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Saturday, May 17, 2008

Obama, McCain, even (dare I say it) Hillary: Does it really even Matter who the next President is?


Stay with me, reader! This is a long piece, and I'm going to jump around a bit, but it all comes together in the end.

The point is does it REALLY matter anymore which candidate does ultimately win the 2008 Presidential election?

I've been a political junkie since I was 13 years old. My Grandmother (God rest her soul) lived in Miami and our family went to visit her, coincidentally during the the 1972 Republican Convention.

While my parents and assorted other relatives were poolside, I was handing out Re-Elect President Nixon campaign buttons; a self-proclaimed middle-school conservative Republican. I hope those buttons become valuable some day because I have a box left.

That wasn't a popular stance in those days, and I didn't walk around in a little suit: I was a child of the times, but fiercely loved America, what it stood for, and what it represented.

As I got older, I stayed focused on National politics, joined the Air Force right out of high school because serving my country was the thing to do. I lived through the Carter years (fortunately overseas for half of it) but saw how he decimated the military budget.

I came home to a depressed America, double-digit inflation and a country still reeling from losing the Vietnam War. I will never forget or forgive President Carter's going on television blaming the American people for the morose attitude of the nation.

But then came Ronald Reagan and his "shining city on a hill". Suddenly it was OK to be an American again. Suddenly, people were proud to be Americans again. It was the age of Rocky and Rambo and America is number one! The 1980's were a good time psychologically for the American people and a welcome break from the turmoil, anger, failure and confusion of the 1960's and 70's.

I'm speaking high level of that time: there were scandals, there were mistakes, and the racial uprisings in the 1960's were just the boiling over of America never really overcoming it's prejudice's post civil-war. It was bound to happen, it should have happened, and I am ashamed for America that we were the last "civilized" country to outlaw slavery.

But we also put a man on the moon and while the nuclear-freeze crowd hid under their desks, Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union for what it was and said it would not stand.

And in what history will judge as the greatest bluff of all time, Reagan bankrupted the Soviet Union out of existence with the then (and barely now) technologically impossible SDI program. In derisively naming it after the fictional "Star Wars", the press almost let the cat out of the bag.

Many took Reagan's open, optimistic and positive attitude for stupidity. But he was far from stupid; he was shrewd. He had too many advisers and experts not to know that SDI was impossible to achieve during the 20th century, but he poured billions into it and kept repeating that we would have an invincible shield against nuclear weapons.

The Soviets knew it was impossible too, but between Reagan's rhetoric, the vast money spent, and their own paranoia, just couldn't ignore it: they had to compete. They couldn't afford it and it bankrupted them into the scrap-pile of history. I'm glad I never played poker against Ronald Reagan. And because of his courage, we are the only remaining superpower today. Today.

But there is a big lesson for America to learn from the breakup of the Soviet Union. Like us, they considered themselves the "worlds policeman" but from the communist side. They had an enormous defense budget, a world-wide military presence, and poured billions into the proxy wars they fought against us in Asia and Africa.

They spent billions more propping up "friendly" governments, billions more to bring "communist enlightenment" to other countries, and billions more to ensure a comparable or superior military machine vs the United States. And one American President used that against them and quickly destroyed them.

Lets fast-forward to 2008. The United States spends more on military spending than the entire world combined and then some. We have to, because we are still stuck in the Cold War mindset of being the "world's policeman", spreading our form of "democractic enlightenment" to other countries, and still operating under the WWII vision of America's role in the world, not today's.

And it will bankrupt us. It already has. The only unknown is whether it will bankrupt us out of existence, as we did the Soviets. But the enemy now is not another country, but our own mainstream media.

The media has always had a slant: conservative or liberal, but they would apply that to the News as it happened. What they learned in the 1960's and actively, blatantly, and openly are applying today is that, instead of reporting the News with their slant, they are CREATING the News to suit their slant and agenda.

The 2008 President Primaries was their first true open flexing of that muscle.

It didn't help that both on the Republican and Democrat sides, we probably had the worst group of candidates in recent history. That made it a lot easier for the media to shape the election.

For the first time in American history, the ENTIRE major mainstream press IN CONCERT predecided who the candidates would be. They acted together in not giving any coverage to certain candidates, marginalizing and trivializing others, and giving too much coverage to other candidates.

When they finally eliminated most of them, they started swinging their reporting from positive to negative on the few remaining candidates to keep, especially on the Democrat side, the race close enough to they could draw it out and milk coverage and ratings that the truth wouldn't have justified.

But not to to give them complete credit, they were aided by two critical factors: the ego's of the States who were tired of New Hampshire always being talked about and so began moving up their primary dates so they could get some press too.

This resulted in the election race starting over a year before the 2008 general election. That's a lot of air-time to fill and a lot of opportunity for "creative reporting".

And as I stated earlier, the 2008 Presidential Primary candidates from both sides were an embarrassment to the Office of the President. This made the presses job even easier.

Let's not talk candidates to start with: lets talk ideas and facts.

Mike Huckabee, pushed by the press until his usefulness ran out, proposed eliminating the Federal income tax and replacing it with a 35% National Sales Tax. That concept was given a lot of credible positive attention by the press. I

t will bring in hundreds of billions in tax from "under the table" cash transactions and from illegal aliens who purchase primarily with cash. And no more Federal Income Tax! Notice he never said "no more IRS"; just no more Federal Income Tax.

Lets look at history first. Very similar arguments were made when the Constitution was amended creating the Federal Income Tax. And remember, it was sold and started because it was "only a 1% tax which would effect primarily the wealthy" One Percent.

And when the Federal Income Tax climbed to 90%, for top earners, the Government noticed there were so many loopholes that the rich could afford to slip through, they actually paid less than they do today.

So the "Tax Over-Haul" which promised lower rates but eliminated the loop-holes. But Big Government spent more, so the rates went up again; this time without the loop-holes.

You don't think the major reason George W. Bush was elected and re-elected President was because he promised and brought the rates down again...and continues to this day to keep fighting to make his reductions permanent?

And as his popularity drops to historic lows, the Big Government activists fighting even harder to eliminate the Bush tax reductions?

If not for the fact that Congress's approval rating was worse than the President's, this would already have happened. Instead they're trying to wait out the clock, stalling every attempt to make the tax rate cuts permanent until they expire.

A 35% National Sales Tax would affect the wealthiest Americans Discretionary spending, but would SAVAGE the middle class in paying taxes on Essentials. As history shows us, what starts at 35% will not remain 35% for long. And as history also shows us, "loop-holes" will be created for the wealthiest Americans so, along with their highly paid accountants, will pay much less.

Huckabee's National Sales Tax plan was given credibility and pushed because it enhanced the Big Government concept: the average citizen having to rely on the Federal Government to survive from cradle to grave.

And Big Government is popular with Big Media which is now owned by Big Business because they and their lobbyists literally control the Federal Government. They write the legislation, the campaign checks, create and support the PACs, receive the huge, often wasteful and unnecessary Big Government contracts, and provide lucrative jobs for "the right people" who leave Big Government but have influence and connections.

Now lets get back to history and look at a 21st century solution proposed by Ron Paul (and I don't blame you if you said either "who" or "that wacko!" Because that's how the mainstream press universally portrayed him.

His idea was to eliminate the Federal income tax for EVERYONE AND eliminate the Entire Budget Deficit COMPLETELY by simply STOP being the world's policeman. End the Cold War mentality and close the 160 US military bases abroad. Bring the troops home. Get back to what the Founding Fathers envisioned which was a military to Protect and Defend the United States. Period. It would save the United States $1 TRILLION a YEAR, and that's only the financial value.

Imagine if China had military bases on US soil. How would that affect public opinion about the Chinese? It would affect it negatively. And our military presence around the world, especially among the Arab nations, is the major cause of their hatred for the USA and their attacks against us. And who can blame them? We wouldn't tolerate foreign troop and bases on our soil either.

We have to accept that NOT every nation wants American-style "Democracy". Not every nation's culture will ACCEPT, or if forced upon them, be able to understand and function under American-style "Democracy".

In hindsight, the United States would have been more secure with Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Dictator, running Iraq then a "liberated" Iraq will ever be. His Iraq was a buffer between Syria and Iran. His Iraq was a threat to and major focus of Iran (hence our support of Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war).

Yes, he was a Dictator, a mass-murderer, and ran an iron-fisted regime completely contrary to American-style "Democracy". But look at Iraq today: are the people any happier? People who lived as neighbors for years (because they had to) are now killing each other and burning each other's Mosque's down.

The infrastructure is a mess, corruption is rampant, because corruption was a way of life in Iraq.
Soldiers and Insurgents change sides every day: a concept inconceivable to us but a way of life for them.

Iraq was a "created" country. Family, Clan and Tribal loyalties centuries old trump any mandated 20th century re-drawing of the map by the "Western Powers" after WWI and WWII.

Now in fairness to George W. Bush, in a post 9/11 world, when a Dictator like Hussein keeps asserting over and over that he is creating chemical, and more importantly, biological weapons and would continue to not only do so, but subtly hints that some of these could one day end up in the hands of terrorists, could Bush have afforded to risk that he wasn't telling the truth?

What Hussein WANTED was the same level of respect and treatment that we give North Korea. He tried to ACHIEVE it by doing a "Reagan Bluff", and during the Clinton years it might have worked. But not post 9/11.

Back to Ron Paul, his advocacy of ending "Pax America", and returning the Federal Government to the Founding Father's vision and The Constitution being strictly interpreted. That policy was COMPLETEY the opposite of what Big Business, and thus Big Media wanted.

And frankly, some of Ron Paul's other policies are not practical in the 21st century. But there are three branches of Government in America (although that line; especially between Congress and Activist Judges) is blurring.

Ron Paul could propose, but Congress would have to approve. But as Commander in Chief, he could have accomplished that ONE REALLY GOOD policy of bringing the American Military home and let it fulfill it's Constitutionally mandated mission.

Big Media, Big Business, and the infamous Military/Industrial complex crushed him in short order. Dr. Paul had the largest grass roots support base via the internet then any candidate in history. His Official Campaign Team failed miserably to capitalize on that: if they hadn't, he would have been untouchable.

But Paul and his Campaign Team didn't understand the depth, size or power of that movement any more than the mainstream press did. The mainstream press paid attention to Dr. Paul for one week, asking "where is all of this coming from?" And when he repeatedly answered "I don't know." The mainstream media then had full license to twist the truth, later giving credit to Barack Obama for having an amazing internet base.

Without direction from the Paul Campaign and with the constant, organized, and intentional negative portrayal of Paul by the press, his grass-roots movement became discouraged and fell apart while the average big-media informed Americans just wrote him off as a kook; as planned.

The one opportunity to REALLY change America and open a SERIOUS dialogue on our place in the world today wasted, and then crushed.

So what do we have forward to look to in November? John McCain, a third rate politician-as-usual Republican candidate, who is so in the middle of the road on most issues, he's in danger of getting run over.

Hillary Clinton: the poster child for not big, but HUGE government. And we really don't know how HUGE or what else she will try to accomplish since she has a largely secret 30 year old agenda for America, unless she is elected.

And finally, Barack Obama, flag lapel pin on one day, off the next, on the next day. We really don't know what he will propose as President except bigger Government since we don't know if his campaign platform is real or not, and we don't know if he's up to or can grow into the role of President of the United States.

And what does that mean for America? A continued slide into Second-World status. A bi-lingual, balkanized, "diversified" country where your personal heritage is more important than your American heritage.

A bigger and bigger divide between the poor and the rich, with the middle-class being all but eliminated.

And with oil prices skyrocketing, the dollar sliding to new lows constantly against the Euro and other currencies, China and Europe owning most of our debt and our dependence on them to keep buying our Bonds for us to survive.

Our accelerating transformation into a service-based economy, we are destined to be the county others will outsource their call centers and cheap labor needs to. And if we try to flex our muscles again, the before mentioned will stop buying our bonds and we'll go bankrupt almost immediately, considering a half trillion dollar deficit that keeps growing.

If they can clean up their history of corruption and get their act together, look to China as being the Superpower of the 22nd century and the focus for new technology and ideas shifting from America to Japan and South Korea.

But we'll still have over a thousand rusting but hopefully function nuclear weapons which should give us some security. And our Grand-children, if not our children, will be able to say "Would you like fries with that?" in Spanish and English.

Won't we all be proud to be Americans? Will there be a 2nd American Revolution? I doubt it. We don't teach history anymore, not unless it's been re-written to portray our ancestors as the bad guys, so by then, few will even factually remember the 1st American Revolution.

I wonder what derogatory names they will call the illegal American aliens slipping over the border into Canada?

So Obama, Clinton, or McCain: will it make any real difference? All the really important decisions will be made in Corporate Board Rooms and Editorial Staff Meetings.



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Saturday, May 10, 2008

EXCLUSIVE: Maher Maso Endorsed by Frisco Mayor Mike Simpson, wife Sandy, and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Joyner!




Frisco, TX: In an early morning election day email, outgoing Frisco Mayor Mike Simpson, wife Sandy, and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Joyner emailed a strong endorsement of Maher Maso for Mayor in today's election.

Maso's many, many endorsements include both newspapers of record.

This is a big blow to of Maso's opponent, Matt Lafata. Lafata has landed few endorsements and has spent the last two weeks fighting Frisco City Campaign Ethics Charges.

And now yesterday, State Campaign Ethics Charges were filed against Lafata as well.

While these endorsements are a huge coup for the Maso Campaign, Lafata, a Marketing Director along with his new 2nd wife Erika, former beauty pageant organizer and radio personality, have been packaging and repackaging Lafata professionally.

While Maso is clearly the candidate of integrity, ethics, knowledge and has a hugely impressive record of past performance on the City Council and as Mayor Pro Tem, Frisco has experienced explosive growth since the last election and both candidates are largely unknown to many of the 40,000 new residents.

Will Maher Maso's clearly superior abilities carry the day or will the slick packaging of the scandal-plagued Lafata win out? Substance over Style...that's what the Frisco Election of May 10th, 2008 is all about.

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Thursday, May 8, 2008

Matt Lafata Declares Himself Mayor of Frisco! A Coup or a drunken Stategy Session gone Wrong?




The election of the new Mayor of Frisco, TX WAS supposed to take place on May 10th, 2008. And only history will tell us when Mayoral Candidate Matt Lafata decided to make a radical and legendary shift in his campaign strategy.

Why spend the time and money on an election, especially one on a Saturday! Saturday is for being pool-side with a healthy ration of beer!

So, on or before May 3rd, in the dark of night while an unknowing Frisco innocently slept, the front page of a Lafata Official Campaign Web Site was changed! It now boldly proclaimed that



MATT LAFATA, was the "MAYOR OF FRISCO! "

Lafata was throwing away the rule book (if he ever had one) and taking over Frisco!

This was this a clear violation of Texas Election Law and the very sovereignty of Frisco itself!

But rules, laws and ethics have never stopped Mayoral Candidate Matt Lafata before. You can almost hear him laughing (or puking up too much beer) But it does make you wonder just how Lafata controls his Campaign Committee....and himself.

Confusion reigned (or would have if anyone had really noticed). Was this a coup attempt? Who was in control at City Hall?

And what was the fate of the REAL Mayor of Frisco, Mike Simpson? Was he safe, hiding out with the Frisco Resistance or was he imprisoned? Was he still alive? Was he playing golf?

And what of Lafata's opponent in the Mayor's race, Maher Maso? Imprisoned or hidden in a secret room at the Plantation Resort Golf Clubhouse, coordinating the Frisco Resistance? Or worse.....

Fortunately, panic in the streets was averted as, by the time anyone realized that they were living under the iron fist of MAYOR LAFATA, he removed his new title from his web site, apparently being educated, after serving SIX YEARS on the Frisco City Council, that it was against Texas Election Laws under Title 15 to claim you hold an elected office that you actually don't hold.

So the Coup that No One Knew; as this will go down in Frisco history, was over.

The election was back on for May 10th. Matt Lafata is back to being a term-limited City Council Member and candidate for Mayor.

He will have to deal with a Sworn Complaint which was Fedexed to the Texas State Ethics Commission today. But Mr. Lafata is no stranger in dealing with ethics complaints. Just another bump in the road.

Maybe if he paid more attention during Council Meetings: fellow Councilman Jim Joyner, who sits next to Lafata at City Council Meetings, publicly confirmed for attribution in front of a small crowd at the last Candidate's Forum that the years-old "open secret" was true:

Council Member Matt Lafata spends the bulk of practically every City Council Meeting banging away on his personal laptop (the City built a nice computer right into his desk), quoting Joyner, "working on his Blog, his News Letters, and, God knows what else!"

Maybe that's why, despite his self-proclaimed multi-tasking abilities, Matt Lafata seems so uninformed on government in general, especially for a SIX YEAR City Council Veteran.

Maybe that's why he thought that he could just announce himself to be MAYOR OF FRISCO and it would be OK.

So life in Frisco goes on, with virtually no one even knowing they were living under the Lafata Regime during the infamous Coup that No One Knew.

The REAL election is this Saturday, and I have been able to communicate with Lafata's opponent in the Mayor's race, Maher Maso, and he is safe and well.

But I still haven't heard from current Frisco Mayor Simpson yet. If anyone knows he's OK, drop me an email. I'll sleep better.

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Mayoral Candidate Maher Maso: Why all the Endorsements?


Maher Maso is called the candidate for Frisco Mayor with Substance and Integrity: by the media, by organizations, former Mayors and colleagues who have endorsed him.


His opponent, Matt Lafata, is characterized as Style, yet shallow and lacking knowledge. Why is that?


A two part look at Maher Maso, former Councilman, former Mayor Pro Tem, and now candidate for Mayor.



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Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Will Hillary Repeal the Clinton Gas Tax?


Bill Clinton raised the gas tax and no one in the press seems to remember it. Most reporters have no idea (or choose to ignore) that in his first year in office President Clinton raised the gas tax. He did it in a package of tax increases that amounted to the biggest tax increase in history, after a presidential campaign whose centerpiece was a middle class tax cut.

But it's 2008 and all this is irrelevant to the actual problem. The story below, "Will Hillary Repeal the Clinton Gas Tax"? is a good one.


But in fact, repealing the Gas Tax, be it by Hillary (God forbid), Obama, or McCain is not the solution. Prices will drop for a day or two; then the oil companies, distributors, and gasoline retails, will raise their retail price and bring us right back where we were before.

The answer is to lessen our dependence on foreign oil and both sides in this debate will have to compromise.

The environmentalists need to understand we must drill and refine more domestic oil. We don't have the luxury of worrying about polar bears or caribou out it some desolate wasteland.

At the same time, every viable option to oil including wind power, nuclear power, and solar power must be pursued with a vengeance.

And on both sides, the Federal Government, the ACLU, and the Activist Judges need to get out of the way and let this happen.

Retail gas prices will hit $4/gallon by this summer. We are in recession, the dollar is becoming worthless, and our bonds harder to sell. The deficit is huge and growing and all the Presidential candidates and our Congress just wants to spend more. This has to stop.

We are heading for a DEPRESSION, not unlike 1929. It's time to realize that, but ideology aside, and ACT NOW! It's almost too late.

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Monday, May 5, 2008

Frisco Enterprise Editorial Board Endorses Maso for Mayor

TX: First, the Dallas Morning News Editorial Board. Now the Frisco Enterprise Editorial Board has endorsed Maher Maso for Mayor of Frisco, TX.

This gives Maso the endorsements of both of Frisco's newspaper's of record.

Meanwhile, Maso's scandel-ridden challenger, outgoing City Council Member Matt Lafata faces a second Ethics hearing tomorrow.

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Friday, May 2, 2008

Breaking News! : Hillary Clinton Required to Testify in Nove

To All Super Delegates! : This is very disturbing news! (I'm dancing for joy, personally) In the landmark civil fraud case against Bill Clinton in Los Angeles, where the former President is charged with defrauding a Hollywood dot com millionaire to help Hillary Clinton obtain more...

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Defection Of Longtime Superdelegate Jolts Clinton

Despite the Wright controversy, Clinton's lead continues to shrink among the superdelegates...I'm really enjoying this but am not relaxing until the election is over and ANYONE but Hillary (and George Bush) is President.

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Don't Let Bill Collectors Trick You during these Tough Times

With the economy tanking and more people owing more than they make, many have to make the hard decision of which bills to pay.

Enter the Bill Collector: they work on commission. If you take their advise, they will ruin you.

Under the Fair Debt Collection Act, what they can and can't say: and what you should say.

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