U.S. Rome's fate?

Quote of the Day !!!

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome becomes bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."
-- Cicero, 55 BC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was close to the time that Rome ended as a republic and
Caesar Augustus took over as the first Roman emperor.

An article on the Internet explains how the Rome Republic died and despotic rule began under the first Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus. That was in 27 BC. A line from the article states, “Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservative elite within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero.”

Are we on the same track as the Rome Republic with this administration’s tactic of bringing everyone under their control with every nanny entitlement that will make everyone puppets on a string?

This is an excerpt from an article I wrote earlier:
About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years.

Gold

On 60 Minutes tonight (2/12/12) it was reported that India has the greatest stores of gold in the world. And I was thinking when I heard that, “Yes, and we have the greatest stores of liquid gold but Uncle Sap would prefer to spend over 500 billion dollars a year buying it from foreign hostile nations instead of mining our own.”

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911

Excerpts from that link on the Internet:

The U.S. Geological Service issued a report in April (’08) that only 20 scientists and oilmen knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a revised report (hadn’t been updated since ’95) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota, western South Dakota, and extreme eastern Montana. . Check this out:

The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable…at $107 a barrel, we’re looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.
…….
This sizable find is now the highest producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years, reports The Pittsburgh Post.
……..
The article reports that we have more oil inside our borders than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:

8 times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
18 times as much oil as Iraq
21 times as much oil as Kuwait
22 times as much oil as Iran
500 times as much oil as Yemen
…….
Another article stated, “New geologic models applied to the Bakken formation, advances in drilling and production technologies and recent oil discoveries have resulted in those substantially larger technically recoverable oil volumes.”
…….

An article about the price of gasoline in Saudi Arabia dated 1/24/11 stated that after converting riyals to dollars and cents and litres to gallons that, “For $3.60 you would get almost 8 gallons of gas.” It probably wouldn’t be much different than that right now.

The Federal Government is currently getting 27% of the income from oil production. The revenue generated from aggressively going after our own stores of oil and natural gas would give us a bountiful font of money to invest in research and development of renewable sources of energy.

Leader who leads

Australia says NO -- Second Time she has done this! She sure isn't backing down on her hard line stance and one has to appreciate her belief in the rights of her native countrymen. A breath of fresh air to see someone lead. Australian Prime Minister does it again!!  The whole world needs a leader like this! Prime Minister Julia Gillard - Australia  Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.   Separately, Gillard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying she supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT... Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.'   'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.' We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!' Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'  'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.' This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.'   'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.' NOTE: IF we circulate this amongst ourselves in Canada &USA, WE will find the courage to start speaking and voicing the same truths.  If you agree please SEND THIS ON and ON, to as many people as you know...

UAW Union

I’m a retired construction electrician and in the years I was working I was blessed to have been in a union that was led by someone I believe to have been the greatest labor leader in the history of the labor movement – Harry Van Arsdale Jr.   

Van Arsdale was great because he not only negotiated abundant wages and benefits for the workers but he also knew how to help the contractors flourish and keep people employed so they could enjoy those benefits.  He knew that when they prospered those who provided the labor could share in the wealth.  Every new effort in tooling and improved construction materials that could increase production was encouraged.  It led to making it possible to work shorter hours while still maintaining the level of production and to more often than not led to giving the workers a more profitable day.  Many a small contractor that decided to join the union grew beyond its imagination. I went to work for a small contractor in the second year of my five year apprenticeship called the Forest Electric Company.  I worked for others for one year to ten years through the ups and downs of the economy over the years and I spent the last eight years I worked with that same company.  By then it was one of the biggest contractors in the City of New York.  This is only one example of many that Van Arsdale can be thanked for.  As President of the Central Trades and Labor Council Harry also helped restore troubled businesses to health and he did what he did it without prevailing upon the government to hold up the taxpayers for bailout money to do it.  The current leadership of the United Auto Workers Union would have been blessed to have the wisdom that Van Arsdale had.

The UAW chose to use a no compromise philosophy and forced the troubled General Motors Corporation to sign a pact with the government.  They now have a CEO who has never run so much as a lemonade stand and a controlling partner they may never be able to get rid of who will tell them what kind of a product they can and cannot turn out.   One thing he does have though is an inexhaustible supply of money.  It’s called the American taxpayer and the creditor nation, China, that is willing to buy as much of the USA that we’re willing to sell.  Fox News reported on Thursday, 1/26, that every Chevy Volt that comes off the assembly line is being subsidized $24,000 in taxpayer money.  One of the co-hosts of “The Five” program on Fox said he had one for a one week trial run.  The price of the car was $46,500.  He fully charged it over a period of 12 hours twice that week and ran out of electrical power twice in the Lincoln Tunnel on his way to work, 25 miles from his home.   

Time will tell whether the United Auto Workers will be happy about the way their leaders handled the current crisis and whether they’ll be happy that the government is telling them what to do.