Here's my contribution to the environmental movement, sung to the tune of America the Beautiful.

America, The Reality

Oh, CO2-polluted skies,
For altered waves of grain.
For leveled mountains travesty
Above the drought-struck plain.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee.
The dream destroyed by greedy men,
From sea to dying sea.

Oh nuclear insanity,
For tons of toxic waste.
For coal-dust-covered communities
Drinking poisoned waste.
America! America!
Thy memory is strong.
Restore our land for every man
So we can dream again.

Oh disappearing habitats,
For oil-soaked remains.
For ancient forests burning bright
Desperate for rain.
America! America!
The soul weeps at the sight.
The arrogance of man to destroy God's plan.
The time for change is now!

Still working on this and an accompanying slide show. Hope to get someone to sing it on You Tube (not me, obviously).

What Some Famous Men Have Said About the Current American Money System and the Constitution

I was given this list years ago (before email even), thought I would scan it and share. It comforts me to know I'm not crazy. There are a lot of jaw-dropping statements dating from our Country's beginnings. Enjoy!

Henry Ford:

"If the American people knew the corruption in our money system, there would be a revolution before morning."

President Thomas Jefferson:

"The system of banking [is] a blot left in all our Constitutions, which, if not covered, will end in their destruction ... I sincerely believe that the banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity ... is but futurity on a large scale."

Congressman Louis T. Mcfadden (addressing the Congress):

"The Federal Reserve (Banks) are one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever seen. There is not a man within the sound of my voice that does not know that this nation is run by the International Bankers."

President Woodrow Wilson:

"A great industrial Nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the Nation and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most controlled and dominated Governments in the World -- no longer a Government of free opinion, a Government by conviction and a vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinions and duress of small groups of dominant men." (Just before he died, Wilson confided to friends that he had been "deceived ... I have betrayed my country." [Referring to the Federal Reserve Act passed during his Presidency]

Horace Greely:

"While boasting of our noble deeds, we are careful to conceal the ugly fact that by iniquitous money system we have nationalized a system of oppression which, though more refined, is not less cruel than the old system of chattel slavery."

Major L. L. B. Angas:

"The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing.  The process is perhaps the most astonishing piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banks can in fact inflate, mint and unmint the modern ledger-entry currency."

Ralph M. Hawtrey (Former Secretary of the British Treasury):

"Banks lend by creating credit. They create the means of payment out of nothing."

Dr. Willis A. Overholser:

"Our present Federal Reserve System is a flagrant case of the government conferring a special privilege upon bankers. The government hands to the banks its credit, at virtually no cost to the banks, for their private profit. Still worse, however, is the fact that it gives the bankers practically complete control of the amount of money that shall be in circulation. Our present money system is a debt money system. Before a dollar can circulate, a debt must be created [for the banker's perpetual profit]."

Thomas A. Edison:

"If the nation can issue a dollar bond [Treasury Bond] it can issue a dollar bill [a constitutional dollar issued debt-free by Congress, not to be confused with a Federal Reserve Note Dollar]. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good also. The difference between the bond and the bill is that the bond lets the money broker [private bank members of the FED] collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20%. Whereas the currency, the honest sort provided by the Constitution, pays nobody but those who contribute in some useful way [labor or material goods]. It is absurd to say our country can issue bonds and cannot issue currency. Both are promises to pay, but one fattens the usurer and the other helps the People. If the currency issued by the People were no good, then the bonds would be no good, either. It is a terrible situation when the Government, to insure the National Wealth, must go in debt and submit to ruinous interest charges at the hands of men who control the fictitious value of money."

President Abraham Lincoln:

"Government, possessing the power to create and issue currency and credit as money and enjoying the right to withdraw both currency and credit from circulation by taxation and otherwise, need not and should not borrow capital at interest as a means of financing government work and public enterprise.

The Government should create, issue and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. The privilege of creating money is not only the supreme prerogative of Government, but it is the Government's greatest creative opportunity.

By the adoption of these [Constitutional] principles, the long-felt want for a uniform medium will be satisfied. The taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest, discounts and exchanges. The people will be furnished a currency as safe as their Government. And money will cease to be the master and become the servant of humanity. Democracy will rise superior to the money powers."

President James Garfield (before his assassination):

"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce."

Sir Josiah Stamp (President of the Bank of England in 1920, the 2nd richest man in Britain):

"Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pin they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take that away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money [by issuing credit]"

Dr. Carl F. M. Sandberg:

"From those not previously familiar with these things, have come expressions of interest and enthusiasm, but also reluctance to accept as truth the fact that our Government, without getting anything whatsoever in return, gives the Federal Reserve notes to private bankers for them to loan out at interest, even back to the Government itself. To them this seems so senseless (which in truth it is) as to be unbelievable."

It's All About the Economy

You bet the Economy is the main issue, think about it...

• Equal pay for equal work is an economic issue
• Outsourcing American jobs is an economic issue
• Family planning is an economic issue
• The Human Life Amendment is an economic issue
• Quality public education is an economic issue
• Eliminating the Department of Education is an economic issue
• Eliminating ObamaCare is an economic issue
• Voucherizing Medicare is an economic issue
• Privatizing Social Security is an economic issue
• Eliminating the minimum wage is an economic issue
• Repealing Wall Street reform is an economic issue
• The corrupt financial system is an economic issue
• The 1% taking all the money and leaving all the debt for the 99% is an economic issue
• Corporate welfare is an economic issue
• Ryan’s Austerity Budget is an economic issue
• Eliminating the EPA is an economic issue
• Eliminating the FDA is an economic issue
• Eliminating the Department of Energy is an economic issue
• Home foreclosures are an economic issue
• Citizens United is an economic issue
• Endless wars are an economic issue
• The right to Vote is an economic issue
• Romney lying to the American people is an economic issue!

You may not notice it immediately, but every one of these issues affects each of us every single day. All of these and more are all we stand to lose if Romney is elected, essentially our country as most of us have known it all our lives.

Romney is the embodiment of the people and policies that lead this country into this terrible condition, how can everyone not understand that? Obama needs a new way to drive this point home!! I’m outraged at the way Romney and the GOP blame the President for all of their failures! And get away with it!!!  How can so many people just forgive and forget the recent devastation of our country? And they want more?

I have to say, I was much more impressed with Plouffe and Axelrod in 2008. President Obama’s campaign just seems to lack a certain central drive.