I'm Boycotting Sweden

I'm no fan of the HSLDA but this story on their site, about a family in Sweden whose 7-year-old child was taken away simply because the parents chose to homeschool him, made made me sick to my stomach. The courts recently ruled in favor of the government and cut back parental visits to one hour every five weeks. I only know what I read online, but it seems to me that this family could use our help.

Read about it here:
http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Sweden/200912220.asp

Sign a petition urging Swedish officials to send the boy home here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/return-dominic-johansson-to-his-parents

And (most importantly) if you'd like to write letters to Swedish officials, here are the e-mail addresses you'll need (you can find these with links at the HSLDA site listed above):

The social workers

sofi.rosenqvist@gotland.se
caroline.palmqvist@gotland.se

The social workers’ supervisors

kristina.djerf@gotland.se
marika.gardell@gotland.se

National officials

Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt
Telephone: +46 8 405 10 00
Mailing Address: Rosenbad 4, SE-103 33 Stockholm

Minister Maria Larsson
Ministry for Elderly Care and Public Health, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
Telephone +46 8 405 10 00
Fax +46 8 723 11 91
Mail Address: Fredsgatan 8; SE-103 33 Stockholm

To email the officials above visit the webpage: http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/2052

Local politicians and government leaders
Brittmarie.Fagerlund@lansstyrelsen.se
gustaf.hoffstedt@gotland.se
eva.nypelius@gotland.se
lars.thomsson@gotland.se
lena.celion@gotland.se
gotlands.kommun@gotland.se

Indian Ambassador to Sweden
ambassador@indianembassy.se

Dominic's father explains the situation (link):

Our son Dominic was removed from our custody by the Swedish Social Services with the help of the Swedish police force. What follows is a short story revealing the corruption of a few, dehumanizing actions and total lack of both responsibility and respect for basic human rights and freedoms in modern Sweden.

My name is Christer and the son of two very average hard-working parents. I was born in Sweden 1969 and raised in a rural environment where I developed and interest for helping animals, nature and people.

As a youth I found myself and my interests gravitating more and more introspective, one could say I am a very intellectual and inward looking soul, though I am social by nature. I have questioned life and how we live, looked at our values and tried to the best of my abilities to live them fully as best I can.

I believe in a simple practical healthy lifestyle and taking the time to help people and those less fortunate than myself.

In that spirit I found myself helping the local police where I live on Gotland and social organizations with "problem youth", creating new bridges of communication between parties and even assisting in ridding the island of Gotland I live on of violent criminal elements.

Having worked in social services I know well the value of a bit of citizen action and responsibility while looking out for ones fellow "man" so to speak, and would that more of us take such tasks upon themselves as well.

I have always found independent finance and support for all my projects. Whether it be my spare time or money from my own pocket.

When our newest project to help poor and homeless destitute children in India was developed almost 8 years ago, that was my attitude as well.

My wife Annie is an Indian citizen, and I was inspired by the challenges I saw in her home country to find a way to practically share my ideas and talents to help the suffering poor in ways to give them independence as opposed to seeking hand outs.

We created Mep Programs to establish the foundation for this in India in 2002. The idea was and is to help children by giving them the social and practical skills and support to take them out of the situations the find themselves in today.

Unfortunately for all involved we were all traumatized by a violent earthquake in Gujarat leaving over 16 000 people killed, and 600 000 people homeless.

We were on our way back home to Sweden from that tragedy when we were robbed of almost all our possessions and money on the way to the airport, and by the time we landed in Sweden we were both suffering from shock, overwork and depression.

Our son Dominic was to be born soon, and I was determined to be in top form for this welcome change in our lives, and the responsibility that incurs.

In order to keep on with our plans I decided to, with the recommendation of my doctor whom I sought help with, to go along with his advice and began taking a prescription of the anti-depression drug Seroxat.
(see youtube.com - taken on trust by Panormama BBC)
(I was advised to begin with 60mg)

This is where my story takes a downward turn.

I found myself in the unusual psychological state of even more heightened depression and angst. Having never suffered from such things I waited to see how things would develop. I figured it may have something to do with what I had experienced and also to be patient with the drugs. I found this to in fact be the opposite of what I had expected. After several months of worsening effects, I again asked for help and I was recommended increasing my dose of medication!

What followed was even worse and decided to take myself off the medication with the help of herbal medicines. After much research online I found the right substances and began my natural self medication (I am very weary of un-ecological and chemical products) which to my and my family's delight worked!

During the following years our son Dominic had cleared all the normal check ups and bills of health as any normal child would. Not only that, the doctors said that he had the mental capacity of a child two years his senior. (2006)

That being the case we continued our work with our test center on Gotland where we ran a working model of what we would like to see in India. This would help us iron out any problems and bumps along the way.

We home-schooled Domenic for a while (because we knew we are going to leave Sweden in a while), and contacted the Swedish school authorities for the requirements of doing so, and they kindly said all we needed to do was to contact the principal at his school to supply us with the appropriate study material etc. I have experience with schooling in my profession, which also helps me. My wife Annie is well educated and can teach on a University level!

Unbelievably, the principal not only denied us the material (which by law he was to supply us), he said openly he couldn't care less about our interest in human rights and decided to contact the social services to start an investigation of this situation!

Our project continued and during this time we tried on several occasions to help him, and those involved understand where we were coming from and to just relax about things.

They really seemed to be at odds with this, were uncooperative and at times hostile.

Well, during this time we had sold all our possessions, saved our money and looked forward to settling in with our project in India to get started with the practical works needed on site. With this in mind we bought our tickets, packed our bags and sat ourselves on the plane at Stockholm Arlanda airport, looking forward to a long flight and finally getting started.

But it was not to be so.

As the airplane was about to depart, it was stopped by the Swedish Police, who came onboard, took us all into custody at the airport and took away our son! We were completely surprised and shocked, my wife collapsed in a state of overwhelm and panic, no one was there to help, I tried my best to comfort her as she went in and out of consciousness. Her lips turned blue and her whole body had gone into a state of shock.

Finally I was able to resuscitate her, comfort her, though to this day she is understandably feeling extremely down, sad and in a state of disbelief. As an Indian citizen she could never have imagined such things happening in a modern western country.

Through all the madness, the brutal inhumane and complete disregard for basic human rights, the only reason for all this explained to us was the fact that our son Domenic had two bad milk teeth, which the social services deemed enough evidence to "kidnap" him away from us, and place him in the custody of some strange family.

As this gross negligence progressed and as we have fought day and night to get him back we have heard only the most pathetic and absurd excuses from the social workers responsible. Who have, by the way been pathetically unhelpful and downright uncooperative.

Our civil servants have cited the bad teeth, and a few anonymous letters as being the cause for the "kidnapping". Unbelievable, that a modern western country, in the EU would act like something out of a banana republic, with a dictatorship gulag mentality, with total disregard for family and the love between child and parents.

After a few weeks they changed approach and claimed we are bad parents, for no reason!

Who are these people who are responsible?

Obviously confused or unable to accept other cultures etc, individuals with the names of "Sofi Rosenqvist and Caroline Palmqvist", work for "Gotlands Kommun".
(sofi.rosenqvist@gotland.se - caroline.palmqvist@gotland.se)

The "Socialtjänsten" over here on Gotland has a history of over-reacting and complaints against them and their fellow co-workers are on our side in this regard.

What is happening right now, is our son Domenic is placed in an extremely stressful situation, we have little or no contact with him, his diet of organic healthy foods is non existent (when we finally got to meet him briefly he told us, under supervision how much candy he has been eating, ironic considering his so called bad teeth would be a central issue for their actions).

The more our lawyers look at this case, the more apparent that their is either total corruption and disregard for human rights within the social services to allow this negligence to continue

I am and have a background in social work, I am and have been working together with my wife to make this world a better place, and not just talk about it in endless meetings like so many beurocrats do.

I will and have worked with the police and other aspects of the social departments to help rid society of criminal elements, establish communication and responsibility with youth needing help and working on our project for the better part of 10 years.

That two misguided individuals would use the Swedish police to "kidnap" Dominic, to cite anonymous letters and bad teeth as evidence to do this is a dangerous precedent, it is without compare in an open and free society and indicative of the big social problems in society at large.

Their actions, decisions and continuing cover-up of the so-called evidence says more about their mental state of mind and lack of human compassion than any pathetic accusations towards us. What lay behind such claims and gross misuse of power?
(Difficulties to understand and respect a different life from the so called norm)

What sort of people separate children from parents without any evidence?

I am not sure, the attitude and actions are almost alien to me, but in comparison there must be some megalomaniacal feudalistic socialist beaurocratical fixation at work here.

I can only imagine that such actions are the work of persons unfit for such responsibility and positions of influence in the first place and that as this comes to light that the better elements of the modern Swedish social services will do the right thing and take care of this before our son sinks into depression and more mental stress. Annie is as well in a very bad state for the moment, and getting worse day by day for that matter!

We will continue our fight for our son, we will shed light on this situation as it develops with the blogs and media of the world asking that people look carefully at what is going on here. (swe blog http://www.mepprograms.org/omhandertagande.html)

We ask that anyone who cares and wants to know further the claims and details contact the public social services department at "Socialtjänsten Gotland" and ask any questions you feel.

Don't take our word for it, find out for yourself how incredibly preposterous and sadistic this situation is.
Please remember the people doing this are misguided human beings, so please remember to be polite as well.

If the Social Services on Gotland can take away a happy healthy young boy from his family (two persons who are socially responsible, working with a project to help needy and starving children, with a background in community services, cooperation with the police and with many other people in social services vouching for us) imagine what they can do to the average working person.

Imagine, at the supposed claim (we have not seen the attested letters or evidence of when they were supposedly sent) that someone complained that your child or children would be taken away from you.

The implications of this are terrifying, and the immediate effects on us all emotionally are almost unbearable, on top of this, our families in India are worried, and our project to help the poor and starving children of India sits on hold.

We hope for an immediate resolve of this gross injustice and a formal apology from those involved with reprimands to those responsible now.

Article written by Mark, with the help of Christer and Annie!


By Christer:
I would like to thank Mark for helping us with this article, and I would like to add a few things as well.

I'm no better then other people, I'm just a normal human being, trying my best to do what I feel is important both in my life and in this world. My family is maybe a little different from the norm, but, when did that become a crime?

I've red the Swedish constitution, and I have also read the mission that the Social Services are acting upon, and there actions against us are really not there, anywhere, so where do they come from?

Why this article?
There are courts to decide what's right in cases like this! Yes, there is... But when the Social Services and there lawyer started to lie and mix facts I decided to go public! The lawyer also added in the last meeting,
- They hate authorities!
Answer, No we do not, no matter what you try, I will never hate other people for what you have done and created!

The last thing I heard from the Social Services was, - Domenic is traumatized now, so he needs to be in a calm and peaceful environment. We agree, let him come home then! That is not a suggestion, that is our demand!

Bill Maher

New Rule: If America Can't Get it Together, We Lose the Bald Eagle

I've been feeling the same way lately.

And You Thought This Was An Unschooling Blog

I know. I've hardly mentioned unschooling or homeschooling or schooling of any kind in weeks. And I'm not going to mention it today either. I'm overwhelmed with getting my grandmothers estate in order and I beg you all to leave crystal clear instructions and lists of bank accounts, credit cards and the like for the family you'll leave behind when you die. Please!

Since I can't form a coherent thought these days I'm going to leave you with a video instead. It's political. Or it's just about love. Or fear. You decide.

Save Handmade Toys

From the Handmade Toy Alliance website:

In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.

For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers and manufacturers of children's products, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business.

• A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.
• A work at home mom in Minnesota who makes cloth diapers to sell online must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.
• A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import.
• And even the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.

The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of children's goods that have earned and kept the public's trust: Toys, clothes, and accessories made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade children's products will no longer be legal in the US.

If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole prospered.

Please write to your United States Congress Person and Senator to request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys and children's products. There's a sample letter here, or you can write your own. Find your Congress person here and Senator here. You can write directly to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission by clicking here.

Thanks!

The Truth About Obama

Sorry, but I just have to do this. A friend of mine keeps sending me these ridiculous e-mails about Obama. It's so clear to me that they are nothing more than conspiracy theories and attempts to scare people but she actually believes them--and she's really smart. So I feel the need to get political (again) and get the facts out.

The number of lies being spread about Barack Obama and his policies are staggering. At snopes.com if you search Barack Obama you will find 29 claims that have been proven false, starting with claims that he's a "radical muslim" who was sworn into office on the Quran to claims that he "plans on officially doing away with capitalism and replacing it with his much favored system of socialism."

Search John McCain at Snopes and you'll find only 5 claims that have been proven false.

Barack Obama's website has an entire page dedicated to stopping the lies. John McCain's website has no such page because spreading lies has not been a tactic the Obama campaign believes in. (I'm not saying they're perfect. I'm not saying they don't stretch the truth but compare the two and you will find the most blatant and oft repeated lies fall on the McCain camp.

It seems to me that the McCain campaign thinks Americans believe everything we hear. Perhaps they think we care less about issues than we do about gossip. Jerome Corsi obviously feels that way.

Okay, let's start with something that matters...

Obama's Tax Plan: Truth vs. Fiction

Fiction: Obama would impose a 28 percent tax on the profit from all home sales.

Fact: Both Obama and McCain would continue to exempt the first $250,000 of gain from the sale of a primary residence ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly) which results in zero tax on all but a very few home sales.

Fiction: Obama is proposing a 28 percent capital gains tax rate.

Truth: It's true that Obama favors raising the top rate on capital gains from its present 15 percent to 20 percent or more. He specified that the rate would go no higher than 28 percent saying, "my guess would be it would be significantly lower than that." Furthermore, he has said only couples making $250,000 or more (or singles making more than $200,000) would pay the higher capital gains rate. That means the large majority of persons who pay capital gains taxes would see no increase at all.

Fiction: Obama proposes to raise the tax rate on dividends to 39.6 percent.

Truth: Dividends currently are taxed at a top rate of 15 percent. Obama would raise that to the same rate as he would tax capital gains, somewhere between 20 percent and 28 percent but likely "significantly" lower than 28 percent. This higher tax also would fall only on couples making $250,000 or more or singles making more than $200,000.

Fiction: Raising tax rates on capital gains or dividends would result in higher taxes on investments held in Individual Retirement Accounts or in tax-deferred college funds.

Truth: Tax-deferred funds would still be just thst--tax--deferred. The whole point of such plans is that dividends and capital gains are allowed to accumulate and compound tax-free. Neither Obama nor McCain proposes to change that.

The bottom line: Any capital gains or dividend income from stocks, bonds or mutual funds owned outside of tax-deferred accounts would continue to be taxed at current rates except for couples making over $250,000, or singles making more than $200,000.

Fiction: Obama proposes to restore the inheritance tax.

Truth: The previous statement is false, as are the claims that McCain would impose zero tax and that Bush repealed the "inheritance tax." McCain and Obama both would retain a reduced version of the estate tax, as it is correctly called, though McCain would reduce it by more.

The tax now falls only on estates valued at more than $2 million ($4 million for couples able to set up the required legal and financial arrangements). It reaches a maximum rate of 45 percent on amounts more than that. It was not repealed, but it is set to expire temporarily in 2010, then return in 2011, when it would apply to estates valued at more than $1 million ($2 million for couples), with the maximum rate rising to 55 percent.

Obama has proposed to apply the tax only to estates valued at more than $3.5 million ($7 million for couples), holding the maximum rate at 45 percent. McCain would apply it to estates worth more than $5 million ($10 million for couples), with a maximum rate of 15 percent.

In addition, Obama has not proposed a tax on new homes with more than 2,400 square feet, or a new gasoline tax or a tax on retirement accounts. Nor will he tax water, as one e-mail claims.

There is some truth to the claim that Obama would impose "new taxes" to finance his health care plan, depending on your interpretation of "new." He has said he would pay for much of his plan "by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for people making more than $250,000 per year, as they are scheduled to do." That would certainly be a tax increase for those high-income persons, compared with what they are paying now. But whether that's imposing a new tax, or just letting an old one come back, depends on your point of view. It may well be that Obama will eventually propose tax increases to finance some of his health plan if the cost savings that he says will finance much of his plan are don't materialize, but it's wrong to say that he's proposing such taxes now.
I got this information from factcheck.org.

What is ACORN?

This from the ACORN site:

ACORN is the nation’s largest grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people with over 400,000 member families organized into more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in 110 cities across the country. Since 1970, ACORN has been building community organizations that are committed to social and economic justice, and won victories on thousands of issues of concern to our members, through direct action, negotiation, legislative advocacy and voter participation. ACORN helps those who have historically been locked out become powerful players in our democratic system.

In addition to community organizing ACORN members across the country work on issues that will raise the minimum wage or enact living wage policies; eliminate predatory financial practices by mortgage lenders, payday lenders, and tax preparation companies; win the development of affordable housing and community benefits agreements; improve the quality of and funding for urban public schools; rebuild New Orleans; and pass a federal and state ACORN Working Families Agenda, including paid sick leave for all full time workers.

ACORN and its allied organizations provide extensive services to its members and constituency. These include free tax preparation focusing on the Earned Income Tax Credit; screening for eligibility for federal and state benefit programs; and, through the ACORN Housing Corporation, first time homeowner mortgage counseling and foreclosure prevention assistance, and low income housing development.

Since 2004, ACORN has helped more than 1.7 million low- and moderate-income and minority citizens apply to register to vote. The claim about voter fraud comes from workers who made up names and registered people that don't exist. It turns out the organizations quota of 20 registrations per day has caused a few people to lie in order to appear they were doing their jobs. The cases that have been taken to court have shown there was no intended voter fraud. No one was ever planning on casting votes for these made up people--it was more about appearing to have been working when they weren't.

And how is Obama related to ACORN?

His connections to the group are few. In 1995, Obama helped represent ACORN in a successful lawsuit to require the state of Illinois to offer "motor voter" registration at DMV offices and he was on the board of a group that gave them (and many other organizations grants). Obama was never an ACORN community organizer. ACORN never hired Obama as a trainer, organizer, or any type of employee. And ACORN was not part of Project Vote, the successful voter registration drive Barack ran in 1992.

Check factcheck.org for more a detailed account of the ACORN smear that McCain is sadly perpetuating.

I'll leave you with something I'm taking word for word from 80 - 20 Initiative:

How R*cism Works

This was a piece that I found in my inbox. Shocking! However, every fact mentioned below has been independently checked out by 80-20. It helped me see things clearer.

"What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5 (a past scandal)?
What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

You are The Boss... which team would you hire? With America facing historic debt, 2 wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:

Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations. Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science. Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

versus

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire? "

All facts have been independently checked out by 80-20. If you like it please forward it to others.

Respectfully yours,
S. B. Woo
Member, Executive Comm., 80-20 PAC, Inc.

Please, don't be fooled by the lies. Visit snopes.com and factcheck.org and barackobama.com and discover the truth for yourself.

One last thing:
It's expected that two Supreme Court Justices will retire during the next four years--the two most liberal justices. Please don't put women in danger of losing their reproductive rights.

Please feel free to copy this and send it to your friends that might have fallen prey to the lies!!

Okay, no more politics. I swear!

Unschooling Assignment: Year Two

I've been thinking about why I haven't been blogging much lately and aside from the funk (which ended a while ago) I think the only explanation is that I tend to blog more when I'm fretting or questioning and now that I'm feeling more secure with our choice to unschool I'm not fretting or questioning as much. Lately all my fretting has been focused on the upcoming election so really, the only thing I've wanted to post has been "Please vote for Obama. Please. Please. Please." But since this isn't a political blog I haven't done it. Oh what the heck. "Please vote for Obama. Please. Please. Please." There. Glad I got that out of my system.

Now I can talk about unschooling. This is what I've realized: I completely agree with the philosophy but I still find myself dreding the question, "How is school going?" I had lunch with a good friend today and naturally she asked "the question" so I told her about unschooling and how I'm feeling about it. I talked about how strange it is to go through such a major paradigm shift and how I still wonder about how to make unschooling our own and whether or not certain habits can (or should) be taught. So that's what I think this coming year will be about. Now that I understand what unschooling means to the community-at-large my assignment will be to figure out what unschooling means to me and my family.
I've noticed lately that when I answer "the question" my first impulse is to say we're not really doing anything. That's really what it feels like. But then as the conversation continues I find myself saying "Oh, we just listened to Isabel Allende's Zorro on CD and we loved it. There was so much history in that story!" Or I mention the laser tag, book club or masquerade party we went to with our homeschool group. Or the "Rockets and Rollercoasters" class we took at the Science Center. Or the Pokemon sprites Jerry creates on the computer. Or our visit to the research lab at Cal Tech where Xiquan works. Or hearing Christopher Paolini speak. Or how cool Jerry's Japanese tutor is and how he's also a rap musician who makes music on his computer and is showing Jerry how to do the same thing. Or how we've been talking about the elections and the electoral college and whether or not the voting system seems fair. Or whether or not anyone has the right to tell two people who are in love they can't legally marry. Or that we're hoping to visit one of the homeschool dads at Activision (where he works) for a behind the scenes tour of the place where Guitar Hero was born. Or about the cool physics book we just bought. Or the secret drawer lock Thomas Edison invented that we're going to make. Anyway, you get the idea. There's no drudgery involved so I guess it seems like we can't be doing anying worthwhile. But look at all that stuff we're doing! And it's really cool and (dare I say?) educational stuff.

There you have it. That's what's been going on in my mind these days. That and "Please let Obama win. Please let Obama win. Please let Obama win."

A Little Politics

I don't post much on politics but I think this is really important. I'm giving you three viewing options: video, short and long.

Video:

Short:

Bush's recent speech on the need to cover the losses of investment
bankers:
1. The country is in grave danger, and we must trust him and
2. give him and his ministers absolute control and
3. a blank check
4. but it won't cost very much
5. and in the long run will pay for itself.
Amount requested: $700 billion

Speeches by Bush in late 2002\early 2003 on the need for invading Iraq:
1. The country is in grave danger, and we must trust him and
2. give him and his ministers absolute control and
3. a blank check
4. but it won't cost very much
5. and in the long run will pay for itself.
Amount spent as of September 2008: $620 billion

Are we really going to fall for it again?

And long (this originally came to one of my Yahoo! Groups but now the author has posted it on her blog at Truffala Tuft):

Why are we giving the richest people in America a $700 billion bail out? Not just a bailout, but a blank check to spend as they please?

A few better things we could do with $700 billion:
- Save it
- Help the 3 million+ families that have lost their home to foreclosure in the last year
- Support renewable energy development; Clean up superfund sites; Support small family farms and local food initiatives; Clean up depleted uranium in Iraq; Provide health care for all americans; Build mass transit ...

The banking, investment, finance and insurance industries, all longtime opponents of taxation, now need money from us, the hard working taxpayers, to survive. Decisions that will cripple us for decades to come are being made behind closed doors, by the wealthy, by the regulators and by those they have failed to regulate.

Don't let it happen! Call Congress right now and tell them NO WAY! See link at the end of this email.

What is happening?

AMY GOODMAN
from 9/22/08 Democracy Now

"It's being described as the largest government intervention in private markets since the Great Depression. The Bush administration has asked Congress to swiftly approve a massive $700 billion package to rescue the crippled financial institutions on Wall Street. Some analysts say the final cost to taxpayers could top one trillion dollars. Over the weekend, the size of the proposed bailout grew as the Bush administration said foreign banks, including Barclays and UBS, should be eligible for the bailout. The bailout plan was drawn up by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and would set up a fund that uses taxpayer money to buy out the bad debt on Wall Street. The plan would also give nearly unlimited powers to the Treasury Secretary.

Meanwhile, the last two major investment banks-Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley-have changed their status from investment banks to bank holding companies. This change, approved by the Federal Reserve Sunday, allows them to create commercial banks and also gives them access to the Fed's emergency loans."

JUAN GONZALEZ
(same transcript)
"The amazing irony now is, as we read in some of the papers today, that the very firms that were involved in creating this crisis are now lining up in Washington to be able to become managers, in case the federal government buys up this debt, and then it needs to manage how it will get rid of the debt, so that the very firms are now lining up to become the money managers of the distressed debt that the government buys."

How did it happen?

DEAN BAKER
(from the same transcript, Baker is director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research)
"And let me just make one point that everyone should be very, very clear on. This was not an accident, in the sense that this is like a hurricane. This was a totally predictable event. So when President Bush or Henry Paulson say, you know, we have to come to the rescue, it is because of their incompetence, because people who understood the economy-and putting myself among those, but there are others-we were warning about this a long, long time ago. This was a totally predictable event that brought us here....

"The basic story was, we had a housing bubble, which, again, these people are supposed to be smart. They're paid tens of millions of dollars. They should have recognized the housing bubble. They should have recognized that house prices would fall, as they have been. And what that meant was, you made a loan on a house for $250,000, $300,000, $400,000, that house price was likely to fall. So if you did that with zero down, as many of them did, plus having mortgages, you know, the predatory mortgages, the subprime mortgages that have got them in particular trouble, these were guaranteed to go bad in many cases...

They acted as though house prices would just keep going up forever, and they could just keep, you know, going along these lines. They leveraged themselves to the hilt. The investment banks, like Lehman and Bear Stearns, leveraged themselves to a ratio of thirty-to-one. In other words, if they had $10 billion in capital, they had loans on the order of $300 billion. I mean, this was just asking for disaster...Think of what we do to welfare people, when they-you know, everything they have to go through to get, you know, a $500-a-month check, and these people want billions, no questions asked. Unbelievable."

ROBERT SCHEER
(from same transcript, Scheer is an award-winning journalist)
Yeah, well, the point is, when Bush and McCain and Paulson, who was head of Goldman Sachs before he was head of the Treasury, say they don't know how this happened, they designed this system. We had a regulatory regime in place ever since the Great Depression to prevent this kind of meltdown, and that said that stockbrokers, insurance companies, banks, investment banks, commercial banks, could not merge. And in 1999, they passed legislation, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Gramm is the guy who McCain supported for president in '96. He was co-chair of his campaign until he complained about the whiners out there, meaning the public. And that legislation is what caused this. It allowed the swaps and everything else."

What should happen now?

ROBERT SCHEER
(same transcript)
"And now, you know, it seems to me, in terms of the bailout, why don't they do what Hillary Clinton said during the primaries: just put a freeze on foreclosures? Start out with helping the homeowners and say, "OK, we're not going to foreclose your house for the next year. We're going to force the banks to work out reasonable payments. We'll try to help you hold on to it." That would have stopped the bleeding here much more effectively than throwing $700 billion at these bandits...

"This is our money. Why isn't this money used to help people who are going to lose their houses? You miss two, three payments, and they're going to foreclose on you; then they say, "Well, we hope the banks will work out new agreements." Nonsense! Do a freeze on foreclosures. Stop the bleeding. Have a year to let it settle, and force the banks to come to agreements...

"Well, this is a Ponzi scheme of their creation, and they thought they would bail before it hit the fan. That's what they thought. They'd be gone, and someone else would be blamed. They'd have their golden parachutes. I don't know why we're not considering criminal charges against these people. They have done more to hurt this nation than bin Laden could ever dream of. "

RALPH NADER
(from 9/21/08 Chris Hedges article
Ralph Nader has come up with 10 market reforms that he says need to be implemented immediately along with any bailout. These reforms are:

1. No bailouts without conditions and reciprocity in the form of stock warrants.
2. No more lobbying for any company that is bailed out.
3. No golden parachutes or get-out-of-jail-free cards for guilty executives.
4. No bailouts without public hearings.
5. Reduce the moral hazard in U.S. mortgage markets by introducing covered bonds for the majority of mortgage products, as is done in Western Europe. That gives institutions that finance mortgages an incentive to be prudent, because they cannot just unload them and wipe their hands clean of the liability, but are instead on the hook if the homeowner defaults.
6. Maintain neighborhood stability and housing security by passing a law with a sunset clause allowing below-median-value homeowners facing foreclosure the right to "rent to own" their homes at fair market value rates.
7. Avoid future housing bubbles by removing implicit government guarantees for new mortgages that exceed thresholds of greater than 15 to 20 times the annual fair market rent value of the home.
8. Make the Federal Reserve a Cabinet position, so it is accountable to Congress, as well as make sure all Federal Reserve Bank presidents are appointed by the president and answerable to Congress.
9. Reduce conflicts of interest by taking away power for auditor and rating agency selection from companies and placing it in the hands of the SEC to be administered on random assignment.
10. Implement a securities speculation tax, starting with derivatives, to deter casino-style capitalism.

What can we do?

ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress NO To Bailout
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/22/11346/2605/768/606375

Alright folks, this week could very well determine the outcome of the election, and quite possibly whether Obama will have any financial leeway to enact his policies next year. George W. Bush is trying to push this stinker through immediately, ala the Patriot Act and the Iraq War Resolution.

Now is the time to take action. Call the Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121

We all know this bailout scheme is a boondoggle for the Wall Street fat cats. It's armed robbery, a scam, a plan by and for the Phil Gramms of the world. It takes $5000 from every taxpayer in America -- that means YOU -- and gives it to reckless bankers on Wall Street. And if Democrats cave on this blank check, you just know that Republicans will use it against them for the next two months.

Call Congress and tell them NO to this blank check bailout. There is no rush to give away our $700 billion. Tell them to stand strong and take their time.

And of course, be polite.

Wondering who your congresspeople are? Look here for the House and here for the Senate.

More info:
http://www.dailykos.com/ updated throughout the day
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080924_a_fox_to_protect_the_henhouse/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-bailout-plan-welcome_b_128450.html
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/09/24-7

Obama's Bong Of Hope

I inhaled.

Gotta Love Jon Stewart

My mother-in-law just sent me this by e-mail. I know it's totally off the subject but it was so well put I just had to share:

In Larry King's interview with Jon Stewart, King brought up the subject of the primaries, asking Stewart if America was ready for a woman or a black president.

Stewart looked at King quizzically and said, "This is such a non-question. Did anyone ask us in 2000 if Americans were ready for a moron?"

Touche!

Brief Political Interlude

1/27/08 update - So the letter to the German president is legit. This was confirmed by my German friend as well as Daryl Cobranchi from HE&OS, who said he's been in direct contact with unschoolers in Germany. Feel free to click away at that little plus sign, but maybe do some research before sending any money to HSLDA just to be sure the leaders of that organization share your values.

Note as of 1/26/08 - After I posted this it was brought to my attention that HSLDA isn't always on the up and up. I confess to knowing nothing about the political world of homeschooling and the organizations that represent it, but I did find this interesting discussion about the HSLDA and unschooling at Home Education & Other Stuff. It's from 2003. If you're in the dark, like me, you might want to check this out. If I find out that there is something weird going on with this I'll just remove the post entirely. I'm also asking a friend of mine to translate the letter on the German site so I can be sure we're not adding pluses to something that we don't really believe in. Stay tuned.

This is from the Home School Legal Defense Association:

Help Germans Ask Their President: ‘Why isn’t Homeschooling Allowed?’

German President Angela Merkel has a website where it is possible to ask questions of her directly. It has been reported by Germans that those questions that receive the most number of “plus” signs will receive an answer. German homeschoolers are asking homeschoolers from all over the world to vote in favor of this question. Click here and then click on the plus sign to register your vote to have President Angela Merckel answer the question “Why is homeschooling not allowed in Germany?”

Germany is a federal republic in which states are responsible for education. In all of Germany, states treat homeschooling as illegal, and parents are fined thousands of dollars, put in jail or have child custody taken away by the government. Incredibly, federal courts have chosen to interpret the federal constitution against parents and have ruled that it is an “abuse of parental rights” to homeschool. The only solution will be if German states change their laws. In order for this to happen, public officials, including Angela Merckel, will have to realize that German public policy regarding homeschooling is out of step with the rest of free democratic societies that embrace pluarlism in education and recognize that parents have the right to homeschool their children.

Thank you for helping homeschoolers in Germany seeking freedom to educate their children at home. Your vote counts!

It's really fast and easy to help. Just click the above link and look for the plus sign on the bottom right hand side of the page, then click on it. That's all there is to it.