A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry “Vote ‘em out…” You know as you get older you start to notice things you probably overlooked in your younger years. Things like better offers on the things you buy if you were a first time user. You know what I mean, you sign up for a cell phone at ‘X’ dollars a month…..then after you’ve had it a couple of years, you see a new ad on TV for the same service but way cheaper than what you are paying, but the catch is …you have to be a ‘new’ user. So, in some cases it actually makes sense to cancel your existing contract and start a new one for the better rate. It used to hack me when I would see insurance rates from my broker that were cheaper than I was paying. If I asked the broker I’d get told that this was their current rate and oh, yes they would lower mine…now that I asked. The problem as far as I was concerned was that I had to ask. No one offered these deals to me before I asked. They didn’t seem to be looking out after me. Well, friends it seems as if we have the same thing going on in the nation’s capital doesn’t it? For the past couple of years the majority of Americans have been concerned over our rising national debt, the annual deficient, out of control spending and how can we get our economy back on track. Voters on November 2nd are expected to express their anger with the size and scope of our government and with their elected representatives. Most Americans feel as if their elected officials do nothing but pay lip service to their constituents when it comes to our concerns. The average voter is treated as a third class person not worthy of notice or concern by those inside the Beltway. Yesterday the following was released by the White House: The president has signaled that at the start of the New Year, he will speak more directly to the country about the financial choices ahead. "If we're going to get serious about the deficit, then we're going to have to look at everything: entitlements, defense spending, and revenues. ... And that's going to be a tough conversation," he said. You think? Why weren’t they (both parties) doing this all along? They didn’t seem to be looking out for any of us, were they? Why weren’t they looking at runaway spending? Why weren’t they looking at defense cost overruns and more efficiency in the branches? Why weren’t they weeding out governmental corruption? Why weren’t they concerned over bloated programs that produce little, but cost much? Why weren’t they concerned over self serving members cutting ‘insider’ deals? Because they didn’t care…did they? Now, with the midterm elections right around the corner, we are hearing the cries of ‘reform’….’reform’….and we are expected to vote the same tired old politicians who refused to listen to us as they cling to their plush jobs which might be slipping away. This is not strictly a democratic party problem, no this is a problem for both parties. This is a problem of too little, too late and of lies, deceit and arrogance on the part of the elite elect. Their distain for the ‘common voter’ shows in their interviews and ‘off the record’ conversations. Well, you know what? The time for playing games is over. The time to change the forces that don’t look after us to someone who does is almost here. You need to vote, you need to make certain your children vote, and your neighbors and your grandmother. Everyone needs to vote. You have no right to complain if you don’t. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry “It’s Alive…It’s Alive..” To start us off this week, I offer the following quote : "The problem is, and always has been, that once government programs and agencies are created, they quickly become sacrosanct and virtually impossible to destroy. As Ronald Reagan said, 'Government programs, once launched, never disappear ... a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!' So it doesn't matter that the Department of Education doesn't educate, or that the Department of Energy doesn't produce energy. It's government and, thus, by definition good in the minds of the Washington establishment." --columnist Cal Thomas Truer words were never spoken. One has to wonder if anyone, anyone out there has a complete understanding of just how many agencies are in our government? Or better yet, what the functions and annual progress indices are for any of these agencies. I was surfing the internet the other day and ran across an interesting federal agency called the FLC. Never heard of it? No wonder, here is a description of what it is and what it does: “The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is the nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace.” I’m certain this made you feel better didn’t it? How many government employees are working at this place? What is their budget and what do they produce or accomplish? How can we find out if we wanted to do so? You can’t look at their website and see any of this information. Public companies post this kind of information on their annual reports and websites for the entire world to see, but I bet you’d have to file a freedom of information request to see anything about this agency. I realize my question might be broad, but private enterprise companies are judged based upon their annual performance. Generally this consists of something as simple as …did we bring in more revenue than we spent in expenses? It’s all fine to discuss such things as these next couple of items (from their mission statement): · Promote and facilitate the full range of technical cooperation between the federal laboratories and America's large and small businesses, academia, state and local governments, and federal agencies. · Provide direct services to member laboratories and agencies in support of their technology transfer efforts. · Enhance efforts that couple federal laboratories with American industry and small businesses to strengthen the nation's economic competitiveness. But my question is how much actually got accomplished in any given year to improve the gross domestic product of this nation by increasing any one business segment? If you are spending millions each year and have no quantitative method of assessing your effectiveness, then what is the purpose of your existence in the first place? How many agencies such as this one do we have in this country? Who reviews them after they have been completed to determine if they are really making any headway with their programs or are they just engaging in pointless watermelon talk? Watermelon talk is a local term for; well you know what it is, don’t you? I once bid on a government contracting job that employed about 50 people and had a budget of several million a year. My bid came in at about ½ the cost and used about ½ the number of employees. The bid was rejected and the entire process stayed with the municipality. In an after action meeting I inquired why the government needed twice as many employees as it would take for me to do the job. Their answer was that the government supervisors kept asking for more employees to get the job done on time. No one had ever asked if the employees were being efficient with their time (they weren’t) or if the processes could have been improved upon (it could have been) or was anyone actually looking at performance on a regular basis (no one was) so their budget requirements keep being increased year after year. If you and I ran a private business the same way the government runs their business, we would have been broke a long time ago. But then isn’t that the current status of our national debt? Fiscal responsibility should be more than an election year slogan; it should be a mission statement. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry “Talking out of both sides of their mouths” The Boston tea party of 1773 was committed by a group of angry colonists disguised as Indians or Native Americans… if I need to be politically correct. These die hard citizens were rightfully disturbed over the increase in taxation from England along with a host of other unwelcomed rules and regulations. As you know from history, this is one of the pivotal events leading up to the Revolutionary War and the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign country. It now seems as if history is once again repeating itself by the creation of a new, but different tea party in our country. This time it is somewhat different from the first one. Tea party opponents try to uncover the so called ‘disguise’ of the members of this new political movement and seem to be stumped because they cannot find its core or even its leaders. It’s almost as if all of the members are still disguised and are hidden from view. In the minds of those opposed to the tea party concept, the members of the tea party are still running around refusing to show their true identities. Nothing could be further from the truth. What’s humorous about this situation is that none of the members are hidden at all; no …they are all in plain sight and walking freely among us. They are simply us. They are our neighbors, our relatives and our friends. They come from all walks of life and are members of all political parties. They are not hiding at all, which is what makes their detection all that more difficult. I say again….History repeats itself. It is not uncommon for those in opposition to something to put labels and disparage any form of things unknown. In this instance the tea party movement to the established political parties (of both major parties) is an unknown. The major parties simply do not know how to react to a grass roots movement that has only been in existence for a short time and has no central leadership or even organization behind it. They keep looking for something that does not exist. It simply is what it is. This, as you might well imagine seems baffling to career politicians. They are used to everything being done on a quid pro quo basis. The theory that you would actually do something or be a part of something without having some sort of ulterior motive is beyond their normal range of comprehension. You and I both have witnessed our elected representatives going at each other tooth and nail at 10am and then praising each other at cocktail parties at 10pm. All in a days work for them. Their lives are lives of compromise and give and take depending upon what each one of them can give or take. From what I’ve seen, very little consideration is given to those of us who have voted to send someone to Congress to work on our behalf. No, the normal behavior is to do what works for their purposes and then if there is anything left over for us then it may or may not trickle down to our level. Is it any wonder that the average American is sick and tired of this farce and is now ready for some real changes, not just the same old tired campaign slogans we have been hearing for years and years? We all know the potholes and roads get fixed just before elections, but what about all the rest of the time? Why can’t our government be more responsive to our nation’s ills and problems when there is no election to be considered? No, our problem is that since the 1700’s our nation has become more and more diverse and in an effort to win the hearts and minds of voters, the politicians have tried their best to carve out a piece of the pie for each individual group. Our growth over these past 200 plus years makes that almost impossible. We are too complicated and diverse to tailor our government so that each and every one of our needs is addressed by the state. Perhaps it was possible in 1773, but certainly it isn’t possible now. We need to get back to basics and address the issues that are of concern to all of us, not just a few. The sole purpose, in my opinion, of the rise of the tea party movement is to unite people across this land who are seeking the solutions to our common problems. The unity being expressed by the growth of this movement should be applauded and encouraged, not spoken about as if it were a secret society. It is no secret; it is the will of the people. It was no different in Boston in 1773. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com) ‘Run…the voters are after us!!!!!’ I suppose I’m just naïve or something, but I always thought being a member of the United States Congress was an honorable position and one we should all look up to for guidance and inspiration. Having said that, I’m of the opinion that those who run away from adversity and challenges are often called by less than inspirational names….such as cowards or ‘yellow’ or shirkers or (and I love this old word)…a poltroon. So as in the course of any major military battle, since recorded history began, the commanding force that ran from the challenge at hand was deemed to be cowardly due to their actions. Thus we can safely attach that same label to any and all who shirk from their respective responsibilities, can’t we? Obviously, there is a point to all of this bit of explanation… and that is to illustrate the actions of our current federal congress that recently fled the nation’s capital leaving a multitude of tasks unfinished. Several members advised that the session had … ‘just ran out of time’… before the fall break. Small wonder that they didn’t have time to convene on really important national items, but did manage to allocate forty minutes of their time towards considering whether or not to recognize the Washington Stealth Lacrosse team for its winning season. Nothing against a winning team, but I do think we have larger fish to fry, don’t you? So, the Congress packed up its bags and quietly slunk out of town and back home for the remaining few weeks before the 2010 mid term elections. Or perhaps hop on another taxpayer funder junket to Paris (for info on the Islamic world), Dublin (Information on US/Russian relations) or Punta de Mita Resort in Mexico (for conference on South American policies). Oh and be sure and invite your spouse, since they come in handy at the embassy parties given in your honor. At taxpayer expense, naturally. What a wonderful life they have. Great benefits, excellent retirement options, good travel, better than average pay, lengthy vacations and multiple opportunities for private enterprise all at someone else’s expense. All you have to do is make big promises and get yourself elected, then make more promises to get reelected…..do this a number of times and you are on easy street for the remainder of your life. Of course every once in awhile some of those nasty old voters may want to bring you to task for running away from the very things they elected you to do for them. Such as you did this past week, when you left town before you: Told anyone how you would vote on the upcoming decision to extend or deny the Bush tax credits (due to expire on December 31st)Enacted and passed a budget for the forthcoming year. Choosing instead to just vote on a stopgap measure for the next two months.Failed to consider ethics charges against two house members who are up for re-election as the outcome of their trial might endanger their reelection chances. (You think?) These items as well as slew of others just as important were left hanging until after the mid term elections. So none of us in this country actually know what our budget is going to be or what our tax rates will be until after we elect or not elect those who were sworn to represent us. A fine kettle of fish this is. The entire country is basically frozen in place, afraid to jump in any direction because no one knows what the Congress is going to do….and they won’t tell us. No sane business man or woman wants to lay their lives and fortunes on the line by building a new plant or facility and hiring more workers without being able to calculate their overhead costs. Who can tell me right now what any healthcare plan for any of my current employees or future employees will be or might be? No one, that’s who. Who can tell me what my taxes will be in the coming year? No one, that’s who. Who can tell me if the person I vote for will even be my representative (if mine is one of those currently involved in the ethics investigation) after their ethics trials are held? No one, that’s who. Run, run away and keep on going…..then perhaps we can elect honest and responsible people to look after our affairs after you are long gone. Good riddance and don’t come back. We don’t need cowards, we need real Americans. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com) “Send in the clowns……” I really must make it a point next week to run down (not literally) my postman (post-person? postal employee?) and ask him (her? or whatever) what happened to my application for benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Family Program. Surely it must be stuck in their (his, hers, whatever) mail sack or bag or whatever they call the thing they use to carry the mail. Forgive me if I am not PC enough to get all of the terminology correct, I’m doing the best I can. You didn’t get your notice either? What’s up with this? Maybe we were absent the day the notice went out…..you think? Not surprising, no one in our neck of the woods has heard of it either. It must be some sort of regional program. A little bit of explanation. The Temporary Assistance….let’s just call it the TANF program was part of the stimulus program enacted last year. It was designed to provide some benefits and assistance to our citizens who were attempting to obtain government jobs. So, included in last years stimulus package was this little noticed program which has doled out over 4.3 billion bucks to some 120,000 of our citizens. Lucky them. Don’t bother to get your calculator out, I’ll do it for you, it comes out to a little over $40,000 per person. Here’s what the money was to be used for: Basic assistance- (I could have used this and you probably could as well) I suppose that’s for food, gasoline, tires, clothes, a new flat screen TV…you know all of the things that we need to live on….doesn’t seem to be many restrictions or definition as to exactly what the word ‘basic’ actually means…but those are detail and who cares about details when you are handing our free money? Emergency expenses-(I could have used this and you probably could as well) this money was to go for such things as rent and utilities. I have those. I could have used money for this. Especially if it was free. My electricity bill is way too high, and if the Queen of England is trying to get her light bill partially paid for by the government, why shouldn’t I? I wonder if she remembers to turn out the lights in her castles as she moves from room to room? Probably not. Subsidize payroll on jobs- (I could have used this and you probably could as well)...this is a great way to spend government funds. You just go into the private sector and pay for a certain portion of an employer’s payroll. Talk about a boost to the economy. Why the governor of Mississippi (a republican... no less) says it helped his state keep 3,200 jobs. All an employer had to do was keep the person on the payroll for at least six months. What a deal. I really like this one the best. Let’s say I’m in the construction business and you own another company and we are both bidding on a contract. You, poor fellow, did not get notice of the subsidy program, so shame on you. If some portion of my labor costs are being subsidized by this government program, whose bid is probably going to come in lower? I know you readers, you can figure this out. Why… it would probably be mine since I have lower cost associated with the project. I win; you lose…thanks to Uncle Sam and this wonderful free money. Free money….? Would someone, anyone be kind enough to explain to me where this free money actually comes from in the first place? Is this the model of efficiency we need for economic growth in this country? Unfair competition for some, but not all? Federal programs being instituted to a select few who just happen to be on the inside and being made aware of what is available? I know, the naysayers will say that we all can look for these programs, they are open to everyone. You just have to know how to look. Sorry, but I don’t have time to look…I’m too busy working to pay my utility bills, my mortgage and taxes so you guys in congress can give away more money or pay for clowns like Steven Colbert to entertain you for a day. At least he is honest enough to admit he is a clown, none of you people will do so. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com)

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com) “All of me…why not take all of me?” My reading habits range all over the place. I tend to stick with history but I’ll get into some period and stay there until I can take no more. In the past I’ve ranged through Caesar, American Indians, Mexico, the Civil War, World War II, you name it and I’ve probably read about it at one time or another. Right now, I’m into the French Revolution. Or I should say I’m about out of the French Revolution. There is just so much you can cram into your head at one time about this period in time. I’ve had enough of Louis XVI’s last moments, but then again I’m sure they were painful for him as well. What is of interest to me about this era is that the following was occurring in France when the revolution got started: high unemploymentmassive government debtno representation of the people in government affairsdisregard of the laws by government officialscorruption by government officialspoor economyrepeated lies concerning the economy spread by the governmentinept finance ministers Now, consider that this was in the late 1700’s. Sound familiar? I thought you might. I do not advocate the extremes which were displayed in France during the revolution, but you can certainly understand the anger of the French people who basically saw themselves as being shut out of life’s little pleasures by a overbearing and insensitive government. Having one set of laws for the wealthy and the clergy and another set for the common people would tend to make anyone question the true value of any government, whether it was two hundred years ago or today. Which is my point today. Here we are in a terrible recession, which by the way, has ended according to the reports put out yesterday. According to the latest information from the White House, we are all much better off than we realize. I suppose they think we’re all just too stupid to know the price of bread…oh wait that was in 1789, not 2010….my bad. Millions of us are without any jobs or any hope of securing a job. The unemployment figures do not represent the total number of Americans without work since they do not track those who have given up their job searches entirely. Then we suffer the indignity of having (positive) figures reported to us with great fanfare and then changed to true (negative) numbers months later. As if no one would know or remember. So now we are faced with a dilemma, raise taxes or cut expenses. In the past this wasn’t much of an issue since our congress (both democrats and republican) just raised taxes as if there was no tomorrow. Tomorrow is arriving and we cannot support the debt with our present economy. We must make clear, decisive decisions and do so now. Budget reduction does not mean a reduction in your annual budget request over your budget request from last year. It means making do with less money than you did last year. It means cutting costs and becoming more efficient. It means it’s time to get serious. The tax man cannot keep coming forever. At some point in time everyone will run out of steam and revert back to self preservation and individual substance. Google up ‘survival food’ if you doubt what I am saying. Time will out as to whether or not our elected officials pay any attention to us. My gut feeling is that they won’t. They seem to say the correct things in order to get elected, and then go their own way once they are ushered into their offices. It was happening in ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, pre-revolutionary France and is going on today in our country. Unless we take more time to choose our elected representation than we do what we watch on television we will never escape this downward spiral of our society. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com) “Coming soon….tax on air!!!!” Every day in this country brings us new joy, doesn’t it? You can never say you are bored with what our government is doing to us on a daily basis can you? Most of the things that will apply to each and every one of us are hidden somewhere in some sort of legislation that gets passed and put into effect without any input or commentary by any of us poor working stiffs. So, we are expected to be cheerful and sing as we trudge off to the mines each day, hi-ho, hi-ho it’s off to work with go. Sometimes I begin to believe our elected officials really think all of us will get our greatest rewards when we die rather than anytime we may have here on planet Earth. Why should we have any pleasure or fun? They seem to revel in theft, corruption and just plain stupidity each and every day of the week. Hardly a day goes by that we do not hear of some legislator in some part of the country caught again with their hand in our cookie jar. I don’t know about you, but frankly I’m sick of hearing elected officials tell us that … ‘The rules weren’t clear’ or ‘ I didn’t understand that stealing was not allowed…’ We aren’t dealing with second graders here, we are dealing with grown men and women who supposedly are astute enough to get elected and placed into positions of trust to represent our interests, not their own. Well, enough about this issue….. Let’s talk about taxes. Several items have been brought to my mind this past week. One is the tax on gasoline. Most of the state governments as well as the federal government are talking about raising the tax on a gallon of gasoline. Why? Well it’s very simple, see we are driving less as well as buying vehicles that get better gas mileage than they used to do so the total amount of gasoline being consumed is actually going down due to our being more efficient. You’d think this was a good thing, wouldn’t you? But no, the government (both local and federal) see tax revenues declining due to our being more efficient and therefore they need to increase the amount of tax to equal the revenue they once were receiving. So, using this analogy I suppose when we are able to buy vehicles that get 100 miles to the gallon, we will be paying more in taxes since the government still needs the revenue. Sounds right to me, how about you? The same explanation is going for our electricity providers who are seeing a reduction in total usage due to better insulation and more energy saving appliances. Got to keep those tax revenues up no matter how efficient we become. Reduction of governmental expense seems to be a foreign concept, doesn’t it? If you want to look at a harbinger of what could happen in this country you should study the current economic conditions taking place in Greece. This country is in serious trouble and the future doesn’t look well for them any way they go. If they cut government spending in order to reduce their debt, then tax revenues will fall causing more spending to be required to be cut resulting in less tax revenues and on and on. Spending more government money creates more debt so this isn’t the answer as well. They are in a no-win situation due to their massive and unsustainable debt load. Our local government borrowed a huge amount of money to build a rail system which has resulted in less than one fourth of the expected daily passengers. Since the fare revenue is so drastically reduced, the rail administrators came up with a brilliant plan. Increase the fares to cover the operational shortfall. So, instead of lowering the fares (basically think of it as a tax) to encourage more riders on a daily basis, they discourage riders by increasing the fares. I suppose if only one person rode each day, then untimely that person would be charged the entire operational fee for the entire system. The problem ( as I see it) is that the majority of persons running our government have never operated a business or had to cover payroll, pay taxes or deal with employees, banks and the IRS. Once you have done this, you begin to understand what it takes to actually manage something in order to remain in business. Governments have no profit motivation since their source of revenue is virtually endless. Opening up credit and reducing the amount of governmental interference is the quickest and surest way to get the economy on the run once again. Otherwise we end up like Greece, looking for new ways to tax the citizens...such as making us pay for the air we breathe. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com)

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com) I want…mercy..not justice…… Long ago and far away, I was in a discussion with a friend of mine who was a judge. I was just wondering about certain aspects of the judicial system. I’ll never forget that he told me that if I were to ever find myself in court for any reason whatsoever I had better hope for mercy and not justice. He advised that no one really wanted justice….everyone really wanted mercy. I suppose he’s really correct, since it’s doubtful anyone would want to be judged by a jury of their peers. Or is that piers? Probably doesn’t matter does it? When you look at the sorry state of our nation’s educational system, you might want to think long and hard about ever coming to trial in any kind of an American courtroom. Several years ago I was involved in a major law suit that was very complicated and involved. The longer it took to go to trial the more concerned I became. It was difficult enough for me to explain what the case was all about much less the group of attorneys on our side. The experience left me very leery of the entire judicial system. I was not at all comfortable thinking that a group of my fellow citizens who had barely passed high school would be the ones deciding whether I was a winner or a loser. Fortunately the other side settled and I missed the experience of a court room trial. Do not get me wrong, I’m not saying that all juries are ignorant or dumb. But let’s look at the recent trial of former governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. This trial droned on and on for weeks and then was declared a mistrial due to the hold out of one juror. Later news reports came out with the information that the jury was unable to understand the legal jargon and thought the charges were simply too complex. One juror reported that they got hung up on the charge of ‘conspiring to commit extortion’. It seems they didn’t understand exactly what this meant. I had no problem with this...the charge looks fairly simple……but then again I wasn’t in the trial so maybe I missed something. However I am under the impression that conspiring to do something means several people got together and discussed committing some type of action, like murder or theft or even extortion. Under the law, conspiracy means an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement. There is no limit on the number participating in the conspiracy and, in most countries, no requirement that any steps have been taken to put the plan into effect. So in Rod’s case, the act of discussing on the telephone what he planned to do about filling the vacant senate seat of one Barack Obama caused some confusion on the part of the jury. His discussion of what he planned appears to me to be conspiracy, but then again what do I know? Folks come to me all of the time asking questions about various things. One of the most common ones I get is whether or not someone should sue someone for something. I’m not an attorney and generally tell them they should consult with a lawyer, but I’d rather get pecked to death by a duck (my friend’s favorite term) than to get involved in a law suit. Looking at the level of education in this country, who wants to spend lots of dollars for a courtroom filled with jurors who cannot read or write, much less understand business practices? If the case was a simple case of someone stealing an apple, perhaps that might not be so bad. However when if comes to complex finances and business issues, then how has our school system prepared our citizens to handle these kinds of challenges? Simple…they haven’t. This might sound cruel, but suppose you own a business and someone sues you for whatever…..the person suing you wants all you’ve got. You’re trying to explain that you aren’t wrong to a group of people who normally are asking questions such as … “do you want fries with that?” These people are in a position to judge your fate as well as your future. If it comes to this in your life, I suggest you throw yourself upon the court and seek mercy…you won’t get justice. Sad isn’t it? But until we get an educational system that rewards achievement and promotes excellence from our teachers as well as our students, we’ll be stuck in the ditch with the rest of the third world countries of this planet. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (www.pearyperry.com) “Politicians need summer school….” I have a friend who ran for a position as a district judge. He won. He told me that after he was elected, one of the first defendants that had to be sentenced had a range of prison time from five years to life. My friend tells me there were not any guidelines or books to help him figure out what was proper in this case. As a result he went back and studied books, case law and prison conditions to find out for himself what was the right thing to do. He wanted to know how to be fair in his elected position. He is a good man. In the past several months we have seen a number of elected officials who apparently missed their opportunity to learn what was appropriate as well as what was expected of them for their positions. A Texas legislator was in the news a couple of weeks ago, after it was discovered that he was billing both the State as well as his campaign funds for the same travel expenses. His defense was that ‘he didn’t know it wasn’t the right thing to do’. He’ll probably blame on some poor second grade teacher who failed to stress honesty and integrity to him when he was seven years old. Poor baby. Another Texas congressional representative has been accused of using funds given to her for scholarships and then awarding them to family members and close friends. Under the anti-nepotism rules of the scholarship program, Representative Bernice Johnson of Dallas was prohibited from giving out scholarship monies to her relatives or children of her staff. Ms. Johnson stated that she had indeed violated the rules, but had done so … ‘unknowingly’. She also stated that she just wasn’t ‘fully aware’ of the program rules. Of course….knowing the ‘rules’ doesn’t seem to be of much interest to many law makers such as Ms. Johnson. According to the news report, these scholarships were to be given to needy students in her district. None of the recipients lived or attended school in her district. Ms. Johnson just wasn’t aware of this small requirement. The left leaning media is quick to point out that representative Charlie Rangel of New York merely missed several items when it came to ethics. One pundit says that Rangel’s ‘overlooking’ of the taxable income from property in the Dominican Republic couldn’t have been much since the property only cost $82,750. In the writers mind, this meant that the house was not a ‘villa’ and couldn’t have been very ‘palatial.’ I don’t know for sure, but it seems to me that the IRS doesn’t cut anyone any slack just because the property isn’t worth millions of dollars. Rangel also seems to have allegedly abused his office by using his elected position to raise funds for some ‘learning center’. Oh, wait there’s more. Add his lack of candor in filling out some financial disclosure forms as well as perhaps using a rent controlled apartment in New York for a campaign office. Several of Rangel’s defenders took the position that Rangel was hardly the first person in New York to do this, so what’s the big deal? If we all took that line of thinking, then I suppose since Cain killed Able that gives me the right to gun down my neighbor with the barking dog since ‘everyone’ has been doing it for a long period of time. Last but not least is Representative Maxine Waters. Mrs. Waters is being investigated by the House ethics committee who alleges that Waters's office improperly worked in September 2008 to press for aid to prevent the failure of Boston-based OneUnited Bank. This bank eventually stayed afloat with the help of money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Waters's husband, Sidney Williams, had served on the bank's board. He owned stock in OneUnited that had declined in value from $350,000 in June 2008 to $175,000 two months later and would have been "worthless" without the bailout funds, according to the ethics committee. Mrs. Waters has defended her position by stating that she was pressing for aid for all minority banks. Apparently the only bank discussed in her meeting was OneUnited, but this seems to not be of any concern to Rep. Waters. Well, this is all I have time for this week. I’m certain there are others which I could discuss, but four is quite enough for the time being. I guess my point here is that adult people who manage to get themselves elected to a public office should have some level of intelligence, honesty and integrity. They should not use or abuse their elected positions and then blame it off on stupidity or a lack of information about the rules. If you and I are expected to live and abide by the rules, shouldn’t those who are in our government required to do the same? Perhaps we need some sort of school to train these poorly educated folks who have chosen to represent us in the nation’s governments, after all it doesn’t seem to be their fault if they can’t figure out the difference between right and wrong. Comments go to pperry@austin.rr.com (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com)

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (www.pearyperry.com) “Politicians need summer school….” I have a friend who ran for a position as a district judge. He won. He told me that after he was elected, one of the first defendants that had to be sentenced had a range of prison time from five years to life. My friend tells me there were not any guidelines or books to help him figure out what was proper in this case. As a result he went back and studied books, case law and prison conditions to find out for himself what was the right thing to do. He wanted to know how to be fair in his elected position. He is a good man. In the past several months we have seen a number of elected officials who apparently missed their opportunity to learn what was appropriate as well as what was expected of them for their positions. A Texas legislator was in the news a couple of weeks ago, after it was discovered that he was billing both the State as well as his campaign funds for the same travel expenses. His defense was that ‘he didn’t know it wasn’t the right thing to do’. He’ll probably blame on some poor second grade teacher who failed to stress honesty and integrity to him when he was seven years old. Poor baby. Another Texas congressional representative has been accused of using funds given to her for scholarships and then awarding them to family members and close friends. Under the anti-nepotism rules of the scholarship program, Representative Bernice Johnson of Dallas was prohibited from giving out scholarship monies to her relatives or children of her staff. Ms. Johnson stated that she had indeed violated the rules, but had done so … ‘unknowingly’. She also stated that she just wasn’t ‘fully aware’ of the program rules. Of course….knowing the ‘rules’ doesn’t seem to be of much interest to many law makers such as Ms. Johnson. According to the news report, these scholarships were to be given to needy students in her district. None of the recipients lived or attended school in her district. Ms. Johnson just wasn’t aware of this small requirement. The left leaning media is quick to point out that representative Charlie Rangel of New York merely missed several items when it came to ethics. One pundit says that Rangel’s ‘overlooking’ of the taxable income from property in the Dominican Republic couldn’t have been much since the property only cost $82,750. In the writers mind, this meant that the house was not a ‘villa’ and couldn’t have been very ‘palatial.’ I don’t know for sure, but it seems to me that the IRS doesn’t cut anyone any slack just because the property isn’t worth millions of dollars. Rangel also seems to have allegedly abused his office by using his elected position to raise funds for some ‘learning center’. Oh, wait there’s more. Add his lack of candor in filling out some financial disclosure forms as well as perhaps using a rent controlled apartment in New York for a campaign office. Several of Rangel’s defenders took the position that Rangel was hardly the first person in New York to do this, so what’s the big deal? If we all took that line of thinking, then I suppose since Cain killed Able that gives me the right to gun down my neighbor with the barking dog since ‘everyone’ has been doing it for a long period of time. Last but not least is Representative Maxine Waters. Mrs. Waters is being investigated by the House ethics committee who alleges that Waters's office improperly worked in September 2008 to press for aid to prevent the failure of Boston-based OneUnited Bank. This bank eventually stayed afloat with the help of money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Waters's husband, Sidney Williams, had served on the bank's board. He owned stock in OneUnited that had declined in value from $350,000 in June 2008 to $175,000 two months later and would have been "worthless" without the bailout funds, according to the ethics committee. Mrs. Waters has defended her position by stating that she was pressing for aid for all minority banks. Apparently the only bank discussed in her meeting was OneUnited, but this seems to not be of any concern to Rep. Waters. Well, this is all I have time for this week. I’m certain there are others which I could discuss, but four is quite enough for the time being. I guess my point here is that adult people who manage to get themselves elected to a public office should have some level of intelligence, honesty and integrity. They should not use or abuse their elected positions and then blame it off on stupidity or a lack of information about the rules. If you and I are expected to live and abide by the rules, shouldn’t those who are in our government required to do the same? Perhaps we need some sort of school to train these poorly educated folks who have chosen to represent us in the nation’s governments, after all it doesn’t seem to be their fault if they can’t figure out the difference between right and wrong. Comments go to pperry@austin.rr.com (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com)

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com) Can They Really Be This dumb? Yesterday, I had to drive 400 miles to get back home. I started off listening to Glenn Beck, then went to Rush at 11am. Before I got home, I had to turn the radio off, roll down the windows, stop at a service station and get one of those ‘energy’ drinks. Then when I got home, I went straight to the shower, soaked my tired old body and if I could, I would have opened up the top of my brain and washed it out as well. Both Beck and Rush were talking about the proposed 29 billion dollar ‘stimulus’ bill which was being hawked and was designed to ‘create more jobs’ as per our President. These were jobs which could potentially be lost by firemen, policemen and teachers throughout the country. In the words of our President, this amount of money must be approved in order to stimulate these jobs. No matter that the money was being printed by the 24/7/365 Treasury Dept. I’d bet those guys have been racking up the overtime these past 19 months, don’t you? No, these jobs were vital to the economy and we needed to spend the money to save them. Obviously Beck and Rush jumped on this concept with both feet. Like I said by the time I had listened to over 5 hours of ignorant people calling in to defend the Presidents spending policies, I was ready to set my hair on fire. Now, you know when you are listening to people if they are uneducated or just plain stupid, but the callers for both of these shows sounded intelligent, even if they weren’t. They sounded like normal rational people when they started off, but it didn’t take too long to find out that they were a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal. I had to stop along the highway and jot down a few notes so I could expound on this at a later time, once I had cooled off and got my blood pressure under control. The first guy I want to discuss was in the military. Rush thanked him for his service, as do we all, and the guy went on to say that he took exception to what Rush was saying about government workers not being productive. In his opinion he was productive. Rush asked him … “What do you make?” and the guy said… “About $45,000 a year.” Rush explained that his salary was not the question. He wanted to know what kind of a product did he make, sell, or whatever that generated a profit…..They guy stopped and told Rush again, that he was in the military and they didn’t make or manufacture anything. Rush tried his best to explain that this was his point. They guy comes back and say… “but I pay taxes…..” Dear God, I thought my head was going to blow off. The guy sounded intelligent, but he could not get it into his head that government employees, whether they be military, firemen, police, EMT or public school teachers do not contribute to the GDP of this country. We need them to be sure…no denying that but they do not work for any company or entity that produces a profit and which contributes to the tax base needed to run the government. Your local pizza parlor contributes more to the national GDP than an a division of Marines. The next person was a lady who said … ‘my husband works hard….he hires military contractors…’ Here again Rush tried to explain that this did not generate any revenue for the economy. This lady got all hot and bothered and said that those companies were private companies and that they certainly did pay taxes and made profits. I could tell Rush was about at the end of his rope as well as I was. He tried to tell her that these companies may well be private companies but the payments for their services come from the government who gets its money from taxpayers….She finally hung up. The last one I’d like to discuss was another woman who called in and said she knew of a government company that actually made a product. Rush asked her what it was and she said in all sincerity….. ‘General Motors makes the Chevy Volt.’ I nearly gagged…she is talking about a company that has accepted how much in bail out funds and is still losing money and these cars are going to be sold with a $7000 or $8000 discount or rebate…..so in essence we, the taxpayers, are subsiding a corporation in order for them to sell their product. Rush pointed out that the makers of the IPOD or IPAD or whatever didn’t need any government subsidies to sell their products…folks were lined up in front of the stores to buy them when they first came out. These folks did not sound like they had just fallen off the turnip truck, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how come they are this dense. If your job depends on the taxpayers to fund all of the revenue necessary for your operation to continue…you are not contributing to the economy of this country. If we continue to expand government and decrease private enterprise, we will surely destroy this country. Which may very well be the objective in the first place. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com)

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (www.pearyperry.com) Spies and Lies? So riddle me this……why the big rush to ‘swap’ 10 Russian spies for one American? Why are we in such a hurry to ship the ten we have in custody here in this country back to motherland Russia in exchange for one lonely computer engineering type who is (or was) being kept over there? I mean this has been done in record time. As in less than two weeks from when the news first came out. This is from the same administration that still cannot allow certain oil skimming resources to be deployed after almost 90 days of the greatest environmental disaster this country has ever seen? The folks in Louisiana must be sending their requests to the wrong department. The State Department and the FBI seem to be the agencies that are getting things done in quick time. Or are they? Check out this little piece that appeared in the London ‘Daily News’ on June 30th, just a couple of days after the story was made public: According to the complaint, filed by Maria Ricci, a special agent with the Counterintelligence arm of the FBI, the spies: used advanced steganography software to send encrypted messages to each other by hiding them on publicly available websites. used short wave radios and codes to send messages to each other used Wi-Fi in cafes and bookshops to covertly communicate with Russian agents parked in a van close by used and perfected the 'brush pass', a clandestine way of handing over items as one person passes another, which is known as a 'flash meeting' hoarded up to £50,000 in cash in their homes wrote messages in invisible ink that they sent to Russian agents in South America met an employee of the U.S. government with regards to nuclear weapons research and other high-ranking officials tried to get jobs in firms which gave them access to those who knew state secrets buried information in the ground which could later be picked up by other agents received money from an official associated with the Manhattan-based Permanent Mission to the United States used false documents to travel into and out of the United States and Took the identities of dead Americans to help them carry out their mission. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1290475/Anna-Chapman-11-Russian-spies-accused-Cold-War-style-plot-US.html#ixzz0t6bJXwsl I have highlighted two items I find most interesting. You certainly never heard any more about this employee or other high ranking officials of the US government or this official with the United States mission did you? No, I don’t think we did. Yet, here it is spelled out in the complaint from this FBI agent. Who were these people that these spies talked to or met with? Why aren’t we trying to uncover what else is going on in this matter? You can bet that once the spy swap is completed, as early as today (Thursday 7/8/10) the files will be closed ‘in the interest of national security’….but why? As they say…there is something rotten in Denmark…..and it looks to me that this whole deal stinks to high heaven. You can bet we will never know or hear anything more about this matter. Someone, somewhere doesn’t want us to. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (www.pearyperry.com) (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com) “Riddle me this….Obama” Ok, let’s see if I understand the conditions for the new healthcare package. Let’s try to use an example to make it simple…. Driver “A”- On one hand we have the driver of a car who has multiple DUI’s and has had several wrecks and accidents. He regularly receives traffic citations for speeding, running red lights and not watching for children at school crossings. He doesn’t believe in seat belts and has had a number of crashes resulting in severe head injuries which have caused him to undergo months of therapy and rehabilitation. In normal times it would be difficult if not impossible for him to obtain any automobile insurance through regular channels. He would be what is called a ‘high risk’ driver. Driver “B”- On the other hand we have a driver, who has never had an accident, wears his seat belt, always maintains a safe speed and has never had a traffic ticket for any reason. This driver has been driving the same length of time as Driver “A”. Now, you and I own an auto insurance company. We market and sell insurance for a living. We are a for profit business. We want to make money for those who have invested in our company. We know that insuring driver “A” is more of a risk due to his lack of responsibility and unsafe driving habits. We know that driver “B” is more apt to be a good client and a better risk due to his good driving habits. Statistically we know that our company will be more profitable if we secure more clients with good driving records than if we secure clients who drive poorly. This is just common sense. So now, the government passes a law that says that all drivers should be treated the same, regardless of their previous driving habits and that you and I cannot charge any more for persons such as driver “A”. Driver “A” is to receive the same type of coverage as Driver “B” and will pay no more for it despite his dangerous and costly behavior. Driver “B” does not get any benefit from being a good driver while driver “A” gets no penalties for being a bad driver. As a result the cost of providing insurance coverage to drivers such as driver “A”, the number of losses increase and our company eventually goes broke and is forced to close. Take this example and replace it with healthcare. Can anyone explain to me how adding a large number of members to this program who are unable to pay for any coverage at this time while also allowing anyone with any pre-existing conditions to be admitted without any cost increases will make any sense at all? While I agree that we need to overhaul our current (or previous) healthcare program in this country, I do not agree that rewarding bad behavior is fair and just for those who are trying to not be a burden upon the system. Out of wedlock and pregnant? No problem, free abortions. Hooked on heroin? No problem …free rehabilitation programs for you. Can’t pay your premiums? No problem, special financial assistance will be provided for you. You have a sexually transmitted disease? We can help with that, have all the unprotected sex you want, we’ll treat you when you need it. And the list goes on and on. Of course as a result of this, no insurance company can survive this type of madness and when that time comes the government can be expected to step in and take over these companies since they are…. “too big to fail”. The government doesn’t worry about anything as trivial as ‘profit’ since they have money machines (printing presses) that can crank out all of the paper that will be needed. It’s worked before for so long, why won’t it work in the future? Because Bunkie, the bills (debt) keeps mounting and mounting and the guys paying the bills (working class citizens) can only crank out so much without falling over and giving up. Production goes does, revenues go down and taxes decline. Look at the budgets of our states at this time. A large number of them are about to go bankrupt. Who will come to their rescue? You and I both know the answer to this question. It’s a shame those in Washington don’t. Comments go to pperry@austin.rr.com Complaints go nowhere.

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry “Go out into the world…” Let’s talk about being missionaries for a moment. If you are a Christian, then you will know what I mean. Christian groups send out missionaries to all parts of the world. Now hold that thought. Often I’ve asked people as they are starting on some journey to some faraway place if they have ever talked to their neighbors about their faith. Many times I get a blank look and it becomes obvious that they have not. Now, let’s bring that into our current political situation. Since I’ve been writing these columns and blogs I’ve gotten a lot of advice from all parts of this country. Most of it has been very supportive and those folks agreed with what I have to say. But some folks are more prone to an ‘action now’ mentality. I’m not certain if I know what that is or if I care to know but for the most part it sounds illegal. Protests are fine, tea parties are fine, but armed insurrection, well…we aren’t there at this time. Case in point was the tea party demonstration last weekend when the healthcare bill came up for a vote. Princess Nancy Pelosi could have chosen to walk in the tunnel between her office and the Capital, but did she? No, she walked through the demonstrators carrying an oversized gavel as if to say… ‘In your face…we’re going to pass this thing whether you like it or not. ’ When they run that footage again, notice that Princess Pelosi has a guy behind her holding up two cell phones. You can bet they are on video record. IF there had been any slurs, spitting or such you can bet it would have taken about two minutes for that footage to hit the airways. But as of today, over a week later nothing has appeared. So where is it? It isn’t there. We don’t need it there either. Even today, over one week later we have liberals still clinging to the idea that this healthcare bill is the greatest thing to ever come down the pike. This morning I got into a discussion with a yellow dog democrat who defended the bill but who had no idea of any facts or figures to support his position. When I confronted him about what is going to happen to the healthcare industry, he turned and walked away stating that he was confused about the whole issue. My point is that for the next seven months we must all be missionaries and go into all the parts of our country and explain our positions to these poor disillusioned folks. We must work to inform ourselves of facts, not rumors or innuendo but hard core facts about the overall effects this piece of legislation will have upon our entire country for the years to come. We must have passion about what we believe. The bottom line is that Democrats are more swayed by emotions than by reality. Emotion does not create jobs or increase the GDP. People who invest, and run businesses do those things. Sure we’d like to have our entire population to get healthcare. Who wouldn’t? We want all of our kids to have good educations, who wouldn’t? But giving it away without the revenue (not higher taxes, but higher revenue) to pay for it will not and has not worked in any country where it has been tried. Look at Greece. Look at Ireland, Portugal and Spain. These are basically socialist countries who have allowed their entitlement programs to outstrip their growth. If they can’t do it how do the liberals think we can? Those four countries should be our gospel for what will happen to this country if we do not enact change by removing those in Washington who think giving things away forever comes without any price tags. Ask your democratic neighbor to give you an example of a prospering socialistic country. Ask them to tell you how this country has improved the lives of our minorities since the beginning of the “Great Society”. Ask your neighbor why they voted for Obama and then point out all of the promises he has broken since he came into office over a year ago. Do not allow your neighbor to fall back upon the Bush blame game and lay everything at the feet of our previous president. Just as you do when talking to people about your faith, arm yourselves with the truth and facts. Then go forth and spread the word. November will be here before you know it. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com)

A Nation of Fools by Peary Perry (sign up for new columns at www.pearyperry.com) George (Washington) must be turning over in his grave… What a week. What a travesty to this country. Rarely has anyone currently alive observed such an abuse of the political process as that which we have seen these past few days. It is almost too unbelievable to describe. When Princess Pelosi said we were watching history in the making. She was right. We have never seen abuse such as this before and I pray we never will again in the future. Where to begin? There is so much to choose from. Let’s start with Vice President Biden who is always good for a laugh. He introduces the President and forgets that his microphone is own when he whispers to the anointed one that … “This is a big f****** deal.” Nice talk from the second in command of the United States. Here’s a role model for our kids. But I suppose our children shouldn’t be too upset, they hear this language on the television thanks to the liberals in Hollywood. Just another day at the office. Princess Nancy has been grinning so hard since Sunday; it appears her face is frozen. I love her remarks about us having to pass the bill just so we can see what is in it. I didn’t know it has been working this way. I guess I always assumed that our elected representatives were supposed to read and discuss, even debate, pieces of legislation first, before they made it into a law. It just goes to show you how much I know. Of course the special deals and perks which were given out in order to secure the 216 votes necessary to approve the legislation were just deemed as ‘ business as usual’. Nothing new, it’s done all of the time. Everyone does it. What’s the big deal? I’m sure they are correct, it probably is ‘done’ all the time, but that doesn’t make it right, does it? I want laws passed because the people writing and voting on them agree with them not because they give up their votes for bribes. I want lawmakers to make decisions and pass or vote down pieces of legislation because this is what the people in their districts tell them to do, not for what is given for their votes. I want people running this country who have ethics and morals, not thugs and gangsters who slip in and out of back rooms with sex, lies and videotapes. That may be too harsh, perhaps I should have just said judgeships, hospital dollars and special exemptions to the rules. Speaking of rules, how about that paragon of legislation named Alcee Hastings? While he is sitting on a rules committee the other day attempting to determine whether the healthcare bill would be legal to vote upon or not, he professes that “There are no rules, we have no rules, we make them up as we go along.” That really warms the cockles of my heart and I know it does yours as well. What is sad to me is the fact that a large portion of our country labors under the misapprehension that the government can take care of us all from the cradle to the grave for free. It ain’t going to happen. It didn’t happen in Russia, China, North Korea or other communistic/socialistic countries and it won’t happen here. As a friend of mine said this morning… “when everyone is riding on the wagon, who will be pulling?” Think about it. Adding 32 million more people to a healthcare system that is already broke isn’t the answer. Fixing the problem for the existing one and then making some changes is the answer. The democrats believe that selling watermelons for 50 cents each when they cost you a dollar each means you need to buy a bigger truck in order to make some money. The good news? The people are fired up and mad at what has just happened. Our challenge is to keep up the momentum and vote the rascals out. Keep those cards and letters coming, support anyone who is running that is not an incumbent at this time. Make those rallies….as they say in Texas….come early, stay late and be loud. Remember the (ALAMO)-----All Lawmakers Are Moving Out Comments go to www.pearyperry.com Complaints go nowhere….