January, 2025, Part 10, Political Class Insanity: New Jersey Senator Goes To Prison, Condoms For Gaza, Americans Are Struggling Financially and More

 Every month we devote posts to just general political class insanity that is running rampant through the country. The members of the American political class continue to show that they are incapable of efficiently operating any level of government in this country.

Even their best efforts are almost always ineffective at resolving any problem facing Americans. They spend a great amount of time not trying to improve the lives of their citizens but continually ensuring their reelection and enriching themselves, their families, and their friends in the process, all at taxpayer expense.

1)We have talked about this political corruption before but this episode has finally came to an end:

• Bob Menendez was once a long term U.S. Senator from New Jersey.

• He was convicted of 16 counts of corruption and bribery for shady dealings with the Egyptian government which led to the FBI finding almost half a million dollars in cash and many gold bars in his home.

• As a result of his conviction, a judge recently sent him off for 11 years in prison.

• He claimed he was innocent and blamed Biden for political lawfare.

Whatever happened, for the first time in a long time a corrupt politician is facing real penalties for his corruption. It’s a good day but many more crooked politicians also need to meet the same fate.

2)We have talked about absolutely stupid wastes of taxpayer dollars over the years including some real disgusting wastes during the Biden Presidency. Taxpayer money was sent overseas to support LGBTQ+ programs around the world. He sent about $200 billion to the Ukranains to fight the Russians, 50% of which has been possibly lost to corruption.

But the latest news out of the Biden administration may be the most inane and disgusting waste of taxpayer money:

• This waste of taxpayer money involved Biden allocating $50,000,000 that was focused on condom distribution in Gaza.

• Let me say that again so it really sinks in: with millions of Americans homeless, hungry, in need of medical care, and struggling to survive, Biden wanted to spend $50 million on condoms for Gaza.

• Not only was this a stupid effort, condoms for Gaza, but apparently the terrorist group running Gaza, Hamas,, repurposed the condoms to help deliver IED devices that they then floated into Israel where the IEDs did extensive and expensive damage to schools, farmland, and infrastructure.

Thus, the program was not only a stupid waste of taxpayer dollars but it caused millions of dollars in damage to a U.S. ally.

3)More data became available recently which shows how devastating Biden’s failed economic policies were and still are:

• A news survey from Bankrate found that 59% of respondents could not afford an unexpected $1,000 expense.

• Think about the precarious situation these folks are in: if they need major car repairs, a new kitchen appliance, a medical  emergency, they are in dire financial straits.

• In other words, given Biden’s inflation policies the majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

• Since Biden took office, egg prices are up 182%.

• Since Biden took office, ground beef prices are up 41%.

• Since Biden took office, chicken prices are up 30%.

• Since Biden took office, milk prices are up 18%.

Thus, it is no surprise 59% of Americans are struggling financially.

4)So, up above we talked about how the Federal government squandered $50 million on condoms for Gaza. While that is horrific, it doesn't compare to the ineptness and waste of the following Federal government project:

• The Federal government is working on building a new Air Force One jet for Presidential travel.

• The  delivery date for the new jet has been  pushed back  to 2029  despite the fact that this effort began way back  in 2018.

• The jet was supposed to be delivered by 2024 at a cost of $3.9 billion but the date has obviously slipped five years and the price tag is already up to $5.3 billion.

• Boeing, the contractor for the jet, has already absorbed over $2 billion in cost overruns.

• Since the plane has not been  totally built yet and the delivery is four years away, you know that that $5.3 billion cost is going to go even higher.

Wow, who would have expected it, a major government project that will not meet both its delivery schedule and its budget? Everyone.

5)Wasteful spending and non-delivery is not restricted to Federal government projects:

• Six years ago, in  2019, the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico spent $4 million on solar panels.

• The plan was to install these solar panels on seven municipal government buildings.

• However, six years later many of these 1,000 solar panels have not been installed and are just laying about.

• Even  worse, the panels that were actually installed on two buildings have never worked.

• Panels on  another building are functioning only 6% of their capacity.

• The original plan in 2019 was to have ALL of Albuquerque’s government buildings being powered by 100% renewable energy by 2025.

Another government project that cost a lot and never got fully implemented, great.

In summary: an  American politician is going to jail for a long time, the “Condoms For Gaza” program was stupid to begin with and was just a wasteful, inane idea, Americans are struggling to survive and pay basic expenses, and government projects never seem to be on schedule and on budget, be it a new Presidential plane or a few solar panels in New Mexico.

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If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:

https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom

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Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

https://www.amazon.com/Love-My-Country-Loathe-Government/dp/1604942789/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=love+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&qid=1607716020&sr=8-1

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com

http://www.cato.org

http://www.openthebooks.com

http://www.conventionofstates.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

 

November, 2015, Part 3, By The Numbers - Obama's Death Knell For Democrats, Vacationing On Taxpayer Wealth and Golf,Golf, Golf

This is the third post this month as we continue our periodic discussion of “by the numbers.” We do this theme occasionally where we look at the reality of the numbers in the world and not the lies, deceptions, and spin of the American political class. I used to work for a boss whose favorite quote was: “There is nothing more devastating to an opinion than the correct number.” By looking at the statistics, trends, and numbers in our world we can cut through the politicians’ smoke screen to truly understand what is going on and hopefully, remedy the issues of the day.

1) Remember how the media proclaimed that when Obama was elected President that the Republican party would wither away and die off? Obama was the young vibrant leader, the first African American President while the Republicans were a bunch of old white guys from a different, past generation of America?

Well, as Mark Twain once said, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Consider the political numbers that have occurred since Obama became President:

• With the recent election of a Republican to be governor of Kentucky, Republicans now control the governor’s seat in 32, 64%, of the states.
• Republicans control 30, 60%, of the country’s state legislatures and have total or split control of 38 out of 50, 76%.
• There are 13 fewer Democrats in the U.S. Senate since Obama was elected.
• There are 69 fewer Congressional Democrats in the House of Representatives since Obama was elected.
• There are 11 fewer Democratic governors since Obama was elected.
• There are 913 fewer Democrats in state legislatures since Obama was elected.
• Maryland, Illinois ,and Kentucky now have Republican governors, a rarity in those states throughout history.

The Washington Post mapped out this Republican dominance in the following map (click on the graph for a larger view):



Image credit: Washington Post

2) A recent article by Derrick Wilburn on the Allen B. West website continued to review the carnage that the Obama Presidency has wrought on Democrats across the country:

• The 2014 elections gave the Republicans their biggest Congressional majority in both houses in almost 99 years, 54 seats in the Senate and 247 seats in the house.
• They achieved their biggest control of state legislative bodies, 68, since 1928.
• In the 2014 elections, the Republicans won 24 out of 36 open U.S. Senate seats.
• 50% of the U.S. Senators who voted for Obama Care are no longer in the Senate.

While Obama in his own mind might think he is legendary the only thing the numbers show is that his policies and attitude has had a legendary bad impact on Democrats across the country.

3) Maybe one of the issues people have with Democrats is that their political leader, Barack Obama, seems to think that he and his family can use and waste taxpayer dollars on their many expensive vacations. According to recent findings via Freedom of Information Act requests, Judicial Watch published its expense findings on three Obama family vacations regarding just the cost of transportation:

• Obama's June 20, 2015 golf outing to Palm Springs required 10.6 hours of flying time at $206,337 per hour, costing taxpayers $2,187,172.20.

• Obama's July 18, 2015 trip to New York City with his daughters required 1.5 hours of flying time at $206,337 per hour, costing taxpayers $309,505.50.

• Obama's August 7, 2015 family trip to Martha's Vineyard required 3 hours of flying time at $206,337 per hour, costing taxpayers $619,011. 

Thus, just the flying costs to the American taxpayer for just these three Obama family vacations cost over $3 million. Judicial Watch is still waiting for the cost of Secret Service costs for these trips.

The additional details from Judicial Watch were also provided:

• While in Palm Springs, the President played golf at the private golf course of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison. This was his fifth golf outing to Palm Springs in just the past two years.
• In New York he told ABC TV News that he was in the city “hanging out with his girls.” He, his two daughters and their friends flew to New York on Air Force One.
• After one day they all flew home but the President flew back to New York just two days later to appear on TV’s “The Daily Show.” 

He still made the trip to New York even though four Armed Forces recruiters had recently been killed in a terrorist attack in Tennessee.

His trip to Martha’s Vineyard including many rounds of golf on many private course. The house the First Family stayed at was 8,100 square feet in size, it sat on a 10 acre lot, it had 17 rooms, and usually rents for $50,000 a WEEK.

The numbers show that Obama and his family are certainly living the good live, all on taxpayer wealth.

4) Speaking of Obama and golf, as of this past August, the President had played 248 rounds of golf. This is the most rounds of golf played by a President since the 1950s. This comes out to about one round of golf every ten days, a rate that the vast majority of Americans and vast majority of American golfers fail to attain.

This is a President who promised he “would not rest” until every problem the country was facing was resolved, as witnessed by his promises, all of which have been broken, in the following video:

http://obamagolfcounter.com/ 

I foolishly assumed that he meant he would not be golfing every ten days or so until every problem was resolved, that is how I interpreted his continual “will not rest” promises.

But I should have known better. Remember, this is the same Presidential candidate that said he would not take vacations if elected since there were so many issues facing the country:

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Obama-vacation-video-golf/2014/08/12/id/588289/

Over 248 rounds of golf prove that this is another broken promise, the golf numbers do not lie.

That will do it for this month’s “by the numbers” update. Do not believe political spin, believe the numbers if you want to know what reality is.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

May, 2014 Political Class Insanity, Part 1: Obama Vacations, Veterans' Mistreatment or Non-Treatment, and General Motors' Final Taxpayer Debt

It is the beginning of another month so it is time for our monthly review of the latest political class insanity, idiocy, and wasteful spending from the American political class. As we have said many times before, when we started this blog back in 2009, we usually could cover the insanity in a day or so. 

However, it seems the insanity and lunacy has been growing exponentially over the years. So much so that we will probably need another half dozen or so posts this month to get it all covered, that is how quickly and deeply the performance of the American political class has deteriorated just in the past few years.

Given so much has happened in the past thirty days, we will try to be quick and crisp in order to get everything discussed before it becomes to depressing to go on. As we go through the latest insanity, consider joining our term limits effort at:

www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com

Because really, after reading what the politicians are doing to our wealth, our freedoms and futures, how much worse could it get if we dumped every incumbent out of office and started again with a fresh set of people sitting in Washington?

1) Several years ago, the American taxpayer, courtesy of the Washington political class, gave tens of billions of dollars to General Motors to bail it out of the incompetence it had gotten itself into from a financial perspective. Rather than let the company go through a regular bankruptcy proceeding, which would have cost the American taxpayer nothing, the Obama administration intervened, likely as a favor to its union supporters, and substituted taxpayer money for a coherent and regular bankruptcy proceeding.

Well, according to the latest financial report relative to the bailout, the Inspector General in charge of all bailouts reported that the final tab for the American taxpayer was just over $11 billion. This is the equivalent of every American household writing a check for about $100 and sending it to General Motors to bail it out of its mess that it created. Again, this was an unnecessary, politically driven bailout that never needed to be done.

But what have we gotten for our bailout? According to a recent Washington Examiner article, the stock is down 16% so far this year, millions of GM vehicles have been recalled because they likely caused at least 13 deaths because of a systemic malfunction, and General Motors executives have told investors to “temper” their expectations for the rest of the year. In other words, things are likely to get worse before they get better.

Note: this $11 billion loss does not include the billions in special tax relief the Obama administration granted the car maker or the bailout money that was spent on other, former divisions of General Motors. Thus, at least $100 from each American household for basically not much in return.

2) An April 30, 2014 article by the Washington Examiner looked at the results published by Judicial Watch regarding Presidential vacations. According to the documents Judicial watch obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests:

• Just the travel costs for the Obama and Biden family vacations are now about $40 million with more than two years still left in this Presidency, assuming impeachment does not occur.
• Two 2014 golf outings by President Obama cost a whopping $2.9 million, according to Judicial Watch.
• Judicial Watch said in a press release that the Air Force provided documents and records that put the price of the first family's trip to Key Largo, Fla., in March at $885,683 just for flying Air Force One. 
• The travel costs to golf in Palm Springs, California, in February was $2,066,594.
• While the travel costs for the Obama and Biden vacations are $40 million, much more taxpayer money was spent on accommodations, communications, rooms and cars for staff, security and U.S. Secret Service protection, Navy and Coast Guard ships offshore and the positioning of cars and helicopters.
• However, according to the article, those other costs have not been revealed publicly.
• Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, in a press release, I think captured the disgrace of this type of wasteful and extravagant spending: “It is clear that the Obamas continually abuse the perks of the president’s office at taxpayer expense. And it is particularly interesting that Obama has chosen to take not one but two luxury vacations back-to-back while inveighing against ‘income equality.’ President Obama’s waste of the hard-earned tax dollars of working Americans on unnecessary luxury travel is an abuse of office.”

So the next time you are stretching and crimping to save for a vacation, remember that the Obama and Bidens are using your tax money to golf at high end resorts and travel to the four corners of the world on their taxpayer funded vacations. And by the way, they do not have to be frisked and patted down at the airport like you and I, they do not have to pay for an extra piece of luggage to travel with them, and they get more than the typical 18 inches of space between their seat and the seat front of them.

3) While the previous bit of travel insanity is a annoying and a waste of money, the following piece of insanity is disgusting and disgraceful. The Washington Examiner reported on May 1, 2014 on some severe abuse allegations being put forth by Veterans Administration whistleblowers and veterans families:

• According to the article, more than 1.5 million medical orders were canceled by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) without any guarantee the patients received the treatment or tests they needed or promised within those orders.
• Apparently, since May 2013, veterans' medical centers across the country were under pressure to clear out 2 million backlogged orders for patient care or services.
• By April 2014, the backlog of what the agency calls “unresolved consults” was down to about 450,000 from the original 2 million. That means that mans that more than 20,000 medical orders, on average, were cleared out every week over that timeframe, a highly unlikely legitimate rate.
• And that is the issue since not even top officials at the Veterans Administration can identify what happened to other 1.5 million.
• The Government Accountability Office reviewed the process VA used to close old consult orders and found that poor documentation in patient files and the lack of independent verification made it impossible to know whether patients got care they needed before their medical orders were canceled: “We found they closed consults but there was no evidence as to why it was closed,” Debra Draper, health care director for the GAO, told the Examiner. 
• “By not having that independent verification or any other controls, there isn’t any way of knowing whether they were appropriately closed out. You don’t know whether people received the care or if they received it in a timely manner. There’s no audit trail. There’s no way to know whether they were appropriately closed,” she said.
• But this type of record destruction and purging is nothing new since the Examiner had reported earlier in the year that the VA mass purged backlogged medical orders that cleared 40,000 unresolved appointments in Los Angeles beginning in 2009 and 13,000 in Dallas during a one-week period in September 2012.
• This is vitally important to many veterans who are in dire need of medical attention, help, and procedures but may not be getting it because their requests and records have been destroyed to make it look like the waiting times have been reduced when they have only been destroyed.
• As an example, a Veterans Affairs report from April said 23 patients at various VA medical facilities afflicted with gastrointestinal cancers died after they could not get the colonoscopies or other tests that had been ordered within the deadlines in agency policy.
• Those tests could have detected the cancers in their early stages, when they are most treatable.
• Recent news reports have stated that at least 40 patients in the Phoenix VA health system may have died as a result of delayed care, according to an investigation by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and reports by the Examiner and other news media outlets.
• The VA’s inspector general is investigating allegations that two sets of appointment logs were kept to hide long wait times for medical care and that almost 60,000 overdue medical orders were purged in Phoenix to also cover long wait times.
• A review by General Accountability Office (GAO) found that lax procedures and the lack of independent verification left the VA unable to prove that all patients got the care they needed before the appointment was closed. In a sample of cases, the GAO “found no indication that a clinical review was conducted prior to the consults being discontinued.”
• Both the GAO and the inspector found evidence that there were performance review and financial incentives within the VA to close out as many open cases and records as possible, leading to Sharon Helman, the director of the Phoenix VA health system, got a $9,345 bonus last year.
• Recall from above that possibly 40 Phoenix area veterans died as a result of not getting the care they were entitled to by the VA in a timely manner.

Two takeaways here. First, I find it disgusting and disgraceful that government bureaucrats and politicians would allow veterans to die and suffer just to make sure their careers are protected and their financial compensation is protected or enhanced. Whether they are inept, unkind, or uncaring, makes no difference.

Second, it is not too much of a stretch to conclude that the rest of us have this kind of fate in our future as an inept and incompetent government bureaucracy and political class take over more and more of our medical care via Obama Care and other government health care initiatives. The government obviously cannot manage a health care program for veterans, an effort they have been trying to do for decades but still cannot get it right. There is no way to believe that monstrosities like Obama Care for the rest of us will be much different, particularly right out of the gate.

So right out of the gate we see evidence that the political class is needlessly taking our wealth via the General Motors bailout, are taking their vacations via our tax dollars, and might be taking our veterans to an early grave because of bureaucratic bungling. Insane and just three more reason for term limits now.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Washington's Hunger Games Approach To Government, Part 2: 54 Christmas Trees, Politicians Evading Taxes, The Royal Obamas, And More

Yesterday, we reviewed an extensive research effort from Reuters that analyzed how the Washington D.C. area has become wealthier and wealthier over time as the political class has set themselves up as auctioneers of our taxpayer wealth to the highest bidder. Defense contractor, lawyer, and lobbyist efforts and size has grown exponentially, resulting in an elitist set of people growing richer and richer at taxpayer expense while most of the country continues to suffer through tough economic times.

This scenario reminds one of the book and movie, “The Hunger Games.” In the “Hunger Games” there is a very, very small, elitist set of people in the seat of power, far away from the common folks, both in geography and life style and options. The elitists have manipulated their government so that vast amounts of taxpayer wealth flows to this seat of power to the detriment of the rest of the country. Those in the seat of power enjoy self enrichment, status, pomposity, and gluttony, in its many forms, all on the backs and hard efforts of the rest of the citizens out in the country and hinterlands.

As the wealth flowing to the ruling political class and their business cronies increases, they become more and more out of touch with the plight, challenges, and issues facing the very constituents they are supposed to be helping. They are more wrapped up in their own self enrichment, comfort, and wealth than helping the rest of the citizenry.

Consider just a handful of recent examples of this Hunger Games mentality in Washington:

- According to news reports, New York-based designer Thom Browne designed the dress that Michelle Obama wore during her husband’s second inauguration ceremonies, a dress that was estimated to cost at least $10,000. The average American household would probably have to work 3-4 months to afford such a dress.

- As we have reported previously, the entire inauguration event likely cost American taxpayers around $150 million. How many homeless Americans could that $150 million have fed as opposed to a one day, self-congratulatory waste of Washington inaugural parties and balls?

- During the Christmas season, the White House was decorated with 54 Christmas trees. Many Americans could not afford a single Christmas tree, given the economic conditions that still exist in places throughout the country.

- Robert Keith Gray, the author of "Presidential Perks Gone Royal: Your Taxes Are Being Used For Obama’s Re-election," has done some math and claims that the American taxpayer is annually hit with $1.4 billion worth of perk expense incurred by the Obama family, orders of magnitude greater than the $58 million that the English spend on the ENTIRE royal family expenses in one year.

- But the details under that $1.4 billion, as claimed by Gray, are even more grotesque:

• This President flies Air Force One with a whopping twenty-six cabin crew members on board when in operation.
• Included in the twenty six member crew are five chefs.
• For the White House theatre, two projectionists are always present, sleeping in the area of the theater, in order to remain on duty at all times, in case a First Family member or guest wants to see a movie.
• A dog walker is also always on duty to walk the First Family dog, one of which was on salary for $102,000.
• On at least one airline trip, paid for by taxpayers, the only passengers aboard were the First Family’s dog and his handler.
• In 2009, the military payroll at Camp David was $8,000,000. These men and women were not part of the protection detail or there in place of the Secret Service to protect the President, but rather to serve the First Family and its guests.
• Obama has appointed 43 high-priced “czars” to his White house staff, a number far greater than any previous President.
• None of these czars was voted to office by taxpayers or approved by any other governmental body or official.
• During his first term in office, Obama has also appointed 469 White House bureaucrats, with 226 of them being paid over $100,000 a year and 77 of them paid as much as $172,000 a year.

- In our January 3, 2013 post, we reported on how many of the people enjoying the Hunger Games perks in Washington were actually convicted or accused tax evaders. Included in this tax evader club are Congressman Nick Rahall (who illegally spent years claiming a homestead exemption on his D.C. home AND another homestead exemption on his other home back in West Virginia), Congressman Fortney H. “Pete” Stark (also doing some tax avoidance via multiple homestead abatement shenanigans), Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis (who could not take her Secretary job until her husband paid his back taxes on his auto repair business), and Senator Sherrod C. Brown (who apparently did not pay the D.C. city government $222,000 for taxes on his Capitol Hill condominium.)

- These acts of tax evasion are not to be confused with the tax evasion antics of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, former Senator Tom Daschle (income tax), current HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius (income tax), Senator John Kerry (tax avoidance on his yacht), and Senator Claire Catskill (tax avoidance on use of an airplane).

Thus, not only do these political elitists get all of the Hunger games benefits, they try to avoid paying their “fair share” into the overall government taxation pot.

- A November 27, 2012 article from USA Today actually asked the question we are discussing, “Are We Living The Hunger Games?” Quotes from that article are so appropriate on this topic:

• Washington is rich not because it makes valuable things, but because it is powerful. With virtually everything subject to regulation, it pays to spend money influencing the regulators.
• You're likely to get a much better return from an investment of $1 million on lobbying than on a similar investment in, say, a new factory or better worker training.
• P.J. O’Rourke is quoted in the article: "When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators."
• Ross Douhat is quoted in the article: “But it doesn't seem like a sign of national health that America's political capital is suddenly richer than our capitals of manufacturing and technology and finance, or that our leaders are more insulated than ever from the trends buffeting the people they're supposed to serve."

Politicians that get rich. Politicians that shamelessly and wastefully burn though our tax dollars without paying their share of taxes. Politicians that divert wealth from economic growth activities to lobby and cronyism purposes. Politicians who dress better, party better, and take better care of their pets than they take care of Americans.

This is government out of control, ego out of control, spending out of control. This is truly the Hunger Games.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w