Once upon a time I was invited to the White House for a private dinner with the President. I am a respected businessman, with a factory that produces memory chips for computers and portable electronics. There was some talk that my industry was being scrutinized by the administration, but I paid it no mind. I live in a free country. There's nothing that the government can do to me if I haven't broken any laws. My wealth was earned honestly and an invitation to dinner with an American President is an honor.

I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of Staff, and joined the President in a yellow dining room. We sat across from each other at a table draped in white linen. The Great Seal was embossed on the China . Uniformed staff served our dinner.

The meal was served and I was startled when my waiter suddenly reached out, plucked a dinner roll off my plate and began nibbling it as he walked back to the kitchen.

"Sorry about that," said the President. "Andrew is very hungry."

Being upset, I began: "I don't appreciate.. ......." but as I looked into the calm brown eyes across from me, I felt immediately guilty and petty. After all, it was just a dinner roll.
"Of course," I concluded and reached for my glass..

However, before I could take a hold of the glass another waiter took the glass away and swallowed the wine in a single gulp.

"And his brother, Eric, is very thirsty." said the President.

I didn't say anything. The President is testing my compassion, I thought.. I withheld my comments and decided to play along. I don't want to seem unkind..

My plate was whisked away before I had time to lift my fork.

And, the President said; "Eric's children are also quite hungry."

With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had been pulled out from under me.
I stood, brushing myself off angrily and watched as my chair was carried from the room.

"And their grandmother can't stand for long", said the President.

I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside feeling like a fool. Obviously I had been invited to the White House to be sport for some game. I reached for my coat to find it
too had been taken.

I turned back to the President as he said, "Their grandfather doesn't like the cold."

I wanted to shout, "that was my coat! " But again, I looked at the placid smiling face of my host and decided I was being a poor sport. I spread my hands helplessly and chuckled.

Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my wallet was gone. I excused myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side table. It wasn't long before I learned my credit cards had been maxed out, my bank accounts emptied, my retirement and equity portfolios had vanished and my wife had been thrown out of our home. Apparently, the waiters and their families were moving in.

The President hadn't moved or spoken as I learned all this, but finally I lowered the phone into its cradle and turned to face him.

"Andrew's whole family has made bad financial decisions. They haven't planned for retirement and they need a house.. They recently defaulted on a sub prime mortgage. I told them they could have your home. They need it more than you do."

My hands were shaking. I felt faint. I stumbled back to the table and knelt on the floor.

The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate his steak, and drank his wine. I lowered my eyes and stared at the small gray circles on the tablecloth that were water drops.

"By the way," he added, "I have just signed an executive order nationalizing your factories. I'm firing you as head of your business. I'll be operating the firm now for the benefit of all mankind. There's a whole bunch of Eric's and Andrews out there and they can't come to you for jobs groveling like beggars."

I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into the empty ramekin which had been his creme brulee. He drained the last drops of his wine. As the table was cleared the President leaned back in his chair and stared at me. I clung to the edge of the table as if it were a ledge and I were a man hanging over an abyss. I thought of the years behind me, of the life I had lived, the life I had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and struggle.

Why was I punished? How had I allowed it to be taken? What game had I played and lost? I looked across the table and noticed with some surprise that there was no game board between us.

What had I done wrong?

As if answering the unspoken thought, the President suddenly cocked his head, locked his empty eyes to mine and bared his million dollar smile chuckling wryly as he folded his hand and saying;

"You should have stopped me at the dinner roll," he said.


WAKE UP AMERICA !!!

One American's response to Speaker Pelosi's charge that the citizens at the Town Halls and Tea Parties are "not really a grass-roots movement. It's AstroTurf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class." In plain terms, who we are and who we are not.

Opinion: A Grassroots View of the Tea Party Roy Nix

Special to AOL News (Feb. 21) -- Ever since the first Tea Party protest happened just over a year ago, the movement and its participants have endured any number of insults -- they're extremists, racists, etc. My favorite, though, was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who dismissed the entire phenomenon last year by saying that "it's not really a grass-roots movement. It's AstroTurf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class."

I haven't participated in any Tea Party events, but I am sympathetic to their cause. And if I had the opportunity to respond to Pelosi, here's what I would say:

Madam Speaker, it isn't the Tea Party that's AstroTurf, but both political parties in Washington.

Think about it. Unlike the Democrat and the Republican parties -- which listen to the chattering class inside the Beltway to determine what the people supposedly want -- the Tea Party movement is made up of real American citizens in real American neighborhoods with real American lives. They don't eat, drink and sleep politics 24/7/365 as you do. They actually do know what they want.

The Tea Party movement consists of those poor dumb bastards who get up every morning and go to a real American job to earn real American money to pay their real American bills and raise their real American kids. They pay taxes that you waste on things they neither desire nor need. They worship each week and take their kids to school and to soccer, football, baseball, dancing lessons or wherever their kids need to go.

They are white, black, brown and yellow, and they get along fine as long as you are not stirring them up to get their vote.

They don't dream of power, and they don't dream of telling their neighbors how to worship, how to spend their money, what kind of car to buy, what kind of food to eat and how to save the environment. They expect their neighbors to decide all of those things for their own families.

They don't want big government, they don't want socialistic policies and they don't want to spend more money for things they don't need. They don't see Washington as Robin Hood, robbing the rich to help the poor, but as the Sheriff of Nottingham -- taking their tax money and giving it to big business while we starve.

They don't want to have to march in the streets, and they don't want to be "activists" in politics because they have lives to live.

They don't hate immigrants, but they don't like lawbreakers who come here illegally. They don't mind helping people, but they are out of money and want to help those closest to home first until their bills are paid off.

These real Americans vote for politicians who promise to let them live this way. But then they wake up to find that these same politicians ignore them once the election is over. And then they're told how stupid or uninformed they are when they tell their representatives how they should vote.

These lawmakers have forgotten what "representative" means, and they end up in Washington doing what their party tells them to do, rather than what their constituents tell them to do. That's the real AstroTurf. And that's what's motivating so many who've joined the Tea Party movement.

The Tea Party is sending a genuine grass-roots message to both Democrats and Republicans. And they'd better listen up and learn fast.

Roy Nix is a golf professional and club fitting professional in Columbus, Ga.

You can follow this discussion from John and Donna A. at WeSurroundRochester.com

If you missed Glenn's CPAC speech last night, you missed classic Glenn presented to the masses. No, he didn't cry... though at the very end he was either channeling Rudolph or fighting back tears. (I didn't last that long. I'm so proud of that man... so sue me.) Easily the most talked about aspect in the blogosphere was his rendition of the Statue of Liberty poem, "The New Colossus" delivered as it should be. (If you only have 3 minutes, scroll to the last video to see it.)

See the speech, in 6 - 9 minute chunks, on the message board HERE.

Thanks to Paul for finding and posting this on WSRochester... titled 'My New Hero', he loves the way that NJ's new governor is focusing on changing his state's fiscal problems.

What if we heard this kind of solid action being discussed in NY, not just a trial baloon, wishy-washy 'Were gonna freeze some thing maybe' talk??!

Check out the video of Governor Chris Christy on CNBC (click 'read more' if you don't see it):




Discuss this on WeSurroundRochester HERE.

This letter to the editor (below) was in the paper this morning. The author either has a misinformed view or is outright being nasty for a reason. That reason is some people would much rather belittle an organization or a group of people to achieve an ends. The author doesn't mention one principle or fact that supports his statements. I know i plan on responding with a letter to the editor that pulls apart the authors statement. I suggest that if you have some time to do the same. I have noticed that the D&C has been somewhat fair with its representative views in the letters to the editor section. They are pragmatic. If they feel that the majority of readers are are conservative or libertarian, they will begin to print more conservative / libertarian letters. In the last 3 months they have printed 2 of the 3 letters that i sent in.
Matt T

Why I appreciate Tea Party activism
Last week, Tennessee gave welcome to hundreds of Tea Party activists, and an army of media reporters. We all love this Fox News, grass-roots organization of conservative, white Americans, because nothing supports social progress better than putting a face on its antithesis. Tea Party members are understandably angry and confused that their way of life is becoming uncomfortable. They long for a more uninformed time in America, when the world was only as complex as your immediate neighborhood; as far as you need or want to know. Adults call that time childhood. We all miss it. So let's appreciate the tea partiers for what they do in spite of their vague intentions, and hope that half-term Gov. Sarah Palin continues sharing her simple, folksy wisdom with Facebook comments and incoherent interviews. It's exactly what we need.

—JOHN CLARE
ROCHESTER

Most of us have pondered what event(s) would trigger the 'Great Depression II' but few know just how many ways we're vulnerable. The Wall Street Journal covers the topic in clear and disturbing terms. The article could be used as a checklist to discover where one might concentrate on strengthening their own personal circumstances. After reading the article, follow the discussion HERE at www.WeSurroundRochester.com

Wall Street Journal / Market Watch

by Paul B. Farrell

Commentary: Which trigger will ignite the Great Depression II?

Excerpt from full article here

Poll: 20 economic weapons of mass destruction triggering ticking Global Debt Time Bomb
1. Federal Budget Deficit Bomb. The Bush/Cheney wars pushed America deep into a debt hole. Federal debt limit was just raised almost 100% with Obama's 2010 budget, to $14.3 trillion vs. $7.8 trillion in 2005. The Congressional Budget Office predicts future deficits around 4% through 2020. Get it? America's debt at 84% of GDP will soon pass that toxic 90% trigger point.

2. U.S. Foreign Trade Bomb. Monthly deficits actually dropped from $50 billion per month to roughly $35 billion. But the total continues climbing as $400 billion is added each year. Foreigners now own $2.5 trillion of America, with China holding over $1.3 trillion in Treasury debt.

3. Weakening U.S. Dollar as Foreign Reserve Currency Bomb. Fear China and other currencies will replace dollar as main foreign reserves. The dollar's fallen: The main index measuring dollar strength has gone from 120 at the Clinton-to-Bush handoff to below 80 today.

4. Cheap Money Bomb: Credit Ratings Down, Rates Up. Economists at S&P, Fitch and Moody's were totally co-conspirators of Fat Cat Bankers, misleading investors before meltdown: Soon, debt up, ratings down, interest rates soar.

5. Global Real Estate Bomb. Dubai Tower, new "world's tallest building" is empty. BusinessWeek warns that China's housing collapse could be worse than America's. Plus the U.S. commercial real estate bubble is now $1.7 trillion, a "ticking time bomb" bloating 25% of bank balance sheets.

6. Peak Oil and the Population Bomb. China and India each need 500 new cities. The United Nations estimates world population exploding 50% from 6 billion to 9 billion by 2050: Three billion more humans demanding more automobiles, exhausting more resources to feed their version of the gas-guzzling "America Dream."

7. Social Security Bomb. We have no choice; eventually we must either cut benefits or raise taxes. Politicians hate both, so they'll do nothing. Delays worsen solutions. Without action, by 2035 Social Security and Medicare benefits will eat up the entire federal budget other than defense.

8. Medicare: A Nuclear Bomb. Going broke faster than Social Security. Prescription drug benefit added an unfunded $8.1 trillion. In 5 years estimates rose from about $35 trillion to over $60 trillion now.

9. Health-care Insurance Bomb. Burden increasingly shifted to employees. Costs rising faster than inflation. Recent Obamacare plan would have cost $90 billion annually, paid to Big Pharma and insurers.

10. State and Local Government Budget Bombs. Deficits of $110 billion in 2010, $178 billion in 2011on top of more that $450 billion in underfunded state and municipal employee pension funds.

11. Underfunded Corporate Pensions Bomb. From $60 billion surplus in 2007 to $409 billion deficit in 2009. And a whopping 92% of the pension plans of companies are now underfunded. Defaults are guaranteed by taxpayers.

12. Consumer Debt Bomb. Americans are still living beyond their means. Even with a downturn, consumer debt rose from about $2.3 to $2.5 trillion. Fat Cat Bankers love it -- yes love making matters worse by gouging cardholders and mortgagees, blocking help in foreclosures and bankruptcies.

13. Personal Savings Bomb. Before the 2008 meltdown savings rate dropped from about 10% in the early 1980s to below zero. Now it's increasing, slowing retail recovery. Today, government's the big "unsaver."

14. War and Military Defense Deficits. Costs of Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- $200+ billion annually, $3 trillion minimum, with massive long-term costs for veteran medical care, equipment renewal, recruitment.

15. Homeland Insecurity Bomb. Security at airports, seaports, borders, vulnerable chemical plants all increase budgets.

16. Fed/Treasury Bailout Bombs. Tax credits, loans, cash and purchase of toxic assets from Wall Street banks estimated at $23.7 trillion as new debt was shifted from too-big-to-fail Fat-Cat banks to taxpayers.

17. Insatiable Washington Lobbyists Bombs. Paulson, Goldman, Geithner, Morgan and Wall Street banks, through their lobbyists and former employees working inside now have absolute power over government spending. Democracy and voters are now irrelevant in America's new corporate-socialism.

18. Shadow Banking: The Derivatives Bomb. Wall Street wants no regulation of this $670 trillion, high-risk, out-of-control casino that's highly leveraged versus the $50 trillion total GDP of all nations. We forget that derivatives almost destroyed global economies in 2008-09, finally will by 2012.

19. Dysfunctional Two-Party Political Bomb. Polarized partisanship increasing: Every day both parties show zero interest in cooperating for the public good. Instead they fight viciously, resisting everything and anything proposed by opponents. Only goal: Score political points, make the other side look bad.

20. The Coming Populous Rebellion Bombs. Nobody trusts anyone in authority. For good reason. So immediate gratification, short-term betting and a lack of long-term perspective wins for individual investors, consumers and taxpayers as well as Washington, Wall Street and Corporate America CEOs. Today: "Doing what's right for the common good and country" is just empty political rhetoric.

Forbes. The Economist. Davos-World Economic Forum. Bloomberg BusinessWeek. All one voice, one loud, lonely chorus echoing that famous Beatles tune: "Head in a cloud ... The fool on the hill, sees the sun going down ... a thousand voices talking perfectly loud. But nobody ever hears him, or the sound he appears to make ... And the eyes in his head, see the world spinning 'round ...ooh, round and round and round."

Historians and behavioral economists tell us most investors are blind optimists. Investors cannot see bubbles from inside their bubble. Nor Fat Cat Bankers from inside their mega-bonus-bubble. Nor politicians from inside the beltway bubble.

Why? The optimist's brain filters out bad news. They know their dreams of prosperity will come true. Then, when they finally do see that the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train, it's always too late.
I will say it again, gently: A new meltdown is coming. The Great Depression II is coming, soon. And yet, I know your mental filters are working, blocking warnings of a bomb. I can even hear you calling me "the fool on the hill who sees the sun going down, the world spinning round" ... sees you kissing your retirement goodbye

This practical 5 step guide to writing effective letters to the editor is offered by member Sue S. A well-written letter is an effective way to get our message out to the the larger community.

WRITING A LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Step 1

Decide why you are writing a letter to the editor. Letters to the editor serve a specific purpose. Sometimes they are to correct a previously published error. More often they are to express an opinion about an issue recently in the news. Sometimes they debate an opinion letter previously published by the publication.

Keep a copy of news articles or previous letters to the editor you are responding to handy while you are writing your letter. You will want to refer to them for accuracy if you quote anything previously published to be certain it is an exact quote. Research any facts or statistics you plan to use to support your opinion or argument. The more factual your letter, the stronger it will be in making your point and possibly even convincing others that you are correct.

Step 2

Write yourself some notes to follow as a guideline for your letter. List all the important points you want to make in your letter. Jot down the appropriate facts or statistics you will use to support each point next to the appropriate item.

Step 3

Focus your letter on an issue, not a person or business. Express your opinion about that issue, making reference to relevant people or businesses only as needed to clarify the issue specifically or to avoid reader confusion about what you are saying.

Step 4

Begin your letter by clearly stating your opinion and to what you are responding. Use subsequent paragraphs to make individual points that support the opinion you expressed in paragraph one. Incorporate facts that demonstrate your opinion is well founded, accurate and logical

Maintain a professional tone throughout your letter. You want to come across to readers as a reasonable, articulate individual with a valid opinion and solid facts to back up that opinion so that they will agree with you. You do not want to be perceived as radical, liberal, crazy, foolish, inconsiderate, unintelligent or uninformed or any of dozens of other labels that might be applied to a writer who rambles, uses his letter as a personal attack or vendetta, or otherwise writes a letter to achieve his own personal agenda.

Step 5

Keep your letter short and to the point. Use only as many paragraphs as required to clearly express and support your opinion. When you've achieved that goal, your letter should be complete. Check your notes to be sure you've included all of your relevant points and supporting facts.

Close with thanks to the editor, a short summary of your opinion or thanks to others who may be the subject of your opinion letter. Type or print your name a few lines below the close of your letter. Include your address, telephone number, email and other applicable contact information below your name.

Proofread your letter for accuracy, typos, spelling errors or other mistakes. Make any necessary changes before finalizing your letter. Make a copy of the letter for your records.

The full discussion is HERE at WeSurroundRochester.com