I have written a series of articles about how the stimulus money embraced by Governor Crist and the Florida legislature to help save/create jobs has failed by all accounts. I pointed out that the only jobs "saved" were government jobs, almost exclusively in education. I showed that Florida spent over $232,000 per job "saved".

Today we learn that Florida's unemployment rate has risen to 11.2%, the highest in 34 years.

Yesterday I spoke with a local developer who has lost his construction business due to the down turn in the housing market in Florida. He told me that luckily he had some savings and that is what is keeping him from bankruptcy. He also told me that all of his friends in the construction industry in Florida who made the decision to put their life savings into their companies to try to save them are all flat broke. He said they all lost not only their businesses but also their homes, cars and everything they owned. Some even lost their wives. My friend said that the housing industry in Florida will not come back for five years and when it does there will be no quality builders left here.

Marco Rubio made the following statement on this grim report:

“Today’s jobs report offers more grim evidence of how bigger government and wasteful stimulus spending have failed to create the jobs President Obama and Charlie Crist promised, while threatening our economy with crushing debt.

“Yesterday, I visited Hendry County, which is suffering Florida’s second highest unemployment rate of 15.7 percent. Like in so many parts of the state and country, residents are wondering where all the stimulus money has gone and why they’re still out of work. It’s clear they have not benefited, while their children and grandchildren are now destined to inherit the bill for today’s out-of-control spending.

“As we head into the holiday season, today’s jobs report is a sobering reminder of how failed policies have painful consequences on real people. It is also a reminder of how instead of focusing on government takeovers of health care or imposing cap-and-trade, today’s leaders should be focusing on putting people back to work. Florida’s working families, entrepreneurs and small businesses deserve better.”

Government neither creates nor saves jobs.

Government takes money from productive and efficient businesses and redistributes it to less productive and inefficient activities. At this same event I spoke with a Sarasota County Commissioner, and a Republican, who actually believes he is helping save/create jobs using federal and local tax dollars on government contracts. How far we have strayed from the free market system when politicians believe they are "helping" the economy. When I questioned him about Sarasota County running its own bank to buy foreclosed properties he said that helped those "in need". What that does is subsidize those who are poor credit risks, people who banks would not give a loan to.

I had breakfast this week with a State Senator to discuss off shore drilling. He made the comment that he hated oil companies. I asked him why? He said because they do not meet their civic responsibilities to the people. When I pointed out to the Senator that the primary role of oil companies is to make a profit by extracting, refining and distributing fuel that runs our economy he did not change his view. He did not recognize that the greatest social good an oil company, or any other company, does is create jobs and profits. These profits get reinvested and create more jobs, which creates more demand for other products and services, thereby creating more jobs.

Government destroys this economic life cycle. What do you think?

Every Friday morning I have breakfast with a group of gentlemen and women. The group puts on the annual Sarasota Prayer breakfast. We discuss the bible, Judeo/Christian issues and local, regional and national debates on critical policies.

I was the person designated to give today's lesson. I choose to look at the principles that are fundamental to a Judeo/Christian society. America is based upon Judeo/Christian principles. As a reference I used "The American Patriots Bible" written by Dr. Richard G. Lee, Pastor of the First Redeemer Church in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Lee is a member of the Oxford Roundtable (Oxford, England); a trustee of Liberty University and Liberty School of Law; and Board member of the National Religious Broadcasters.

According to Dr. Lee there are Seven Principles passed to us by our Founding Fathers. They are:

• The Dignity of Human Life
• The Traditional Monogamous Family
• A National Work Ethic
• The Right to a God Centered Education
• The Abrahamic Covenant
• Common Decency
• Our Personal Accountability to God

We discussed the first two principles and how they have been devalued and attacked in the name of diversity and the right to choose. One of the most interesting discussions was about how "Environmental Statists" view the value of life. Environmental Statists are individuals, organizations and political movements who adhere to "Environmental Statism". Environmental Statism is in constant conflict with the Judeo/Cristian principle of the Dignity for Human Life and a free market system.

The following two statements reflect the fundamental difference between these two world views:

American/Capitalist view
Mankind has been given dominion over the earth. Mankind is to use the earth’s resources for his betterment but use them wisely.

Statist/Environmentalist view
Mankind is an infestation upon the earth. The earth must be protected from mankind at all cost.

This is all about who holds power. The Statist/Environmentalist believes government must be all powerful. America's Founding Fathers believed that the individual must control and limit government power. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."

Environmental Statists believe that in order to "save the planet", population must be controlled and even reduced by means some may call draconian.

As today's Wall Street Journal Editorial points out:

Forget about saving the environment for the sake of your children. It turns out that if you really care about the planet, you probably shouldn't have any children to begin with.

That's the thrust of the 2009 report from the U.N. Population Fund—the people who in 1983 handed China's then-minister of family planning an award for the "effectiveness" of population control by forced abortion and sterilization. The Fund has long believed that more people are a burden, not a boon, to human welfare. The idea is not new, and over the centuries has taken form in the view that too many people consume too many natural resources, or that more people necessarily means more poverty, or (much more sinisterly) that people prone to having many children are somehow the wrong kind of people.

Now the Fund has gone a step further, arguing that the scourge of reproduction is not just a question of raw numbers, but that humanity itself is destructive. "No human is genuinely 'carbon neutral,' especially when all greenhouse gases are figured into the equation," the report tells us in a section entitled "At the brink." "Therefore, everyone is part of the problem, so everyone must be part of the solution."

As my fellowship group discussed this morning, this is not about CO2 emissions, global warming or saving the plant. It is about who is in control - you or government. It is about replacing God with Government as the big "G" in our lives. It is about "creating a society of thoroughbreds" as Margaret Sanger said. The UN Population Fund is promoting Eugenics, something Adolf Hitler applied with great efficiency. Following the UN Population Fund's logic Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein would all receive awards for their work making human's "carbon neutral".

As Benjamin Harrison, our 23rd President, wrote, "If you take out of your statutes, your constitution, your family life all that is taken from the Sacred Book, what whould there be left to bind society together?"

Readings:  

Madison: Congress Must Live By Their Laws Or Degenerate Into Tyranny - James Madison, The Federalist No. 57

Stimulus Fraud - Investor's Business Daily

Higher Medicare Tax Latest Proposal To Fund Health Care Takeover - The Heritage Foundation

Ted Being Ted - Inside the Beltway

Obama's Health Care Plan Not Out Of The Woods Yet - Dick Morris and Eileen McGann, Nationally Syndicated Columnists

Obama's Tide Flows In, Then It Flows Out - American Thinker

Perspective Of A Russian Immigrant (No. 3) - Investor's Business Daily

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Cartoon of the Day:

On October 9, 2009, Don Baldauf from FloridaOil.org met with Governor Charlie Crist in Tampa while attending a dinner. Don explained the opportunities that could be gained by the State by asserting it's rights under "The Submerged Lands Act" and how an executive order could enact those rights. The Governor was very interested and asked Don to set up a meeting so he could learn more details. The Governor even stopped to shake hands with Don on his way out of the dinner and again asked him to be sure he called to set up that meeting.

After several calls Don was told the Governor could not fit him into his schedule and was directed to talk to Kathy Mears. It was a good conversation and Kathy asked Don to submit a proposed executive order. That proposal was passed on and Kathy stated she passed it to the legal department but no response as of yet.

Below is that proposed Executive order. If you would like to support this initiatve please call Kathy Mears at 850-488-7146 or e-mail her at Kathy.Mears@MyFlorida.com and ask the Governor to sign this executive order.

STATE OF FLORIDA
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 09 –

Establishing Immediate Actions To Extend The State Of Florida Coastal Boundaries In The Submerged Lands Surrounding The State Of Florida

WHEREAS, Part of the founding principals of our Country was to protect the sovereignty of each individual State and prevent a Central Federal Government from expanding to a point that diminishes the rights of the individual States. It is important to remember that the power and authority of the Federal Government is derived from permissions granted by the collective individual sovereign States that make up our Republic.

WHEREAS, When the Federal Government fails to act responsibly and respectfully in the interest of the sovereign States, it is the responsibility of the leaders of each sovereign State to rescind that authority and protect the interest of that State. With respect to the boundaries and mineral rights of the submerged lands surrounding the sovereign State of Florida, the Federal Government has failed to recover the God provided resources to benefit our State and Country. Furthermore, the United States Senate has openly denied any revenue sharing to the sovereign State of Florida for minerals recovered from the submerged lands that surround our State.

WHEREAS, The Submerged Lands Act of 1953 was enacted for the sole purpose of returning the mineral rights of the submerged lands back to the Coastal Sovereign States. In that act, boundaries were set based on the individual sovereign States boundaries at the time that they were admitted to the Union. A wise United States Congress, acting in the spirit of our founding documents, also included a provision in the submerged lands act that “Any claim heretofore or hereafter asserted either by constitutional provision, statute or otherwise, indicating the intent of a State so to extend its boundaries is hereby approved and confirmed, without prejudice to its claim, if any it has, that its boundaries extend beyond that line.”

WHEREAS, On May 22, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said after signing the bill into law “ I am pleased to sign this measure into law recognizing the ancient rights of the States in the submerged lands within their historic boundaries. As I have said many times I deplore and I will always resist federal encroachment upon rights and affairs of the States. Recognizing the States' claim to these lands is in keeping with basic principles of honesty and fair play.”

WHEREAS, Technology has evolved since 1953 making more of the submerged lands accessible to the safe recovery of the minerals. The Federal Government has failed to recover these minerals that were put on this Earth for the good of mankind, providing employment and revenue for the citizens of the Sovereign State of Florida and protecting the security of our Republic.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, CHARLIE CRIST, as Governor of Florida, in obedience to my solemn constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and pursuant to the Constitution and the laws of the State of Florida, do hereby promulgate the following Executive Order, to take immediate effect:

Section 1. In keeping with the basic principles of honesty and fair play, that I, the Governor of the Sovereign State of Florida, do hereby claim the submerged lands surrounding the Sovereign State of Florida out to a distance of 125 miles, except when that boundary would interfere with another sovereign Nation or State at which point it would be half of the distance to that sovereign Nation or State.

Section 2. Any existing leases within those boundaries shall be honored with the exception that the revenues paid to the Federal Government shall now be paid to the State of Florida.

Section 3. The Florida Legislature shall decide on future mineral recovery and revenue sharing.

Section 4. The Florida Legislature shall establish a trust for the purpose of withholding revenues that would normally be shared with the Federal Government to be dispersed directly to Interior Sovereign States as the Florida Legislature sees fit.

Section 5. In the interest of protecting the beaches of our State, no mineral recovery shall take place within the first 25 miles from the coastline.

Section 6. All state agencies departments under the direction of the Governor are hereby directed, and all other state agencies are hereby requested, to assist those carrying out the directions in this Executive Order.

Readings:  

Survey Finds Only 43 Percent Would Re-Elect Obama Now - The Washington Examiner

Fight Or Tease? - Investor's Business Daily

Unemployment Rates By County January 2007--September 2009

Fire Gen. Casey - Linda Chavez, Nationally Syndicated Columnist

Boxing With Boxer - Inside the Beltway

Asian Cold Water On Global Warming - Investor's Business Daily

Global Warming Ate My Homework: 100 Things Blamed On Global Warming - The Heritage Foundation

Republicans Maintain Steady Lead On Generic Ballot - Rasmussen Reports

Trend Gains Speed - Inside Politics

Video of the Day:

Cartoon of the Day:

A little known candidate is emerging with big plans in the race for Florida House District 60. Trey Stroud, marketing executive and husband and father of two, says he's running because he genuinely wants to help people.

"I'm not a politician. I'm a regular guy who got fed up with political correctness...there comes a time when you have to say, this is right and this is not" said Stroud, addressing a crowd of about 80 supporters.

"We all want good jobs, we all want strong families, we want a safe place to live, we want as much freedom as we can have and we don't want the government to do everything for us" said Stroud.

"So many people are so busy keeping their job, they forget to do their job...maybe that's our problem. People are so focused on getting re-elected that they forget to do what they know is right for fear of political consequences."

Stroud said God and family were the center of his life and he wanted voters in District 60 to know who they were sending to Tallahassee.

"When I'm speaking it will be my voice, but it will be the words of the people I was elected to represent and I take that very very seriously" says Stroud.

Stroud's primary challenger is prominent attorney and former city councilman Shawn Harrison. But Harrison's financial edge doesn't seem to bother Stroud, who says his campaign of 110 volunteers, has raised nearly $20,000 and collected 800 of the 927 signatures needed to place his name on the ballot.

"Our message of service over self is starting to resonate with people. People want someone who can go to Tallahassee who doesn't owe anything to anybody."

When it comes to issues like fiscal and social responsibility, Stroud says he's not afraid to take on establishment Republicans either. "I won't roll over and do whatever the Republican Party wants me to", said Stroud.

"I am an honest man and I will say what's on my mind."