When the Cash for Clunkers plan was first announced, it appeared to be a flawed plan right from the start. There were some obvious problems with the scheme to get people into more politically correct green friendly cars. With the plan only a few days into operation, the plan has successfully seduced so many more people to trade in there bigger, safer cars to snag their share of taxpayer or Chinese money that the initial billion dollars has already swirled down the drain. The government is busy patting itself on the back and proclaiming the program a total success. But is it?

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 54% of the voting public was against the plan while 35% favored it. Among those with a little more financial interest, 62% of investors thought it should not be done... and an even 50% of all respondents felt that if they were going to run a program like this, it should be restricted to American made cars. However, like so many programs coming out of our nations' capitol... bailouts, health care and all sorts of things we haven't even been told about, the desires of the people... as in “We the People”... have been ignored in favor of elitist programs and schemes to involve the government in more areas of our lives.

Let's look at what really took place in our country. Thousands of buyers have happily driven away from lots in their shiny new or late model cars, with salesmen and women tallying their skyrocketing commissions and dealers themselves hoping they were going to see the promised money. The scenario fits perfectly the thinking of the current administration... transferring dollars to supposedly disadvantaged or favored and adding burdens to evil business owners.

Several dynamics were at work in each transaction... let's look at them.

The most obvious action was people who may have been thinking of replacing their current mode of transportation for a new one saw the incentive of having their fellow citizens chip in to help pay for their car. Often, these were people who could already afford a car and perhaps were planning to buy one in the next year or two. This program just compressed the process. I guess it goes back to the definition of fairness promoted by many in our government for many years... that someone else pays for my benefit. It's human nature... and not the nicest side of it.

However the they are not home free with no down side. In many cases, people have traded in a functioning automobile that carried no payments for another, probably better car, with significant payments. In other cases, some who could not quite swing the deal for the car found a way, with the incentive, to squeeze it into their budget. At a time when people are trying to cut down on their debts, these buyers have been convinced to join the federal government in increasing their monthly expenses in spite of increasingly insecure employment situations. We saw what happened when easy terms and low interest rates drew more and more people into the housing market who should not have been there... to the detriment of the themselves, lenders and our country in general. One has to wonder if this is just a repeat of a foolish strategy that may drive us into even more negative circumstances.

The salesmen are loving the increase in sales at car lots that have been devoid of customers for months. Customers have been waiting in line just to talk to one of these purveys of economical transportation. Assuredly, they will see some massive checks, but at what cost? Customers may have bought their new car next month, or a few months down the road, even into the next year. So we see a spike in sales this week at the cost of many future sales that would have given them a steady income over the months to come.

The dealers are seeing cars roll off their lots in, sometimes, record numbers. They have been told to sell the car, fill out the 1040 type forms, and wait for their payments... if they are approved. Already reports are coming in that submissions are being rejected... meaning the dealer is not getting the money. With hundreds of thousands of cars on the streets through this program combined with the efficiency and effectiveness of the government in getting payments out the door... this could conceivably be responsible for closing more dealers than the auto companies themselves as, essentially, the dealers have to pay off new cars coming out of their floor plan, pay commissions to salesmen and cover a variety of costs of doing business. The more successful they are, the more they are depending on the government to keep its word in a timely manner.

The cars themselves show the desire of the administration to destroy anything they just don't like. They're not all junkers... some are decent transportation for someone without a lot of money, yet, but terms of the agreement, they must be destroyed withing a few days... long before any payments will be received from our Big Brother in Washington. They cannot even be sent to junk yards for salvage, but are destined to be crushed and melted down. So strong is their desire to remove these politically incorrect vehicles from the streets, our “benefactors” don't have any concern for the less financially well off they claim to want to help by shrinking the supply of inexpensive vehicles.

The administration, and even some Republicans who should know better, are touting the plan as a massive success, to the point of looking for an additional two billion dollars from the American people beyond the initial one billion allocated to the plan. All one can do is only look back at one of the gravely voiced Everett Dirksen's favorite quotes, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.” Unfortunately, the damage goes far beyond the dollars down the drain.

At the time of his defection to the dark side, a jubilant Sen. Arlen Specter announced that he would be welcomed by the Harry Reid and the Democrat Party with open arms and that he could keep his seniority in the senate and on committees. Once the deed was done, the good Senator found what voters have finding our for years... these people are long on promises and short on follow through. They said, “Not so fast bud, go to the end of the line.” So much for retained power and seniority... one of his primary virtues to Pennsylvania voters.

Specter had served with these people for something like six terms. One would think that dealing with them for this period, he should know a little about their character and reliability. Perhaps his instincts were deadened by the passage of time or the seductive idea of one more term in the good old boys club.

One has to give him credit for recognizing that the re-energized Republican base in in the Keystone State would no longer tolerate his semi-Republican posturing that held no hint of the conservative values the party and country need. He was a man in Washington without a home and had to make a decision. Knowing that he could not return to the state he represented and adequately explain his positions and defend his actions, he looked to the party that actually believed in the things he had been saying and doing.

Instead of thanking him for his votes which often hung his own party out to dry, they showed their gratitude by stripping him of his seniority and maybe even by running someone against him in the Democrat primary. This should not come as a total surprise since a valuable prize like Benedict Arnold died broke and friendless in London after his act of betrayal. People knew he could not be trusted... even those who benefited from his treachery.

Whether the move will benefit Specter or not remains to be seen. One hates to see any career end under this type of cloud... even a career that lacked distinction and direction. It's kind of like watching Richard Petty run in the back of the pack for several years because he did not retire when he had passed his peak... but at least King Richard and his fans had the memory of tremendous victories to accompany his love of the sport. Specter apparently just loves the position and the game... enough to sell his soul to stay in it.

For those not familiar with Specter and his career, he was a fine District Attorney in the Philadelphia area putting away plenty of bad guys. He then gave vivid proof of the Peter Principle in operation when he moved on up to the Senate. Before becoming a Senator, he was a staffer for the Warren Commission, where he was credited with coming up with the magic bullet theory while investigating the assassination of President Kennedy. Either this is true or no one else would claim ownership of the idea of a bullet passing through the president's neck, then turning right to go through Texas Governor's upper body, then head downward through his wrist then into John Connally's leg... only to be “found” on a stretcher in the hospital showing no damage from it's destructive path through flesh and multiple bones. People should have known then that he had a different point of view than most.

Adolf Hitler's Minister of Propaganda is quoted as saying, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

This man, Joseph Goebbels, understood the value of guiding public opinion in the direction the government desires as being critical to bringing about changes in a society. The current administration appears to have learned this lesson extremely well. This has come to light with several recent issues where there is an obvious disconnect between the story coming from our government and the reality staring us in the face.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently attacked the tea parties held at hundreds of locations throughout our land as a scheme cooked up by higher GOP operatives to make the Obama administration look bad. First of all, the Republican Party does not have to do anything to make the current administration look bad... it would be redundant. The reality is that each tea party was organized by local people who wanted to be heard by the people who are supposed to represent them. There was just as much animosity toward the Republican Party as the Democratic Party. It is believed that both have let the citizens down.

If there was any major financial backing, it was so secret that it didn't make its' way down to the local level as local organizers were left on their own to figure out how to make the event work. Whatever I would think of the lady, I am certain she is smart enough to know this... which leads us to the other conclusion, namely that she is purposely trying to mislead the people, along with her willing cohorts in the mainstream media as they repeat her message ad nauseum.

We have all heard the oft quoted statistic that 90% of the firearms used by Mexican drug cartels come from the United States. This is a standard talking point of administration officials, repeated endlessly to the press to anyone who will listen. It has taken on air of truth so as to become conventional wisdom among the unquestioning media and kool aid drinking public.

The fact is that the 90% number is correct, but not of the entire lot of confiscated weapons. Of the twenty some thousand guns recently picked up by Mexican authorities, many have no serial numbers or manufacturer markings, as do all legal weapons manufactured or imported in into the US. Of this total, about eleven thousand do have these markings and could potentially come from US sources. Even of these, not all are traced to their origin. About 6000 are actually run through the system and here is where the 90% number comes in. However 90% of 6000 is not the same as 90% of all the weapons... but it sounds good, fits the prejudices of the administration and can be used to support further controls on firearms.

Mark Twain's comment "If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed." could also be applied to the broadcast media as well... particularly in this case. One could write a book about all the misinformation coming out of Washington, and the conclusion would be the same. Are these people really that far out touch with reality? Or are they purposely and maliciously leading us down the path to destruction?

Spreading the big lie is only half of the Goebbels formula. The other half is discrediting the truth... and this we saw as the administration pretended to ignore the tea parties as if they had no consequence and the lap dog drive by media joined in by portraying this grassroots movement as a group of misinformed, psychopated kooks. It was, and is, necessary for the public to be shielded from the truth and genuine anger expressed expressed at these public protests.

The dissent that was so honorable when the hated George Bush was in office has suddenly become subversive and anti-American. The left is depending on the short memories and shallow analysis of our immediate gratification oriented culture. They counter any and all criticism of the direction they are taking the country by labeling sincere questioning as racially motivated... which is a clever, though transparent scam to keep from responding with non-existent evidence. When they don't accuse the critic of hostility to the skin color of the president, they try to tell us we are overreacting, misunderstanding or just plain closed minded. There are no honest responses to most of our objections because such responses just do not exist in the world of reality. It's as if Al Capone knew what was coming when he told us, “They (elites) are quite good at hypocrisy and blissfully shameless about it, too. Practice makes perfect, after all…” But then human nature hasn't changed all that much over the years.

So the only tactic is to keep repeating the lie, whether it is about the economy, health care, global warming or any issue du jur, followed by the politics of personal destruction practiced so effectively by the Clintons. Can any one say Sarah Palin?

Barack Hussein Obama is a skilled practitioner of the teachings of Saul Alinsky, but the roots of these tactics and strategies go back even further, to someone even more evil... one of the architects of the Germany's Third Reich. Ron Paul summed our plight up well when he commented, "Truth is treason in the empire of lies."

The government giveth and the government taketh away. That seems to be lesson we can take away from the recent events in Washington. The good congressmen and senators, eyes bloodshot with rage promised the American taxpayer that the outrage of AIG taking money from the government (read taxpayer), then giving millions of it out to their employees in the form of bonuses would not be allowed to continue.

We were told that these were retention bonuses that would keep these high performing employees on the job. These are the same high performing employees that produced the massive profits that led the company to come back to the taxpayers time after time – promising each time would be the last.

After nearly bursting a blood vessel and almost falling into an apoplectic seizure, Senator Dodd came back the next day and admitted that he had actually inserted a provision in the porkulus bill that specifically permitted these employees to receive the bonuses. So much for the claim of surprise! The man should get an Oscar for his manufactured rage as it's difficult to be sincerely angry with someone for doing what you said was permissible. After more prodding the good Senator also remembered that that he had inserted the provision at the request of the Obama administration through the Treasury Secretary's office.

So we have the public and much of our government going into a hissy fit over one more action of our new president. How did this come about? Are the people in the White House so inept or confused that one hand does not know what the other hand is doing? That would be the easy ,but not very comforting, answer. The answer could be more sinister. Could it be one more distraction to keep us from noticing the really damaging behavior of the Obama administration... kind of like the fuss about Rush Limbaugh.

Could it be that the millions of dollars flushed down the drain in AIG bonuses were just a smoke screen to hide the billions of dollars AIG funneled to foreign banks? I have to wonder why this does not make the lawmakers at least as angry. I would think that seeing all those taxpayer dollars flowing overseas doing nothing toward the proclaimed purpose of making credit available to US businesses would make loyal officials go through the roof. This money isn't doing a whole lot to help people facing foreclosure on their homes either. All it has done is help a multi-national corporation get its books in looking a little better, and for all we know, making massive bonuses possible to foreigners in Dubai?

I'm having trouble deciding what message is actually coming out of Washington. Are the banks that valuable that we have to spare no expense to save them, yet the people running them so morally crippled with greed that they cannot be trusted to handle our money? The conspiracy theorist in me sees in this action an attempt to shore up the institution of banking while removing the bankers. To what effect? Possibly big government sympathizers whose loyalties lie with the Obama administration rather than with the shareholders and depositors. I don't know... just a thought. But the way they have been demonized by the press and congress... even the President, I am concerned that these evil financial wizards are about to be marched off to an encampment next to Joe Arpaio's desert prison.

More likely this is just a bunch of political types, not smart enough to come up with the more involved plan, looking for cover when a payback for huge political contributions to Sen. Dodd, the President and many others is exposed. It may be that seeing the light in the distance from the torch and pitchfork brigade of outraged citizens made them turn on the people who helped get them elected.

One almost has to feel sorry for the executives at AIG who thought their contributions to the Democrats bought them immunity from common sense business practices... particularly when the actions of Dodd and Geithner specifically paved the way for them to receive their rewards. Unfortunately for the execs, they found out you can't make deals with the devil. Those giving to and voting for hope and change apparently did not get the change they hoped for.

Perhaps a lesson can be found here for many in the business community that looking to curry favor with those who don't understand and value what you do and who are basically looking for sources of revenue to fund their grand social schemes, may make you the next village getting looted in the pursuit of their impossible, and I might add, immoral, dream.

This brings us back to looking at politics and government in a radical new way: looking for what is good for the entire country full of people rather than what I think will benefit me. Sure this means that you won't get any special advantage or be supplied by the work of someone else... it also means it won't blow up in your face and you won't be publicly pilloried and threatened. You may not get quite the financial reward, but then you may well have a strengthened customer base... and that's not all bad. As Rick Warren would say, “It's not about you.”

This morning I watched the news as three urban mayors sat grinning and licking their chops at the thought of even more federal dollars coming their way. The more I listen to the explanations of the various bundles of cash flowing out of Washington, the more I understand that another direction of the income redistribution is from rural to urban areas, from primarily red areas to primarily blue areas.

This should come as no surprise as the Democrats have a long and proud history of favoring their constituents. Their schemes may not lift the poor out of poverty, but they give them occasional goodies and the occasional satisfaction that those who are better off would now be less better off and experiencing some pain as well. It's payoff time in the cities. Besides, if they ever did resolve the problem of poverty, they understand that people no longer looking for a handout gravitate to the other party.

The inequity of distribution is aggravated by the fact that these cities tend to be the least efficient and most corrupt governments in the country. There is even talk about the cities getting the funds directly from Washington and not having to submit to the adult supervision of state governments.

Where is this money going? Part of it is going to maintain bloated city budgets and retention of the overpopulation of municipal workers. Union workers, I might add... dare we say more of the money flowing to Obama supporters. Another part of it is going to build infrastructure and amenities for city dwellers.

This needs to be viewed in the light of the bigger picture and makes one wonder about the overall goals and a possibly hidden agenda from the administration. Let's take a look at several pearls of Washington wisdom.

First we see this rerouting of cash to urban centers... never mind that most city governments are incapable of using it wisely. This will go for increased services and amenities. City dwellers tend to be renters as opposed to home owners. Beyond this, we see the beginning of the reduction of the home mortgage interest deduction. It is difficult to believe that this is the end as the current administration appears to have an insatiable appetite for money to pay for it's excesses.

So we see taxpayer dollars spent to make city life more tolerable and home ownership less desirable. It has long been the goal of the dirt loving tree huggers to stop suburban sprawl and move people back to the cities where we can all enjoy the wonders of public transportation and live stacked to the sky in high rise apartment buildings. When we combine this activity with other legislation coming down the pike such as cap and trade with will push energy prices, including gas, higher and higher. Then, there is even talk about adding to the tax on every gallon of gasoline.

One has to wonder if we are not witnessing the execution of the radical environmentalist agenda. Each of the elements is wrong in and of itself, but when combined, promise even further negative changes in our society. City dwellers tend to be inherently more dependent on government services and less capable of taking care of themselves. They tend to be more narcissistic and disconnected as opposed to suburban and rural residents and these changes to not bode well for our country.

Sometimes it's a good idea to stifle the outrage at each individual assault on our liberty and freedom of choice while we step back and look at the bigger picture. Each nibble at our ability to live the American dream when combined with all the others can take an even bigger bite out of what we each thought was our future. It's called synergy in action.

AIG, we are told is too big to fail. Same with General Motors and a host of other corporations run by, at best, semi-competent but connected executives. They employ many but control boatloads of assets. Unfortunately not enough assets as they found themselves owing more than they could pay. The courts have a way to deal with these situations. It's called bankruptcy. For you and me this is the way to resolve these negative situations.

These rules are for the little people. If you are big enough, rich enough or contribute enough, they somehow don't apply. Your friends in government will be happy to take taxpayer money and give it to you. This has happened before and will happen again, and again, and again!

To keep up with this high end charity, our government goes deeper and deeper in debt. Our government is running up debts that are getting very close to exceeding it's ability to pay. What happens when our government finds itself in this position? Is it too big to fail? Who will bail it out? Will they turn to us, the taxpayers as an unlimited source of funding once the rest of the world, which is running out of money itself at a breakneck pace, stops buying our paper?

The federal government is big. It's ambitions are big... bigger than it or we can pay for. It is bigger than any of the corporations it tells us are too big to fail. Yet, what will happen when our government can't pay it's bills? Will it begin sending out IOUs al a California? Will it take more and more of our privately held assets to feed it's voracious appetite? Is there anyone in Washington who knows what they are doing?

Despite all the propaganda, presidential speeches and friendly news reports to the contrary, one simple truth remains... no one is too big to fail... not AIG, not the federal government!

We can thank the Lord, even if we can't thank our government that two former US Border Patrol Agents are back with their families. We also have to thank the public that kept up the pressure so finally the White House did a reasonable facsimile of the right thing.

Although they are still under house arrest wearing ankle bracelets, they are out of solitary confinement. They are away from the perils of prison but they are still not free to speak. Once the month long thumb twiddle leading up to their release is complete, we can hope that they will be permitted to return to a normal life.

We can also pray for their safety and the safety of their families as there are elements in our society that do not honor border patrol agents who do their job with integrity. Unfortunately, some of these elements appear to be in our own government. We have seen the Federal Prosecutor going out of his way to convince the media that these two men were more of a danger than the drug dealer they shot. In my humble, but accurate, opinion, prosecutors and other government officials who penalize these front-line warriors for doing their job and hand cuff them in their pursuit of our safety are a far greater hazard then anything these gentleman could be accused of doing.

Have we really entered the time predicted in the Bible when evil is called good and good, evil? It appears so, but we need to look into the background of the problem. Across the border, the drug lords are exerting more and more influence through bribery and intimidation. The Mexican government is fighting back... but they do not appear to be winning. It also appears that through fear and intimidation or bribery, the Mexican citizens themselves are protesting the crackdown on the border outlaws.

Back on our side of the Rio Grande, we see increasing violence from an increasingly brazen criminal army. Ranchers who defend themselves and their property are called into court. As with some of our trade agreements, it seems that the welfare of our citizens is secondary to some larger agenda. An agenda that is, perhaps, paid for by people with resources far above amounts our poor taxpayers can afford. Could this be a reflection or extension of activities on the southern side of our border?

When Phoenix has the second highest kidnapping toll in the world, those who would try to tell us that Mexico's problems are not spilling over into our country have absolutely no credibility with this writer. One must wonder if the media types pushing this view have to be seen as incompetent or downright corrupt.

For some time, many in our country have been trying to push Christian values further into the background. The more they succeed, the more of this lawless behavior expands, comes to light and is accepted. No matter how much they cry otherwise, it is for the good of all that Christians provide their salt and light in public affairs. It is not just for our own comfort and benefit but for the good of those around us. We saw Jesus as our example... he came to meet our needs, not his own benefit.

We need to get over the idea that public involvement is all about us. Standing up against evil in the public forum is no less honorable than responding cries for help from a rapists victim. For those who believe both are wrong... may God bless them and let us all hope we never have to depend on them. For the rest of us, we need to look at ourselves to see if we are going around lighting candles or merely cursing the darkness.