Does the Cross Represent a Specific Religious Denomination?

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A statue of a cross erected in the Mojave Desert on federal land in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign War to honor all those military killed in the service of the country is ruled a violation of the First Amendment. If this is upheld by the Supreme Court does that mean the thousands of crosses on graves at Arlington National Cemetery and throughout the nation and world have to be removed?



What nonsense. The First Amendment said no religious denomination could be favored. How does showing a cross constitute favoring a specific religious denomination? The Jewish lawyer arguing to get rid of the cross said Jews do not honor the cross.

Two questions arise. Does the Cross represent a specific religious denomination? What are religions? There are five major religions recognized by everyone who keeps track of religion. Here they are with estimates of their membership worldwide.

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
2. Islam: 1.5 billion
3. Hinduism: 900 million
4. Buddhism: 376 million
5. Judaism: 14 million



Within the Christianity category there are estimated to be 34,000 to 38,000 denominations, with the largest being Roman Catholic with 1.3 billion members. Thousands of denominations reference the Cross as a symbol. In the Islam category the main groups are the Shiite and Sunni with 85% being Sunni. Clearly there are a lot of religious denominations.



Here in Maryland we are proud that the first colonists came to the original thirteen colonies and landed at St. Clements Island in 1634 with the first charter guaranteeing religious freedom in the New World. Not Jamestown nor Plymouth can say the same. How was this historic religious toleration moment celebrated, honoring an act that would eventually be incorporated into the Constitution in the Bill of Rights? The colonists erected a giant cross on St. Clements Island.

The Cross as a religious symbol may be recognized by many religions denominations but it was also accepted as the symbol of religious freedom in America 375 years ago. The Maryland colony was the only one guaranteeing religious freedom. So I say the Cross is a secular symbol of our Bill of Rights, the freedom of religion, all religions in America. The Cross does not reflect any one denomination of Christianity.



If the Cross as a secular symbol of America is abandoned in all of America that is public, whether federal, state, or local including schools, then the Star of David and the hechsher symbols, very specific religious symbols to Judaism, should also be banned from all public places.



The Star of David appears on the back of a one dollar bill while the hechsher, the circled-U symbol is on the labels of many commercial and consumer food products found in schools, the Capitol dining room, public auditoriums, and on and on.



Of course any symbols reflecting the original thirteen colonies including the Official US Seal, the Seal of the Office of President, money and flags could represent the 12 tribes of Israel plus Levi, the thirteen tribes of Israel. That is also a religious (Judaism) symbol, they all have to go as well. Do you see how foolish this can become?



Since the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is prosecuting this case and they have been in the forefront of making sure God has no role in America then they should see that if they get rid of the Cross which is a 375 year old secular symbol more so than a symbol of a specific religious denomination, then it is their responsibility to get rid of the far more religious symbols like the Star of David, anything that denotes the tribes of Israel and even the hechsher, the religious Hebrew symbol on food products.

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Capitalism Rothschild Goldman Style - An Idea Whose Time is Done

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Once upon a time there was a new nation formed from a repressive past and a fierce desire to achieve individual freedom. A gathering of Americans convened in Philadelphia that summer of 1787 to draft a new constitution for the new nation resulting from the stunning defeat of Great Britain in the American Revolution. Some say it was the greatest gathering of minds in the history of the world.

What emerged was a Constitution and Bill of Rights unlike anything before or since and to this day it has reigned as the predominant constitution in the world. But it was not without pain and debate, much of which centered around the distribution of powers between a strong federal government and state's rights.

By June of 1788 the required nine states had approved the constitution and in January 1789 the new Congress met for the first time. George Washington was elected President of the United States and John Adams Vice President and America was a viable entity.





The battle between advocates of a strong national government (federal) and state's rights would continue until this day but major changes took place under the George Washington administration through the efforts of Alexander Hamilton, Washington confidant and first Secretary of the Treasury. This was a time when the Rothschild's international banking family made it's first inroads into the fledgling and lucrative America money machine.





Now most people who slept through American history and economics classes in high school and college think capitalism was a creation of the Revolution along with the American style of Democracy. Wrong. In fact it is one of four major wrongs attributed to our revolution and founding fathers by modern day politicians and a liberal media overwhelmed by Alzheimer's forgetfulness.

Wrong number one, we did not invent democracy, we approved a Republic. Number two wrong, capitalism is not an American creation but European strategy to control countries. Wrong number three, slavery was not an American original but again European strategy to exploit America. Wrong number four, in America the separation of church and state did not separate God from America but the godless from America.





As for our favorite trillionaire family, the Rothschilds, they were there way back then as much as today. Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the patriarch of the House of Rothschild, was from Frankfurt, Germany where his grandfather and father had built a business. In 1755 and 1756 when he was 12 years old his parents died and he was sent to complete an apprenticeship in Hanover working for Wolf Jakob Oppenheimer whose family first exposed him to the benefits of working with royalty.

The Oppenheimer's were court agent to the Austrian Emperor and agent to the Bishop of Cologne. Upon completion of his apprenticeship in 1764 Mayer Amschel returned to his family in Frankfurt and established the House of Rothschild. It was the beginning of the most powerful banking family in history.

The French Revolution and English Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century gave Rothschild the chance to expand his enterprise from Germany to France and England and the House of Rothschild became the first international banking network managing the finances of nations. Of course the golden goose for international bankers was America just emerging from the Revolution and trying to become a nation.

Capitalism, as we know it today, dates back to the middle ages but most historians consider the Netherlands the world's first capitalist nation with the wealthiest trading city, Amsterdam, and the first full time stock exchange which led to insurance and retirement funds, asset and inflation cycles and manipulation of commodity markets in the early 1600's.





The British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company launched a new expansion of capitalism in the early 1600's as state chartered trading companies. Chartered as joint-stock companies they were monopolies with powers ranging from lawmaking to military and treaty-making privileges. This was the first attempt by nations to compete with individual business to acquire and control resources from agriculture to gold, oil to clothing. Individual investors bought into these creations to reduce debt exposure and greatly enhance profit potential.

Money to support the multiple wars and trading companies along with the industrial development and geographic expansion came from the network of international banks led by the Rothschild banks throughout Europe.





In 1791 Alexander Hamilton, one of the leading patriots of the American Revolution and aide-de-camp to General George Washington was serving the first president as Secretary of the Treasury when he got the first Congress to approve a 20 year charter for the First National Bank of America to be run by agents of the House of Rothschild. Considerable suspicion of the dependence on private banks to finance the government surfaced on the part of George Washington, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson and the role of the international bankers made it a highly controversial action.





When opposition to renewing the charter in 1811 peaked the banking family threatened the nation with a crippling war if the charter was not renewed. The charter was not renewed and in 1812 England, the base for the Rothschild banking empire, declared war against America. By 1816 a financially devastated USA chartered the Second National Bank of America to the Rothschild agents.





When Andrew Jackson was president from 1829 to 1837 he was opposed to the National Bank and removed federal money from it. There was an assassination attempt on him in 1835 which the assailant claimed was financed by European bankers. From 1836 until 1913 there was no National Bank but the government was dependent on the New York banks, many of which were controlled by the Rothschild network.





During the Civil War Lincoln went to the New York banks for money for the war effort and was offered funds with interest up to 36%. Furious he refused and began the first printing of money by the federal government issuing $450 million in bonds. Both the United States and Russia under the Czars resisted efforts to establish national banks to finance governments. Ironically both Lincoln and Czar Alexander II were assassinated.

From the founding of our nation our leaders were deeply suspicious of the international bankers and their motives for establishing national banks. The lack of loyalty to the nations, unrestricted usury (interest) fees and lack of assets to back the paper bonds were among the many issues raised against the banks.





"If ever again our nation stumbles upon unfunded paper, it shall surely be like death to our body politic. This country will crash."
George Washington

"I sincerely believe ... that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale."

"The Central Bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the principles and form of our Constitution."
Thomas Jefferson





"I have two great enemies: the Southern Army in front of me, and the financial institutions to my rear. Of the two, the one in my rear is my greatest foe."
Abraham Lincoln

"No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marquee and reprisal; coin money; emit letters of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility." (Article I, Section 10)
The Constitution of The United States of America

A definition of capitalism might read an economic system characterized by private property ownership; where individuals and companies are allowed to compete for their own economic gain; and free market forces determine the prices of goods and services. Some claim that the protection of individual and property rights is an essential element of capitalism since individuals must be able to keep what they earn through a capitalistic system.

However, since capitalism has been the breeding ground for slavery, excessive usury, manipulation of prices and many other anti-individual matters it seems rather hypocritical to define it with such a noble purpose as individual rights.





In truth capitalism has no moral or ethical requirements, is more comfortable with atheism than Christianity, and has minimal loyalty to nations. First and foremost capitalism is expected to produce maximum profit for the private stockholders and bond holders.

The most recent performance of Wall Street in the sub-prime mortgage market, the oil price speculation, the unwillingness of banks to provide loans, the excessive charges and fees by our banking community and the bonuses, bailouts, stimulus spending and many other economic tricks exercised in Washington would suggest morality is the farthest thing from the minds of the money manipulators.





Our democracy requires a degree of morality and ethics not found in the capitalist system of the House of Rothschild or any other capitalist advocates. Yet our democracy, which is founded on individual rights, freedom and the grace of God requires a degree of morality and ethics not found in the socialist system either which is the opposite of capitalism and has bred the fascist and communist movements of the past century.

The Obama administration seems to think it can combine two wrongs to make a right by giving us extreme doses of both capitalism and socialism at their worst. Bank bailouts, bonuses and market manipulation seem okay to Obama along with a socialized work force, a public medical system and a redistribution of wealth. How silly.





What is needed is a new Constitutional Convention devoted to developing a new system of economics that will support the principles of our American Constitution without abusing the rights of man and woman and our relationship to God.

We have demonstrated greed in government cannot be regulated by those with greed and that Wall Street cannot be regulated by those with profit and the pursuit of materialism as a primary objective. Our Christian foundation may not be present in our religions but it is present in our relationship to God. The only way we can protect and defend the spiritual laws of God, the natural laws of nature and our inalienable rights as man is to eliminate the opportunity for greed from our system.

Do we have the strength to again defend our nation from the clutches of greed, the motives of capitalism and the exploitation of socialism? We shall see. Do we have the will to demand our principles of morality, our exercise of ethics and our relationship to God be protected first and foremost above materialism and greed? We shall see.





Do we have the fortitude to declare our Christian values of charity, compassion and empathy more important than the accumulation of wealth and property? Do we have faith in God and our ability as God's creations to protect individual rights and freedoms for all people from the forces of evil? Do we really believe in anything anymore?

We shall see...

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Newt Might Be Nuts

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House before the dark days of Pelosi, back when the Republicans were in control, expressed his disgust with the present direction of the good old Republican party this week. Funny, I thought they just lost their compass.




Then he expressed his disgust with the direction of the Democrats and their agenda of socialism for the country. Of course if the minority party of Republicans does it's thing in Congress it can still block Obama and the Democratic Socialist Party from overthrowing the Constitution and having their way.



After trashing both parties he said if things didn't change he was going to start a new third party. Now that is an interesting possibility. Hello Newt, hello Obama and hello Pelosi, there is already a third party and it is already bigger than either of the grand old parties.




Here in America we call the disenfranchised voters Independents. They know that other than the right wing fringe versus the socialist fringe behind the two political parties there is really no difference between them. There is no room in the Independents for a Newt, a Fig Newton, or any other kind of Newt.


Independents are a strange breed. They expect honesty, common sense and a devotion to individual liberty in their politicians. That must be why they skipped both parties to be an Independent, couldn't find what they were looking for in them.



They expect a politician to keep his promises, mind the budget and meet the basic needs of the people. Again there is little of any of those things in the present parties. They expect a lot more from their elected representatives and that is why they are in neither party, the Independents know they won't find it there.




It is time for a third party, because it is time that one third of the people be recognized. Just give us the same rights as the two political parties and we will show you how to unite people, rather than buy them off.

Obama President - Palin Vice President - What if the electoral vote is tied?

In this one of the most bizarre presidential campaigns in history with either the first African American or the first woman elected to the highest offices in our land, why not see both of them elected? Don't say "no way" until you check the facts. Twice in our history a president failed to get enough electoral votes and the House made the final decision, in 1801 and 1825. Once in our history the vice president failed to get the required electoral votes and the Senate selected the vice president. Amendment 12 was passed to fix the ambiguities of the Constitution after the 1801 election. A full text of Article II and Amendment 12 follow later in this story.

Right now the election is too close to call. There are 538 total electoral votes and 270, a simple majority, are needed to get someone elected. It is technically possible for the election to end in a tie, with Obama and McCain each getting 269 electoral votes, one shy of the majority needed to be president. If that happens, then the election of the president is up to the House and the vice president up to the Senate.

Each state delegation is expected to vote according to their party affiliation but each state only has one vote in the total votes cast. Thus the House would vote for Obama since there is a clear House majority of Democrats. In the Senate there is a tie between Democrats and Republicans, each with 59 members, while two other Senators are independents. Joe Lieberman, a very close friend and endorser of McCain, is an independent who joined the Democrats to give the Democrats control of the Senate.

Because of Lieberman's support of McCain the Senate democratic leadership have threatened to strip him of any party rank in the new Senate. So if the vice president is to be decided by the Senate, Lieberman could easily change his vote, thus eliminating the Democratic majority. If he cast his vote for Palin it would decide the election.

The result would mean Obama would be president and Palin would be vice president for the next four years and given an electoral tie there would be no other probable conclusion. With the polls closing as expected in these last days such a scenario becomes more and more possible. There are so many firsts in this election, not to mention worldwide economic catastrophes and other strange circumstances, that a result as I outlined may not be so far fetched.

Here is what the Constitution says about the election of the president and vice president in Article II and the procedure is quite clear.

Article II

Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:

Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each state having one vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice President.

Amendment XII

The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--the person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

What happens if the USA has a Financial Meltdown?

If any other nation of the world faced the financial disasters we faced the last year from the oil price spiral to the housing catastrophe, the doubling of food prices to the largest budget deficit in history they would have been foreclosed, bankrupted and sold at a sheriff's auction.

The leaders would have been strung up from the nearest lamp pole, the people would be rioting in the streets, there would be a breakdown of authority and anarchy would rein supreme. So why are oil prices in a free fall, the stock market soaring, people calm and politicians still in office?

There is one intangible in economics that defies all rules of accounting and all standards of financial integrity. It is an intangible that stands in the face of common wisdom and sinister manipulation. It makes executives buffoons, analysts liars and politicians fools and in the end stands in defense of the helpless and silent majority called citizens.

It is the spirit of a nation born out of revolution, hardened by civil war and awakened by world wars. It is the spirit of freedom that guides the United States and makes it the envy of terrorists and financiers, the super rich and despots, warmongers and human rights violators, and all of those whose lives are grounded in evil and motivated by greed.

The American Spirit has withstood the test of time and the trials of sacrifice and never faltered from its ferocious defense of freedom, protection of human rights, its sense of fair play, its tolerance of diversity and its foundation in spirituality. True spirit can only come from a higher force like spirituality, a fact our Founding Fathers knew well and our current leaders keep trying to forget.

The United States is not old, it is still young and it will never lose its youthful enthusiasm because our Founding Fathers made it a living, breathing modern nation the day they adopted a Constitution that was the first in world history to be first person present tense.

The USA is the richest, most powerful and still most generous nation on Earth no matter who is the present pretender to the American seat of power (the president) for in truth the president and congress work for the people.

Our nation, under God, has evolved and grown for 232 years making it one of the oldest continuous forms of government yet one of the youngest nations in world history. Our role in the world far surpasses that of being a super power. People want what we have and we buy from others what we need and the result is an economic system that is the most unique, yet most stable in history.

I mentioned in a recent banking article how 15 of the top twenty banks in the world are from Europe. Two others are from Japan, meaning 17 of the top 20 banks in the world are from other nations leaving just 3 of the top 20 from the US. Yet the profits and losses of all those world banks are dictated by the US economy, no one else.

The world would be bankrupt if the US was bankrupt. The vast majority of money in the world is driven by the US economy, what the US needs and what the US generates, and the nations of the world, like it or not, would fade away and die without access to our markets, goods and services.

That is not an indication of arrogance but a statement of fact. We are in a financial mess but one we have faced before and when our leaders prosecute the crooks including those sitting next to them in our seats of power the system will heal and the world will be stabilized for a time.

Pay no attention to the purveyors of doom and gloom in the corporate boardrooms or on the evening news. They do not share our agenda. And we do not share their agenda. In the end they cannot win as their motives are not pure and their actions are not good.

Those that have tried to use the resources of America for personal gain will be stopped. Those whose greed drove them to manipulate markets, fix prices, corrupt associates and bribe officials have had their moment, even disrupted the world economy in the process.

In the end all the true enemies of the US are dependent on the US and cannot allow our country to fall into ruin. We have the only economy capable of making them billions of dollars and of protecting their trillions of dollars of investment in the US. The Spirit of America remains a beacon drawing the people of the world to us and that spirit will continue to dominate the world until it has spread throughout the world.