from the only solid Red State

It takes everyone liberal and conservative to run the politics of the engine we call America! Patrotic American warriors defend with their life the right of pacifists to hold the wrong opinions. The Blogmaster harbors some populist ideas and believes in free enterprise as opposed to corporate monopoly capitalism. This is a mostly GOP friendly blog. jdm

Saturday, May 5, 2007

May 4 speech by Fred Dalton Thompson


Text of Fred Thompson's speech to the Lincoln Club of Orange County
Delivered in Orange County, California, Friday, May 4, 2007

ABC Radio Networks


So we meet again, and I'm honored, because I know we're here for the same reasons: Love of our country and concern for our future.

A lot of Americans have these concerns tonight. They are concerned about the way things are going in our country right now. Some fear we may be in the first stages of decline. We've heard this malaise talk before.




Of course Iraq is a large part of it. Not only is it tough going, but the effort is besieged on all sides. From those playing the most crass kind of politics with it at home to criticism from around the world.

Even at home, as we enjoy the benefits from one of the best economies we've ever had, people seem uncertain; they raise concerns about global competition or a growing economic disparity among our citizens.

These are challenges. But how we react to them is more important than the challenges themselves. Some want us, to the extent possible, to withdraw from the world that presents us with so many problems, in the hope they will go away. Some would push us towards protectionist trade policies. Others see a solution in raising taxes and redistributing the income among our citizens.

Wrong on all counts. These are defensive, defeatist policies that have consistently been proven wrong. They are not what America is all about.

Let's talk about the issues here at home, first. A lot of folks in Washington suffer from a big misconception about our economy. They confuse the well-being of our government with the wealth of our nation. Adam Smith pointed out the same problem in his day, when many governments mixed up how much money the king had with how well-off the country was.

Taxes are necessary. But they don't make the country any better off. At best they simply move money from the private sector to the government. But taxes are also a burden on production, because they discourage people from working, saving, investing, and taking risks. Some economists have calculated that today each additional dollar collected by the government, by raising income-tax rates, makes the private sector as much as two dollars worse off.

To me this means one simple thing: tax rates should be as low as possible. This isn't anything ideological, and it really isn't some great insight. It's common sense arithmetic.

That's why the economy booms when taxes are cut. When the Kennedy tax cuts were passed in the 1960s, the economy boomed. When Reagan cut taxes in 1981, we went from economic malaise to a new morning in America. And when George Bush cut taxes in 2001, he took a declining economy he inherited to an economic expansion -- despite 9-11, the NASDAQ bubble and corporate scandals.

The Democrats, of course, want to raise taxes. They only want to target the rich, they say. A word of advice to anyone in the middle class -- don't stand anywhere near that target. Wouldn't it be great if, instead of worrying so much about how to divide the pie, we could work together on how to make the pie bigger?

On globalization -- we're not afraid of it. It works to our benefit. We innovate more and invest in that innovation better than anywhere else in the world. Same thing goes for services, which are increasingly driving our economy. Free trade and market economies have done more for freedom and prosperity than a central planner could ever dream and we're the world's best example of that. So, why do we want to take investment dollars out of growth, and invest it in government?

I'd say cash flow to the government is already going quite well. Over the past year our current tax structure generated record levels of revenue for Washington. In fact it's time to seriously consider what we're getting for our "investment" in government.

For many years, several functions of the federal government have been descending into a sorry state of mismanagement and lack of accountability. I published a 68-page report on government's waste, duplication and inability to carry out some of its basic responsibilities. That was back in 2001 before 9-11, and it got little attention. Now the government's shortcomings are affecting our national security and are getting a lot of attention.

The growth of government is not solving these problems; it's causing a lot of them. Every level of new bureaucracy that is created develops a level of bureaucracy beneath it, which creates another one. Pretty soon there is no accountability in the system. A new head of a department or agency comes in from out of town and, after a protracted confirmation fight, wants to spend his or her few years in Washington making great policy and solving national problems, not fighting with their own bureaucrats. So they just let well enough alone. Then you start seeing the results. Departments that can't pass an audit, computer systems that don't work, intelligence breakdowns, people in over their heads.

Yet people in both parties continue to try to federalize and regulate at the national level more and more aspects of American society -- things that have traditionally been handled at the state and local level. We must remember that we have states to serve as policy laboratories for innovation and competition. That's how we got welfare reform. Our system also allows for the diversity of our large country. Our attitude should be, let the federal government do what it is supposed to be doing -- competently. Then maybe we will give it something else to do.

The government could start by securing our nation's borders. A sovereign nation that can't do that is not a sovereign nation. This is secondarily an immigration issue. It's primarily a national security issue. We were told twenty years ago if we produced a comprehensive solution, we'd solve the illegal immigration problem. Twelve million illegals later, we're being told that same thing again. I don't believe most Americans are as concerned about the 12 million that are here as they are about the next 12 million and the next 12 million after that. I think they're thinking: "Prove you can secure the border and then people of good will can sit down and work out the rest of it, while protecting those folks who play by the rules."

Speaking of reforms and our economy, there is nothing more urgent than the fate that is awaiting our Social Security and Medicare programs. The good news is that we are living longer. However, we don't have enough young working people to finance these programs from their taxes.

People say the programs are going bankrupt. They won't go bankrupt. Even as these programs sap every dime of the government's revenue, the folks in Washington will raise the taxes necessary to cover the problem. At this rate the federal government is going to wind up as nothing more than a transfer agent -- transferring wealth from one generation to another. It will devastate our economy.

Sometimes I think that I'm the last guy around who still thinks term limits is a good idea. The professionalization of politics saps people's courage. Their desire to keep their job and not upset anybody overrides all else -- even if it hurts the country.

So the entitlement problem gets kicked a little further down the road. This action is based on the premise that our generation is too greedy to help the next generation. I believe just the opposite is true. If grandmom and granddad think that a little sacrifice will help their grandchildren when they get married, try to buy a home or have children, they will respond to a credible call to make that sacrifice -- if they don't think that the sacrifice is going down some government black hole.

I am going to quote my friend, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. I don't think he'll mind, even though it was a private conversation. He said, "People talk a lot about moral issues, but the greatest moral issue facing our generation is the fact that we are bankrupting the next generation. People talk about wanting to make a difference. Here we could make a difference for generations to come."

It's clear with close numbers in the House and the Senate we need bipartisanship to have any chance at real reform in any of these areas. And there are many responsible people who are willing to try to make it happen. But the level of bipartisanship needed for real progress can only be achieved when politicians perceive that the American people are demanding it. That's why leaders of reform and hopefully our next President, will have a mandate to go directly to the American people with truth and clarity.

These days in Washington, there's an awful lot of talk about the need for conversation -- that we should talk more to our nation's enemies; that we should speak "truth to power." However the speakers are usually turned in the wrong direction. Instead of talking to each other, leaders need to be speaking more to the American people.

The message would be simple: "My friends we have entered a new era. We are going to be tested in many ways, possibly under attack and for a long time. It's time to take stock and be honest with ourselves. We're going to have to do a lot of things better. Here's what we need to do and here's why. I know that, now that you're being called upon, you will do whatever is necessary for the sake of our country and for future generations. You always have."

When the American people respond to that, as I know they will, you will have your bipartisanship.


This is a good and honorable man with flaws like all of but he believes in the protection of the USA, reining in taxes, plus paying off the federal debt and if the federal government does that we can handle the rest for ourselves!

The generations come and go from a Martin great great great grandfather who was born in Georgia and lived in Texas to his Martin descendant who lives in central Oklahoma the DNA marches on to the future. Christianity...The link that binds them...A belief in a time beyond time when we shall all be together again. As shure as the Son does shine in that day we will have the tears wiped from our eyes by our Creator and so shall we be forever...joy after joy as the ages undfold.
. Yellow Hills Tiny Chapel pictured here
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/
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A day...a glorious day is coming!

Yes, "the crowning day is coming,"
and all heaven shall soon resound with the triumphant song, "Thou art worthy...for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood" (Rev 5:9).
The shameful Cross will be followed by a glorious crown, and "every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
"Mighty Victor, reign for ever,
Wear the crown so dearly won;
Never shall Thy people, never
Cease to sing what Thou hast done.
Thou hast fought Thy people's foes;
Thou wilt heal Thy people's woes!"

It is well with my soul..

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You can join his favorite society here in Oklahoma! The group he credited with giving him his basic writing skills...
Poetry Society of Oklahoma
Louis L'Amour who wrote over 100 novels and was a founding and lifetime member of the Oklahoma Poetry Society of which the Blogmaster is a Vice President...we meet monthly at the Greens...link above

Latest news from Digg...opinion with a leftist slant

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fairly unbalanced...interesting and worth reading...presented by this blog as an acknowlegment of the great contributions liberalism has made to all of us by providing an easy to refute rhetoric. thank you!

The time is now!

How can you set there with that smug look on your face ... eternity comes fast and you don't know your place ... Fate is standing in the dark shadows playing to your pride ... and here you are unconcerned like time was on your side ... The day will come when your ladder of life has no more rungs ... and all your choices will expire with the breath in your lungs. .. The nearest Bible can help you make your choice of eternal habitation ... for you can find Christ Jesus in every book from Genesis to Revelation. .. jdm2006/02/09" posted on http://tinychapel.blogspot.com Want to talk about eternity?mailto:jdmartin@pldi.net

Blog Archive

Poem of my youth...composed on October 23, 2006

Tracks of a friend in the snow I have lain on the path of bone chilling fear ... watched as the death angel hovered near ... Midnight I rode the trail where black lion stalked ... my steed snorting his course stayed.. balked ... I lost my seat and the moon swirled around ... my head was the first to kiss frozen ground ... My body bounced down the Arbuckles crag ... the earth drank my blood and there I laid ... and dreamed the dream of death’s opening door ... of life unlived and path’s untracked with joy untasted ... my future my claim on living gone as I lay wasted ... but awareness came as light chased away the night ... My companion grazed close by had kept the cat away ... snow tracks around my death bed testified to his stay ... my shirt red soaked with life’s precious fluid staining the ground ... I drug my pain racked body to the saddle and started down ... past the still waiting mountain lion eyes peering from thick weeds ... the smell of my blood kept him waiting to quench his savage needs ... I looked back as he smelled my blood spilled in the snow where I lay ... then followed us for awhile before turning to find unguarded prey ... Danpatch went to equine heaven during the next season’s winter strife ... But in my dreams I still count the tracks of my friend who saved my life. . . jdm10/23/2006 based on a true occurrence with some literary license applied...My dad was a cowboy and Danpatch had been his favorite horse until he was retired to be my horse. At the time of the poem Danpatch was over twenty years old and I was 12.

Gold Star mother at Berkley city council

Onion News Network attacks tough issue effecting gas prices

Alfalfa Bill Murray

Alfalfa Bill Murray
The father of Oklahoma from Tishomingo

Number ONE issue in 2008 elections from ONN

A funny spoof that reminds me of the liberal progessive mind set!

Worth watching...thoughtfull look at attack on America~


Don't Tread on My Flag


We must be very concerned about who we elect as President and Commander in Chief...They must be willing to affirm the Christian roots of this country and the heritage of free enterprise and religious freedom. The must disavow any connection to any other world opinion than one that puts American interests first! They must pledge to never be the instrument of American submission to any authority that subverts the High Law of the Constitution of the United States.At the very least as a potential Commander In Chief of United States Armed Forces they must be able pass and receive a personal Top Secret Clearance background check that we demand of our defenders.God Bless the USA Keep us Free!
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This "letters to editor" allows the reader to post opinion on subjects listed. We will delete posts or replies in poor taste or personal attacks on individuals. The Blogmaster's opinions predate the current rash of right wing rhetoric. Some say he is stuck in 1958! If you want to submit a post send it to the blogmaster or comment on the posts below.
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Opinion Oklahoma This "letters to editor" allows the reader to post opinion on subjects listed. Thus the www is a better media for the opinion writer in that no editor gets to pick and choose the views that are published. We will delete posts or replies in poor taste or attacks on individuals. If you want to submit a post send it to the webmaster below. Creating a good post or reply on Opinion Oklahoma Dot Com Be concerned about the brevity of your posting or reply. Get to your main point in your first sentence and use the fewest words to make your main point. Stay on one topic. Effective communication requires short sentences. Numbers detract from the central point. Keep your bromides out of your postings or replies. Correct spelling, grammar and punctuation will help sell your idea. Spell check and reread your postings before submitting. Topics in the news are likely to get more readership. Appeal to your readers logic rather than emotion. Good posting!
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Living on the edge in Oklahoma Tornado Alley

Double click on video and then double click on midi player for a lttle background music...I hear you knocking but you can't come in~ ....the blogmaster stood on his patio and watched the tornado (largest ever recorded I guess) that swung thru Bridgecreek, Newcastle, and down to devistate Moore, Oklahoma also. It was a mile wide as I watched it pass between Walmart and the gaming center off Hwy 37 & I44. Sequenced by:
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You're nobody til 51 percent loves you
You're nobody til 51 percent cares
You may be Senator
You may possess the lobeyists and all their gold
But gold won't bring you a happy election
Why ...you are already old


The world still is the same, you will never change it
As sure as the stars shine above
You're nobody til 51 percent loves you
So find yourself somevoters to love

Hey Senator you missed the boat by being a fake conservative. Palin for President in 10



The world still is the same, you never change it
As sure as the stars shine above
Well, you're nobody til 51 percent loves you
So find yourself somevoters to love<

Blogmaster featured in ChiCom internet mag

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Mine own self I write to gratifie....John Bunyun of Pilgrims Progess said it best..

". . . I did not thinkTo shew to all the World my Pen and InkIn such a mode; I only thought to makeI knew not what: nor did I undertakeThereby to please my Neighbour; no not I;I did it mine own self to gratifie."
I write here in Oklahoma Opinion my heartfelt opinions some inherited from my father and grandfathers and codified along my 71 year journey from Bromide, Oklahoma to Newcastle, Oklahoma. Read my words, make up your own mind and love your nieghbors and your country.

Neal Boortz worthy comment

"You are not a tool of the state. You are not to be used as political cannon fodder for the elevation of a politician or political movement. You belong to you, nobody else, and certainly not to the government. Claim your ownership of yourself and let these politicians know that you recognize and reject their war on the individual." "Somebody's Gotta Say It" by Neal Boortz. Regan Books February 20, 2007 Neal is a Christian baiting pinhead but is Right on most other stuff...God can forgive him...


the Eye of God
Poem about my youthful dance with the death angel...composed on October 23, 2006

Tracks of a friend in the snow

I have lain on the path of bone chilling fear ... watched as the death angel hovered near ... Midnight I rode the trail where black lion stalked ... my steed snorting his course stayed.. balked ... I lost my seat and the moon swirled around ... my head was the first to kiss frozen ground ... My body bounced down the Arbuckles crag ... the earth drank my blood and there I laid ... and dreamed the dream of death’s opening door ... of life unlived and path’s untracked with joy untasted ... my future my claim on living gone as I lay wasted ... but awareness came as light chased away the night ... My companion grazed close by had kept the cat away ... snow tracks around my death bed testified to his stay ... my shirt red soaked with life’s precious fluid staining the ground ... I drug my pain racked body to the saddle and started down ... past the still waiting mountain lion eyes peering from thick weeds ... the smell of my blood kept him waiting to quench his savage needs ... I looked back as he smelled my blood spilled in the snow where I lay ... then followed us for awhile before turning to find unguarded prey ... Danpatch went to equine heaven during the next season’s winter strife ... But in my dreams I still count the tracks of my friend who saved my life.


. . jdm10/23/2006 based on a true occurrence with some literary license applied...My dad was a cowboy and Danpatch had been his favorite horse until he was retired to be my horse. At the time of the poem Danpatch was over twenty years old and I was 12. Gosh I miss him!


Best Bumper sticker this month

The father of Oklahoma

The father of Oklahoma
Cuckle Burr Bill Murray