Summer Wrap Up - Obama and Congress - Who is Looking out for Us?

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As Obama completes his 7th month as President I hope there are a few things he has learned. Like all new presidents he has tried to ride the crest of adulation and perceived popularity to secure sweeping changes on the face of our nation and like all new presidents he failed.

Like all politicians he promised ideological changes and like all new presidents he discovered the American public really do pay attention to those who attempt to hijack the nation. Obama style socialism had no more chance than Bush conservatism because America is a melting pot on philosophical identity, not prone to believe politicians.





We do not care about a politicians agenda, only their willingness to get past their agenda and start serving all the people not just their own special interests. Obama has enraged the conservatives with his platform and the liberals with his failures and in America that is how it should be because in the end we demand a higher standard than political promises can deliver.





He got burned on the economy, not because he was wrong but because there is no evidence his solutions would work. The same politicians and bureaucrats that got us into this mess are advising him and the same special interests continue to pump tens of millions of dollars into the coffers of our elected officials. This conflict of interest, the practice of accepting money from those you regulate, is a cancer that must be eradicated from American politics if corruption is to ever be contained.





Neither Obama nor congress has the strength, the moral fortitude nor the willingness to risk their career for the greater good of the people by working to abolish special interest lobbying, campaign financing and corrupting our elected officials. No, money still controls Washington and Wall Street and those Obama supporters with money got more money while those without money got the shaft.

Why? Because the same people remain in power in congress, the White House and Wall Street who caused the problems. Two trillion in government bailouts to protect the practices of the greed mongers should be ample evidence of the strength of the crooks and the weakness of the elected officials who promised to stop them while accepting millions in campaign contributions.





Maybe Obama will mature. Maybe he will realize who the enemy really is. Maybe he will lower the volume of tirades against opposing politicians and people who disagree because isn't that what America and freedom are all about? When he turns his anger on the people filling his staff positions, walking in the halls of congress and thumbing their noses at the American public while stealing them blind he might start to make progress.





Americans are sick and tired of special interest agendas whether it is the Democratic or Republican agenda, liberal or conservative, Wall Street or Main Street, Madison Avenue or common sense, media or advertisers. We long for political and economic systems whose purpose is to serve America, not bleed it dry. We long for leaders who want to help all the people, not just stuff their own pockets. We long for news media who place truth above advertising prices and stock values. While there may be a few out there, they are few and far between.

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Memories of Youth in America - 1776 Revolution to 1969 Woodstock

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With the media fascination surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival that began August 15, 1969, I think our reflection should also not forget other incidents when our youth stepped to the forefront. I am a baby boomer and was in my early 20's when Woodstock took place. By then several of my classmates and friends had been killed in Viet Nam.

Yes it was a time desperately in need of peace and tranquility. Coming from the Midwest we were raised to be patriots and taught that there was a price to be paid for freedom and we were more than willing to pay that price. Then things seemed to change.





A few years earlier I went to the University of Arizona where I was in ROTC as anti-war demonstrations rocked our campus. There was considerable co-mingling of students from various West Coast schools like UCLA, USC, and other California schools along with the Arizona students.

We were in the same conference, the PAC Ten and competed in athletics. At the time UCLA was becoming the dominant force in college basketball. Unfortunately I was on the Arizona basketball team and had to face the Bruins.





Then I was injured, lost my athletic scholarship and volunteered for the military draft. To my dismay I was rejected because of the sports injuries. In case you were not around then if you were not a full time student you were eligible to be drafted and if you volunteered for the draft you went to Viet Nam earlier and served one year less active duty. You could then return and go to school under the GI program.

In 1969 my brother was in the Marines and the year before was in the Tet offensive in the war zone. The Viet Cong attacks on over 100 cities stunned the military, the Johnson Administration and the public. We had been led to believe the war was winding down and we were winning. The stunning action drove the President from office that year.





Also the year before Woodstock I was a volunteer in Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign and saw him just before he was assassinated in California. It was the second Kennedy I volunteered to work for to be murdered. Just a few weeks before Kennedy was murdered Martin Luther King, Jr. had been murdered. He was about to undertake the Poor People's March on Washington, DC and Resurrection City had been built on the nation's Mall. I had visited the city where up to 3,000 poor people lived and up to 50,000 gathered for the March.





King's assassination led to deadly riots across the nation and even in Omaha where I worked for the Mayor we had policemen murdered during the riots leaving behind young families. The radicals of the 1960's were attempting to hijack every cause that was legitimate. In time I got to personally know Coretta Scott King, Martin's widow, and came to appreciate the severe price her family paid to help others.

All of this was in the year leading up to Woodstock.





By the time Woodstock came around I was 23 years old, married with kids, involved in politics and trying to change the world from within the system. My work took me from Omaha to Washington, DC often. I was also into music and rock groups were dominating the music scene.

On one trip out east I heard about the upcoming Woodstock event and the line up of potential artists going to perform. Unfortunately, tickets for the event were only on sale in New York City and the surrounding area. Several of the scheduled acts performed that summer in Omaha at the auditorium and when I talked to them they were unsure of the event and if they would appear.





I was not a hippie nor did I even know any hippies though I had lived from the east coast to the west coast, and I did not grow up in the drug culture though I knew people who were exposed to it. Like many kids at the time, I was drawn to the music and the message in the music.

When Woodstock took place and nearly 500,000 showed up I was amazed it went so well but concerned that this festival would become recognized for much more than it represented because of the size of the crowd. For every ten people showing up at Woodstock to party one person had died in Viet Nam to protect their right to freedom, with nearly 55,000 of our nation's youth killed in the war.





I remembered an earlier time when our youth came together to promote an unpopular cause. The average age at Woodstock was 18-25. The average age of the Colonial Army that fought the mighty British Empire for the right to create the United States was 18-25. There was little food, clothing, money, and medical help for both groups.

While there were about 450,000 youth at Woodstock there were 231,771 who fought for freedom in the Revolution. One was a peaceful revolution to stop a war while the other was forged of battles, deaths and fighting against all odds to lay the foundation of freedom that would spawn the youth at Woodstock nearly 200 years later.





Both came at a terrible time for the people when the poor suffered, racial prejudice was dominant, there was high unemployment, excessive taxes and little opportunity. Those youth in the Revolution risked their lives, families, property and futures for a dream and were willing to pay the ultimate price to get it.

I only hope the nation does not forget the extreme difference in roles played by our youth over time. I only hope the Woodstock generation does not forget what was behind the desire for peace that summer weekend both in terms of the terrible sacrifices of the generation of youth 200 years earlier and the events of the previous year.

There was terrible war, racial prejudice, the environment was being destroyed, education was poor, unemployment was high, Madison Avenue materialism was dominant, Wall Street corruption was out of control, politicians did not listen, special interests got their way, confidence in government was at an all time low and too many people were indifferent. Sound familiar?

And I really hope the youth of today look around and see what previous generations of youth did to get you where you are today. Are you willing to take up the mantle of peace or war to defend what you inherited? Or have you let America slip back to where it was when earlier youth rose to the challenge?


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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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St. Clement's Island Prehistory - Part 1 American Colonial History.

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Why did two ships of colonists risk a dangerous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 1633 to flee England for America and why did they bring their hopes for religious freedom to St. Clement's Island Maryland? To understand the history of St. Clements one needs to understand there is another part of the story, the history of events in the 16th Century which a few years later would cause the colonists to leave England for America.

Let's call it the European pre-history of St. Clements and quite frankly you might be a bit surprised by what you learn. This pre-history includes a series of international events involving the most powerful monarchies, legendary family dynasties, and mighty empires in Europe beginning with the infamous King Henry VIII of England.

St. Clements Island was the sight of the first declaration of religious freedom to be guaranteed anywhere in the world, a freedom that in time would become embedded in our US Constitution. A little over 100 years earlier Henry VIII set in motion the series of events that would result in this charter.

Events in Europe during the 16th century led to the fall from favor of the Catholics and Puritans in England and the subsequent journey to settle the colony of Mary Land in 1634 where religious freedom would be guaranteed. Monarchies in England, Scotland, France, Spain and Italy and the Vatican in Rome were all to play a role in this decision to settle in the new world.

A web of intrigue led to a mosaic of treachery, murder, assassination, torture, arranged marriages and more in the alliances and enemies that came and went beginning with the reign of Henry VIII in England who was born in 1491, the year before Columbus discovered America, and was King from 1509 to 1547. Let me see if I can't make some sense of the historic actions that led to the landing at St. Clements.

Henry VIII - King of England (r. 1509 - 1547)





First let's talk about the reign of Henry VIII. He was famous for having six wives, two were executed. Early in his career he was given the title Defender of the Faith by the Pope for defending the Catholic Church against Martin Luther. Later he was to turn his nation against the very church he defended. When Henry's first wife was unable to give him a male heir he requested an annulment from the Pope.

He needed the annulment so he could marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope refused and Henry was enraged and threw the Catholic Church out of England, creating a Church of England with the King as Divine Leader. When his second wife Anne failed to give him a male heir she was beheaded. His first three wives each gave him one heir, but only the third wife gave him a male. All three children served as King or Queen of England in the span of just one decade, although the last, Elizabeth, continued serving for 45 glorious years.

Henry's battle with the Vatican became the Reformation Movement against the church and by his death England was a thoroughly Protestant and Reformed nation. During his rein more than 72,000 people were put to death.

Charles V - Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1515- -1556)





Charles was King of Spain and heir to four of Europe's leading dynasties, making him Holy Roman Emperor. His empire included Central, Western and Southern Europe and the Spanish colonies in America. Henry's 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon was Charles' Aunt. Charles grandmother was Queen Isabella I who sent Columbus to discover America.

It was Charles who sent the conquistadores to America and they wiped out the Aztec and Inca Empires, sending tons of gold back to Spain and helping Spain become the most powerful nation in the world. The Spanish Armada was considered invincible on the seven seas.

When his Aunt Catherine asked him to help stop Henry VIII from annulling her wedding Charles sent his army to Italy and took the Pope hostage and preventing him from approving Henry's annulment. This act triggered the Reformation against the Catholic Church and the loss of power by the Catholics in England.

Pope Clement VII (r. 1523 - 1534)





This pope was a member of the powerful Florentine "Medici" family, a dynasty that produced three popes. The Medici family was also responsible for the Italian Renaissance in art and architecture. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Galileo were among the most famous family patrons.







Still the Pope was no match for the power of King Charles and when he was unable to grant Henry the annulment it enraged Henry VIII who undertook a campaign against the Catholic Church to drive them from power in England and to confiscate all churches, shrines and monasteries throughout England and the UK and give them to the new Church of England under the King.





Catherine of Aragon - Henry's 1st Wife

As noted, Catherine was aunt to King Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. She refused to agree to an annulment with Henry which caused the English split from Catholic influence. Her daughter, Mary I became Queen of England.

Anne Boleyn - Henry's 2nd Wife

It was Boleyn who demanded of Henry an annulment from his 1st wife in order to marry him. Her daughter, Elizabeth I became Queen but her only son and heir to the throne was stillborn. Henry had her beheaded for treason against the King.





Mary Queen of Scots

The daughter of King James V of Scotland (nephew to Henry VIII of England) and Marie of Guise from France, her father died when she was six days old. Henry VIII immediately sought to arrange a marriage between the infant Mary and his son Edward, Henry's only male heir by his 3rd wife Jane Seymour and future King of England, but the Queen Mother Marie of Scotland stopped him, earning her the wrath of King Henry.

At nine months Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland but was kept in hiding by her mother. At age six her mother had arranged for a marriage in France to Dauphin Francois, heir to the French throne, and Mary went to live with her future father-in-law, Henri II in France. When she was 16 in 1558 she married Francois who became King Francis II of France when his father died the next year.

One year later, in 1560, her young husband the King died. Her mother-in-law, Catherine Medici of the Italian family became Regent and another son, the King's brother Charles IX, inherited the throne leaving Mary an 18 year old widow and former Queen of France. Mary returned to Scotland.

After her return Mary, who was a devote Catholic, defied Elizabeth and married Lord Darnley, her 1st cousin, who was then murdered. Her next marriage was to the alleged murderer of Lord Darnley. During this time Mary tried on many occasions to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and claim the throne. Elizabeth refused to have her cousin put to death but eventually her advisors did have Mary executed for treason.

Ironically, direct descendants of Mary were Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France who were also put to death for treason during the French Revolution.

Elizabeth I - Queen of the Golden Age (r. 1558 - 1603)





Three children of Henry VIII ruled England beginning with Edward VI (1547-1553), Mary I (1553-1558) and Elizabeth (1558-1603). Because none had heirs Elizabeth I was the last of the Tudor dynasty which became extinct upon her death in 1603. The crown of England then passed to Henry VIII's Paternal Great-grandson, James VI of Scotland, son of Mary Queen of Scots, and he became James I of England.

After her predecessor Mary I had restored power to the Catholics and began a campaign to burn the Protestants at the stake Elizabeth then restored power to the Church of England. Her difficulties with her cousin Mary in Scotland led to the Pope excommunicating Elizabeth from the Catholic church. When Mary was put to death the King of Spain, still the most powerful empire in the world, attacked England with the dreaded Spanish Armada of over 100 ships.

Elizabeth sent her small navy to meet the armada while she rallied the British troops on the shore and somehow Elizabeth won the battle ending forever the Spanish dominance of the world. William Shakespeare rose to fame during the Golden Age of Elizabeth's reign and she was one of the most beloved Queens of England.

Her closest advisor who helped save her before she became Queen and served throughout her reign was Sir William Cecil. William groomed his son Robert Cecil to take over for him when he died and Robert stepped in to serve the Queen, coordinate arrangements at her death, the end of the Tudor dynasty, and manage the transition to James I as the first Stuart king.

Robert Cecil - Advisor to Kings and Queens

Robert succeeded his father William in Queen Elizabeth's court and after her death he arranged for the transfer of the throne to King James I, son of Mary Queen of Scots, and thus united England and Scotland under the new Stuart King. It was Robert who encouraged his friend George Calvert to work for King James I. With Cecil's influence Calvert became involved in politics rising in the King's court to the position of Secretary of State, one of the top advisors to the King.

James I - King of England and Scotland (1603 - 1625)

James I was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and Paternal Grand Son of Henry VIII and was the first Stuart king after the end of the Tudor dynasty, the first King of England and Scotland. Because his mother spent so many years in prison while trying to overthrow Elizabeth before being put to death, James had not seen her since he was 14 months old.

Quite odd by English standards, James managed to alienate both the Protestants and Catholics by persecuting Catholics and writing about the Divine Right of Kings along with a book on witchcraft. James had been raised a Calvinist in Scotland.

It was James who made George Calvert his Secretary of State and gave him the title Lord Baltimore for helping settle unrest in Ireland. James also was unable to adjust to the English parliament and his feuds laid the seeds for the Protestant overthrow of the next monarch, his son Charles I. Finally, it was James who granted Calvert rights to the Avalon settlement in Newfoundland and rights to all of Newfoundland after a colony was established.

Charles I - King of England and Scotland (1625 - 1649)




Charles was the first monarch to get a special dispensation from the Pope so he could marry Henrietta Maria, daughter of King Henry IV of France and his Italian wife Marie de Medici of the Medici family dynasty. Henrietta was the first Catholic princess to marry a Protestant prince in Europe. It was a tenuous position for Charles to be head of the Church of England when his wife was Catholic, daughter of the French King and a member of the Italian Medici family.

His authoritarian Protestantism surprised both Protestants and Catholics alike as he rigidly enforced his right to raise his children outside the Catholic faith and was aggressively responding to challenges against the Church of England, thus causing both Puritans and Catholics to seek colonies in the new world.

English colonies already existed in Jamestown (1607), Plymouth (1620) and Avalon in Newfoundland (1621) before he became King while Mary Land (1634) would be settled during his reign but Charles had very little interest in the new world. However, he did demonstrate his loyalty to his father's advisors by continuing the grants to the Calvert family for Newfoundland, and when that was not successful he allowed Calvert to try again in Mary Land. In time his feud with Parliament would result in Oliver Cromwell leading a revolt that captured London taking Charles prisoner and he was beheaded in 1649.

Henrietta Marie, Queen of England



As noted, the complexity of Henrietta's position required a special dispensation from the Pope and seemed to calm friction between England and France. However, her devotion to being Catholic was unsettling to the English and a source of conflict with the Church of England. The Mary Land colony was named after her and she encouraged Charles to incorporate religious toleration in the new colony to assure those being persecuted in England would be free in America.

She even is reported to have given a piece of the True Cross of Jesus to the colonists to protect them on their trip, a relic still in Southern Maryland and brought to the Blessing of the Fleet. Her Medici family in Italy was responsible for saving and protecting many of the ancient relics, manuscripts and art work of the early period of Christianity.

When King Charles abolished Parliament it was Queen Henrietta that raised money and troops for the King from the Catholics of England and Europe, an action that alarmed the king's court over the growing influence of Catholics in the English monarchy. The Queen was safely moved to France during the revolt and beheading of Charles and she spent the rest of her life working out of a convent helping to protect the rights of Catholics and trying to influence her sons who became king.

Sir George Calvert - 1st Baron of Baltimore



This friend of Robert Cecil and loyalist to Queen Elizabeth and King James I worked his way up through the court to become Secretary of State under James. With his family long devoted to protecting religious freedom in England Sir George had a deep belief that the colonies offered the best opportunity to establish a haven for religious toleration where it was free of the Church of England and the religious battles raging throughout Europe. Shortly before King James died Calvert resigned from the court to settle the colonies and declared he was a Catholic, a surprise to all those who worked with him over the years.

Sir George had been an investor in the East India Tea Company approved by Elizabeth 1600 and in the Jamestown venture of 1607 so when James granted him a colony in Newfoundland named after the legendary Avalon of King Arthur days Sir George devoted his life and resources to making it successful. The ancient Avalon was the community where the new Christianity was first incorporated into the Druid and Celtic ways in the 4th century.

Calvert purchased two boats, the Ark and the Dove and in 1621 sent the first settlers to the new world. He hired a famous English pirate John Nutt to defend the new colony from the French raiders. Some time earlier he had saved Nutt from being put to death for piracy.

Calvert personally made two trips on his ships the Ark and the Dove to Newfoundland but by 1628 realized the climate was too harsh. He returned to England and consulted with Cecil and others before requesting from King Charles I a charter for the area north of the Potomac River extending to the 40th parallel, just above the future location of Philadelphia. During plans he consulted with Captain John Smith, the first Governor of Jamestown, who had explored the territory north of Jamestown after establishing the Virginia colony.

Calvert also recruited a Jesuit Priest, Father Andrew White, in 1628 to help organize the new settlement even though Father White had been banished from England for conducting Catholic services. Father White secretly helped Calvert draft many of the charter documents he wanted including the guarantee of religious freedom, the first colony in the world to offer such freedom.

After successful negotiations with the King aided by the support of the Queen Henrietta Marie, Sir George Calvert died just five weeks before the grant was approved. It would be up to his son Cecilius, named after Robert Cecil, to fulfill the dream of his father.

(Part 2. to follow)

Why are People Shouting To Be Heard at Health Care Forums?

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The Democrats and the Obama gang are going to great pains to paint a picture of organized disruption of the Congressional Health Care forums around the nation during the current Congressional recess. Is it any surprise this could happen?

These are the same Democrats and Obama gang that slammed a sham of a trillion dollar stimulus bill down our throats with no effort to get Republican or public input. The same gang that slammed bank, insurance and auto bailouts for another trillion dollars down our throats with no Republican or public input.

They are now trying to slam a health care reform that no one has read and can't be understood down our throats with a hidden cost of a trillion more with no Republican input and they even tried to force it through Congress again with no public influence.





However Congress, even though under the ironclad control of the Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid Democratic triumvirate for the first time dared to buck the leadership strong arm tactics and refused to pass a bill without public influence and now the public is finally being heard.

People are mad, damn mad about the bankruptcy of America underway and about the misrepresentation of the intent of Obama initiatives like the stimulus and bailouts along with the billion dollar bonuses also approved by the Obama administration.

Health care legislation does not address one of the most ridiculous runaway costs, the cost of lawyers in pursuing claims against doctors and hospitals which has driven required insurance costs through the ceiling. Obama says leave the lawyers and their million dollar fees alone even while attacking other costs in the industry.





No surprise here as he previously substantially increased the cost of the stimulus public works projects by requiring union wages be paid and has done everything to extend the influence of unions throughout our economy, even where states have flatly rejected the union influence with right-to-work laws. It will prove to be one of the most expensive pork barrel expenditures of the Obama liberal agenda.

There is no conspiracy to disrupt Congressional town halls. Democrats in Congress have ignored the public and have no intention of pursuing bi-partisan work on the legislative agenda and people are letting them know that maybe our Congressmen and women are the problem, not the solution.

Many Obama supporters have realized the Obama promise and the Obama reality are two different things and the thugs in his Administration using White House power to threaten any politicians that do not support them are nothing more than bullies using the White House for a pulpit.





The first chance the public has had to be heard on the liberal, some say socialist agenda of Obama and the first chance they have had to demand explanations and answers from their own elected Congressmen has stunned the Democrats but how stupid is that? All they had to do is watch the collapse of the Obama and Congress poll ratings over the past few months and listen to the thundering herd of dissent over broken promises and failed trillion dollar solutions.

People want them to slow down and get it right this time but slowing down and getting it right will mean the liberal agenda and public takeover of health care will be fully exposed and that is something Obama and Pelosi cannot allow to happen.

If the Democrats and the Republicans would both shut up and let the public be heard for the first time. If our elected representatives would ask the people they were elected to represent what they want before they slam something down our throats. And if the people in Washington would figure out they are our employees, that is our White House and Capitol, those are our laws not theirs being debated and that is our money not theirs being squandered, then maybe some sense would return to Washington.





If not then throw the whole damn bunch out because they were not sent to our nation's capitol to tell us what to do but to do what we want. Instead of complaining that the public is mad just shut up and listen for a change.
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New Jersey Governor's Race - A Referendum on the Result of the Redistribution of Wealth Obama Style

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In spite of the efforts of Democrats and the White House to downplay it, the governor's race in New Jersey has far more national implications than the media or national pundits want you to know. This race is a public referendum on the results of the redistribution of wealth in America, the centerpiece of what President Obama wants for the nation as a whole.





Some say it is about an unpopular governor, Jon Corzine and widespread corruption in the Democratic party in the state. I spent eight years as a former member of the Governor Tom Kean's administration and it comes as no surprise that corruption remains alive and well in New Jersey. Even though corruption has never thrived like it does today politicians have survived the taint of corruption in the past.

What is the defining issue is the result of years of redistribution of wealth that has driven New Jersey from one of the most prosperous states in the nation to one with the highest taxes in the nation as the state fell deeper and deeper into the control of the advocates of redistributing wealth in accordance with the wishes of the present and former democratic governors of the state.

For a 50 year period until the 1990's New Jersey was the fastest growing state in the northeast as it had been home to the wealthy New Yorker's since the mid 1800's. But in an ominous sign of the practical impact of Obama's redistribution of wealth, the so called hidden socialist agenda, New Jersey has progressed farther left than any state in the union.





As wealth in New Jersey was redistributed by the Democratic party officials and office holders the financial base of the state withered away in response. At the same time the proponents of wealth redistribution became politically entrenched and ignored the economic signs and warnings. Greed and power were cleverly protected from the will of the citizens and people no longer had a role in the future direction of the state.

In a thoughtful and provocative study of the politics of wealth redistribution in New Jersey titled The Mob That Wracked Jersey by Steven Malanga published in The City Journal he documented "How rapacious government withered the Garden State." It is a must read for students, taxpayer victims and even those caught up in the glamour of a program that claims to steal from the rich to help the poor like the Obama gang wants to do. You can read the article at the following link:

http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_2_new_jersey.html

Now the citizens of New Jersey are stuck with a choice of voting for an incumbent whose early endorsement helped Obama get elected, the hand picked and financed candidate for president by Goldman Sachs. An incumbent whose embracing of the Obama redistribution of wealth concept is driving jobs and employers out of the state in record numbers, whose spending and deficits have made Jersey the most taxed state in the nation and whose years at Goldman Sachs are yet to be fully explained.





His Republican opponent is a former US Attorney Chris Christie on the conservative side whose crusade against corruption landed over 100 dirty officials in jail though an anti-corruption platform does not address other major problems facing the state. It remains to be seen how he would undo the politically charged groups that are responsible for the redistribution of wealth debacle that plagues the state.





A third and Independent candidate, Chris Daggett, may be a sleeper in the race as he was a distinguished head of state and federal environmental programs and served under Governor Tom Kean when New Jersey had the most successful environmental agenda in the nation. Daggett is running as an Independent in the first year in our nation's history that there are more registered Independents nationally than members of either major party. He is also the first Independent candidate for governor of New Jersey to succeed in qualifying for state matching funds.

Jersey voters can be quite independent themselves and this time those who believe there is little difference between the two major parties and want a viable choice will have the opportunity to make a statement that neither party represents the future. Perhaps voters have been taken for granted by the politicians for far too long and it is time someone without the baggage of a party platform is given a chance.

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