Soldiers vs Politicians – A Soldier Died Today w/ Dr. Joyce Starr

Rights Radio: A Poem about Patriotism. Show Date: July 22, 2010 – read by Dr. Joyce Starr

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A Poem about Patriotism by Lawrence Vaincourt (Appreciation to Richard Roberts for identifying the source.)

He was getting old and paunchy

And his hair was falling fast,

And he sat around the Legion,

Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in

And the deeds that he had done,

In his exploits with his buddies;

They were heroes, every one.

And ‘tho sometimes to his neighbors

His tales became a joke,

All his buddies listened quietly

For they knew where of he spoke.

But we’ll hear his tales no longer,

For ol’ Bob has passed away,

And the world’s a little poorer

For a Soldier died today.

He won’t be mourned by many,

Just his children and his wife.

For he lived an ordinary,

Very quiet sort of life..

He held a job and raised a family,

Going quietly on his way;

And the world won’t note his passing,

‘Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,

Their bodies lie in state,

While thousands note their passing,

And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories

>From the time that they were young

But the passing of a Soldier

Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution

To the welfare of our land,

Some jerk who breaks his promise

And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow

Who in times of war and strife,

Goes off to serve his country

And offers up his life?

The politician’s stipend

And the style in which he lives,

Are often disproportionate,

To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,

Who offered up his all,

Is paid off with a medal

And perhaps a pension, small.

It’s so easy to forget them,

For it is so many times

That our Bobs and Wayne’s and Johnnys,

Went to battle, but we know,

It is not the politicians

With their compromise and ploys,

Who won for us the freedom

That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,

With your enemies at hand,

Would you really want some cop-out,

With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier–

His home, his country, his kin,

Just a common Soldier,

Who would fight until the end.

He was just a common Soldier,

And his ranks are growing thin,

But his presence should remind us

We may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,

We find the Soldier’s part

Is to clean up all the troubles

That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor

While he’s here to hear the praise,

Then at least let’s give him homage

At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline

In the paper that might say:

“OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,

A SOLDIER DIED TODAY.”

Pass On The Patriotism!

YOU can make a difference

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable ‘To My Country’ for an amount “up to and including my life.”

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.

America’s Last Two Greatest Generals – A Report from the Future

Report from the Future: How America won the war that wasn’t a war & therefore couldn’t be won. Show Date: July 1, 2010 with Dr. Joyce Starr

General Stanley McChrystal -  handsome in a craggy way that soldiers respect and women adore – was a brilliant warrior who despised killing.

General David Petraeus – looking more like a Harvard professor than a soldier -  favored brains over brawn.

Both men walked into traps set by fawners who favored (or pretended to favor) their views.

General Stanley lost his past; General Dave lost his future.

Listen to the audio file here and/or enjoy the transcript below:

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The war that couldn’t be won was in a place that few Americans cared about. Those who cared most couldn’t be seen but they received a fortune for caring.

So why did America go to a war that wasn’t a war and couldn’t be won in a place most Americans didn’t care about?

The stated explanation focused on foreign terrorists who killed Americans in New York.

The majority of these terrorists held Saudi passports, but their leader lived in a cave in a country full of poppy seed plants. And that’s where he trained them to attack the most prestigious building in New York City.

The world knew that he lived in a cave because he often sent video tapes to the media filmed in one cave or another – warning that he would continue his killing spree. And everyone was furious.

But the real reasons were more complex. First, American and international drug companies needed all the poppy seeds they could control in order to churn them into billions of little cocainated pills.

Secondly, a trillion dollars worth of precious minerals and diamonds were buried beneath the rocks of this impoverished country.

The mineral discovery was revealed nearly a decade after the war against the man in a cave began, though All-Powerful men knew it from the start.

Americans were shocked to learn that their soldier sons were dying for a dirt-poor country that was really dirt-rich.

But since the news flash was overtaken the very next day by shocking developments concerning the finger of a Lady named Ga Ga, the trillion was quickly forgotten.

The man in a cave had many supporters, mostly too young to drive a car in America. Instead, his boy-soldiers drove our finest troops into the ground with the guns that we provided before we went to war against the man in a cave.

For reasons that no one could explain, American troops were often placed in harm’s way – especially when the world wasn’t watching.

Platoons were even ordered to fight from basins surrounded by mountains -  called kill zones – where we let the enemy kill our soldiers in order to keep the war that wasn’t a war going.

Platoons were also ordered to fight without adequate supplies and water. When enough died or were wounded, we withdrew those who survived and left the kill zones to their killers.

The soldiers complained, but few were listening, least of all the All-Powerful men who couldn’t be named or blamed. In fact, the All-Powerful men who ran the war that couldn’t be won were invisible. They knew who they were, but no one else could see them.

Even former and current Presidents, Secretaries of Defense, Generals and Members of Congress were ignorant about the All-Powerful men who pulled the strings – letting the Officially Powerful believe the war that couldn’t be won was really their idea.

And a grand, strategic idea at that. Or so they believed, or wanted to believe, or didn’t believe, but we will never really know.

What we do know is that there were no All-Powerful women in the invisible club, except as as wives, lovers and massage therapists. How do we know that? Because no woman alive at the time was so greedy or vile as to trade money and power for the life of another woman’s son.

And so it went, until one day, America declared victory by losing the war that couldn’t be won – withdrawing the remnants of the greatest colonels and generals who would never be and replacing them with platoons of geologists, drillers and bankers.

The next generation of last great generals had been killed or injured, leaving a gaping wound in America’s military capability – all according to plan.

The man who lived in a cave was never found.

The Invisible men who instigated and secretly managed the war were by now so filthy rich that they became the most hated people on the planet.

But then the most amazing thing happened, which until today, absolutely no one – least of all the press – can explain.

The more they were hated, the more visible they became. Soon, these invisible men became hunted prey just like the soldiers they sent to die in kill zones. But now, everyone in America wanted them dead.

The price on their heads was so high that they fled to caves in the dirt-rich country they plundered for diamonds, minerals and poppy seeds.

The man who lived in the cave but was never found captured these men, chained them to one another, whipped them daily, gave them little water and forced them to sleep with their faces in the dirt.

He even let young boys use them for target practice, a bullet here, an arrow there – so long as the Once-All-Powerful men lived to suffer for another day.

How do we know that? Because the man in a cave sent video tapes to the media. And Americans secretly cheered, because now they hated his All-Powerless captives even more than they remembered hating him.

Goldman Sachs: Betting Against American Taxpayers – Betting on TARP Bailout

Goldman Sachs & the $10 billion TARP bailout. Was Goldman EVER in serious financial trouble from the housing crisis? Was Goldman in danger of going bankrupt? Could Goldman have failed without bailout support? The straight answer is no. Show Date: April 29, 2010 with Dr. Joyce Starr.

If you’ve been listening to our show and/or reading my posts, you know I try to bring crucial facts to your attention.

So let’s examine the sequence of events concerning Goldman Sachs.

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Goldman Sachs realizes that the housing market is heading south by mid-2007 and bets against it. They lose over a billion dollars, yet their balance sheet remains in the black in 2007 and 2008 because they hedged their bets.

Goldman donates four times as much to the Democratic Party as the Republican Party in 2008 – including a sweet $1 million directly to the Obama campaign. Goldman spent over $2.8 million in 2009 on Washington lobbyists. One can assume the numbers were roughly the same in 2007 and 2008.

Surprise! In late 2008 – less than a month before the election – Goldman receives $10 billion in TARP “emergency” funding – thanks to an emergency bill that few Members of Congress read before they sign it.

Americans were told that the sky will fall if the biggest banks aren’t saved (from themselves). Banks agreeing to receive preferred stock TARP investments from the Treasury included Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. (including Merrill Lynch), Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of New York Mellon and State Street Corp.

Six Goldman officers and advisers are then appointed to KEY positions in the Obama Administration. Within a year, Goldman profits and bonuses are soaring. Break out the champagne. Does anyone seriously believe ANY of this was a coincidence? Goldman didn’t game the American system. The system is Goldman’s partner.

It’s the American people who were gamed. Maybe it makes sense after-all.

Was Goldman in serious financial trouble from the housing crisis? Was Goldman in danger of going bankrupt? Could Goldman have failed without bailout support? NO! Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said so himself with the entire world watching. He stated that Goldman exposure to the housing crisis was limited in 2007 and thereafter contained when they hedged  their bets by betting against mortgage backed securities. Yet, there was no follow-up, nary a word, from Senate Committee members on this revelation.

I spoke with a Washington insider, an attorney who works closely with the SEC. I asked his opinion on the SEC action against Goldman,and here’s what he said: “What they did may not prove to be inherently illegal, but it is morally reprehensible. If you believe the SEC did, Goldman went too far.  It’s not your typical fraud case, where x number of people profited. Paulson made a great deal of money. But Paulson wasn’t named, because he didn’t misrepresent anybody in particular.”

I asked, “With so many former Goldman officials in the Obama administration, didn’t it take guts to go after Goldman?”

He responded, “Frankly, nearly everyone who matters has worked at Goldman, Merrill and Bear Sterns. You want senior economic officials to know what they’re talking about. But the head of SEC enforcement, Robert Khuzami, is a tough guy. What took courage is going after the one company that people thought was doing the right thing, but in fact, were just about as evil as they come. They make the rich richer and the poor poorer. They’re all out to line their own pockets.”

Robert Khuzami is a…no-nonsense, thorough, award winning Prosecutor: This guy is the real deal — he busted terrorist rings, broke up the mob, took down security frauds. He is now the director of SEC enforcement. He is fearless, and was awarded the Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award (1996), for “extraordinary courage and voluntary risk of life in performing an act resulting in direct benefits to the Department of Justice or the nation.” When you prosecute mass murderers who use guns and bombs and threaten your life…you ain’t afraid of a group of billionaire bankers and their spreadsheets. My advice to anyone on Wall Street in his crosshairs: If you are indicted in a case by Khuzami, do yourself a big favor: Settle. ~ Barry Ritholtz, Ritholz.com

Goldman Chairman Lloyd Blankfein said that “The worst day of his life is losing other people’s money.” Do we really believe that? Or that he understands what worst days can be for people who lose their homes, life savings and hope? Zachary Roth of tpmuckraker.com assembled some interesting numbers:

- Goldman received $10 billion in TARP funds through a Treasury Department purchase of preferred stock. Goldman got a much sweeter deal on those loans from Treasury than it did when it raised capital from Warren Buffet a month earlier. The more generous terms are worth an additional $500 million a year to Goldman.

- But Goldman was also a major counter-party to AIG’s disastrous credit default swaps. As a result, Goldman was the biggest American beneficiary of the various government bailouts of the collapsed insurance giant (which itself is almost 80 percent owned by the federal government):

- Goldman received $4.8 billion from AIG’s securities lending unit.

- It received $5.6 billion, almost twice as much as any other American bank, from Maiden Lane III, the Fed’s “special purpose vehicle” created to unwind AIG’s credit default swaps;

- And AIG posted $2.5 billion in collateral to Goldman last fall, which came directly from its government bailout, according to AIG’s own list of what it did with its bailout money.

- Goldman is getting an additional several hundred million dollars per year in interest savings, according to Gross, thanks to an FDIC program that guarantees bonds issued by banks. Under the program, which is designed to make it easier for banks to raise capital, Goldman has sold $21 billion in bonds since November.

A commenter on Roth’s article asks: How is it that Goldman, the largest beneficiary of the AIG collapse and bailout, was able to negotiate a $10B bailout of their own – while denying that they had a direct stake in what happens to AIG? And when they were never in danger of collapse?

According to Wikipedia, numerous TARP recipients failed to use the money for the reasons it was injected.

Others told investors their money was invested in the federal TARP financial bailout program and other securities which didn’t in fact exist. Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), told lawmakers, “Inadequate oversight and insufficient information about what companies are doing with the money leaves the program open to fraud, including conflicts of interest facing fund managers, collusion between participants and vulnerabilities to money laundering.” An overwhelming majority of banks saw the program as a no-strings-attached windfall that could be used to pay down debt, acquire other businesses or invest for the future.

Something is terribly wrong with this picture. If Goldman saw major problems int the housing industry by mid-2007, didn’t other major banks anticipate it as well? Is it possible that the TARP party was planned well in advance of the so-called crisis of October, 2008? That the players had already lined up to get their unfair share of our future. Will we ever know the truth?

The one thing that we do know is that the SEC action against Goldman is a fault line. An earthquake of revelations could soon erupt that will put the entire system to shame.

Could the Goldman fraud be the first in a series of  post-TARP scandals? We welcome your opinion.

To the truth,

Dr. Joyce Starr

Related Posts:

US Economic Numbers Don’t Add Up: Why So Giddy Over Economic Recovery?
Contradiction! We’re nearly 13 trillion in debt but the economy is recovering. The stock market has outstripped Vegas as the playground of choice for bankers, brokers and the super-rich (again), while American workers depend on a roll of the dice. Dr. Joyce Starr & Joe Stallard discuss an obvious contradiction…

Goldman Sachs Bailout Winner Dominates Banking Landscape
Under the policy enacted by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Goldman’s chief executive until 2006, key competitors have failed or been diminished. Goldman is now poised to dominate the investment banking landscape. The following article by David Weidner appeared on MarketWatch.com on April 7, 2009 in Weidner’s “Writing on…

US Economic Numbers Don’t Add Up: Why So Giddy Over Economic Recovery?

Contradiction! We’re nearly 13 trillion in debt but the economy is recovering. The stock market has outstripped Vegas as the playground of choice for bankers, brokers and the super-rich (again), while American workers depend on a roll of the dice. Dr. Joyce Starr & Joe Stallard discuss an obvious contradiction: How can the US economy be so healthy and so sick at the same time? Show Date: None other than April 15, 2010.

Contradictions Abound

Why are so many mainstream commentators positively giddy about economic recovery? Personally, I don’t know a single giddy American.

Then again, I don’t know even one of the 29 hedge fund managers who raked in 50 billion dollars over the last two years. Nor have I received thank you notes from any of the bankers who received million dollar bonuses for masterfully using tax payer funds to transform their failures into success.

Question: If economic recovery is such an overwhelming fact, then why not give ALL the remaining Tarp funds back to the American people?

US Economy at a Glance:

- Unfunded liabilities – over 108 trillion dollars.

- Debt per family – $690,000

- US total debt – 55.7 trillion on April 15, 2010

- US Federal budget Deficit – 1.4 trillion and rising

- Number of years that most Americans work to pay their taxes:  20!

SEC  & April 16, 2010 – The SEC admits on April 16, 2010 that they’ve known about another multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme since the late 1990s, but failed stop the fraud. The SEC announces an investigation into Goldman Sachs for insider trading on the very same day – April 16, 2010. Coincidence?

The Securities and Exchange Commission knew that Texas-based financier R. Allen Stanford was probably running a Ponzi scheme 12 years before it halted the fraud, potentially costing investors more than a billion dollars, according to the agency’s internal watchdog. – Washington Post, April 16, 2010.

And from former NY Attorney General/Governor Eliot Spitzer (when he was still paying attention to his job):

When my office, along with the Department of Justice, warned that some of American International Group‘s reinsurance transactions were little more than efforts to create the false impression of extra capital on the company’s balance sheet, we were jeered at for attacking one of the nation’s great insurance companies, which surely knew how to balance risk and reward. And when the attorneys general of all 50 states sought to investigate subprime lending, believing that some lending practices might be toxic, we were blocked by a coalition of the major banks and the Bush administration, which invoked a rarely used statute to preempt the states’ ability to probe. The administration claimed that it had the situation under control and that our inquiry was unnecessary. Time and again, whether at the state level, in Congress or at the Securities and Exchange Commission under Bill Donaldson, those who tried to enforce the basic principles that would allow the market to survive were told that the “invisible hand” of the market and self-regulation could handle the task alone. – How to Ground the Street, Washington Post, November, 2008.

Listen to the 15 minute show below:

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To your economic rights!

Dr. Joyce Starr

Northrop Grumman’s Unmanned Global Hawk: Life-Saving Vistas for Disaster Relief…

Northrop Grumman’s unmanned Global Hawk is the most majestic, powerful, life-saving aircraft on earth – or in the stratosphere – with a wingspan slightly greater than a 757 cargo-liner! Rights Radio featured Northrop Grumman’s unmanned systems and Global Hawk in advance of the ComDef West 2010 Conference in San Diego.

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems is a premier provider of manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile systems and advanced technologies critical to our national security. Established by IDEEA Inc. (Washington, D.C.), ComDef is a world-class military event. Show Date: January 28, 2010.

My guest is Edward A. Walby, director of business development for the High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Systems Enterprise. Mr. Walby joined the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk team in San Diego after retiring from the United States Air Force in October 2002, where he headed the Sensors and Platforms Division for all Air Force surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

He has over 4,500 flight hours in various aircraft, with 150 in U-2 combat missions. A graduate of the Air War College, Air Command and Staff College, and the University of Southern California, Mr. Walby holds master’s degrees in aerospace engineering and strategic studies. His military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.

A STRATEGIC PLATFORM WITH TACTICAL CAPABILITY: The Global Hawk is revolutionizing disaster intervention, firefighting, hurricane assistance and homeland security.  It’s the first unmanned aircraft: to be given a green light to fly over US airspace; to track firefighting emergencies on US soil; to prepare for US hurricane  assistance; and the first unmanned aircraft to provide immediate pinpoint intelligence for a major international disaster like Haiti. There may be competitors on the horizon, but America’s very own Northrop Grumman has created the most mighty hawk of all.

Show Highlights: Ed Walby explains what the Global Hawk  can do, how the Global Hawk is different from all the other unmanned aircraft systems and how it compares to the manned U-2 spy plane. He discuss the deployment of Global Hawks  overseas and describes missions conducted abroad. What types of non-military, domestic missions have Global Hawk supported? How many Global Hawk versions exist and what are the differences between each of them?

What important milestones are in store for the Global Hawk and for Northrop Grumman’s other unmanned systems?

“A day after the earthquake in Haiti, the Air Force had a Global Hawk Block 10 ready to deploy in support of Haitian operations. We flew from California, parked over Haiti for 12 hours and landed in Maryland. We would have had to move the manned U2 to Florida. Manned aircraft can’t stay on station for so many hours. We didn’t have that capability before…

“The Air Force is going to produce 77 Global Hawks. It’s all about preparing for the battlefield and protecting and supporting the troops on the ground. Almost every image we take is as precise as possible. There is a great deal of calculation taken into to hitting only the target you need to hit and to reduce anything beyond that. You would be amazed at what lengths the military goes through to ensure that only the target that is sought after is taken out.”

Listen to our show below!

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Here’s an important update on Global Hawk disaster assessments in Haiti – 2/12/2010):

“Thanks to Global Hawk’s highly advanced sensors, which are capable of taking hundreds of images in a single mission, we’ve provided disaster assessments for various agencies to make real-time decisions,” said Gen. Bob Otto, commander of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale Air Force Base, Calif.  “The ability to fly 24-hour duration sorties meant the Global Hawk could support hundreds of ad-hoc requests while staying well clear of the relief workers and neighboring airports.  Truly, Global Hawk’s capabilities have proven invaluable to the worldwide humanitarian efforts in Haiti.”

On Jan. 13, a U.S. Air Force Block 10 Global Hawk was diverted by the 12th Reconnaissance Squadron at Beale Air Force Base from its trip en-route to support usual wartime operations in Afghanistan to assist in relief efforts after Haiti’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12.  A Global Hawk took off from its main operating base at Beale Air Force Base, flew to Haiti, and provided 12 hours of coverage over the disaster area before landing at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md.  Subsequent missions were launched from Maryland to provide 14 to 16 hours of persistent watch over Haiti before landing back at Patuxent River.

“Not only has Global Hawk helped determine the extent of damages and usability of Haiti’s infrastructure, it has also helped to find and recommend roadways and airfields accessible for delivering emergency supplies and rescuing injured and trapped people,” said George Guerra, Northrop Grumman vice president of high-altitude, long-endurance systems.  “We are committed to supporting the ongoing relief efforts in Haiti for as long as necessary to help rebuild the lives of those affected.”

The Global Hawk team collaborated with other agencies to assist in all aspects of recovery and relief.  Officials and analysts from U.S. Southern Command in Miami , the 548th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Group from Beale Air Force Base, the 480th ISR Wing from Langley Air Force Base, and the Naval Air Systems Command Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstration program from Patuxent River helped provide critically needed imagery and information.

Capable of flying at altitudes up to 60,000 feet for more than 32 hours at a time at speeds approaching 340 knots, Global Hawk is equipped with an integrated sensor suite, which includes synthetic aperture radar, electro-optical and infrared sensors. Global Hawk has supported previous humanitarian relief efforts, including the southern and northern California wildfires in 2007 and 2008, respectively, as well as Hurricane Ike in 2008.

To your security ~ Dr. Joyce Starr

Bank Overdrafts: Outrageous Bank Overdraft Fees & Practices – How to Prevent Excessive Overdraft Fees

The Rights Radio Self Help Hour features outrageous bank overdraft fees. Consumers are being raked over the coals by overdraft rates and by the reordering of debits to increase fees. Show Date: April 9, 2009

Rights Radio financial guru Joe Stallard joins me in identifying ways to prevent or reduce exorbitant bank overdraft fees.The streaming replay is available below.

The Federal Reserve’s website has been hit with repeated complaints about unexpected overdraft fees, exorbitant overdraft fee rates and the reordering of debits to increase fees. Consumers complain about being raked over the coals and about the “reprioritizing” of their transactions.

The bottom line: We’re told that “bailout” banks have more cash stashed away then they did prior to the banking crisis – and your overdraft fees are only making them richer.

Discover key steps you can take to prevent exorbitant bank overdraft fees.

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POST UPDATE: January 2010!

This show and post generated many comments and questions! I promised you an update and here it is:

1. Many banks provide instant overdraft protection and charge $39.00 every time you exceed your balance. A number of banks have “reportedly” agreed to limit how many times they will charge customers on a single day and also allow them to opt out of “instant” overdraft protection. Call your bank and ask about their policy. Get it in writing if possible. A bank that permits up to five overdrafts per day, but refuses to limit the number of times they can charge you should be avoided.
2. Best Choice! Ask for FREE overdraft protection. If they grant it, the bank is supposed to phone you and allow you a day or more to cover the short-fall at no charge. (Make sure they do both.) Alternatively, sign up for true overdraft protection linked to your savings account or credit card. You may still incur a fee, but it should be much lower.
3. The big problem arises when banks process your largest expense last on a given day, rather than in chronological order. The first check or charge might be $10.00, the second $20 and so on. No problem – no overdraft. But when the $450 check hits, you’re out $39 and in the red. The solution: Make sure that your bank processes your transactions in chronological order. (CNBC personal-finance expert Carment Wong Ulrich, author of “Generation Debt,” Parade, November 15, 2009.)
4. Use your debit card sparingly when you travel overseas or purchase online from a company located outside of the United States, because you can incur a 2 to 3 percent fee per transaction.
5. Choose a bank that requires little or no minimum and thus no penalty if your account falls below a certain level. Many banks provide free checking with no minimums for seniors and students.
6. Ask for a brochure or written statement re clearing out of state checks. Don’t assume that the check will clear in 24 hours. Banks only count business days versus calendar days so that they can use your money for free, (naturally).

To your empowerment!

After the Tea Party – What Can You Do? Dr. Joyce Starr Interviews Don Crist

Dr. Joyce Starr interviews author Don Crist on his new book: What Can I Do After the Tea Party? Crist outlines steps that can harness the passion of Town Hall and TEA Party protests. He explains why it’s critical to communicate with your senator or congressman at the precinct level and how to ensure that your letters are read. Show Date: November 12, 2009.

Don Crist has served as a small business consultant to numerous entities in 52 cities throughout North America. He’s worked for both legislative and judicial branches of local and state government and has participated in nearly every level of campaign management as a volunteer or paid staff member.

Crist explains that while “emails and petitions are not read, they are counted.” Letters, by contrast, are read and can affect an outcome. For example, if an editor receives 15 letters on the same issue, “he will likely dispatch a reporter or might even start a series on the issue.” Senators and congressmen do read a large number of hand-written or personally crafted letters.

Does the media help or hinder the political process? Says Crist, “People use the media for affirmation – not information. Most will purchase or listen to a format which already supports the position they have chosen rather than one that provokes or requires a change in position. Reporters think that ‘the public doesn’t get it.’ But they do!”

Crist argues for old-fashioned door to door canvassing to convince people to take action on a specific issue. In order to inspire neighbors to join your effort – and to attract the attention of your representative – focus on one key item, not a laundry list of items.

Americans don’t want to change that much. In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye decides, finally, “If I bend that much, I will break.” The American people are like Tevye. They won’t bend as much as President Obama’s handlers want to bend them. They fear he will “break us” as a nation and become the “losers” we cannot tolerate. Like Tevye, we value American traditions and patriotism which strengthens us during times of turmoil.

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