Be Politically Correct, Call it a Christmas Tree

Over the past few years, many issues have arisen concerning Christmas and the holidays.  The corporations and governments choice to celebrate the "Holidays" has offended many christian groups who strongly believe that it is crucial for us to keep the Christ in Christmas.   Personally, I always wish a Merry Christmas, and I understand these groups and their strive to protect their Christian traditions; however, I  believe that corporations and our government  have every right to include as many ethnic groups during this joyous occasion.  Christians are not the only group celebrating an event and the government has an obligation to appease all citizens.  Christmas itself was moved to December by Christians to model a Roman gift-giving holiday in the Church's beginnings.

While this issue may not bother me to an huge extent, an issue that does offend me during this time of season is the alteration or change of christian traditions to appease other groups.  More specifically, the strive to change the Christmas Tree into the Holiday Tree.
Recently, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee created controversy when he named the state's decorated spruce the "Holiday tree" - a name that brings great offence to me and should being great offence to other Christians.  People may think that by allowing our government or other groups to alter the tree to appease other traditions, we are being more inclusive and less offensive - this however is not the case.  The Christmas tree is filled with symbolism that is of great importance to Christians. - the star, the type of tree, the ornaments - all have symbolic meanings that not only reflect this holiday season, but more importantly to Christ.  By renaming the spruce a holiday tree, Christians are losing the symbolism and meaning of this figure, and instead it has turned into a corporate image for consumption - the tree becomes a resting place for our presents, rather than a meaningful expression of our faith
I feel that people should always welcome other groups to experience and understand their traditions; however, to change your tradition to appease them is wrong and should not be tolerated.

We do not call the menorah a holiday candle, so why is it fine to change this?

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Fan mail - More Occupied Posters

Occupy the Backseat

Occupy the Throne

Simply Occupied

New Occupy Posters

Hey all, This is my first attempt at Photoshop... didn't come out too bad!  Tell me what you think...

Occupy Christmas - Because the kids deserve it

Occupy iRony

If any of you want to send your own photoshop masterpiece, Send a comment, and ill make sure you can send it to my email.

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Update:  You can send your pictures or comments directly to me at onemansthrone@gmail.com

BREAKING NEWS - Good Bye OWS - Toronto

Dear Occupy Toronto, Fuck off! Love, Mayor Rob Ford

By: Colin Perkel

TORONTO - Allowing Occupy Toronto protesters to remain in a downtown park would amount to supporting anarchy, something Canadians have rejected, a judge ruled Monday in upholding the city's trespass bylaw.

There was no immediate word on when the demonstrators might be evicted or whether they would appeal the ruling.

But the city's mayor said he expected the protesters to get out of the park immediately.

"We've asked the protesters to leave as soon as possible," Mayor Rob Ford told a news conference.

"We'd appreciate their co-operation."

In a 54-page decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown upheld the city's trespass bylaw as a "reasonable" infringement on the demonstrators' freedom of expression.

"Anarchism has a long political history," Brown stated in his ruling. "But Canada has not chosen anarchism."

Some protesters in the park said they would defy any attempt to remove them, while others did not want to risk a confrontation with police.

Sakura Saunders, a volunteer with Occupy Toronto, said those who choose to stay will be "non-violently resisting" attempts to tear down their mini-village of tents and other shelters.

"That's simply us standing our ground," Saunders said.

"We do have charter rights to be here and it is the opinion of everyone here that our charter rights should ... be greater than the right of someone to walk their dog through this park."

Brown, however, disagreed.

"The tents and other shelters hog the park land, and non-protesters who seek to use the park face a chilly and somewhat intimidating reception," he said.

"The charter offers no justification for the protesters' act of appropriating to their own use — without asking their fellow citizens — a large portion of common public space for an indefinite period of time."

Members of the Occupy Toronto protest, who took over St. James Park in the city's downtown Oct. 15 as part of the global protest movement, went to court to block the trespass notice issued last Tuesday.

In its notice, the city said putting up tents or being in the park between midnight and 5 a.m. violated bylaws.

City Manager Joe Pennachetti said the city did not consider midnight to be a deadline for the protesters to be gone.

"We want to move quickly and hopefully beat that time frame," Pennachetti said.

Police said they were in discussions with the city, but would not speculate further.

Five protesters argued the occupation of the park, including tents, were an intrinsic part of their right to protest and hence their ability to assemble and express themselves.

Brown rejected the notion that the Occupy Toronto protesters were worthy of a special exemption.

"It would be a most curious constitutional exemption which would have the effect of excluding many members of the public from a park, while granting a small group exclusive possession of it," he wrote.

The judge, who heard a day of arguments on Friday, said the notice represented "minimal impairment" on the protesters' freedoms.

On agreement of the parties, Brown made no order as to costs given the "public importance" of the issues.

Across the continent, civic authorities have either evicted, or moved to evict, their Occupy protesters.

Most protest sites in Canada have already been dismantled but some remain.

A judge in Victoria has said the demonstrators have to go, but has not yet given the city the authority to evict them if they don't.

In Vancouver, a judge has given Occupy protesters until Monday afternoon to clear their camp in front of the downtown art gallery.

Montreal has taken no action against its downtown protesters.

Police have also cleaned out Manhattan's Zuccotti Park near Wall Street, where the Occupy movement began in mid-September.

While most of the protests have been peaceful, there have been violent clashes as police moved to evict the demonstrators in places such as Oakland, Calif., and mass arrests in New York City.

SOURCE: The Canadian Press

Why OWS Will Fail

This past week, the Occupy movement has been dealt a massive blow with the destruction of their settlement in New York and others cities throughout the nation.  While many supporters may try to spin these events  in a positive manner, the truth of the matter is that this movement is collapsing and  bound to fail for a number of reasons.

1. They are Exclusive

OWS protesters may reflect the public's displeasure with the status quo; however, their solution - or lack of solution -  fails to appeal an be inclusive to the nation's general population.  Also, many people who were once neutral towards the protesters now find them very confrontational and their patience has been tested.  People do not want to be lectured, but they are willing to enlightened.  Today's pompous protesters tend to speak down towards the general population in a manner that goes against their general beliefs.  

2. They are too Divided

Similarly to the general public, the OWS protesters are solely united by their dislike for the status quo;  however, they fail to share a common solution and are actually a very divided group.  While they all argue that the system is corrupt and there must be change, each group has their own agenda and they are competing amongst themselves to obtain the spotlight and propose their form of solution to the media.  We can see this division by their inability to define success. While the protests have been going on for over two months now, they have failed to propose any demands that they may consider a success because "success" to one division will be considered a failure to another.  Without a uniformed solution or demands from this group, they can not propose anything to the public, and very little can be done to help their cause.

3. They have no Leader

We may further see the grand divisions amongst the OWS movement due to their lack of leadership or idolatry.  Throughout history, every successful social movement has had a leader that organized the masses and kept them on track towards their goal.  These leaders always related to the general population and was able to convey the movements message to the people in a manner that was enlightening and forceful.  Without a leader, this movement has gone aimlessly and has failed to connect to the general population.

Should the group attempt to elect a leader, other issues will arise.  Due to their divisions, no leader will be able to successfully appease all these groups and thus forcing many of them to break off, weakening the movement. 

3. Too Many anti-American Entities

Finally, the last reason why i believe that the OWS protesters will ultimately fail is due to the huge number of anti-American entities in the movement.  If you want to have a successful movement in your country, you must show the general public that you love the nation and you are fighting for it.  While most protesters in this movement may love America, there is a large entity that is very anti-American and prefer to have the country and its economic system destroyed.  These people tend to argue that the problem of the nation is America, and America must be changed.
  

In order for a movement to get the population to support and follow their cause, they must relate to the people and speak to them at their level.  Where the civil rights and other movements succeeded was their ability to have Americans look at themselves and see how their actions or laws that were in place were unAmerican.  These movements made people reflect amongst themselves so that they may see that the problem with nation lies with them, and America is the solution.  This is the reason why these movements succeeded and why OWS will ultimately fail.

Flush out

Watch This: Bullshit

Here is a video you may find interesting:

A wonderful show that every Libertarian should watch!

Part one:

Part two:

Part three:

OWS Cartoon roundup

Read this: Ocuppiers Right, Wrong

Source: Toronto Sun

BY LORRIE GOLDSTEIN ,

Recently I’ve been writing about some of the views I share with Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York, Toronto and elsewhere.

Today I’m going to write about my disagreements.

To review, I agree with them financial fraud on Wall St. and political corruption in Washington are largely responsible for the global economic mess we’re in today.

I agree the public justifiably feels betrayed by how stock markets were manipulated and banks and investment houses bailed out with U.S. taxpayers’ money.

I agree key regulations governing stock markets were gutted by Wall St., which bribed politicians into stacking the rules in their favour, a phenomenon known as crony capitalism.

I agree public anger at corrupt Wall St. executives and their bought-and-paid for politicians — Republicans and Democrats — is justified.

But I disagree with the Occupiers’ view capitalism itself is the problem and wealth redistribution by the state is the answer.

Wherever this has been tried, the state becomes the ultimate crony capitalist and it does to the public exactly what Wall St. and Congress did to them starting in 2008, only on steroids.

The solution is not to replace capitalism but to fix it — by restoring laws for the proper regulation of the financial services sector that arose out of the stock market crash of 1929.

Things like keeping the activities of commercial and investment banks separate, so commercial banks that accept depositors’ money can’t use it to speculate in high-risk securities in the stock market.

Things like placing limits on “leveraging,” meaning buying investments using debt, which can result in huge financial losses.

Things like regulating the use of derivatives such as collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps.

These were the two weapons of mass destruction in the subprime mortgage securities scandal that wiped out trillions of dollars of people’s life savings and pensions world-wide, while costing tens of millions their jobs and homes.

But I disagree with the protesters who say they are against the bailout of Wall St. banks, but in favour of bailing out giant auto companies, which they’ve indicated by accepting the support of the Canadian Auto Workers.

That tells me these protesters aren’t really against the government picking economic winners and losers. They just want it to pick the winners and losers of which they approve.

I also disagree with the Occupiers’ failure to condemn the roles played by government entitlement programs and public sector greed in the ongoing global economic crisis.

Indeed, excessive entitlement programs and runaway public sector spending lie at the heart of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, that could cause another global recession.

The problem with countries like Greece — as in much of Europe — is their economies were already basket cases before the contagion of toxic subprime mortgage securities spread around the world and sent their finances over a cliff.

As former Wall St. money trader Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short, widely considered to be one of the best and most understandable accounts of the 2008 subprime mortgage securities scandal, explains in his latest book, Boomerang, Travels In The New Third World, the Greek economy was basically a giant Ponzi scheme before it imploded.

For example, the wage bill of Greece’s public sector has doubled in real terms in the past 12 years.

The average government job pays almost three times the salary of the average private sector one.

Greece’s state-owned railway has annual revenues of 100 million euros, against an annual wage bill of 400 million euros (average salary, 65,000 euros per worker), plus 300 million for other expenses.

Greece’s public school system, among the lowest ranked in Europe, has four times as many teachers per pupil as the highest ranked, in Finland.

The retirement age under Greece’s prohibitively expensive public pension system is as early as 55 for men and 50 for women for over 600 professions classified as “arduous,” including hairdressers, radio announcers, waiters and musicians.

Finally, bribery and corruption are widespread in the public sector.

To sum up, the Occupy movement is correct to condemn the greed, fraud and corruption on Wall St. that led to the global economic mess we’re in today.

But to ignore those same things in the public sector, and their contribution to the economic tsunami we’re now experiencing, is absurd and blatantly inconsistent. 

Source:The Toronto Sun

SEIU Now Collecting Dues from Medicaid Payments Meant for Disabled Kids | The Weekly Standard

I've always had an issue with Unions and their strive to obtain as much dues as possible, but this case is sickening!

SEIU Now Collecting Dues from Medicaid Payments Meant for Disabled Kids | The Weekly Standard

There are a number of bizarre schemes unions have used to coerce dues out of public funds. For a long time, I thought the most appalling example was a Michigan scheme where the United Auto Workers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees held a sham vote-by-mail organizing election that "unionized" Michigan's home daycare providers largely against their will. This allowed them to collect union dues from state chid care subsidies.

However, it turns out there are even worse union scams happening in Michigan right now. Joel Gehrke at the Washington Examiner reports:

If you're a parent who accepts Medicaid payments from the State of Michigan to help support your mentally-disabled adult children, you qualify as a state employee for the purposes of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). They can now claim and receive a portion of your Medicaid in the form of union dues.

Robert and Patricia Haynes live in Michigan with their two adult children, who have cerebral palsy. The state government provides the family with insurance through Medicaid, but also treats them as caregivers. For the SEIU, this makes them public employees and thus members of the union, which receives $30 out of the family's monthly Medicaid subsidy. The Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MQC3) deducts union dues on behalf of SEIU.

The SEIU takes $6 million a year that would otherwise go to helping disabled children. Unions seem to wonder why they are under attack these days, but you read reports like this and it's not exactly a mystery why more and more Americans are fed up.

Source: http://www.weeklystandard.com

Read this - Why the West is losing out to the rest

Why the West is losing out to the rest

It says it all when Europe turns to China for a bailout. That was what happened last week when the man in charge of the European Financial Stability Fund flew to Beijing to see if he could interest Chinese investors in propping up the finances of the eurozone.

How the mighty are fallen. Thirty-five years ago the average German was roughly 15 times richer than the average Chinese. Today the ratio is less than 3-to-1. Back in 1980 the Chinese economy accounted for just 2.2% of global economic output, one third the size of Germany's share. By 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund, the Chinese share will be 18%, six times larger than Germany's.

We are living through an extraordinary reversal of economic fortunes after 500 years when the big story was what historians call "the great divergence." Beginning in 1500, Europeans and European settlers in North America began to get richer than Asians (and everyone else, too). The gap between the "West and the Rest" widened at an accelerating rate until the later 1970s. But then -- on our watch -- that trend went into high-speed reverse.

So what has been going on?

The West first surged ahead of the rest thanks to a series of institutional innovations that I call the "killer applications":

1. Competition. Europe was politically fragmented into multiple monarchies and republics, which were in turn internally divided into competing corporate entities, among them the ancestors of modern business corporations.

2. The Scientific Revolution. All the major 17th-century breakthroughs in mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology happened in Western Europe.

3. The rule of law and representative government.An optimal system of social and political order emerged in the English-speaking world, based on private-property rights and the representation of property owners in elected legislatures.

4. Modern medicine. Nearly all the major 19th- and 20th-century breakthroughs in health care were made by Western Europeans and North Americans.

5. The consumer society. The Industrial Revolution took place where there was both a supply of productivity-enhancing technologies and a demand for more, better and cheaper goods, beginning with cotton garments.

6. The work ethic. Westerners were the first people in the world to combine more extensive and intensive labor with higher savings rates, permitting sustained capital accumulation.

For hundreds of years, these killer apps were essentially monopolized by Europeans and their overseas cousins in North America and Australasia. Westerners not only grew richer than "Resterners." They grew taller, healthier and longer-lived. They also grew more powerful. By the early 20th century, just a dozen Western empires -- including the United States -- controlled 58% of the world's land surface and population, and a staggering 74% of the global economy.

Beginning with Japan, however, one non-Western society after another has worked out that these apps can be downloaded and installed in non-Western operating systems. That explains about half the catching up that we have witnessed in our lifetimes, especially since the onset of economic reforms in China in 1978. The other half is explained by our tendency to delete the secrets of our own success.

Ask yourself: Who's got the work ethic now? The average South Korean works about 39% more hours per week than the average American. The school year in South Korea is 220 days long, compared with 180 days here.

The consumer society? Did you know that 26 of the 30 biggest shopping malls in the world are now in emerging markets, mostly in Asia? Only three are in the United States.

Modern medicine? Well, we certainly outspend everyone else. But the results in terms of public health are pretty miserable.

The rule of law? For a real eye-opener, take a look at the latest World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey. On no fewer than 15 of 16 different issues relating to property rights and governance, the United States fares worse than Hong Kong.

What about science? Statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization show that already more patents originate in Japan than in the United States, that South Korea overtook Germany to take third place in 2005, and that China is poised to overtake Germany, too.

Finally, there's competition, the original killer app that sent the fragmented West down a completely different path from monolithic imperial China. Well, the World Economic Forum has conducted a comprehensive global competitiveness survey every year since 1979. Since the current methodology was adopted in 2004, the U.S. average competitiveness score has fallen from 5.82 to 5.43, one of the steepest declines among developed economies. China's score, meanwhile, has leapt up from 4.29 to 4.9.

Hands up readers who thought the future would, like an iPhone, be designed in California and only assembled in China? You were wrong. Western predominance is ending on our watch. And it's ending not just because the rest of the world finally figured out how to download our killer apps. It's ending because we deleted them.

Source: CNN

Listen to this - Rihanna - We Found Love

Here is Rihanna's new song....Actually like it!  give it a whirl! Her prancing around in her undies is a plus

Rihanna - We Found Love

Check this Blog out

another photography site that I liked.  I thought you should check it out.


Don Sausa Studios

Lie#3: "We want to replace capitalism with socialism/wealth redistribution/a more just system."

The OWS protesters have tried to create an economic system amongst their movement that they believe is more just and responsible than the one that is already set in place; however, less than a month in, many issues have begun to arise.
In one example, the kitchen staff at the OWS protest has begun protesting because they Ironically feel that they are unappreciated and overworked.  The kitchen staff argued that some people are TAKING ADVANTAGE of the system and FREELOADING off the work of others.  Personally I couldn't agree with them any more.  I also have a hatred for people that take advantage of the system and expect others to take care of them...

Another example of the erosion of their ideals is the greed and robbery that is occurring amongst the protesters.  Food, money, and electronics have been stolen by thieves who prey on the protesters innocence and trust.  Apparently, many protesters do not like having their possessions taken away from them by freeloaders that are trying to take advantage of the system...

Hey, can you use your iPhone to google irony? 

and Finally, this organization is having issues with Money...they have too much of it.  the OWS foundation has deposited over $500 000 and are now having issues with how it will be spent.  organizers and volunteers have been lining up to gain access to these funds in order to continue the movement; however, many have been rejected and this has caused a rift amongst the groups.  It is sad that they can not create a just system that will redistribute the wealth amongst all their members...

We are Wall Street

Special thanks to Kevin for finding this.  Have a read...

We are Wall Street. It’s our job to make money. Whether it’s a commodity, stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn’t matter. We would trade baseball cards if it were profitable. I didn’t hear America complaining when the market was roaring to 14,000 and everyone’s 401k doubled every 3 years. Just like gambling, its not a problem until you lose. I’ve never heard of anyone going to Gamblers Anonymous because they won too much in Vegas.

Well now the market crapped out, & even though it has come back somewhat, the government and the average Joes are still looking for a scapegoat. God knows there has to be one for everything. Well, here we are.

Go ahead and continue to take us down, but you’re only going to hurt yourselves. What’s going to happen when we can’t find jobs on the Street anymore? Guess what: We’re going to take yours. We get up at 5am & work till 10pm or later. We’re used to not getting up to pee when we have a position. We don’t take an hour or more for a lunch break. We don’t demand a union. We don’t retire at 50 with a pension. We eat what we kill, and when the only thing left to eat is on your dinner plates, we’ll eat that.

For years teachers and other unionized labor have had us fooled. We were too busy working to notice. Do you really think that we are incapable of teaching 3rd graders and doing landscaping? We’re going to take your cushy jobs with tenure and 4 months off a year and whine just like you that we are so-o-o-o underpaid for building the youth of America. Say goodbye to your overtime and double time and a half. I’ll be hitting grounders to the high school baseball team for $5k extra a summer, thank you very much.

So now that we’re going to be making $85k a year without upside, Joe Mainstreet is going to have his revenge, right? Wrong! Guess what: we’re going to stop buying the new 80k car, we aren’t going to leave the 35 percent tip at our business dinners anymore. No more free rides on our backs. We’re going to landscape our own back yards, wash our cars with a garden hose in our driveways. Our money was your money. You spent it. When our money dries up, so does yours.

in other words 

The difference is, you lived off of it, we rejoiced in it. The Obama administration and the Democratic National Committee might get their way and knock us off the top of the pyramid, but it’s really going to hurt like hell for them when our fat a**es land directly on the middle class of America and knock them to the bottom.

We aren’t dinosaurs. We are smarter and more vicious than that, and we are going to survive. The question is, now that Obama & his administration are making Joe Mainstreet our food supply…will he? and will they?”

source: ft.com

Flush out

Want to stop the influence lobby groups and donations have on your government....go speak to your union

Many of the individuals at the OWS protests are complaining that the federal government is deeply influenced by donations and lobby groups...and I actually agree with them.... Today's government is totally influenced by these groups and it most stop!  Unfortunately, our opinions of with whom and where the influence lies greatly differ.

OWS protesters argue that Wall Street and huge corporations have far too much power and influence amongst our politicians.  Look at any OWS forum and you will repeatedly see people arguing for the elimination of private donations in America.  

This however is far from the truth.  

According to this chart by opensecrets.org,16 of the top 20 political donors in America give a vast majority of their funds to the democratic party.

Source: Opensecrets.org

  By calculation, 77.3 %  of the funds donated by the top 20 donors will be headed to the Democrats.  This is of little surprise to me considering the fact that 13 of these donors are Unions and traditionally democratic supporters.  Left wing organizations constantly exaggerate the financial influence of corporations and Wall Street have on our politicians while the influence of Unions has been ignored.  If you want to stop the influence lobby groups and donations have on your government....go speak to your union

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Read This

The 53%: Occupy Wall Street backlash - Oct. 26, 2011

Hate the Tea Party...You Should Blame Yourself!

The recent political map in America is no longer divided amongst the red and blue; rather, today, a new entity has entered the political spectrum in the form of the Tea Party.  A libertarian-conservative movement, the Tea Party has gained its notoriety for their support of certain "unique" politicians, and for their stubbornness to negotiate.  With their strong anti-tax and anti-Obama stance, the Tea Party has gotten their fair share of criticism and enemies amongst Democrats and Liberals.  While much of this criticism is warranted, Liberals and Democrats can only blame themselves for the creation and rise of the Tea Party.

From the moment of Bush's election, the Democrats cried fowl and called the election fraudulent.  left wing organizations such as Moveon.org took to the internet to display their theories of the election and severely criticize the president and call for his impeachment.  This criticism exploded following 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.  As his term progressed, so did these groups and their use of social media.  Theories of 9/11 were published as fact and were even made into a full length documentary.

The creation of this tea party was in part due to the bickering of the left.  after years of using the media and internet to spread their message across, the right has finally discovered how to use this tool in their favor.  For the Tea Party, now is Obama's turn to hear the music.