YOUR PERSONAL TELEPHONE BALLOT WILL LOOK LIKE THIS

To access the computer data base use your touch tone phone and press 211 now:

The computer will ask for your Social Security number. Enter it now using the key pad on your phone:  (Example 213 475 2810 ) then press the star (*) key.

Pressing the star key (*) simply speeds up the process, otherwise the computer will stay on each item for the full 20 seconds before changing to the next item .

Then the computer will ask for your voter registration number. Press it in using the key pad the same way:  (Example; something like 113 575 3011) then press the star(*) key.

The computer will respond: "You are cleared to continue." ( or tell you to contact your poll officials and drop the line.)

As a candidate's name is called by the computer, you then  Press 1 for yes,   2 for no   or 3 to abstain.

(We suggest you fill in the blanks on your sample ballot before you start.)

You will have twenty seconds to cast each vote for a candidate or issue after the name is called by the computer. If you do not vote during that time, the computer will enter abstain for you and continue to the next candidate or issue.

For example:

The first candidate.   The computer will say: John H Jones for Congress, vote now.   You enter 1, 2, or 3 and press the star key.

The second candidate.  The computer will say:  George H. Smith for Congress, vote now.   You enter 1, 2, or 3 and press the star key

The computer will say: Samuel H Jones for Solicitor, vote now.   You enter 1, 2, or 3 and press the star key*

The computer will go through the complete list of candidates and issues to be voted upon  The ballot could contain many names. 

If you wish to pass on a candidate, simply press the star key when the candidate’s name is called by the computer.  The computer will pass to the next name.

If you get confused, just hang up and do it again.  After you have voted with this system a couple of times, it will be second nature to you.    

If you are satisfied that you have recorded your vote exactly like you want it to be, press the # key twice ( ## )  That is just in case you hit it once by accident while voting.  You will have recorded your vote in the national database. The computer will thank you and acknowledge that your vote has been recorded per your instructions, and drop the line.

You have voted and that’s all there is to it. 

If someone tries to use your Social Security or voter number to vote, the computer will not accept your attempt and tell you that that number has voted already, immediately go to the poll where you normally vote and take ID documents,--- your driver’s license-Social Security Card or other documentation that proves you are who you say you are.  The poll manager  will verify your claim and cancel the unauthorized vote and record yours.  Information on the phony voter will be turned over to proper authorities.

END OF THIS FEATURE

A question from a concerned patriot

by

Jack W. Boone

The title sounds strange and far fetched to a US citizen, doesn’t it? It couldn’t happen here,--- could it?  --- Well --- don't bet on it. It could happen right here in our land.

We have everything coming into place fast. We have that huge national debt hanging over our heads. It's the same debt that you hear fleeting remarks about by politicians. The same debt that no politician will tell you how we are going to pay. The same debt that you really don't understand because you don't get an invoice each month demanding payment of your share. The same debt that you or your children are going to have to pay some day.

Our nation is bankrupt. We owe more money than we have assets. The government doesn’t have money. They have to get money from the taxpayers. We are operating and living on credit, and someone else holds the notes. You would be surprised.

You have heard people say (mostly idiots) that we owe the national debt to ourselves, so what’s the big deal? That is not true. We owe it to the T-bill and T-bond holders and others who loaned us money.

When a government wants to raise money beyond its tax limit, they create "Authorities" and other assorted financial vehicles to carry the debt. The primary source is the sale of tax-free bonds. The tax free feature is the incentive to make people and institutions buy the bonds. Many of the retirement trust funds and money market funds buy these bonds. Foreign investors needing some place to invest money that earns better interest than they can get in their own markets also use this source. It is a good deal for them --- no taxes, income producing (interests) and supposedly safe.

That money is a loan to our government. It is not a gift and someday it must be repaid. Governments have two ways to pay it back. The first, and least desirable to a politician, is to raise taxes. The second, and the one used most, is to issue new bonds to replace those that are coming due. That is a scheme but, if the government has no money, it has no choice.

All debt instruments carry an interest rate obligation to the holder. That interest increases proportionate to the debt. Each exercise of the government scheme pushes us deeper and deeper in the hole.

The debt in December of 2004 was 7 trillion; 584 billion; 938 million; 438 thousand; 540 dollars and some few cents. ($7,584,938,438,540.00) To simplify it, every person, man, woman and child in the US is in debt to the holders of our debt instruments in the amount of roughly $ 25,700.00 each. For a family of four, that equates to over $100,000.00 that you owe right now. The interest alone is over 2.5 billion dollars per day.

There are several powerful groups in the world right now who would like to see us fall flat on our face. Who are they? Well, what about the international drug cartels? If our government were to fall, our enforcement capability would be dead in the water or mired in bureaucratic quicksand.  The cartels would have even more access to our huge and ever increasing drug market.  That would be worth billions to them. We, in turn, would be awash in addicts and the bottom would drop out of our production capability.

Oil is another area where we have failed. We can't supply ourselves with the oil required to operate this vast governmental machine, yet we have more than enough buried under our soil. The oil conglomerates could save us if they were allowed to drill. I don’t think their feelings would be hurt if we had a government that was friendlier to oil production.

Much of our oil is not available to them now because of our environmental regulations and land protection blunders. Environmental watch-dogs have prevented us from building new refineries, or upgrading the few that we now have.

Much of our domestic oil is heavy crude, Like the La Brea tar pits in California. That oil (crude) requires special handling and processing before it can be refined. Not a chance under the present environmental regulations, even if it has been established that we have only about fifteen years of domestic crude left.  The government is ignoring the warning signs. With no environmental controls or bureaucrats to muck-up the situation, the oil companies could get to work on the problem and maybe then we could become a contender in the world market rather than a buyer. The demand for the product is growing a lot faster than the supply.  The profit potential is also enormous. The royalties that would be paid to the Federal Government by the oil producers could reduce the national debt substantially over time.

We are being taxed to death to pay for government blunders, especially the stupidity of some city officials. Officials regularly ignore the public and spend recklessly, many times to build monuments to themselves. We should never name another bridge, highway or building after a politician. Politicians in all four of our governments have their eyes on your pocketbook as they build huge, and unnecessary, bureaucracies and spend your tax money like it was their own. Even if there are restraints built into the system, they were canceled or ignored long ago. That puts us in position for a spontaneous implosion one of these days when the hapless taxpayer finally gets enough abuse and revolts. The abusers feel safe now because they have a legal department to protect them from you. Your taxes are paying for their lawyers to defend them against you.

What about some of the Islamic factions in the world? They would dance for joy if we failed. They already outnumber us in the world and would bury us tomorrow if they could. They are making inroads into our defenses that are dangerous. For example, they have chosen a method of warfare that can make it terribly uncomfortable for us for many years to come. Guerilla type wars usually don’t qualify as conventional warfare or respond to the battle tactics of conventional war.  Guerilla wars are looked upon as last resort type actions, usually by a few malcontents, and generally fizzle out quickly. It requires very little training, and once the hit is made the unit usually disappears back to the jungle from whence it came. With no front lines, defense is nearly impossible. Luck plays a big part for the defenders. The offensive side has all of the advantages. The method in use in Iraq, as I explained in a column in a newspaper, is not unique and it can last for decades.  (See link on columns) 

That type warfare can have a devastating affect on civilian morale. When morale gets to the point where people began to wonder if they can win, strange things begin to happen. Apathy will multiply and the nation will grow weaker. That can lead to a dictatorship which can be very dangerous.

Have we conveniently forgotten that China is a Communist Nation, and a Democratic Republic is not one of their favorite forms of government? China would like to see us under a dictator, because most dictators can be bought easily and they would have a lot in common. It’s true that we have an economic connection there now, but that’s a facade. They will tolerate us as long as we continue to finance their development with our dollars.  When we stop they will turn on us. Does anybody believe that but me?

What about all of those countries that we have abused for years, demanding that they conform to our government model. Many of them are small nations like Panama, Guatemala and many of the other South American countries. There are others around the world. Our government will not hesitate to tell another government what they must do to meet our standards, or else. That is a threat and resented by all governments.

What about the new Euro common market group who were totally intimidated by our occupation forces for so many years? Do you believe they have forgotten the indignities we showered on them for all those years? Believe me,--- they haven't forgotten Napoleon losing at Waterloo, so what makes us think they will forget us? The French and English still hate each other over Waterloo.

If you think all of this is bull, --- I suggest you travel to other countries of the world and see for yourself. Frankly, they hate our guts. I have traveled in many countries of the world, and I have yet to find a country that doesn’t resent American wealth and power.

It is a well established fact that the people who run our government and set our international and domestic policy are back-room type people, operating behind the scenes under the guise of certain Associations and Societies or Committees. They all belong to the same clubs and stay away from the "little people". Most do not believe that the "little people" have the ability to run this huge machine we call the United States. (The founding fathers felt pretty much the same way.  They knew that the peasant class, who largely farmed and hunted for a living, were not sophisticated enough to vote intelligently, so the vote was left optional in the Constitution.)

 The back-room boys who actually run our government are really a shadow cabinet and call the shots from their board rooms behind closed doors. They have the money and control of enough prominent people and organizations to make it work to their advantage. He who controls the media has enormous clout. They select who will run for the top jobs and put them there. They tell whoever they elect what and when to do as they direct. With enough "grease" (money) they know that they can make the American people do anything they want them to do.

The "boys" in Washington were victims of an end run by Jimmy Carter. He slipped them a mickey when he won the White House from under their collective noses. That didn’t please them one bit. To make sure he was not setting a precedent, they simply started a systematic stratgety to ruin his presidency, even if it ruined the country. They had to make sure that he didn’t last for more than one term. How did they do it? As they controlled the financial markets, they sent interest rates through the roof and that brought the economy to a near halt. Hundreds of thousands of small business closed their doors and blamed it on President Carter. They sabotaged him in several other ways, including the hostage crises in Iran. They gave him a lesson in national politics. They were worried that Carter’s political model would set a trend, and that would be disastrous to their control. No mention was ever made of the fact that he was probably the only honest politician in Washington at the time.

A national magazine recently named five men in Washington who they said forced President Bush into the Iraq war. That is an incredible charge. The article named names. All of them hold innocuous jobs so they would not normally attract too much attention. Their jobs were assistants to somebody or other, or deputy to a high official staffer.  All of them were in the second row of power in the White House. Many times that is where the real power hides. They were just far enough removed from the limelight to operate efficiently and deadly. The article claimed that they had an agenda and intimated that they all had a connection to Israel, but it was not explained what the agenda was. Whatever the reason, apparently these guys had enough clout to push this nation into a war that nobody wanted. The families of over one thousand dead soldiers can attest to that. Even the Congress didn’t want it. It was incredible to listen to President Bush’s adamant (bull-headed) position immediately before the invasion. It was obvious that he refused to listen to anybody in opposition to his mandate. We were going to war regardless of the circumstances. His excuses were lame at best, and have all been proven wrong to date. Usually only a dictator has that much power. Is he telling us something?

How can innocuous bureaucrats force the President of the United States to do their bidding. Who do they really represent? I don’t know if that was a credible article or not, but it seemed credible to me and the magazine has an impeccable reputation for accuracy. It must have had some impact because it has not been seen or mentioned again. Did somebody put the word out to the editors? A dictator could do that.

One more troublesome little detail. We must be careful that our military does not fall from a first rate world power to a second rate police force. It is grossly understaffed and needs an overhaul. Our intelligence service is already being compromised all over the world. Finally, after a nearly complete collapse of the entire intelligence system, the administration seems to be doing something to rejuvenate our position on that world stage. Now maybe we can be trusted to keep a secret.

We have strong adversarial forces at work in this nation whose design is to convert a major part of our population to a subservient status. They are doing it with easy credit. On average, every American family in this country owes close to ten thousand dollars in credit card debt. The prospects are that it will get worse before it gets better. Many families exist on their credit cards. Millions of families carry balances on their credit cards from month to month at exorbitant interest rates. Many of them have adopted an attitude that when the going gets to the point where they can’t get any more credit, they will dump the whole thing into the bankruptcy court and let the court sort it out.

The credit card people are not concerned. They keep pumping the plastic out to the public. They are probably building huge tax-free contingency funds from their exorbitant profits to cover future loses.

The FDIC that now insures your bank account reportedly could only pay about 2 percent of their commitment if called upon to do so. Of course, every bank in the nation would have to fail for that eventuality to come to pass. But they are still on thin ice.

We have several major cities that are already huge ‘holes of despair’ where resources and human dignity has disappeared, probably never to be recovered.

We have narcotic addicts, suppliers and their lawyers running rampant through the streets of our inner cities, taking over neighborhoods and intimidating residents. They are operating above the law, making a mockery of the court system. The bottom-of-the-ladder addicts, who can’t find or afford lawyers to take their cases, are buried in prison.  The taxpayers support them on the inside and their families on the outside.

We have guns accessible to our children and they know how to use them. They are killing each other in ever increasing numbers and nobody has offered a solution to that disgraceful situation.

We have training classes designed to teach children how to produce children, then depend on the government to take care of them. Most of those students don’t know the meaning of math or science. Many of our inner-city schools are little more than social gathering places where the most egregious conduct can be learned and practiced. Feeble attempts are being made by some well-meaning educators to correct that situation, without much support or success.

We have babies dying because their mothers didn't know enough to keep away from drugs or an AIDS-INFECTED father, if she even knows who the father is.

We have homeless people living under bridges and in alleys, and nobody seems to care because many of them are mentally ill, and people are afraid of the mentally disadvantaged. (I hate politically correct language. I think it is stupid. Call it what it is and get on with it.) .

We have a large contingent of unemployed people who may soon join the ranks of the homeless unless something is done to bring our industry back home. Somebody out there needs to tell our leaders that every father who needs a job is not a nuclear scientist. Ordinary people need ordinary jobs, not professional opportunities.

We have children in this country going to bed at night crying from hunger. That tragedy is happening in the United States of America while our leaders pour money in a rat-hole of a war that supposedly is to save people who are capable of saving themselves if we would let them alone. They have managed to exist thousands of years. What about saving some of our own citizens? Most of the countries we have "liberated" were living quite well before we interfered. Now that we have screwed up their economy, we have to take them on as patients. Why can’t we take oil from Iraq to repay our 80 billion dollars that we are spending there?  Then maybe we could feed our own hungry and crying children and get the price of gasoline down to a reasonable level so that the small businessman can make a decent profit and living.

We have babies dying for lack of prenatal care, yet other countries are miles ahead of us in that field. Why is that? Could it be that our mothers can't afford to see a doctor, or is it that the doctors are afraid of being sued if they see the mothers?

We have elderly people eating dog and cat food because it is cheaper than regular food. That makes me ashamed.

You can buy our medicine, made in America, in foreign countries, including Canada, for as much as 75 percent below our price. Why is that?

Everybody has medical care in many countries of the world. Why can’t we at least offer basic medical care here? I’ll tell you why. The drug and medical cartels won’t allow it. It would cost them money.

The tragedy of all this is that YOU have lost interest in your government. YOU have watched the ineptitude of our government officials, yet you reelect them because the "boys" put a challenger in the race who looked so bad, and had so many flaws, that even you couldn’t bring yourself to vote for him. That left the office to be filled by default. The "boys" also selected the lackeys to put in key positions to see that their policies were kept on track. Our Congress is committed to political action committees and loophole money changers sort of like the credit card holders. They are in too deep to get out, so they follow the line, that is, if they want to get reelected. Couple that with an insane desire to stay in Congress, and you will see what I mean.

The stupid bureaucratic blunders going on every day within your government are costing you a bloody fortune. The obvious contempt for the public by bureaucrats is outrageous. We now work for them. They do not work for us. Once we laughed at their mistakes. Now they're not so funny, especially when the cost runs into the billions. Not the least of those is the formation of new departments and hiring hundreds, or even thousands of people in some cases, to push paper around. They are absolutely unnecessary and are used to beef up a bureaucrat’s domain.

We are the same American people who just can't find time to vote, or study the issues, or study the record of candidates to determine who will do the best and most honest job and correct some of this gross negligence. A surprising number of people don’t even know the name of their representative in Congress. We have allowed Congress to create regulations to keep potential candidates from seeking office.  They feel safer that way. 

How is this for shooting ourselves in the foot? We continue to turn hard core criminals loose on our streets with a pat on the rump. They are without jobs, without training and homeless. That is an open invitation for more desperate crime to be committed. About 80 percent of them do just that. Yet, we have many thousands of people locked up who committed nonviolent, nonthreatening crime.  Some simply smoked or sold a little dope.  How about a two months boot camp instead of prison?  

Have you ever wondered exactly how many people are out of work in the US? The government statistics glowingly report that it is only 5.7 percent, or some figure close to that. It varies daily. They never put it in actual numbers. Out of a work force of about 110,000,000 people that equates to nearly eight million people looking for work. Do you think that is a real figure? Forget it. If you go to their hodge-podge web site for information, forget that too. The real figure is probably much closer to fifteen million people. You see --- they don't bother to count those who have dropped off the rolls because their benefits have expired, or those who have simply given up trying to find work.

That is about ten million breadwinners we are talking about here. The other five million are single or have no family. Some breadwinners have little or no food for their families tonight. Most of the chronic unemployed have very little education or skills. These are our own people, some of whom will be having dinner tonight out of a garbage container, others who will be eating with relatives who may be having a hard time themselves. Still others are in households held together by a slim thread, and we kid ourselves into believing that we are the most affluent country in the world. Who is kidding whom?

Now —I have listed many of the weaknesses of our country. These problems have been building for all of our existence. That could lead to our downfall unless we correct our ways. I believe we will do it as soon as the danger sinks in.  The politicians and bureaucrats refuse to believe it to be a problem. 

Do you want to know when and where a dictator will appear on the scene? Here are some signs to watch for.

When unemployment reaches 30 percent. It was 25 percent in the last great depression and if we had not been an agrarian society, a revolution would have very probably happened then. Along with many other veterans, my father was waiting for the word when the Veterans marched on Washington. I think that is as close as we have come to a complete change in government since the Civil War. The national mood is not that bad—yet, but it could get that bad if we don’t start taking care of our own people. A house of cards is not a very sturdy structure.

When you have to haul dollars to the grocery in a wheelbarrow to buy a loaf of bread, you will know that the time is getting close.

When the desperately poor start food riots and break into food stores to loot for food, that will be a strong indicator.

When the Armed Forces decide that the leadership in the country is in total disarray, they will take over.

When the developing race problems polarize the races a little more, and the separation of the races becomes more pronounced than it is now, that could cause a problem.

When a race war moves to the streets after the various ethnic groups attack each other. Many of the cities are already armed camps.  The spark has not arrived to start it.

When the criminals increase their killing fields to include more unarmed civilians in the suburbs after robbing homes by invasion tactics and brutalizing the innocent, the change will be close.

When the ecologists kill off our own food supply by making it too expensive to grow, or force regulations to preserve the life of an owl or rat at the expense of human existence. Just another step.

When the nation’s petroleum supply is in serious jeopardy and the middle east shuts down our industry by embargoing our fuel supply, and they can do it any day.

When the foreign holders of our credit instruments demand to be paid, the nation could be in deep financial trouble forcing outrageous tax increases. The money has to come from you by new taxation. The government doesn’t have any money, remember?

When 90 percent of everything we use comes from overseas, and we have lost complete control of our industrial base, we are getting close.

When we lose one of the two remaining major political parties, leaving us a one party system, we will have a dictatorship.

All of the above would be contributing factors. It will take more than one or two of these mistakes to trigger a dictator form of government. Remember that our future dictator is looking for anything to give him or her an opening. We make the opening by our approach to our weaknesses. He will take it from there. Remember how Hitler did it?

The news would rather report an apartment fire than report on the millions of apartment buildings that are not on fire. They report on murders, but say nothing about the millions of citizens who were not murdered that day. They look for the seedy side of life when the better parts of our population is all around them. The news people need to look at themselves objectively in the mirror and get off their collective bent to report only the bad because they think that is all we want to see or hear.

"Okay, give us his name." you scoffingly ask.

Honestly, I don’t know. I do know that any one of many people in the government are capable of being a dictator.

We like to think of ourselves as gentle people with hearts of gold. Remember the Native Americans we massacred when we took their lands in the West? Our soldiers destroyed villages, including murdering unarmed women and children. Remember the chain-gangs of the South where prisoners were treated more like animals than humans? There are many incidents that are documented, so don’t believe that we are not capable of despicable acts. We are not alone. Every country in the world has their own concentration camps.

How will we know that it is happening? That’s easy. The guy will be elected President. His party will have control of the Congress. The first thing he will do is issue a number of executive orders. One will do away with the present Supreme Court structure and replace it with an organization to his liking and one in which he will have absolute control. That will be the purpose of the whole exercise, because only the Supreme Court can throw a monkey wrench in his plan. In one of his executive orders he will go after the Constitution. It will be changed so drastically that it won’t resemble the present document.

Next will be a small army of enforcers, similar to Hitler’s Brown Shirts. Then, with his own Congress and Supreme Court, the rest will be easy. Terms in office will be obliterated, so he will be in office for life, unless deposed by war or an uprising. Whatever the case, our life as we know it will be over. Money is not the goal of a dictator. It is power.

All of this is an educated (or uneducated) guess. I don't know any more than you at this time, but he will surface at the propitious time. I don’t think it will be a female. But, you can bet that he will show and this time you will win your bet, but you will lose your freedom, your cars, your homes, your job, your boats, your summer cottage, and all of your money. Cuba is a good example. Your pension plan will be a distant memory. Your bonds will be worthless paper. Your savings account will be confiscated. Your checks will be useless because the banks will be nationalized. You will be a vassal of the state.

That is all the more reason for you to vote and take charge of your government. It’s yours, you know. Don't bellyache when you lose it. It's your own fault because you are not doing your job.

Now that I have made you mad, and maybe a little scared, will you register to vote, and VOTE IN ALL ELECTIONS? Insist that every eligible member of your family votes.

Think about it. If you really do want to preserve this Democratic Republic you will get off your a----s and vote for people that you know something about before you put them into positions of power.

Okay, if you don't care about saving it for yourself, how about saving it for your children and me. Even if it is sort of fouled up, I kind of like it here. We are not perfect, but we are about as near perfect as a bloated, bureaucratic government can be, and it ain’t half bad, brother.

Who will it be? Your guess is as good as mine, but I am praying that I will never know in my lifetime or the lifetime of my country.