"Fruitful Fields and Healthful Skies"

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

What Ever Happened To Ethanol?

Ahh, ethanol boom - we hardly knew ya.

If I Die . . .

(Former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas encourages a return to the faith of his father's generation. He believes spiritual values, not material ones, can guide America through troubling times:)

During moments of sadness or frustration, I often think of a family scene years ago in the town of Yakima, Washington. I was about seven or eight years old at the time. Father had died a few years earlier. Mother was sitting in the living room talking to me, telling me what a wonderful man Father was. She told me of his last illness and death. She told me of his departure from Cleveland, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, for what proved to be a fatal operation. His last words to her were these: “If I die it will be glory, if I live it will be grace.”

I remember how those words puzzled me. I could not understand why it would be glory to die. It would be glory to live, that I could understand. But why it would be glory to die was something I did not understand until later.

Then one day in a moment of great crisis I came to understand the words of my father. “If I die it will be glory, if I live it will be grace.” That was his evening star. The faith in a power greater than man. That was the faith of our fathers. A belief in a God who controlled man in the universe, that manifested itself in different ways to different people. It was written by scholars and learned men in dozens of different creeds. But riding high above all secular controversies was a faith in One who was the Creator, the Giver of Life, the Omnipotent.

Man’s age-long effort has been to be free. Throughout time he has struggled against some form of tyranny that would enslave his mind or his body. So far in this century, three epidemics of it have been let loose in the world.

We can keep our freedom through the increasing crisis of history only if we are self-reliant enough to be free—dollars, guns, and all the wondrous products of science and the machine will not be enough. “This night thy soul shall be required of thee.”

These days I see graft and corruption reach high into government. These days I see people afraid to speak their minds because someone will think they are unorthodox and therefore disloyal. These days I see America identified more and more with material things, less and less with spiritual standards. These days I see America drifting from the Christian faith, acting abroad as an arrogant, selfish, greedy nation, interested only in guns and dollars, not in people and their hopes and aspirations.

These days the words of my father come back to me more and more. We need his faith, the faith of our fathers. We need a faith that dedicates us to something bigger and more important than ourselves or our possessions. Only if we have that faith will we be able to guide the destiny of nations, in this the most critical period of world history.

William O. Douglas was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1939 to 1975. As a boy, he hiked the Cascade Mountains near his home in Washington to strengthen legs weakened by polio. His prolific career on the bench was marked by controversy and two attempts to impeach him.

Health Costs In One's Final Year

During the course of the debate on television last night after President's O'Bama's "news conference" a pundit mentioned something interesting. He said, statistically, fully one fourth of an American's total health care costs occur in the final year of life.

Can anyone confirm this?

If true, it takes no genius to see where "cost cutting" will occur when generational warfare breaks out over this massive national debt.

"You're Nuts"

Quote: "When you innovate, you've got to be prepared for everyone telling you you're nuts."

— Larry Ellison

Federal Income Tax on Non-Profits?

The nonprofit industry includes over 1 million organizations across the US with combined annual revenue of more than $1 trillions. Major organizations include Goodwill Industries, Ascension Health, National Cancer Institute, New York University, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The industry is highly fragmented: large organizations with assets of $10 millions or more represent just 6 percent of the industry but account for more than 80 percent of the sector's total annual revenue. A modest annual federal income tax of 2% on those organizations with + $10 millions in assets would thus generate in the neighborhood of $16 billions. A more realistic tax similar to the "corporate income tax rates" would generate some $272 Billions. That's roughly equivalent to 5 times the total annual budget for the State of Illinois. These companies pay Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare taxes. They pay other federal taxes. Why not an income tax?

Here Come The Services Taxes

Illinois currently doesn’t apply the sales tax on services such a movie rentals, carpet cleaning, dog grooming and a number of other such services. That could change under a budget-balancing plan being considered by the Senate.

If approved the 6.25 percent state sales tax would be applied to the following, for which there’s currently no sales tax:

Warehousing and storage
Travel agent services
Carpet and upholstery cleaning services
Dating services
Dry cleaning and laundry, except coin-operated
Consumer goods rental
Health clubs, tanning parlors, reducing salons
Linen supply
Interior design services
Other business services, including copy shops
Bowling Centers
Coin operated video games and pinball machines
Membership fees in private clubs
Admission to spectator sports (excluding horsetracks)
Admission to cultural events
Billiard Parlors
Scenic and sightseeing transportation
Taxi and Limousine services
Unscheduled chartered passenger air transportation
Motion picture theaters, except drive-in theaters
Pet grooming
Landscaping services (including lawn care)
Income from intrastate transportation of persons
Mini-storage
Household goods storage
Cold storage
Marina Service (docking, storage, cleaning,
repair)
Marine towing service (including tugboats)
Gift and package wrapping service
Laundry and dry cleaning services, coin-operated
Other services to buildings and dwellings
Water softening and conditioning
Internet Service Providers
Short term auto rental
Information Services
Amusement park admission and rides
Circuses and fairs -- admission and games
Cable and other program distribution
Rental of video tapes for home viewing

Interestingly enough there is no tax on dental services. They were the ones proposing taxes on "sugary drinks" you will recall.

The Numbers Speak For Themselves . .

Political Circuses

Edward R. Murrow

from Quotes of the Day

"When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained."

Hold On To Your Hat . . .

This is just plain scary:

Stimulus Spending vs. Overall Government Spending

Federal, State and Local Government agencies along with public educational institutions award thousands of contracts in any given month. In February 2009 alone, there were over 65,000 purchases and projects in motion across the United States. The billions of dollars in stimulus spending is supplemental to existing budgets and will be spread over time.

he chart below compares February 2009 spending from existing budgets with early spending from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

What's wrong with this picture:

Chicago Style Politics Versus The Rule of Law

Finem Respice has a great post on the Administration’s bare-knuckle tactics in trying to enforce its will (against the dictates of bankruptcy law) on Chrysler:

It should be obvious to most observers that, recent allegations of strong-arm tactics in negotiations with Chrysler creditors notwithstanding, given the current situation the White House shouldn’t need to resort to anything so openly thuggish as naked threats issued by the likes of Steven Rattner. Assuming for a moment, and for the purposes of conversation, that the allegations are substantially true (and I believe they are), the fact that a bit of Chicago-style thuggery seems to have been required- and seems to have failed- says a lot about this White House. It also says quite a bit about the wild overconfidence intrinsic in the administration and how entirely unused to being denied their will are the senior members thereof. A more deft executive need not have pushed so hard, or rattled the saber of class warfare so loudly, but then a more deft executive would not have expected so much….

There are three things that are scarier than the actual resort to common thuggery. The ease with which it comes to this administration. The ubiquitous and rank ineptitude that makes a resort to thuggery necessary in the first place- and promises it will become a common tactic in the days to come. And the forgiveness the population regularly affords the administration after one or another of these episodes is, yet again, made public.

The tantrums that follow missed targets sketch an interesting family portrait of a class of politically spoiled children, think Hillary Clinton meets Paris Hilton- totally devoid of real executive experience but somehow still used to getting their way no matter what some silly law book says. I believe I’ll take my chances with the “speculators” over these alternatives any day, particularly when the spoiled children have the 82nd Airborne Division in their toy chest.

Saudi royal: "you can't get rid of oil . . ."

A key member of the Saudi royal family who headed the country's intelligence service for 25 years accused both the Obama and Bush administrations Monday of "deceiving" the American people that the U.S. can ever end its dependence on foreign oil.

"You can't get rid of oil. You can't get rid of fossil fuels — gas and coal — unless you want to price yourself out of existence," Prince Turki al-Faisal, former ambassador to Washington, told editors and reporters at The Washington Times.

"I'd hope that the general public in the United States would be wiser than to be deceived into thinking that the U.S. can ever be energy independent," he said.

"The U.S. has rising energy needs despite the economic downturn," Prince Turki said. "If you are going to be paying for wind, electric and solar energy equivalents that cost five or 10 times more than it costs to use oil, you are going to price yourself out of the market. You are going to lose whatever competitiveness you have in your products."

The nonpartisan research group Center for Media and Public Affairs along with California's Chapman University released a study that found the nightly newscasts devoted 27 hours, 44 minutes to Pres. Obama's presidency in his first 50 days. That compares to 7 hours, 42 minutes for Pres. George W. Bush and 15 hours, 2 minutes for Pres. Bill Clinton during the first 50 days of their first terms.

Not only has Obama gotten more coverage, but that coverage has been more positive than his predecessors.

On the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts, 58% of all evaluations of the president and his policies have been favorable, while 42% were unfavorable. That compares with 33% positive in the comparable period of Bush's tenure and 44% positive for Pres. Clinton.