments by the public on AOL about Paris being returned to jail, I find myself completely astonished that people today, in our modern world, have not changed significantly from the citizens of France in the 1790s Revolution where the ”citizens” watched people being taken to the guillotine in carts. The French citizens spat on them, threw rotten fruits and vegetables at them and cheered when the guillotine lopped-off someone’s head. And what crime were these beheaded people guilty of? They were guilty of bring French “aristocrats”. Their only crime was being born into money and position. Their parents or grandparents worked their way up from the ground much as did Conrad Hilton who started the hotel chain. But, they were fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to be born into wealth and, accordingly, society and position.

The comments in the AOL public forum spewed forth the same kind of venom for Paris Hilton: “She thinks she’s better than we are!” “Celebrity justice!” “Let her rot in jail and throw away the key!” “She’s getting special treatment because she’s a Hilton”.

These remarks demonstrate the same level of intelligence used to re-elect George W. Bush. To me, it’s shocking that in more than 200 years, peoples’ minds have not grown significantly. I have no doubt that Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson (to me, the two biggest bigots in the country) will be on TV trying to make it a “race” issue and preaching that Black people in prison don’t get the same treatment as Paris Hilton. Most jail inmates are a “menace to society”. I don’t think Paris Hilton fits that description. I, for one, am proud of the fact that we treat murderers and rapists differently than people who accidentally run a stop sign.

People filled with hatred and jealousy for the rich and famous are society’s “losers”. Not one of the people throwing their literary rotten fruits and vegetables, seems to realize that the sentence cast upon Paris Hilton by Judge Sauer was not for what she did, but because she was Paris Hilton. If Paris Hilton had not been the subject of massive media coverage, her sentence for driving with a .8 alcohol blood level (one Marguerita) would not have been so severe. Every day, first-offenders cited under the DUI laws are given “probation” or “community service”. Even 2nd offenders are frequently given probation with driving restrictions. But Paris Hilton was given a jail sentence as a part of her probation…because she was Paris Hilton and was in the public eye. The court, very reluctantly, allowed her to remain out of jail while on probation.

Then, she did a stupid thing: she drove her car while she was on probation. I can’t count the number of people driving cars on our streets with a suspended license or a license that has been revoked or while on probation. Paris Hilton did not violate any rules of the road but, because she was Paris Hilton, the paparazzi immediately reported to the police that she was driving her vehicle again. The paparazzi had a field day when the police stopped her thanks to the paparazzi having called the police and telling them to “get her”.

The normal penalty for something like that, especially from someone who is not considered to be a danger to others, is to suspend their license for six months or for a year. But not in the case of Paris Hilton. She was sentenced to spend 45 days in jail.

If you want to talk about “celebrity justice”, you’ve got to look at both sides of the coin: sometimes celebrities do get favorable treatment…and sometimes they are punished more because they are celebrities.

Let me make it clear that I am not a Paris Hilton “fan”. I have never met her, nor have I ever communicated with her in any manner whatsoever. I believe her style and mannerisms such as wild partying, dancing on tables, etc. are a terrible example for our youth. But on the other side of the coin, she is an heiress with an outstandingly good entrepreneurial brain: she has converted her status as an heiress into a multi-million dollar enterprise. Even though she will never need the money, to me she has shown an exceptionally keen sense for business. She’s not pretty enough to be a model, nor talented enough to be a movie star…but she has made her name known throughout the world to the point that she has done top-notch modeling jobs, appeared in motion pictures, has a TV series...she even managed to overcome the criticism of her infamous sex tapes.

And that’s why people hate her. She, like the Frenchmen headed to the guillotine, is a highly publicized “aristocrat”. She has demonstrated a level of accomplishment, in the public eye, the guillotine watchers will never achieve.

The mindless people berating her and cheering when the court, effectively, “lopped off her head” are about as poor an example of Americanism as I have ever seen.

CHEATING ON YOUR SPOUSE

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:37:22 GMT

MORALITY AND THE LAW CXLIX

By Stephen Ellis

CHEATING ON YOUR SPOUSE

Nobody asked me, but…

This week, Russia started to bomb Georgia (the nation), the Olympics finally opened in Beijing over violent protests, the Democratic and Republican conventions are doing their last-minute preparations for the most important presidential election in history…and what are the headlines? “John Edwards Cheats on His Wife”!

It would be completely laughable in any country…except the USA.

In my opinion, the morality of this country is no better than the morality of Iran or Iraq: Like us, those countries have their moral standards set by the extreme religious right. Granted, we don’t preach that everyone who does not think like us should be killed…or that a woman who has sexual relations with someone not her husband should be stoned to death in public…but aren’t we stoning people to death in a less barbaric fashion? Was the impeachment of Bill Clinton anything less than being stoned for his fling with Monica Lewinsky? Was the public ostracizing of Jesse Jackson or Jimmy Swaggert for having had an extra marital affair any less than public stoning?

Personally, I couldn’t care less about the personal life of John Edwards, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, or JFK. What they do/did in their personal life has no bearing, whatsoever, on their ability to run the country or pass good legislation. What you do behind closed doors is your business and not the public’s business. When the puritanical religious-right talks about how much Edwards has demeaned his cancer-ridden wife or his children, that’s no one’s business except the family involved.

Marriage comesin all shapes and sizes. Each couple determines whether they want fidelity, an “open” marriage (where the husband and the wife, by agreement, bed down with others and even partake in sex orgies), or some variation of either or both. But that’s their business and not the public’s. There are families where every imaginable relationship exists between the parties…and it’s nobody’s business but theirs and their family’s.

It is only the religious-right that calls these things “wrong” or “against the will of God” and condemns you to damnation for doing them.

First of all, contrary to what anyone in the religious-right will tell you, marriage is not a God-sanctioned union of two people. If you read the Old Testament, it never says that two people were married in the eyes of God. It always says that the man took the woman “to wife”. What that meant was that he allowed a woman to share his bed and bear his children. Remember, in biblical times, women were little more than “chattels” and had no rights to speak of. In fourth century Rome, when the Christians were trying to elevate the power granted to them by Constantine the Great, they came up with the idea that if they could find a way to control the natural instincts of people, they could gain unlimited power. They started teaching that God does not want men and women to enjoy sex unless it is blessed by God. Thus “marriage” as we know it, was born.

“Marriage” is the joining together of two willing people to become “partners” in life. Of course sex and child-rearing is a big part of that, but there are many who choose not to have children…or who choose to have multiple sex partners…or who opt not to have a sexual relationship. That’s their business and not the business of a free

press.

“But”, cry the political assassins, “He lied to us about it!”

Lying is one of those things that we all do to a lesser or greater degree. Telling your wife she does not look fat in her blue dress is significantly different than trying to pass-off a piece of glass as a diamond in a jewelry store or, more to the point, telling people who believe in you that we have to go to war with a foreign nation because they are stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. At best, lying is rarely a good thing and requires a better memory than mine. It’s always embarrassing to be caught in a lie. There are numerous “white lies” like making an excuse not to go to dinner with someone when the truth is you think their company is “boring”. Lying about extra marital affairs is commonplace and does no harm to anyone except the immediate family involved… except, of course, when the religious-right gets hold of it.

Do you know any rock stars or movie stars? If you do, you know that they are surrounded by groupies that will do anything imaginable with or for their idols. These “stars” are famous, they are usually rich and usually good-looking. While people like you and me have to win-over our female companions, the females are, literally, crawling all over them. It has to make them feel “special” and even “superior” to guys like myself…and constantly resisting the open pressure of these females for your body is difficult for any man..

Now go one step further. People like John Edwards, Bill Clinton and JFK are not only very rich, famous and good-looking…they are also extremely powerful people, and they attract women like honey attracts flies. The pressure on them to remain faithful to their spouses is far greater than a normal man faces…and a wife has to recognize this. How the two of them handle it is their business and only their business and should never become public fodder.

I think that the way John Edwards cheated on his wife while she was going for cancer treatments is about as rotten as can be. But…it’s really none of my business.

As I said…nobody asked me.

WAKING UP OILY

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:50:14 GMT

MORALITY AND THE LAW CXLVIII

By Stephen Ellis

ARE WE WAKING-UP OILY ENOUGH?

Nobody asked me, but…

Isn’t it time we took some action against our oil companies? Exxon-Mobil reported a quarterly profit of more than three billion dollars. That equates to more than a billion dollars per month in profits. Please don’t forget that “profits” are after all expenses, salaries, investments for exploration, etc. have been paid.

I’m a firm believer in private enterprise…the capitalistic system of economy…but these numbers are absolute obscene!

While the rest of the nation is suffering with a shaky economy, unemployment is at its highest rate in more than ten years, our automobile industry is teetering, and there are a record number of foreclosures on homes….Exxon-Mobil and other major oil companies are virtually swimming in oil profits…stolen from us at the gas pumps.

Why? Because the people of this country were stupid enough to re-elect George W. Bush…a Texas oil man with a family that controls several of the major oil sources in the world…that’s “why”. Frankly, I think our President and Vice President should be arrested and charged with defrauding the people of this nation…for consistently lying to the people…for sending our boys to die in Iraq so they could get more control of oil. Bush and Cheney aren’t concerned about this possibility because the Attorney General is “their man” and serves at the will of President. The Attorney General is the only one who can bring such charges. Bush and Cheney also directed the Republican Congress to change the laws so that this blatant abuse of the public by the President and Vice President can continue.

Now, with his eight-year slaughter of the American economy coming to an end, Bush has made a couple of good suggestions to try and make some amends: one of them is Bush’s new position that the laws preventing oil exploration offshore and in the USA be changed and that oil drilling be allowed.

Stupidity runs absolutely rampant in our Congress. Our Democratic Congress is vehemently opposing this because the suggestion came from a Republican President. Our Congress is using the meaningless slogan of “green planet” to block any oil drilling in the USA…or offshore. The USA is sitting on one of the world’s largest pools of oil. The Mexicans are slant drilling under our soil to get our oil. The Canadians are slant drilling under our soil to get our oil…and selling it back to us. USA oil is abundant and everyone is profiting from it except the USA. Our worst president in history has finally decided to do something good…and our Democratic Congress is not only blocking it, formerly good Senators like Barbara Boxer are spending millions of dollars to convince the nation that oil drilling is “bad” and trying to get the people of this nation to sign a petition to prevent it. Well if the people were dumb enough to re-elect Bush, I guess they will be dumb enough to sign Boxer’s petition.

Let’s face some simple facts: While it is true that there have been some oil-spillage from offshore rigs in the past thirty years…the technology has improved to the point that the only spills come from the oldest rigs. Oil drilling technology has improved to the point that while accidents may still happen, they are highly unlikely and will be extremely few and far-between.

In another surprisingly good move, Bush has just recently tried to lift the ban on the building of nuclear energy plants…again opposed by our Democratic Congress because it was a Republican suggestion, and again is being blocked by our brilliant Congress because the members of Congress are campaigning for re-election on the “green planet” slogan.

Like oil drilling, nuclear energy plants have advanced technology far beyond those of the Three Mile Island or Chernobyl plants. Nuclear energy plants are clean, efficient , “green” and are being effectively used all around the world…except in the USA…to decrease dependency on oil. The so-called problem of nuclear waste has solved itself in that most nuclear waste is now being used efficiently in newer technologies.

Of course there are still other sources of energy like water-power, geothermal energy, wind, hydrogen technology, solar energy, etc. But these sources have been “talked-about” for almost fifty years and very little, if anything, has been done about them…primarily because our billion dollar a month profitable oil companies have blocked and slowed down work on these other sources of energy. Don’t believe the millions of dollars the oil companies are spending on TV ads to show how they are seeking other sources of energy. Its only pennies from their billion dollars a month in profits…and it’s simply another way to “con” the American public…again!

As I said…nobody asked me.

Danger From the MIddle East

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:11:13 GMT

MORALITY AND THE LAW CXLVII

By Stephen Ellis

THE ISLAMIC THREAT

Nobody asked me, but…

There has been a lot of criticism from readers because of the harsh stance I’ve taken in several of my blogs concerning what I call “The Islamic Threat”. Unfortunately, as has been the case with many things I’ve written about, the warnings that I have given in the past have come to pass and/or are now coming to pass.

The biggest mistake my readers make is that they believe I am “profiling” a religion that teaches “love” and “peace”, and that I am planting the seeds of “fear” in my readers without any true justification.

Make no mistake about it: If the Muslim religions (yes, there are more than one) followed the teachings of their bible, the Koran (Q’ran), it would be a beautiful thing. A couple of exceptions that I’ll mention, but generally, the teachings of Muhammad were intended to create a loving and beautiful religion that would help all the natives of the Islamic countries.

The problem is that most Muslims are content to let their radical Clerics and leaders make all the decisions…while they sit back and do nothing to stop the insanity. It is the radicals that are running the country…forming the militias, butchering Jews and Christians throughout the world, sending rockets into neighboring countries…and the masses of Islamic citizens do nothing about it….because, after all, they are not the ones being targeted…or so they think.

Look at Nazi Germany: The Brown Shirted followers of Adolph Hitler were less than 5% of the German population. But as Hitler’s power grew in Germany…millions of people who had been content with their lives began to believe the lies…and followed Hitler’s perverted leadership. In the Ottoman Empire, the warring leadership was less than 2% of the population…but as they grew in strength, the peaceful citizens started to follow. I could list the Inquisition in Spain, the Grand Mufti of Palestine…or to bring it up to date, the Al Fatah or Hezbolah in the Middle East and the totally radical leaders of Iran…not to mention the radical Clerics of Iraq. There are an endless number of radicals who have complete disregard for human life…and in most cases they base their rabble-rousing arguments on “the word of God”….their God!

A simple example: The Koran says that anyone who does not believe that Allah is the only God and that Muhammad is his only Prophet shall be called “Infidels” and should be shunned. Only the radical Islamic Clerics believe and teach their ignorant followers that the term “shunned” means “killed or destroyed”. On that basis, radical Muslims rose up in Lebanon and slaughtered approximately 100,000 Christians… just because they were “Infidels”.

The Muslin Clerics do not stop there. There are some minor differences in the Shia and the Sunni branches ofIslam relating back to who was empowered to take-over the religion when Muhammad died. This was really an exceptionally minor thing…but the radical Shia Clerics have taught their followers that all Sunnis are infidels and must be destroyed…and the radical Sunni Clerics teach the same thing about Shia Muslems.

Don’t take it lightly. They will eventually kill themselves off, but they will take millions of innocents with them. Be forewarned, there is immense trouble brewing in the Middle East and, while I hate war, a pre-emptive strike or two may save millions of lives.

Right now Iran is very busy enriching uranium. They say it’s for peaceful purposes to provide energy for their country. Baloney! Iran has more than enough oil to provide them with all their energy needs for a thousand years to come. They want nuclear research for only one purpose: to build a nuclear weapon. And, if they are not stopped, who do you think they will use it on? On the “infidels” in Israel! They don’t care if Israel retaliates and flattens their country to the ground. Their thinking is that there will be some survivors who will repopulate their country.

Judaism and Christianity are little better: The four Christian Crusades were made up of masses of armies determined to exterminate every non-Christian in the world. About the only significant difference between Judaism, Christianity and Islam is that the Jews and the Christians (for the most part) have learned that you gain nothing by force…although some of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank were created by the use of force.

I do not care what religious beliefs anyone has, how they practice it, etc. I get disturbed when some religions (and divisions of religions) say that their way is the only way to believe or act. I guarantee you, it is not!

My blogs have long advocated that each of us has a “soul” or an “aura” about them that does not die; that our travels on this Earth are not the only or last stop we are going to make in our lives. I guess I won’t know for sure until my time comes to leave this Earth…but let me put it this way: I’m betting everything I have that I’m right…because if I’m wrong, I’ll never know I lost the bet.

As I said…nobody asked me.

THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR ECONOMY

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:44:20 GMT

MORALITY AND THE LAW CXLVI

By Stephen Ellis

THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR ECNOMY

Nobody asked me, but…

Every day, without exception, I either read some economic pundit’s theory about what’s happening to our economy or hear about it on the radio or the TV news. The problem is that many of these so-called pundits don’t know what they’re talking about. They take a position based on “belief” and then try to justify it with a lot of statistics.

Probably the most evident example of this is Fed Chairman Ben Bernake: He has a list of credentials a mile long (so do all the pundits), but even an untrained person can see that Bernake pales in comparison with his predecessor, Alan Greenspan. Greenspan kept our economy balanced despite the chaos caused by President Bush. But, under Bernake, the nation’s economy is reeling.

It’ s difficult to separate fact from fiction, but I’m going to try and do it in a way that most people will understand:

The economy of our nation is bad straits right now…not “desperate” straits, but, nevertheless, “bad”. This is caused primarily from speculation in oil futures driving the price of oil through the roof. What the skyrocketing oil prices have done is (a) make the cost of transportation prohibitive, (b)makes bringing food and other supplies to the market more expensive, (c) makes companies that rely on oil-energy reduce costs and start laying-off people which increases unemployment, (d) puts airlines on the verge of bankruptcy, (e) makes homes that are distant from the workplace lose values…because who wants to drive for an hour each way or spend a hundred dollars to fill their car with gas. There are other damages from the high price of oil, but they are too numerous to detail in one blog.

One bright spot: the oil “bubble” may have burst (as I foretold three months ago). If the speculators cannot force the price of oil upwards, oil may slide down faster than it rose. Here’s hoping!

The second cause of our economic problems is the greed of real estate speculators. No bank in its right mind would lend someone 100% or 110% of the cost to purchase a home. But the pressure was put on them by large real estate developers who had overbuilt and needed to get rid of their houses, so they made “side-deals” with big mortgage lenders just to get rid of their overbuilt properties. Some of the results of this are (a) increasingly high unemployment numbers in the construction business and in the real estate business, (b) banks who put these sub-prime or questionable loans into their portfolio find themselves short of the reserve requirements of the Federal Reserve Bank and cannot continue to stand, (c) banks become saddled with foreclosed homes that are worth less than the amount they loaned on them (d) the high numbers of foreclosures depress the entire real estate market so that all home prices suffer, (e) the lenders put new stupidly high, restrictions of new loans so that even people with good qualifications who want to buy a home and could normally afford to buy a home, can’t afford the new down payment requirements of 25% or 35%. Again, there are more problems, but they are too numerous to detail here.

One bright spot: The numbers of homes being foreclosed on has dropped significantly in the last 30 days and the government may step in to help some of those who are facing possible foreclosure. When the bargain-hunters get their fill of the foreclosed homes, the market will start to normalize; construction will again incrrease. I believe the sub-prime foreclosures have started to bottom-out, and the market will start to rebuild itself to a more normal level…as soon as the lenders get off their high-horses and start making normal mortgage loans again (good credit and 10% cash down payment…no more “creative” financing).

Finally, the third major problem is the spending (for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) and the spending via pork-barrel politics that far exceeds this nation’s income. To meet this nation’s obligations, the Federal Reserve has to print and issue more money…making the dollar cheaper, and having a spiraling affect on the cost of imported goods (mostly oil). The only solution to this, in my opinion, is to bring in a new administration in November. Maybe, if the dollar-bleeding can’t be stopped, it can be slowed-down to the point where we can start to reduce our national debt and our dollar will start to get stronger.

As I said, nobody asked me…

IRAN IS EXPLOSIVE

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:36:39 GMT

MORALITY AND THE LAW CXLV

By Stephen Ellis

A CIVIL LAWSUIT – The conclusion

Nobody asked me, but…

There has been so much reader inquiry as to how my civil lawsuit turned out, that I feel obligated to inform you of the results although there are things of much greater importance going on in the world.

Previously, my blog had detailed the misery and expense my wife and I had gone through leading up to the trial date. After numerous delays, the trial finally got started on July 7, 2008. As a reminder, this case is about a couple and their realtor who had sold us a house and intentionally failed to disclose that there has been two landslides directly above the house we bought. On the first day of the trial, the Judge wanted one more crack at trying to settle the case. We had lost more than $800,000 as a result of the sellers’ failure to disclose.

The judge told us candidly, that because our “expert-witnesses” did not agree on the amount the house should have sold for when we bought it had we known about the landslides, the absolutely “most” we could expect in a verdict would be about $500,000 (a $300,000 loss to my wife and me). Then he explained that the judgment would have to be apportioned among both defendants: 40% to the sellers and 60% to the real estate agent. But, since the sellers had no money, we might as well write-off the 40% from the sellers. The Judge also told us that our claim for $150,000 in attorney fees was also valid only against the sellers…so we should write that off, too. He said we would probably get a judgment for $300,000 against the real estate company. BUT…the real estate company (a national giant) would probably appeal the verdict which would take an additional two years and cost an additional $100,000 in attorney fees…AND...there is a chance the Court of Appeal may overturn the verdict and send it back for a new trial. The real estate company offered close to $200,000to settle the case, and my wife and I figured let’s just accept it and move on with our lives.

The moral of this story is that even when you’ve been blatantly cheated, you’re better-off taking your shoe and hitting the cheaters with it rather than filing a lawsuit. Stay away from lawsuits. The only people who ever win are the lawyers.

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

Iran’s testing of some short-range and intermediate range missiles has really sent some chills up my spine. Iran is publicly announcing that they have the ability to fire missiles into Israel. If and when they complete their nuclear enrichment procedures, it means that they will have the ability to send nuclear missiles into Israel.

Will they do it?

Remember, Israel also has nuclear arsenal and an accurate missile system. If Iran decides to send some nuclear missiles into Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, I can guarantee you that a rainstorm of nuclear missiles will be sent into Iran from Israel, probably destroying 70% of Iran’s population. The sad thing is that the leadership in Iran doesn’t care! Human life appears to have little or no meaning to fundamentalist Muslims who figure that whoever is left can repopulate the world. They truly believe that all Muslims killed by infidels (non-believers) will be rewarded in Muslim Heaven. Yes…they are that naive and stupid!

Will it bring the USA into it? You bet! In fact, it has become pretty evident that George W. Bush is already planning some sort of a pre-emptive strike on Iran to damage Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities.

You would think, after the lessons learned in Iraq, Afghanistan and Viet Nam, that we would know that a show of military power doesn't scare anyone. And, Iran would respond by shutting-down all oil-flow to the West. If you think the price of oil and gasoline is high now, just wait to see what happens if and when Iran’s oil-flow is shut down. The economy of the entire world will be headed for total chaos.

And what about Israel? Are they supposed to just sit there and twiddle their thumbs while a nation sworn to their extermination prepares for nuclear war? A pre-emptive air strike on Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities by Israel may defer a nuclear war, but it would instantly shut-down the oil-flow to the West from Iran.

This is a time for intelligent people to sit-down and work out solutions…but who have we got? George W. Bush? Condoleeza Rice? Vladimir Putin? Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad ? The lack of ability of the word’s leaders to think and act in a reasonable or prudent manner is absolutely frightening.

How about economic sanctions on Iran from the UN? Not a chance! China sits on the Security Council and China’s primary source of oil is Iran and China is now the second only to the USA in its need for oil.

There are some possible answers, and I’ll talk about them next week.

As I said...nobody asked me...