Wilson too re-made Princeton, this time on the model of the German university. At a time in which German scholarship was in fashion, he was a champion of Hegelianism, helping to introduce a strain of thought into the American body politic that was fundamentally opposed to the natural rights philosophy of the Founders. Hegel's historicism--the belief that all thought is historically conditioned--was the intellectual foundation of Progressivism and of Wilson's belief that the Constitution was an antique absurdity. Wilson championed the idea of "the living Constitution" which enables activist judges to re-write the Constitution according to the Progressive notions of the day.

American Protective League Formed by A.M. Briggs, a wealthy Chicago businessman, at its zenith the APL had 250,000 dues-paying members in 600 cities of the United States. Authorized to operate by the U.S. Attorney General, Thomas Gregory, the APL assisted the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), the precursor to the FBI. A private organization, the APL nevertheless had a semi-official status; it was officially approved by the Attorney General, who authorized the APL to state on its letterhead, "Organized with the Approval and operating under the direction of the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation.".... pursued suspects of disloyalty on their own initiative and in their own manner.  APL members were accused of acting as vigilantes, allegedly violating the civil liberties of American citizens,... A few months after the Armistice was signed, ending World War I, the League disbanded, in part as a result of opposition by the President's incoming Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer.

Wilson, like the bulk of progressive intellectuals in fin-de-siècle America, was deeply influenced by three strands of thought: philosophical Pragmatism, Hegelianism, and Darwinism. This heady intellectual cocktail produced a drunken arrogance and the conviction that the old rules no longer applied.....Hence Wilson argued that the old "Newtonian" vision - fixed rules enshrined in the Constitution and laws - had to give way to the "Darwinian" view of "living constitutions" and the like. With the intellectuals on their side, Wilson recruited journalist George Creel to become a propaganda minister as head of the newly formed Committee on Public Information (CPI). (about a million strong,, went around giving speeches on street corners, making posters, handing out pamphlets,, a very intimidating group all of it's own,. Under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918,  Wilson's administration shut down newspapers and magazines at an astounding pace. Indeed, any criticism of the government, even in your own home, could earn you a prison sentence. One man was brought to trial for explaining in his own home why he didn't want to buy Liberty Bonds. The APL - a quarter million strong at its height, with offices in 600 cities - carried government-issued badges while beating up dissidents and protesters and conducting warrantless searches and interrogations. Even after the war, Wilson refused to release the last of America's political prisoners.

Citizens could not "utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the government or the military. The Postmaster General was given the authority to revoke the mailing privileges of those who disobeyed. ...All in all it is estimated that about 175,000 Americans were arrested for failing to demonstrate their patriotism in one way or another.

Wilson and racism: It was Inauguration Day, and in the judgment of one later historian,  the atmosphere in the nation's capital bore ominous signs for Negroes.  Washington rang with happy Rebel Yells, while bands all over town played Dixie.  Indeed, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who swore in the newly elected Southern president, was himself a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. Meanwhile,  an unidentified associate of the new Chief Executive warned that since the South ran the nation, Negroes should expect to be treated as a servile race.  Somebody had even sent the new president a possum, an act supposedly  consonant with Southern tradition.  This is not an alternate world scenario imagining the results of a Strom Thurmond victory in the 1948 election; it is the real March 4, 1913, the day Woodrow Wilson of Virginia moved into the White House. The details, above and below, are drawn from the work of historian Lawrence J. Friedman, The White Savage: Racial Fantasies in the Postbellum South &. 

Wilson allowed various officials to segregate the toilets, cafeterias, and work areas of their departments.  One justification involved health: White government workers had to be protected from contagious diseases, especially venereal diseases, that racists imagined were being spread by blacks. In extreme cases, federal officials built separate structures to house black workers. Most black diplomats were replaced by whites; numerous black federal officials in the South were removed from their posts; the local Washington police force and fire department stopped hiring blacks. Wilson's own view, as he expressed it to intimates, was that federal segregation was an act of kindness. In historian Friedman's paraphrase,  "Off by themselves with only a white supervisor, blacks would not be forced out of their jobs by energetic white employees."*

You keep hearing from the autocrats in DC that the Republicans are the party of "No" and that conservatives have no plan to stimulate the economy.  Well, either they're not paying attention or they're lying.  Guess which one I'm betting on.

Here's are five good ideas from the party of NO:

Congressman Jordan (R-OH) and Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) have introduced H.R. 5029, the Economic Freedom Act, a plan to unleash the power of America's private sector economy.

The Economic Freedom Act would terminate the TARP and repeal the remaining stimulus, replacing them with a real stimulus plan to create jobs by:

Reducing The Payroll Tax by Half for 2010

Providing immediate stimulus by increasing workers' paychecks and improving the bottom line for employers.

Eliminating The Capital Gains Tax

Encouraging the risk-taking and investment that is at the heart of the entrepreneurial spirit.

Reducing the Corporate Tax Rate to 12.5%

Improving America's competitiveness in the global market and providing incentives for expansion and job creation.

Permanently Eliminating the Death Tax

Ensuring that small businesses and family farms, the engine of our economy, will continue creating jobs for future generations.

Providing Immediate Business Expensing

Encouraging long-term reinvestment in business, increasing competitiveness and creating jobs.

I could add a few myself:

Get rid of the Departments of Education and Energy

Both are utter failures.

Get rid of all the Czars and their staffs

Let freedom ring.

Sell all non-essential federal lands

 No foreign ownership allowed.

Put a freeze on all non-essential government hiring and on federal wages

Privatize the US Postal Service

UPS and FedEx do a much better job and cheaper.

Eliminate foreign aid

 It's time for some personal responsibility.

Eliminate earmarks

Reduce American Armed Forces presence throughout the world

We have a heck of a navy and air force, we don't need that many boots on the ground.

Balance the budget

We can't spend more than we take in.

No new entitlement programs, no expansion of existing ones

Eliminate duplication of programs

End the Federal Reserve

Drill here, drill now

Repeal the 16th Amendment, close down the IRS and institute the Fair Tax.

No more punishment for hard work.

Any law that's written must pass the constitutional smell test 

Each bill must have the applicable section of the US Constitution that supports its validity.

Elect STRICT Constitutionalists

Now that doesn't sound like there are NO ideas to me.

We all know our public education system is broken and in dire need of repair, so it seems we have another "crisis we can't let go to waste" waiting in the wings for our government saviors to swoop in and fix what they have spent decades destroying in their indoctrination camps we call public schools.

The Soros-supported report, with backing from the NEA (the teachers union that is more concerned with retaining incompetent teachers than educating our children) has come out with a proposal to control the costs of public education.  They call for the elimination of what they determine to be  "niche programs."

Just exactly what are these niche programs you might ask.  Well, I'll be happy to tell you. 

One of these non-essential "niche" programs is called "Academies for American History and Civics."  This is a program which provides workshops for teachers of American history.  Why should we teach American history?  Aren't we all citizens of the world now?

Then "We the People" should be cut.  This is a program for the Center for Civic Education to instruct students about the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.  No, we don't want our children learning about those evil documents.  They might actually start to question the motives of our elected officials and we can't have that.

Lastly, there is "Excellence in Economic Education.  This is a program designed to promote economic and financial literacy among K to 12 students.  God forbid our children learn how not to spend our nation into bankruptcy! 

So they want to cut programs that teach American history; yet some states such as Arizona  push a Mexican-American studies program.  Arizona's superintendent of public instruction, Tom Horne says the basic theme of the Mexican-American studies program in Arizona is that Latino students were and continue to be victims of a racist American society driven by the interests of the middle and upper class whites. Among the goals listed for the Mexican- American studies are... social justice, Latino critical race pedagogy, and they have pictures in the classroom showing the walls decorated with heroes like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. I guess Fidel and Che are the real heroes of our Revolution.  Of course, that would be the "new" Revolution.

They want to cut programs that teach the founding documents of our republic; yet our president, who supposedly taught constitutional law believes our constitution is an out-dated document and doesn't go far enough to insure a benevolent federal government can at last make everyone equal.

And the last thing we want our children to learn is economics.  That would not bode well for the elitists in Washington.  Finally, someone would understand what they were up to.

Despite having no plans to reopen a shuttered visitor center at Mount St. Helens in Washington State, the U.S. Forest Service is spending more than $554,000 to replace its windows.  A nice view I'm sure.  But who's paying for the Windex?

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte received more than $760,000 in stimulus funds to help develop a computerized choreography program that its creators believe could lead to a YouTube-like "Dance Tube" online application.  Everybody mambo!

An abandoned Train Station, in Glassborto, NJ, was awarded $1.2 million to be converted  into a museum.  All aboard!

The California Academy of Sciences is receiving nearly $2 million to send researchers to the Southwest Indian Ocean Islands and east Africa, to capture, photograph, and analyze thousands of exotic ants.  Do you think it might be a good idea to bring some Amdro?

On September 28, 2009, Hydrogen Energy California, LLC (HECA), owned largely by BP, was awarded $308 million in stimulus funds to "generate more environmentally friendly electricity by capturing carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels."  I guess BP could use that money now.

People around Boynton, Oklahoma were left scratching their heads after the town was awarded nearly $90,000 to replace a quarter-mile stretch of sidewalk that was replaced only five years ago.  Nothing lasts forever, especially concrete.

The Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut will be getting $54 million in rural development loans from the United States Department of Agriculture to construct a new four-story tribal government center, which will include a new community center.     Unlike most government buildings, however, this one will also contain a practice facility for the Connecticut Sun, the WNBA professional basketball team.  Is this payback for the purchase of Manhattan Island for $24 worth of cheap beads?

A Georgia Tech assistant professor of music will receive $762,372 to study improvised music.  They could have gotten Chick Corea for a lot less.

Researchers at Georgia State University are using almost $700,000 in stimulus funds to study why monkeys respond negatively to inequity and unfairness.  I could have told them, it's all about empathy.  But nothing says love like $700,000.

The American Legacy Foundation is slated to receive almost half a million dollars to provide quitting smokers with a smartphone so they can contact their quitting support groups by text message or phone call to prevent relapses.  Let's see, a cigarette or a phone call?  Hmmm, quite the conundrum. 

Pacific Environment, a San-Francisco based non-profit organization that "protects the living environment of the Pacific Rim by promoting grassroots activism, strengthening communities and reforming international policies," has received a stimulus grant in the amount of $199,862 for an experimental applied science project to assist indigenous Siberian communities in engaging Russian policymakers in local civic and environmental issues.  My question is:  Who brings the vodka?

Want to know if it's going to rain this week . . . on Venus? According to scientists at the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) in Texas, you absolutely do. So the government has given them nearly $300,000 in stimulus funds to satisfy the American taxpayer's profound need for interplanetary weather info.  I wonder if their predictions will be any more accurate than The Weather Channel.

 Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, a former Delta Force officer who CBS's 60 Minutes once dubbed "the Holy Warrior," is a no-nonsense counterterrorist expert whom the television newsmagazine also said, "has probably seen as much combat as anyone in uniform."

General Boykin recently gave an interview in which he discussed the building of a 13-story mosque very near to "ground zero" in New York City.  Like the vast majority of Americans, the general sees this not as reaching out to Americans to promote peaceful coexistence, but rather as a symbol of Islam's victory over us. 

Here is an excerpt from that interview:

Smith: "I know we are doing those things to a fairly high degree, but then it seems we are giving Muslims a pass on everything in this country. For example, the proposed mosque near 'ground zero' in New York."

Boykin: "I am so disappointed. I'm also angry that there are those who are so uninformed and intimidated by these people that they are willing to allow this. We need to remember that Islam is not a religion, but a totalitarian way of life with a religious component. Yet we protect the entire thing under the first amendment. Stop and think about it. Islam is a legal system, a political system, a financial system, a dress code, a moral code, and a social structure, yet we protect it as a first amendment issue. That's our fundamental mistake. The second thing is, people have no understanding of Islam's history or its basic tenets.

Islam's objective in America is to replace our Constitution with Sharia law.

When they defeated the nomadic tribes in Mecca, they built a mosque at the most holy site. The message was one of triumph, that Islam has now defeated you and Islam reigns supreme. They did the same thing at Córdoba [Spain]. They did it in Jerusalem. Same in Constantinople. The message was always one of conquest and victory.

Now, 'ground zero' is not holy, but it is sacred because of the lives lost. They want to build a mosque there to proclaim that Islam reigns supreme. Do you know what that is going to mean to Muslims all over the world?

The recruiting to the Jihadist cause will be exponentially increased as a result of the very symbol -- the very message -- associated with that mosque there. It is incomprehensible to me. It was supported by Christian pastors and Jewish rabbis in this thing they call an interfaith dialogue. It shows such an extraordinary lack of understanding for what Islam is doing."

Now I'm a BIG proponent of the 1st Amendment.  Without it, I would not be able to practice my religion and you would not be free to be an atheist if you so chose.  But does that mean we give ANY religion free rein?  No.  We don't allow animal or human sacrifices in the name of God do we?  We don't acknowledge religions that practice polygamy or promote pedophilia do we?  Now I know some of you will be quick to say, "Yeah, what about the pedophile priests?"  Well, my potato head friends, those are individual acts of evil, not a tenet of the Catholic Church, as compared to Sharia law which commands punishment of homosexuals and adultresses by throwing big rocks at their heads until their skulls cave in.  Which, I believe is the 1st Amendment to the Muslim Bill of Rights.  I think the 2nd Amendment states that it's ok for a 40-year-old man to marry a nine-year girl and have sex with her.  But don't quote me on that one.

General Boykin's analysis of Islam is insightful and right on the money.  It's just a shame that no one in our government has his courage.  But that's what you get when you have a bunch of namby-pamby elitists running things.  They've never gotten their hands dirty or their noses bloodied, so they see things as they'd like them to be and not as they are. 

So why is it we give preferential treatment to a legal, political, financial, moral, and social system that has already stated its intent is to conquer all other religions and rule the world?  To these "believers", their religion is secondary to their purposes.  It just makes it easier to convince their followers that they are right and righteous.  You can get crazy folks to do some crazy things in the name of God.  You see, if God is telling you to do it, it must be right, because God can't be wrong.  Cases in point: The Spanish Inquisition and the now-popular Islamic Jihad.  Unfortunately, it's not God commanding anyone to throw those rocks or saw off somebody's head or strap a vest laden with TNT onto a 14 year-old boy's body.  It's some lunatic in a robe who says HE speaks for God. 

It also makes it easy for these deceivers to do an end run around our Constitution.  They're smart enough to know how to use it against us.  And they even get us to help them.

I'm sorry, but that seems self-defeating on our part.

AGENDA: Grinding America Down (Trailer) from Curtis Bowers on Vimeo.

TIME Magazine's Michael Grunwald, hardly a conservative supporter, wrote an article recently called "The BP Spill: Has the Damage Been Exaggerated?"  We know that President Obama has called the BP oil spill 'the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced,' and so has just about everyone else. Environmental groups are sounding alarms about the 'Catastrophe Along the Gulf Coast,' while CBS, Fox and MSNBC slaps the 'Disaster in the Gulf' headline on all their spill-related news. Even BP head-honcho Tony Hayward, after some early happy talk, admitted the spill was an 'environmental catastrophe.' According to Grunwald, "The obnoxious anti-environmentalist Rush Limbaugh has been a rare voice arguing that the spill -- he calls it 'the leak' -- is anything less than an ecological calamity, scoffing at the avalanche of end-is-nigh eco-hype." 

The article continues:  "Well, the obnoxious and anti-environmentalist Rush has a point. The Deepwater explosion was an awful tragedy for the 11 workers who died on the rig, and it's no leak; it's the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. It's also inflicting serious economic and psychological damage on coastal communities. ... Yes, the spill killed birds -- but so far, less than 1% of the birds killed by the Exxon Valdez. Yes, we've heard horror stories about oiled dolphins -- but, so far, wildlife response teams have collected only three visibly oiled carcasses of any mammals. Yes, the spill prompted harsh restrictions on fishing and shrimping, but so far, the region's fish and shrimp have tested clean, and the restrictions are gradually being lifted. And, yes, scientists have warned that the oil could accelerate the destruction of Louisiana's disintegrating coastal marshes ... but, so far, shorelines assessment teams have only found about 350 acres of oiled marshes, when Louisiana was already losing about 15,000 acres of wetlands every year." 

"Marine scientist Ivor Van Heerden (didn't he play the Swedish chef on the Muppets?), another former LSU prof who's working for a spill response contractor, says 'there's just no data to suggest this is an environmental disaster.  'I have no interest in making BP look good -- I think they lied about the size of the spill -- but we're not seeing catastrophic impacts,' says Van Heerden, who, like just about everyone else working in the Gulf these days, is being paid out of BP's spill response funds. 'There's a lot of hype, but no evidence to justify it.  The scientists I spoke with cite four basic reasons the initial eco-fears seem overblown. First, the Deepwater Horizon oil, unlike the black glop from the Valdez, is comparatively light and degradable, which is why the slick in the Gulf is dissolving surprisingly rapidly now that the gusher has been capped.' 

'Second, the Gulf of Mexico, unlike Prince William Sound, is balmy at more than 85 degrees, which also helps bacteria break down oil. Third, heavy flows of Mississippi River water helped keep the oil away from the coast, where it can do much more damage. Finally, Mother Nature can be incredibly resilient.  Around Casse-tete Island in Timbalier Bay, where new shoots of spartina grasses were sprouting in oiled marshes, and new leaves were growing on the first black mangroves I had ever seen that were actually black.  It comes back fast, doesn't it?' Van Heerden said." 

And USA Today has a story by Rick Jarvis: "Missing Oil in Gulf Baffles Officials."  'For more than three months, Gulf Coast residents and federal officials have asked where the oil spill was headed and how much damage it would deliver.  Now, a new, equally baffling question looms: Where has the oil gone?  The amount of surface oil that has bubbled up from the leaking well at the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig sinking has rapidly shrunk in size since the well was capped. ... Recent flyovers of the spill area spotted only one sizeable oil deposit in the region, down considerably from the large pools of thick, reddish oil that washed into Louisiana's coastal marshes and beaches along the Gulf of Mexico. 'What we're trying to figure out is: Where is all the oil at?' said retired Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen, the oil response's federal overseer.  'There's still a lot of oil that's unaccounted for.'"

Where, oh where could it be?  Maybe it's hiding next to the 3.6 million jobs that the president claims to have saved.  Or maybe it's hiding right next to all the heat that the global warming people can't find.  So we can't find the oil, we can't find evidence of global warming, and we can't find the three and a half million jobs that have been saved by the "stimulus."

Federal scientists estimate that 126 million to 218 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf since the start of the spill.   That's a lot of oil, but let's put that in perspective.  If the Gulf of Mexico was the new Dallas Cowboy stadium and we filled it with water, the oil spill would be the volume of two 24-ounce cans of beer.  You aren't gonna find any drunk fish there!

Now, about 80 million gallons of the oil has been skimmed, burned off or captured in containment efforts -- leaving at least 40 million gallons of crude unaccounted for." Where is it?  "The Gulf's searing summer heat could also speed up the biodegradation process. Microbes have been known to eat as much as 50% to 80% of oil patches in a few weeks during experiments.  Oil seeps from the ocean floor daily in amounts equal to what was leaking daily from the oil rig spill.  It never makes it to the surface.  It literally is eaten alive.  Just like Mother Nature planned.

So, will BP be given its $20 billion shakedown fund back?  Will we put our oil workers in the Gulf back to work?  Will we stop trying to destroy our domestic energy industry?