Ralph Nader and Nader's Raiders Strike Again

by Burk Pendergrass

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The republican party got an early Easter Basket Sunday, 24 February, 2008 when Ralph Nader announced on NBC's Meet the Press with Tim Russert (the same forum where he announced his 2004 presidential run) that he was tossing his hat into the ring for the Office of The President of The United States of America.



In 1992 a third-party candidate, H. Ross Perot, claimed a large share of the American vote, nearly Twenty (20) percent , playing a role the Republican base will never forget.



The day following Nader's announcement, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is apparently contemplating his own independent presidential bid, defended Ralph Nader's right to seek the Nation's Highest Office.



So while Nader may be the nemises of the democratic party, it may be that the republicans have a spoiler of their own on their hands. If so, like H. Ross Perot, he has enought money of his own to make the country take him seriously - at least for a time.



Nader is a member of the Green Party. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a consumer advocate. His most significant program to the mind of a car lover, like the Tennessee Mountain Man, was spearheading the demise of what he dubbed the coffin on wheels - the Chevy Corvair. Computer Man saw one of Nader's rolling coffins in mint condition traveling on Rossville Blouvard in Chattanooga, Tennessee just a week or so preceding Nader's announcement, and wondered if "the spoiler" would show again.



Given Nader's ego and his apparent thirst for power, he could have done no less. Having run unsuccessfully in 2000 and 2004, the 2008 bid will be Nader's third run for the office. Will the third time be the charm? Surely not.



Although Nader attracted just 2.7 percent of the vote nationwide, the democrats have not forgotten, nor forgiven, Ralp Nader for what they believe cost Al Gore the 2000 election. In 2004 he garnered only 0.3 percent of the vote, and yet he once again finds himself vilified in the Blogosphere as being in bed with The Grand Old Party.



Obama, who briefly organized with a Nader influenced group as a young man, taking the high road, said, "Ralph Nader deserves enormous credit for the work he did as a consumer advocate, but his function as a perennial candidate is not putting food on the table of workers." Obama did opine, that Ralph Nader in recent years tended to assume that candidates are fatally flawed if they fail to recognize the wisdom of his views.



Hillary, talking with reporters onboard her campaign plane said of Nader's run “Obviously it’s not helpful to whomever our Democratic nominee is, but it’s a free country" . In reference to the AL Gore - George Bush race of 20000, she suggested that Ralph Nader's Green Party candidacy cost the nation the "greenest president'' it could have had. She believes Nader's new candidacy for the White House, at best, poses an unwelcome distraction.



Nader has run as both a Green Party candidate and an independent in past elections. He has not yet declared how he will run in the upcoming general election. Whatever his decision, he will be a power with which the Democratic Party Nominee will have to contend.



Not suprisingly, the Republicans were not so dismissive. On the other hand, Ward Harkavy, in the Village Voice Blog, dubbed Nader, "America's Suicide Bomber" while The Age saw him as the "Democrats bogeyman", and The Nation Blog apparently believes America still needs Ralph Nader to be Public Citizen Number One pursuing matters as a consumer advocate and not a presidential candidate.



Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee couldn't resist a little fun at Nader's expense and joked on CNN that Republicans would welcome Nader's entry into the race and hope that maybe a few more will join in. Huckabee said in a television interview that a Ralph Nader candidacy was a suicide mission and would more likely pull votes away from Democrats than Republicans, and he welcomed the longtime consumer advocate into the fray.



Ron Paul's camp believes there is unhappiness among the electorate, and that he (Paul) best captures that anger, and that Ralph Nader is not the proper vehicle for the expression of America's year of discontent. Nader, they feel, was a spoiler in 2000 and will long be remembered as being responsible for the election of George W. Bush, and that just as when he ran again in 2004 there will be few who care in the final analysis.



John McCain being the odds on favorite to benefit the most from the Nader candidancy has appropriately remained mum on the subject.


Burk Pendergrass, J.D., a Cherokee Indian and Viet Nam Vet specializing in computerman website design and remote online computer repair



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US Calls All To Cut Emissions

by Jason Witt

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When you receive the Seal you will see climate change as the sign of the coming End-times. A recent development is the statement by the United States that it is willing to agree to international targets to cut emissions if developing countries also do so.

This is February 2008, and Daniel Price, representing the White House, told reporters in Paris the US would be willing to accept obligations to cut emissions with one condition--that developing countries like China have to do so too.

Yvo de Boer is the United Nations climate chief, and he said the new US stance was still a "non-starter." That means he does not think it will be the start of any agreements to cut emissions.

The US now wants all "major economies" to agree to emissions reductions. And those major economies include developing countries like China and India. The US claims China has now surpassed the US in emissions amount.

De Boer said it was "great" the US was willing to talk about emissions cuts. But he also said it was "not realistic" to expect developing countries to make cuts and cited how it was not part of the agreement in Bali.

Just a few months before today leaders of all the nations in the world met in Bali and agreed on plans to negotiate for a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which the US was not a part of.

The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 and requires many industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 5 percent by 2012. However, emissions are growing at about 3 percent each year worldwide.

Greenhouse gas emissions have been growing at 3 percent a year since around 1900. And the growth in developing countries is enough to keep that amount of pollution growing worldwide even when cuts are made elsewhere.

Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas, blamed for trapping in the heat of the sun like a greenhouse but not letting it escape. So scientists have found the earth is warming, and many more natural disasters have started happening as a result.

Jesus Christ also predicted the End, and His Prediction agrees with what the scientists are saying. Jesus taught the parable of the fig tree: when the fig tree starts to blossom, you know that summer is near.

The "summer" Jesus mentioned is the End of the world. And now most scientists agree the End of the world is coming like a summer. Spring, fall, and winter are becoming more like summer each year.

Natural disasters are on the rise. There are many more floods and droughts now, and more wildfires. The windstorms are more severe. And predictions foretell widespread famine and water shortage in many parts of the world.

When you are sealed you will prepare yourself to meet Jesus. Jesus will return when the End of the world is coming, and He will return within you. There is no need to look anywhere out there in the world. You will look within yourself.

The position of the US on emissions is cuts is due to change with the changing of the presidency in the next year. However, growth in emissions will continue even with the US making sacrifices.
When you are sealed you will see the sign of the End coming in global warming. You will receive Jesus within yourself in preparation for an eternal home in Heaven when you receive the Seal.


And now Jason would like to invite you to get your FREE report Are You Making These Mistakes as a Christian? and "Get God's 'Seal of Approval' and Get the Victory Over Evil"
Jason Witt



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Obamas All New and Impregnable Firewall - It's About America

by Rev. Michael Bresciani

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Some reports say five and others say up to six times people have fainted in Obama’s political rallies. You tube is showing several of the incidents and bloggers are sliding off into two camps about the matter. Progressives are offering explanations about standing in long lines, weather conditions and exhaustion.

Conservatives are not convinced and on The Amboy Times February 16, 2008 online, one blog excerpt says “A Wall Street Journal writer, James Taranto, has uncovered a hilarious and puzzling coincidence at 5 different Sen. Obama campaign speeches over the last few months, including the recent speech in Seattle. Dori and listeners have found one other Sen. Obama incident posted on YouTube where a person near the stage faints. Sen. Obama responds to each incident with the same routine and phrases.”



We have seen the frenzy at Obama’s gatherings and now we have the fainting but the newest addition to the impervious image of the Dem’s Golden Boy is the clichéd firewall he is heard repeating after every criticism or question put before him. His applauded reply when asked even the hardest questions is “it’s not about… it’s about America.



Even his opponents have to admit as verbal devices employed in political rhetoric go, it is without parallel. Who can fight it, who dares say otherwise? Silence is all that is left to the naysayer. Or is it?



Sen. Obama can make all the promises he wants to the reality is that all we have to go on to date is his record as a US Senator. It is that record that speaks not just the loudest but the most accurately. Barack Obama is at the very least someone who is true to himself and what he believes. This is the reason conservatives are cringing at the prospect of some four to eight years with Barack Obama at the helm of the most powerful yet teetering nation on the globe.



Without getting excessively philosophical it is the “true believer” that can do either the most good or the most harm for any nation. We are not talking about belief in the gospel or the Bible but belief in his own vision for the United States.



Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, and Stalin were all true believers. Nero, Antiochus Epiphanies and Caligula were all true believers. No I am not putting Barack Obama on a scale with these people. What I am doing is reminding the wise of the efficacy contained in the old adage that “sincerity is no substitute for the truth.”



Before a single word can be said about visions it does well to remember that most democrats, liberals or frenzied supporters of the Obama campaign will never read a single word of the criticism of Mr. Obama’s vision. The New York Times won’t rush to quote anything here and the Washington Post may as well be on Saturn. In fact, although it is purely subjective and hard to prove I would say that at least some of the conservative rags, blogs and online sites seem to be increasingly on the defensive if not squeamish about hard anti Obama rhetoric. It is hard to tell if they are being civil or if they have been dazzled a bit themselves.



Rather than being silenced, embarrassed or ashamed by Obama’s “It’s about America” retort to questions raised to him, it would be a simple matter of doing our homework. It indeed is “about America” and the difference that the conservatives see for America and the vision of Sen. Obama is the argument. His record is the evidence that his argument is faulty. Rather than being an effective firewall against all other ideas Obama’s very words are the answer to his argument.



What does Sen. Obama see for America? It is no secret that Sen. Obama’s voting record on abortion issues and gay issues is what makes his vision for America frightening. Martin Luther King may have had a dream but this African American is proposing a nightmare.



Not even conversion experiences can balance the inequity of Barack’s vision for America. Both Christianity Today and Belief net have questioned him and reprinted his apparent encounter with God. In his interview with Dan Gilgoff on Belief net, when asked if he had a conversion experience or if he was born again he replied with “It wasn't an epiphany. I didn't “fall out,” as they say in the black church. It was an emotional and spiritual progression, as well as an intellectual one. And it didn't happen overnight. What happened was that I felt drawn to the message of Jesus Christ and the power of the church to fortify people in their spiritual journeys. And, you know, in my heart, at least, I felt God's spirit beckoning me. So ultimately, as I write in [“The Audacity of Hope”], I submitted myself to his will, dedicated myself to discovering his truths.”



If this could be considered a conversion experience and it is as Barack says “a progression” that began when he submitted himself to his will,” can we expect the Senator to come to the conclusion that God was quite serious when he said homosexuality is an abomination and the killing of the unborn comes under the most disdained of all human behavior in Gods eyes, namely the shedding of innocent blood? (Jeremiah 22:3)



Should someone close to the Senator tell him that being drawn to a message is no more of a conversion experience than fainting at a political meeting? But even if it should be, all conversion experiences are open to the acid test of obedience. Christ tells everyone who claims to have an experience with him the same thing. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Mt. 7:21)



In a published statement about his vote against a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage Obama said in a press release June 7, 2006 from his office “I personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. But I also agree with most Americans, including Vice President Cheney and over 2,000 religious leaders of all different beliefs that decisions about marriage should be left to the states as they always have been.”



Vice Presidents and 2000 religious leaders are not the people we should be listening to about what a marriage is. It is the God who created us that has the last word here and not any one of the fifty states of this country. God has not relinquished his authority to state legislators and candidate Obama has no right or theological premise by which he can pass the buck to them.



Mr. Obama has stated on numerous occasions that we must depend on the responsibility of pregnant women to make the hard decision about whether to abort or not. 50 million abortions later isn’t it about time we admit that these women have taken the path of least resistance and not the hard road to personal responsibility? Marriage and abortion are matters not ever passed over by God to kings, prophets, judges or legislatures.



Yes, it is about America Senator Obama and your idea of what changes we need for our future will help to fulfill the dark prophecies of eschatology as found in the Bible. America could take a different stand as she always has. She could stand in the gap and be counted as one nation that won’t go the way of all flesh. This is more than an election time it is the very valley of decision for America.



Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. (Joel 3:14)



Rev Bresciani is an author and a columnist for several online and print publications. For movie reviews, religion news, Christianity, politics, current events and much more visit The Website for Insight at http://www.americanprophet.org



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The '08 Election and Free Trade

by Dane Smith

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The Presidential candidates for the 2008 election are setting records for primary voter turnout and, especially in the Democratic wing, trying hard to differentiate themselves to discouraged voters with a myriad of sound-byte barrages. Whether the Democratic candidate chosen to run for President is Illinois Senator Barack Obama or New York Senator Hillary Clinton, we have before us a race that has been characterized by clashes over issues ranging from Iraq to the faltering economy, with recent heavy emphasis on the latter. As early as two months ago, Americans were content to let the candidates duke it out on a variety of issues without undue pressure towards any particular topic.

However, as the Republican race began to break down last month (and the Democratic candidates began to look more like a room of yes-men on many issues like health care and the Iraq war), the field has narrowed and so has the focus. A potent combination of plummeting consumer confidence, high commodity prices, and a continual influx of bad news from various financial sectors is partially responsible. But Americans have also realized that, in many respects, Obama and Clinton appear to have very similar economic platforms. And since both candidates limit their specific economic goals to sporadic attempts to win over blue-collar workers on the stump by accentuating populist sentiment, their promises about job protection for American workers are starting to sound less like the free-trade advocates they once were. Indeed, protectionism is on the rise, and deservedly so. While rising exports have offset gloom somewhat, the data is clear: Americans aren't competing. Outsourcing overseas has damaged wage growth in the US since the the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed, while of course providing an entrance into the global economy for many countries.

In the boom of the 90's this seemed like an appropriate way to economize and help develop poorer nations. But without the strong job security of that heyday, there is less of an impetus to share the wealth. Ironically, the boom in consumer spending that preceded the recent downturn helped fuel the present fire because, while US consumers spent more than ever before during the late 90's and early 2000's, everyone else was saving (and investing that savings in American companies). Now that the bubble has collapsed, and politicians have been lax in using that time of prosperity to shore up safety nets for workers. Now that President Bush's tax rebate has been signed, by May some results should start to emerge on its potential effect, which is expected to boost shaky consumer confidence and spending temporarily. But sooner, in the months ahead, expect the presidential candidates (whoever they are) to begin talking more about job loss, wage caps, and other downsides to globalized industries.

Polls show Americans as generally willing to pay more if they know it guarantees jobs. That alone is enough to warrant some change-ups on the stump, but whether it will materialize into changes in NAFTA or the breakdown of some of the gains (or inroads, depending on who you talk to) of globalization is up in the air for now. Voters won't let the candidates of the hook that easily.


Escapeso Realty operates a website covering the Austin Texas real estate market. Its provides a free mortgage calculator for buyers to user along with a search for Austin Homes.


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