History Repeating?

Please welcome our guest blogger, David Kaiser.

Take the three minutes to read this. Maybe he is wrong, but what if he’s right?

- Guye

David Kaiser is a respected historian whose published works have covered a broad range of topics, from European Warfare to American League Baseball. Born in 1947, the son of a diplomat, Kaiser spent his childhood in three capital cities: Washington D.C. , Albany , New York , and Dakar , Senegal .. He attended Harvard University , graduating there in 1969 with a B.A. in history. He then spent several years more at Harvard, gaining a PhD in history, which he obtained in 1976.. He served in the Army Reserve from 1970 to 1976.

He is a professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the United States Naval War College . He has previously taught at Carnegie Mellon, Williams College and Harvard University . Kaiser's latest book, The Road to Dallas, about the Kennedy assassination, was just published by Harvard University Press.

Dr. David Kaiser

History Unfolding

I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books on history that have been published in six languages, and I have studied history all my life. I have come to think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus..

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten to fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why?

We learned just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700 billion we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "we the people," who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy... Why?

We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it simply wants marriage to remain defined as between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?) We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and I know precisely what I am talking about) - the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth.. It is potentially 1929 x ten...And we are at war with an enemy we cannot even name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who, in turn, cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

And finally, we have elected a man that no one really knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska .. All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe are more important.)

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change. Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now.

This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning..

As a serious student of history, I thought I would never come to experience what the ordinary, moral German must have felt in the mid-1930s In those times, the "savior" was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they should have known was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory. Conservative "losers" read it right now.

And there were the promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and frowned and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully and beat them into submission. Which they did - regularly. And then, he was duly elected to office, while a full-throttled economic crisis bloomed at hand - the Great Depression. Slowly, but surely he seized the controls of government power, person by person, department by department, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The children of German citizens were at first, encouraged to join a Youth Movement in his name where they were taught exactly what to think. Later, they were required to do so. No Jews of course,

How did he get people on his side? He did it by promising jobs to the jobless, money to the money-less, and rewards for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world. He did it with a compliant media - did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and .... . ... change. And the people surely got what they voted for.

If you think I am exaggerating, look it up. It's all there in the history books.

So read your history books. Many people of conscience objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and ridiculed. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though. And the world came to regret that he was not listened to.

Do not forget that Germany was the most educated, the most cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And yet, in less than six years (a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency) it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors.. All with the best of intentions, of course.. The road to Hell is paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me..

I choose to believe the evidence. No doubt some people will scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. To some degree, perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe-and why I believe it.

I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am. Perhaps the only hope is our vote in the next elections.

David Kaiser

Jamestown , Rhode Island

United States

GOLDEN YEARS TARNISHED

Ah, the "Golden Years"! You work for 50 years, you plan your retirement, pay the max into Social Security, dream of a life of leisure.....and what happens?

You retire. You adjust to your new, lower monthly income. You learn how to control your household budget. You secure a Supplemental Insurance policy to cover the things Medicare doesn't. You get a Part D prescription policy to cover your meds. You start doing things that you always wanted to do, but did not have time for. You change your wardrobe. You grow a beard. You learn to "twitter'. "text" and "surf". You learn what Facebook is. Life is pretty good! You think you might like this thing called RETIREMENT! Then....what happens?

Your wife tells you her food budget has been reached...on the 22nd of the month!

You go to the Post Office, get the mail...stop by the local HandiShop to fill your tank and pick up a paper. You realize it cost over $8 more to fill your tank than last week...THEN, you notice that gasoline prices rose by 37 cents a gallon since last week!

You go to the doctor for a checkup. Everything seems to be OK! You need to watch your cholesterol and be sure to get some daily exercise...but, you are in pretty good shape..."for your age". Then you get the bill...WHAT? But, I am only supposed to pay a copay of $25! What is all this other stuff? "You have to pay your deductible first." "How much is that?" "$950" "WHAT?" Then you learn that your arthritis and allergy meds are not on the list of approved drugs....so you pay the full tab. Oh, and your copay is $20 now.

You go to the dentist to get your regular checkup and cleaning. Doc wants to replace a filling that is old and deteriorated. He can do it right now...cool. Then....you get the bill. "$487? But I have Medicare and a Supplemental Insurance policy!" "Medicare nor your insurance covers Dental, Sir." "You mean I have to pay the whole thing?" "Yes, Sir, you do...but, you can pay it over the next 3 months for an extra 5% if you like, Sir." WHAT?

You are watching TV...you lean forward to see it better....it still looks fuzzy. You get up and walk to the TV to adjust the picture....only to find out that the TV picture is clear as a bell...from 3 feet away. You call for an eye appointment. You get your eyes examined...you get new glasses...you can now see a lot better! Then...you get the bill. "WHAT?" "Medicare and your insurance does not cover vision, Sir." WHAT?

What is happening? Each month, your expenses rise. Groceries keep going up in price. Gasoline prices are out of control! Your health insurance premiums keep going up...and covering less. Medicare benefits keep going down. To top it all off, since the government says there is no inflation, your Social Security COLA is ZERO...for the third year in a row!

WHAT IS GOING ON?

My friends, you are being "put out to pasture" to fend for ourselves. Washington hopes youwill soon die! If you don't, they will just keep reducing Medicare benefits and...who knows...they may NEVER pay any more COLA...and will probably increase the cost of Medicare (yes, you DO pay $96.40 a month for that!).

To put it succinctly, albeit crudely....RETIREES ARE GETTING SCREWED!

Oh, sure, the "middle class" is too. The reduction in available jobs and the rising cost of EVERYTHING is squeezing everyone. Having said that, however, I still contend that the retirees (and people on disability...don't EVEN get me started on THAT subject!) are being discriminated against SYSTEMATICALLY...and, ON PURPOSE! It is as though retirees are being classified as a threat to the country and, therefore, must be contained! The concept that beating you down to poverty level to "keep you from being no longer a threat" is a twisted one, at best, and criminally ruinous, in the worst case. Either way, you are still being screwed!

OK, so....WHAT NOW? Where do the answers lie? Here we go again....back on YOUR shoulders...OUR shoulders! There ain't no magic bullet! Moreover, it is completely out of our hands....until YOU....WE....get loud enough, serious enough, organized enough and strong enough as a whole to upset the apple cart, we will continue to be spat upon by our own government.

WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?

- Guye Scott

(c)2011 GuyeScottLibre

PASSIONS AND PLEASURES

Anyone can name their pleasures...but, beyond that....what is your passion? Love for another person, your favorite gourmet meal, a glass of your favorite wine, listening to your favorite music....well, you can fill in the rest...these are the pleasures of life. Pleasures, certainly, but are these kind of things truly passions?

What is passion? Is it a feeling? Is it a state of mind? Is it even measurable? To identify ones passions, we must first define what it is. It is a feeling...it may be a state of mind...it certainly is measurable...but it is much more!

Dictionaries describe passion as:

1) any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.

2) strong amorous feeling or desire; love; ardor.

But, further down the list....

9) violent anger.

Over the years, I have met people with a passion. I have even met people with passion. I have never met one, though, with more than ONE passion or one whose passion was DIFFERENT from their passion FOR their passion. Oh, I know there are people who SAY they have various passions. This is a dichotomy...a person can ONLY have ONE true, died in the wool, press on regardless, come hell or high water....PASSION!

Perhaps some of that last paragraph is confusing to you. Actually, it is relatively simple. One CANNOT have a PASSION without being PASSIONATE about it. Take, for example, the mint '28 Packard pictured above. If one saw it in a show, might they drool over it..and say..."Oh, I am so passionate about that car!" ? Perhaps, but that is not true passion. Were it to be in a Collector Car Auction, would those people bidding on it be passionate about it? Perhaps, but with very few exceptions, these bidders' interest lies in investment in or collecting...cars. They might feel passionate, to some degree, about a particular car...but they are really either passionate about 'having' cars...not 'possessing' a car that 'possesses' them!

I knew a man who worked hard all of his life...scrimped and saved...did without...lived far below his means....then, one day, he retired. Nobody thought much about it at the time, other than note the event. No one considered him a man of means, so to speak. He was, in people'e minds, just another hard working person who saved enough over the years to be able to enjoy retirement. They admired him for that, of course, but did not dwell on it. Soon after his retirement, he and his wife of many years left town...just disappeared...without telling even his best friend!

In Scottsdale, Arizona, at that year's annual Barrett-Jackson Auction, a particular car sold for more than everyone thought it could possibly be worth...$1.2 million! The "experts" thought it was worth, at most, in the best market, maybe, a million...but most thought it would bring less. The person bidding against the person who won the final bid, only kept bidding because he owned a museum and this was a rare enough car to bid a little more than he had intended to pay. The gavel fell...SOLD...SOLD...SOLD...$1.2 MILLION!

After some time, most people in the town more or less forgot about the man and his wife who, as they put it, "just up and left" following his retirement. Even though just about everyone was curious about it, no one really did anything to find them. They had even pretty much forgotten who they were...who their parents were...even their names faded at time went on.

In that town stood a magnificent mansion. At least, at one time, it was magnificent...but it had stood empty for years since the last owner had died. Nevertheless, with no fanfair, crew and equipment came onto that property and began a complete restoration of the once grand estate.

After many months, the restoration was completed, the crews left, and the home stood proudly, as magnificent as when it was first built. The grounds had been landscaped to the grandeur befitting the home itself. Shortly afterward, moving vans came to the property, along with crews of workers busy moving each fine piece of furniture, china, crystal and a Steinway Grand piano. Even after this, the entire affair remained a baffling mystery. This grand estate stood there on its knoll in all its glory, as if on display for all the town and everyone who came through it to, as some used to say, marvel over it.

One Sunday morning, as the townspeople made their way to church, they could not help but notice an ancient, but nonetheless grand old car, sitting in the circular drive directly in front of the columned porch of the newly restored mansion. Whispers could be discerned all during the service. After church, several of the congregation met outside to see if anyone knew anything at all about the empty estate or the car sitting in front of it. One elderly gentleman said he thought the old car looked a lot like the one that belonged to the man who used to own the mill that once dominated the town's economy. Several agreed, but none could remember his name. All they could remember is that the old mill closed during the depression and had long since been demolished.

As they were about to leave for Sunday dinner, to their amazement, into the parking lot drove the old car they had seen at the estate earlier that morning. As it drew closer, they could see that it was immaculate...in number one show condition...it was truly magnificent! The man and woman in the car were dressed as though time had stood still...he in his black tie and top hat, she with a fancy frock and a hat that would stop traffic on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The congregation was mesmerized.

As the aging gentleman and his gentile companion dismounted the behemoth of a car and came toward them, the townsfolk gawking at the spectacle....a sudden realization cane to them en masse...and a hush fell over them like a snowdrift. Standing before them were the man who retired and his wife, who had left the whole town wondering what happened to them! No words were spoken. Many in the group suddenly recalled...the rest of the story.

They remembered, many of them from what they were told by their parents, how, in 1929, when the stock market crashed, and in the ensuing months, the despair of the Great Depression of the thirties. They recalled how the mill had started to lay off workers and how the town had suffered as the mill closed and the town fell into a dismal skeleton of itself. They also remembered that the owner, who lived in the magnificent mansion, had left his wife and child to parts unknown soon after that. They also remembered that rumors floated around town that "somebody heard" that the man had committed suicide. The wife and mother he had left behind died a few years later and the boy went off to the Army. They also remembered that the couple standing before them was that young boy that went off to war after his mother died, came back after the war with a new bride, and worked and slaved all those years until he retired...then left town...and had returned once again. At last, they understood.

- E P I L O G U E -

The story above is a work of fiction, but is based on fact. There were many such men and are many even today. What possessed the man to sacrifice all his working life to live in luxury in the house in which he was born? Why did he spend his working years tracking a certain old car from the twenties...and pay more than it was worth at the grandest auction on Earth? What would cause a man to do such a thing? What drove him all those years?

In his words, he would probably say..."My dad had everything...and lost it all because he relied on the world to sustain him. I vowed that I would restore his good name the only way I knew how...work hard, keep my focus on the goal, and rely on the Lord to sustain me."

I know no better way to define.....PASSION.

- Guye Scott

(c) 2011 Guye Scott Libre

This is such urgent news, I had to let my good friend and mentor share this with you!
It is amazing that when everything you thought you knew about network marketing just went out the window! In this case, this is just networking...I can't call it marketing...well, it is, but not in the traditional sense. The company does all the marketing....members just...well....NETWORK! That is, all we have to do is tell everyone we know...most (if not all) will register! IN FACT, if you do not feel like reading this whole blog, you can stop right now and go ahead and CLICK HERE to register! Want to know why? Because AFTER you read the whole thing, I doubt I could STOP YOU from signing up! You could NOT WAIT to sign up!

You are probably wondering what the heck I am talking about here! Well, let me tell you how I became a member. A friend of mine sent me an email and said "Here is a link. Click on it and sign up...I will tell you all about it later." I knew the guy, had worked with him before, had become good friends...so I signed up! I knew when he asked me that this was something special...otherwise he would not have been so blunt!

We writers tend to be analytical about everything...we will even beat a dead horse to death... LOL!! Therefore, when I signed up for The Customer Advantage, I immediately started digging through the back office....wanting to know what it was all about...but, at the same time, looking for the "catch"! The end result brought me to the conclusion that...well...there ISN"T a catch! This a WYSIWYG program, pure and simple! JOIN -SAVE - SHARE - EARN is ALL you have to do!

Oh, there ARE tools and training and stuff available....my friend Todd is leading the charge on that...but, if all you did was sign up and NEVER did anything else...you would be able to SAVE 50% or more on stuff you already buy every day! If you then invited just a few friends to share in the savings, you might even earn a few bucks...without even doing much at all!

And, you know an AMAZING thing about this? IT'S FREE! While THAT in itself made this appealing...nothing to lose and all that....I was BLOWN AWAY when I learned what you get for your money (LOL!)! I mean, come on....I expected a sign-up page....I expected it would be free to get the savings coup

ons. What I did not expect is that you get a webpage for sign-ups (very attractive) and a back office site that tracks your activities, video email, video conferencing... WHAT? You read it right! But, there is even more....autoresponders. pre-written invitation emails, tutorials....omigosh....what do they charge for all that? All these neat things cost the same as the membership...NOTHING...NOTTA....ZIP...ZILCH...EVER!

To quote Harry Carey....'HOLY COW!" Even if you never used all of that, it is easy to understand the high value of this! All that stuff....for FREE? UNHEARD OF! But, there is the OTHER side of the coin....the money! Here's the BEST part of all! When you share the free gift of membership, eveyone whom you invite that sign up become connected to you. Ongoing, whenever ANYONE in your referral group buys a coupon to save 50-90% at a local business, YOU get paid! When THDY share it with others and they sign up, and any of those people buy a coupon, your friends get paid...AND SO DO YOU! As your group and the resulting coupon purchases grow, you reach a point where this is happening every time ANYONE in the 5 generations of referrals in your group buys a coupon....over and over again! You know what...this will happen whether or not YOU ever buy a coupon yourself! That, friends, is MIND BOGGLING!

Hey, don't get me wrong...I am NOT complaining! I am elated! What I have told you is MORE than enough information for you to immediately click on the link below and sign up...takes just a minute! Once you do, if all you ever did was buy a 50% off coupon now and then, YOU WIN! If you tell a few friends and they occasionally buy a coupon, YOU WIN! Not only do they SAVE 50% or more on their purchase, you get paid 5% of whatever they paid for the coupon...all of 'em...over and over! Now, just think for a moment...WHAT IF the friends YOU invited did the same thing and invited other people that THEY know, that you may not? YOU WIN! Now, you would get paid that same 5% on all the people THEY invited who buy a coupon as well! As this process continues down 5 generations....YOU REALLY WIN! You get paid 5% on ALL their coupon purchases...all the way down through the 5th generation of referrals! IF their is a "catch" to this program, it is simply that you get paid on the 3rd, 4th and 5th levels of referrals when your group size and sales volume reach certain levels...and they are realistic and achievable...EVEN IF ALL YOU DO IS INVITE A FEW FRIENDS AND 15 OF THEM SIGN UP and the process keeps on going...and it WILL! This is too good a program to ignore!

But, regardless, my advice is based on the K.I.S.S. principle...Keep it simple, simply! Don't worry about the details and what will happe a few weeks or months from now! If you just sign up and keep asking your friends to sign up, as they do the same (and they will) and those do the same....for 5 generations of people....you WILL WIN! All the details and lots of help are available to you...but, just inviting people to this program is the key! Pure and simple! Nothing complicated, no deadlines, no commitments, no contracts, no limitations, no quotas and, most importantly, NO COST....therefore, NO RISK! I know this is a cliche' but....you have nothing to lose...and a lot to gain...by signing up now!

One last note....if YOU do NOT sign up, you LOSE! You see, only MEMBERS have access to the SAVINGS! If you never tell anyone else, nobody may ever sign up with you, so YOU LOSE! Only MEMBERS who invite OTHERS who sign up get the EARNINGS! So, to repeat myself, you have NO reason NOT to sign up! That is the bottom line! Just click on the banners on this page to sign up. Then tell everyone you know so they can enjoy the savings! Once they do, this will spread like wildfire...and we ALL WIN.....BIG!

Keith Ingram, Founding Marketing Director, The Customer Advantage

MORE INFORMATION: http://havinganadvantage.com AND http://www.avitadoro.com/advantage.html