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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/atom10full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns:blogger="http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" gd:etag="W/&quot;CkYFQX84fCp7ImA9WhNXEU4.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781842126876455731</id><updated>2012-11-28T11:15:10.134-08:00</updated><category term="money bomb" /><category term="constitution" /><category term="Ron Paul" /><category term="agriculture" /><category term="USDA" /><category term="tyranny" /><category term="Mitt Romney" /><category term="Newt Gingrich" /><category term="rabbits" /><title>Self Evident</title><subtitle type="html">We hold the following truths to be self-evident.</subtitle><link rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/" /><author><name>Eli Bruton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06769489060353138385</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="21" height="32" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_buB9M83e0/T1D0Pw2AZdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vt5mou4Tj_o/s220/9579027714f49723b114e40.98578546.jpeg" /></author><generator version="7.00" uri="http://www.blogger.com">Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>7</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelfEvident" /><feedburner:info uri="selfevident" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><feedburner:emailServiceId>SelfEvident</feedburner:emailServiceId><feedburner:feedburnerHostname>http://feedburner.google.com</feedburner:feedburnerHostname><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;AkQGQn8zfyp7ImA9WhVREUU.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781842126876455731.post-2686362563959311242</id><published>2012-03-19T13:18:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-03-19T13:18:43.187-07:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-03-19T13:18:43.187-07:00</app:edited><title>CAUCUS FRAUD: St. Charles County GOP Committeeman arrested for supporting Ron Paul (video)</title><content type="html">&lt;div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;Attendees of Saturdays Republican Caucus in St. Charles County MO, quickly got a sense that county GOP leaders were planning some shady business when they were told upon entry (before any rules were voted on) to turn off their cameras or be hauled to jail by one of the five police agencies who were standing by. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Fears were confirmed when caucus business began in complete violation of Robert’s Rules of Order.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Once the &lt;place w:st="on"&gt;&lt;placetype w:st="on"&gt;county&lt;/placetype&gt; &lt;placename w:st="on"&gt;Chairman&lt;/placename&gt;&lt;/place&gt; recognized that the Ron Paul contingency had a clear majority, he immediately began an effort to shut them out.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Members were not recognized to speak, and points of order and calls for a counted vote were completely ignored.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The body predictably became very upset. Perhaps out of fear of the now very riled crowd, the meeting was adjourned improperly without conducting any business.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;One man attempted to save the caucus by following Robert’s Rules and reconvening the meeting legally in another area of the property.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;While peacefully attempting to organize a legitimate caucus, Brent Stafford was arrested and charged with trespass after the county chairman called the police.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;Stafford&lt;/place&gt; is a current serving member of the &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;St. Charles County Republican Central Committee.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Here is Brent’s interview on the Jamie Allman radio show 97.1 FM.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lcgc06WFWrQ/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lcgc06WFWrQ?version=3&amp;f=user_uploads&amp;c=google-webdrive-0&amp;app=youtube_gdata" /&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /&gt;&lt;embed width="320" height="266"  src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lcgc06WFWrQ?version=3&amp;f=user_uploads&amp;c=google-webdrive-0&amp;app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Video of Stafford's arrest:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/6sKbpR24ASM/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6sKbpR24ASM&amp;fs=1&amp;source=uds" /&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /&gt;&lt;embed width="320" height="266"  src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6sKbpR24ASM&amp;fs=1&amp;source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The GOP needs to take a careful look at how they treat Ron Paul supporters.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;They should look at the gymnasiums packed to the rafters with dedicated, knowledgeable energetic crowds and ask themselves, do we really want to shut the door on these people?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Can we win a general election without them? &lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SelfEvident/~4/fzKOs0ZoNbY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/feeds/2686362563959311242/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2012/03/caucus-fraud-st-charles-county-gop.html#comment-form" title="2 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/2686362563959311242?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/2686362563959311242?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SelfEvident/~3/fzKOs0ZoNbY/caucus-fraud-st-charles-county-gop.html" title="CAUCUS FRAUD: St. Charles County GOP Committeeman arrested for supporting Ron Paul (video)" /><author><name>Eli Bruton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06769489060353138385</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="21" height="32" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_buB9M83e0/T1D0Pw2AZdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vt5mou4Tj_o/s220/9579027714f49723b114e40.98578546.jpeg" /></author><thr:total>2</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2012/03/caucus-fraud-st-charles-county-gop.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;CUQDQH47eip7ImA9WhRUE0g.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781842126876455731.post-8968607540039024839</id><published>2012-01-23T13:16:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-23T13:16:11.002-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-23T13:16:11.002-08:00</app:edited><title>Romney "supporters" paid to show up at events. (VIDEO)</title><content type="html">There is a $2,500 on the amount of cash a presidential candidate can accept from an individual for his official efforts. But this only counts for the &lt;i&gt;official&lt;/i&gt; campaign. Romney has received millions from corporations and investment banks, through other organizations such as Political Action Committees. So where does this money go? You'll be shocked at how far they will go to&amp;nbsp;portray a falsehood-&amp;nbsp;that Romney has any real, passionate supporters.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In the video below (all credit goes to the individual who posted the video) a man can be seen wearing a Romney for President T-shirt. It seems that English is not the man's native language, as you can hear an accent as he struggles to find the correct wording for his sentences.&lt;b&gt; The man admits that he was contacted by someone who found his name on the unemployment list and they paid him to stand there&lt;/b&gt; wearing the Romney regalia. The man even admits he wouldn't vote for Mitt Romney!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/yFczAKYHRM8/0.jpg"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yFczAKYHRM8&amp;fs=1&amp;source=uds" /&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /&gt;&lt;embed width="320" height="266"  src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yFczAKYHRM8&amp;fs=1&amp;source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The major media is controlled by the very same interests who finance Mitt Romney and the other establishment candidates and is able to sell you a grand illusion. So when CNN or Fox news rolls footage of a Romney campaign event, we can only guess at how much money was spent to assemble a small crowd.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The level of sophistication of this propaganda is truly remarkable.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SelfEvident/~4/6oSf00xO2qU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/feeds/8968607540039024839/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2012/01/romney-supporters-paid-to-show-up-at.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/8968607540039024839?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/8968607540039024839?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SelfEvident/~3/6oSf00xO2qU/romney-supporters-paid-to-show-up-at.html" title="Romney &quot;supporters&quot; paid to show up at events. (VIDEO)" /><author><name>Eli Bruton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06769489060353138385</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="21" height="32" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_buB9M83e0/T1D0Pw2AZdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vt5mou4Tj_o/s220/9579027714f49723b114e40.98578546.jpeg" /></author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2012/01/romney-supporters-paid-to-show-up-at.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;C08HR3w-eCp7ImA9WhRXFEU.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781842126876455731.post-8101281626897157671</id><published>2011-12-21T07:22:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-12-21T07:37:16.250-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2011-12-21T07:37:16.250-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rabbits" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="USDA" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="tyranny" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="agriculture" /><title>Family wins battle against USDA; won’t pay 4 Million in fines for backyard bunnies.</title><content type="html">John and Judy Dollarhite, a couple from Nixa, MO faced an unthinkable attack from the USDA, when in 2009 they got a surprise visit to their home from an inspector from the federal government.  The Dollarhite family was even more shocked when they were informed by an investigator from the USDA that they were in violation of a guideline and would face fines of close to 4 million dollars.  The agents cited the fact that the couple had sold more than $500 worth of rabbits without obtaining a USDA permit, and could face a $10,000 fine per bunny.  The USDA never disputed the fact that the rabbits were completely healthy, well cared for and had more than adequate living conditions.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Thankfully, the former owners of the Dollarvalue Rabbitry, a venture which stemmed from their teenage son’s school project, are finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.  The incident, which is outrageous even to those who embrace overbearing government regulation, has finally come to end.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yesterday, the Dollarhites posted the following announcement:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
“We have a signed settlement with USDA. It isn’t everything we had hoped for because there wasn’t an apology included for all the nightmares we have endured these several months. There is no fine. They stipulated a 2 year ban on obtaining a USDA license, which we never wanted, nor can I ever envision us wanting anything to do with USDA. ….”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The victory comes after lawsuit launched by the couple which was funded in part by donations.  But it was largely due to public outcry which placed pressure on elected representatives that put an end to the madness. Activists and liberty lovers rallied around the Dollarhite family and sent a message to the system.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Conservative blogger, Clay Bowler, author of &lt;a href="http://bungalowbillscw.blogspot.com/"&gt;Bungalow Bill’s Conservative Wisdom &lt;/a&gt;broke the story and it was eventually picked up by several national media outlets. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I had the pleasure of meeting John Dollarhite. He is a good man and certainly undeserving of being treated like a criminal. I am pleased to know that we live in a country still free enough that we have the ability to be our own media, and expose a government abuse of this magnitude.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SelfEvident/~4/GMP5EnlTkdg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/feeds/8101281626897157671/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/12/family-wins-battle-against-usda-wont.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/8101281626897157671?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/8101281626897157671?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SelfEvident/~3/GMP5EnlTkdg/family-wins-battle-against-usda-wont.html" title="Family wins battle against USDA; won’t pay 4 Million in fines for backyard bunnies." /><author><name>Eli Bruton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06769489060353138385</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="21" height="32" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_buB9M83e0/T1D0Pw2AZdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vt5mou4Tj_o/s220/9579027714f49723b114e40.98578546.jpeg" /></author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/12/family-wins-battle-against-usda-wont.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;CEEBQns4eSp7ImA9WhRXEUs.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781842126876455731.post-5379479264403823047</id><published>2011-12-17T14:50:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-12-17T14:57:33.531-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2011-12-17T14:57:33.531-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Newt Gingrich" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Mitt Romney" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="money bomb" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ron Paul" /><title>Ron Paul receives early Christmas gift from supporters</title><content type="html">&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKe5xRGX8gc/Tu0WoZc_oqI/AAAAAAAAACc/AwNA7RQnXS4/s1600/RPCHRISTMAS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKe5xRGX8gc/Tu0WoZc_oqI/AAAAAAAAACc/AwNA7RQnXS4/s200/RPCHRISTMAS.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It was four years ago, that Ron Paul supporters shocked pundits when their “Tea Party 07” event raised more than 6 million dollars in a single day, setting a new record. An anomaly which was mimicked yesterday on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, when his loyal base was able to raise over 3 million dollars in just 24 hours. The event was organized by grassroots supporters and was held at Dr. Paul’s &lt;a href="http://www.ronpaul2012.com"&gt;official campaign website&lt;/a&gt;. While they weren’t able to muster another single day record breaker, the overall totals are much greater than Paul’s last run, and still more was raised in 24 hours than many other candidates raised for entire quarters. If you ask Ron Paul supporters the purpose behind these “Money Bombs” they will tell you it’s not just to fund the campaign.   Ron Paul’s campaign has often been dismissed as a fluke, a few people on the internet with the ability to win online polls.   But when the campaign is able to organize and garner more individual donors than any other candidate, it’s hard to deny that “Ron Paul Revolution” is not going to simply go away. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
This method of breaking through the media barrier didn’t stop with fundraising. Ron Paul supporters in Missouri set another new record by constructing the largest election sign in the nation.  The sign, which can be seen by more than 60,000 commuters per day, is located alongside the major interstate corridor, I-44.    The sign which reads “Ron Paul 2012” is 84 feet long. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d0Iw8KBfE2c/Tu0bTD7wZFI/AAAAAAAAAC0/58FW9fuYX9c/s1600/Big%2BSign%2Bbanner%2Bnight.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="123" width="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d0Iw8KBfE2c/Tu0bTD7wZFI/AAAAAAAAAC0/58FW9fuYX9c/s400/Big%2BSign%2Bbanner%2Bnight.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
More pictures, videos and information available at &lt;a href="http://www.bigronpaulsign.com"&gt;www.bigronpaulsign.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Individuals behind the sign project have been in touch the Guinness Book to certify the record.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ron Paul supporters have shown an uncanny ability to pull of unbelievable feats which highlight the dedicated organization of their movement.  Ron Paul has won more straw polls than all of the other candidates COMBINED.  The latest Iowa  polls show Ron Paul within 1 percent of current front-runner Newt Gingrich. But more interestingly, the polls show Gingrich losing support, and Ron Paul gaining.  Considering Paul’s campaign x-factor of highly organized volunteers, it is highly likely that Ron Paul will win the Iowa Caucuses.  &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ron Paul has been asked repeatedly in interviews if he will support the eventual nominee, in the event he falls short of the goal in the primaries. In addition, Ron Paul has been hammered for famously refusing to pledge not to run third party. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
But with Paul’s ability to pull off upset after upset, maybe it’s time to ask Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and the other candidates if THEY will run third party should Ron Paul win the nomination.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SelfEvident/~4/zrF70H7z68k" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/feeds/5379479264403823047/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/12/it-was-four-years-ago-that-ron-paul.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/5379479264403823047?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/5379479264403823047?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SelfEvident/~3/zrF70H7z68k/it-was-four-years-ago-that-ron-paul.html" title="Ron Paul receives early Christmas gift from supporters" /><author><name>Eli Bruton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06769489060353138385</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="21" height="32" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_buB9M83e0/T1D0Pw2AZdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vt5mou4Tj_o/s220/9579027714f49723b114e40.98578546.jpeg" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKe5xRGX8gc/Tu0WoZc_oqI/AAAAAAAAACc/AwNA7RQnXS4/s72-c/RPCHRISTMAS.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/12/it-was-four-years-ago-that-ron-paul.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;DE8HR30_cSp7ImA9WhRQF08.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781842126876455731.post-5702153606724077235</id><published>2011-12-11T23:41:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-12-12T13:53:56.349-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2011-12-12T13:53:56.349-08:00</app:edited><title>Welcome to the Newt World Order</title><content type="html">&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zgn5wHUjDNU/TuWtAKZ6hII/AAAAAAAAAAY/DsGJvFD7BDQ/s1600/Creating+a+New+Civilization.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" mda="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zgn5wHUjDNU/TuWtAKZ6hII/AAAAAAAAAAY/DsGJvFD7BDQ/s1600/Creating+a+New+Civilization.gif" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Obama has been criticized, and rightfully so, for stating that he wants to “fundamentally transform &lt;place w:st="on"&gt;&lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;America&lt;/country-region&gt;&lt;/place&gt;.”&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Obama has had to answer questions about his past association with radical individuals.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Newt Gingrich has emerged as the Republican frontrunner and is claiming to be the best alternative to Obama for 2012.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;If you are concerned with Obama’s ideology and the beliefs of those who influenced him, you should know some things about Newt Gingrich.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Above is a photo of a book titled “Creating a New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave” which Newt Gingrich wrote the forward to.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This book is a sequel to “The Third Wave” authored by Alvin Toffler. Gingrich put the book on his recommended reading list for his colleague when he became Speaker of the House in the 1990’s.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Toffler’s writings call for abolition of the United States Constitution and the concept of national sovereignty. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Toffler calls for a world government, which will be ruled by technocratic elites.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;There are entire subchapters in the book titled “the sub-elites” and the “super-elites.” &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The Third Wave lays out a society similar to Huxley’s Brave New World, but sprinkled with some Republican lingo. Toffler suggests religion should be replaced with loyalty to government and refers to religion in our current system as “cults.” The book describes a society where abortion, homosexuality, and divorce are not only accepted but idolized.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After all, Toffler proclaims the need to reduce world population which the aforementioned would indeed facilitate.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Gingrich calls Toffler his mentor, which explains Gingrich’s connection with the militant environmental movement.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In 2007, Gingrich wrote this book:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G7pUhr4qqco/TuWtOYPRriI/AAAAAAAAAAg/_ngrE9XXcQo/s1600/Contract+with+the+Earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="200" mda="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G7pUhr4qqco/TuWtOYPRriI/AAAAAAAAAAg/_ngrE9XXcQo/s200/Contract+with+the+Earth.jpg" width="150" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
In Gingrich’s “ A Contract with the Earth” Gingrich describes himself as a “green conservative” and states that environmental issues transcend politics and cannot be dealt with using conventional governance. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 2008, after correspondence with Al Gore, Gingrich starred alongside Nancy Pelosi in a commercial which was paid for by Gore’s tax-free foundation, &lt;city w:st="on"&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;Alliance&lt;/place&gt;&lt;/city&gt; for Climate Protection. The commercial was part of a campaign to promote carbon taxes.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;For those who aren’t familiar, a carbon tax (sometimes called Cap and Trade) is a tax levied on activities which emit carbon dioxide, which the environmental movement claims is toxic to the planet.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The commercial can be seen here:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/qi6n_-wB154/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qi6n_-wB154&amp;fs=1&amp;source=uds" /&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /&gt;&lt;embed width="320" height="266"  src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qi6n_-wB154&amp;fs=1&amp;source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"&gt;This is not the first time Al Gore and Newt Gingrich have teamed up. It was 1993 when Al Gore proclaimed “this is a good deal for our country” on Larry King Live, referring to NAFTA.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Newt Gingrich was instrumental in pushing the trade agreement through Congress. Again in 1994, Gingrich worked to convince his Republican colleagues to get behind another &lt;city w:st="on"&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;Clinton&lt;/place&gt;&lt;/city&gt; administration project, the World Trade Organization.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;It is Gingrich’s support for forming the world governing body that many credit for his anointment as Speaker. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Time has shown us, Ross Perot of all people, was right when he referred to the giant sucking sound that would be heard when we accepted the agreement.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The &lt;place w:st="on"&gt;&lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;U.S.&lt;/country-region&gt;&lt;/place&gt; has lost a startling amount of its manufacturing base due to the policy.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The embrace of world government doesn’t stop here. Newt Gingrich is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations- a organization founded by J.P. Morgan, Paul Warburg and others. The CFR is a group which has consistently pushed for world government and a world currency, while publicly claiming only to facilitate “understanding” of the world. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
During the 1990’s socialized medicine was being entertained under the unofficial title of “Hillary Care.” &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Even then, Gingrich publicly endorsed the concept of an individual mandate (the precedent that the government has authority to force an individual to purchase a product). More recently, the constitutionality of the individual mandate has become the focal point of the debate regarding Obama’s socialized medicine.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Despite the fact that “Obama Care” as it’s come to be called, is wildly unpopular especially amongst conservatives, Gingrich has come out in favor of the individual mandate as recently as May of this year.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Gingrich’s recent surge in presidential primary polls comes as a surprise to many conservatives who were around for his reign in Congress.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;It can be easily argued that Newt has been more closely aligned with the hard-core left than anything conservative.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There are those of us who believe in the guiding principles which our American Revolution was fought for. Those of us&amp;nbsp;from the old school believe what &lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;America&lt;/place&gt;&lt;/country-region&gt; needs is a restoration.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;A restoration of&amp;nbsp;the principles which made us strong, like liberty, limited government, low taxes and private property rights.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;You won’t get that from someone who calls himself a “conservative futurist.”&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
With so many issues as devastatingly anti-American as the aforementioned, it would be futile to go over the long list of events, typical of politicians, that that prove Newt Gingrich is morally bankrupt. So we’ll leave that to someone else.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
You may believe that there is no effort to undermine American sovereignty and her system of constitutional government, and those who believe there is an effort, are conspiracy theorists.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;But the fact of the matter is, Newt Gingrich believes in world government and he has sold his soul to the cause. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SelfEvident/~4/d3YM-F9uu7A" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/feeds/5702153606724077235/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/12/welcome-to-newt-world-order.html#comment-form" title="2 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/5702153606724077235?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/5702153606724077235?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SelfEvident/~3/d3YM-F9uu7A/welcome-to-newt-world-order.html" title="Welcome to the Newt World Order" /><author><name>Eli Bruton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06769489060353138385</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="21" height="32" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_buB9M83e0/T1D0Pw2AZdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vt5mou4Tj_o/s220/9579027714f49723b114e40.98578546.jpeg" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zgn5wHUjDNU/TuWtAKZ6hII/AAAAAAAAAAY/DsGJvFD7BDQ/s72-c/Creating+a+New+Civilization.gif" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>2</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/12/welcome-to-newt-world-order.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;C0UHRn47eyp7ImA9WhRRGUk.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781842126876455731.post-4300884266676688144</id><published>2011-12-03T11:40:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-12-03T11:40:37.003-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2011-12-03T11:40:37.003-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="constitution" /><title>Why the Church should embrace small government</title><content type="html">&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"&gt;You can’t legislate morality.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;That is the tired old argument that liberty minded folks and constitutionalists present to those who favor using the government to enforce their religious views.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But as a person of faith myself, I will do you one better.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;It is true, that is impossible to force people to be moral with the use of government force. Evidence of this fact can be seen everywhere. Alcohol prohibition of the 1920’s was a faith based initiative.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The aim of those in favor of prohibition was to rid society of the evils of alcohol consumption.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As history showed, this plan backfired and organized crime infected society and alcoholism exploded. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
However, the simple fact that that government is not capable of being a moral enforcer is the weakest argument for liberty in my opinion. The real evil of this concept is, when you give the moral authority to the government, it replaces the church in that role.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;By setting this standard, you set the precedent that someone should look at whether or not something is legal when making the decision of whether not it is moral.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;If you’re claiming that the government will protect you from bad behavior, doesn’t that presume that if something is legal, then it must be morally acceptable? &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Recently, a person stated to me, “I agree with the concept of liberty, but I don’t think it should extend to allow immorality.”&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;They went on to apply that to the issue of homosexuality, and advised it should be illegal. Say we give this power to government, along with the money, guns and authorization to use violence that goes along with it.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Do they propose we put a camera in every bedroom?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The idea that it should be the job of the police to monitor everyone’s sexual behavior is far more perverse than the alternative.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Christians make the issue of gay marriage one of their central concerns during elections. They are unaware however, that their embrace of the big government nanny state made them lose this battle a long time ago. It was a long ago that the Church accepted that it should be a responsibility government to sanction marriage. Once again, the Church relinquishes the moral authority. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Society has almost entirely replaced faith with government. It was well-meaning Christians who helped embrace the concept that the government should take the earnings of some to provide for the poor and down trodden. After all, the Bible does command us to help those in need (though we are given free will, which makes the action of giving one of faith rather than compliance).&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;There was a time in &lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;America&lt;/place&gt;&lt;/country-region&gt;, when you needed help, you went to a Church.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Once again, this function has given to government, removing the opportunity to witness to those individuals.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Now, society views (mistakenly) government as the savior and doer of good deeds.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Since the role of welfare has been handed over to the state, and income redistribution is perpetrated on a massive scale, many folks pay more than half their income in taxes.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;If government did not claim rights to this much of our wealth, we might have more to give or to tithe. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Once the image of righteousness is attached to government, it doesn’t take long for people to witness one of the many evils that it engages in, destroying along with it, the perception of Christianity which has placed its stamp of approval on the system.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The notion that government is synonymous with morality has created a monster.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In order to police the behavior of the people it has been necessary to create a leviathan of power, a vast network of laws and the guns, personnel and prisons to enforce it.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;What happens when a force with a different view of morality, or worse, a purely evil force gains control of this mechanism?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;We have seen what happens.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Nazi Germany is an example of a once-moral people embracing the idea of a totalitarian state. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The poor arguments come from both sides in this debate.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Many of those, whom I respect for their faith and devotion, have a view of this relationship I cannot accept. When examining an atrocity or evil committed by the state, they often respond by saying “we live in fallen world.” So, we should attempt to regulate behavior of individuals, but write off institutionalized sin? Other arguments include a reference to how the end times are prophesied or a quote of the verses in Romans 13.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I like to remind them however, that Romans 13 was Hitler’s favorite Bible verse, and that Christians in Nazi Germany believed they were witnessing the end times. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The Church does not often recognize this dangerous relationship with government.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;However, governments have and will always understand it.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The government, now bloated and drunk on the unending power which we have allowed it, views the family and faith as its competitor.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Realizing this reciprocity, whether by nature or by calculated tactic, those in power seek to destroy and dismantle the family and real faith. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It is for these reasons that I would urge people of faith to embrace a more humble role of government.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;One that is more safe for everyone.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;We should recognize that the only true and necessary function of government should be to protect the liberties of all and the only legitimate function of government force is to prevent illegitimate force.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;If we embrace this, we will eliminate Christianity’s most fierce predator.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SelfEvident/~4/Q3AYXQqwttQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/feeds/4300884266676688144/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-church-should-embrace-small.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/4300884266676688144?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/4300884266676688144?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SelfEvident/~3/Q3AYXQqwttQ/why-church-should-embrace-small.html" title="Why the Church should embrace small government" /><author><name>Eli Bruton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06769489060353138385</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="21" height="32" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_buB9M83e0/T1D0Pw2AZdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vt5mou4Tj_o/s220/9579027714f49723b114e40.98578546.jpeg" /></author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-church-should-embrace-small.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;DkUBRXg_fyp7ImA9WhRRFEs.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781842126876455731.post-8587467490666515738</id><published>2011-11-27T23:10:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-11-27T23:10:54.647-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2011-11-27T23:10:54.647-08:00</app:edited><title>Disaster, Economy give rise to Neo-Survivalism</title><content type="html">&lt;div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Traditionally, “survivalism” has been viewed as a practice reserved for cult members and those on the fringes of society. However, there is significant evidence that preparedness and survivalism have gone mainstream.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Advertisements for dehydrated food, water filters and even self-defense weapons can be heard on big time radio shows, including Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I have noticed that preparedness and self-sufficiency items such as canning supplies have made a major resurgence, even in Wal-Mart stores.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
To make sure I hadn’t simply started noticing these things more, I used Google trends to search a few terms.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The graph shows the number of searches inside the &lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;U.S.&lt;/place&gt;&lt;/country-region&gt; for the terms: Survival Food-blue, SHTF (a term used in preparedness circles which stands for “stuff hit the fan” and describes a scenario where the systems we normally rely on break down)-red and Self Sufficiency- yellow.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;All which have seen a significant increase in the last few years, with spikes around the time of the ’08 economic crash.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6U81MjHWCnQ/TtMzYLz9flI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/tDh_peEF5mM/s1600/viz.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" dda="true" height="143" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6U81MjHWCnQ/TtMzYLz9flI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/tDh_peEF5mM/s320/viz.png" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Some claim that these trends can be chalked up to the “recession” and an overly paranoid populace.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;However, there is a rapidly growing segment of society who feels there is more to be concerned about than “uncertain markets.” I tend to agree with them.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Let’s look at some recent reminders of why these hellish scenarios that people are preparing for may not be so far-fetched.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Natural disasters are one of the most obvious and likely scenarios that people feel the need to prepare for.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The television images of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, complete with the Fukashima nuclear disaster, was enough get anyone thinking. Here in the &lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;U.S.&lt;/place&gt;&lt;/country-region&gt; we have experienced droughts, floods and wildfires which can be seen most years. I witnessed first-hand in my area, the destruction of the E-5 tornado that ripped through &lt;place w:st="on"&gt;&lt;city w:st="on"&gt;Joplin&lt;/city&gt;, &lt;state w:st="on"&gt;MO.&lt;/state&gt;&lt;/place&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Every natural disaster, including the &lt;city w:st="on"&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;Joplin&lt;/place&gt;&lt;/city&gt; tornado is a microcosm of what a larger SHTF scenario would look like.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Even thousands of homes that were not destroyed by the tornado suffered loss of power, fires, looting, failure of evacuation routes, and break down of communication systems on a massive scale.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;With these events and others saturating the news, even those who choose to ignore the looming economic crisis have a reason to raise their eyebrows.&lt;br /&gt;
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Although natural disasters give us visual aid, it’s the economy, in my opinion, that has been the main driver for the increased interest in preparedness. It doesn’t take an expert to see some alarming issues with the &lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;U.S.&lt;/place&gt;&lt;/country-region&gt; economy.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The national debt is now in excess of 15,000,000,000,000 – (15 trillion looks impressive written out doesn’t it?) and yet Congress is only debating on how much the budget will increase.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;We are told we are in a recovery and inflation is minimal, yet anyone who has been to the grocery store lately knows, neither is true.&lt;br /&gt;
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Generally speaking, the economic problems can be traced to sovereign debt issues and collapsing derivative schemes. More importantly for our purposes, it is the civil unrest that follows the collapse of these financial systems.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Whether is &lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;Egypt&lt;/country-region&gt;, &lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;Greece&lt;/country-region&gt;, the &lt;country-region w:st="on"&gt;&lt;place w:st="on"&gt;UK&lt;/place&gt;&lt;/country-region&gt; or Occupy Wall Street we’ve learned that times don’t have to get that bad before the rioting and looting begins.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;One of the most outrageous examples of how anything can spark this behavior is the recent riots at &lt;place w:st="on"&gt;&lt;placename w:st="on"&gt;Penn&lt;/placename&gt; &lt;placetype w:st="on"&gt;State&lt;/placetype&gt;&lt;/place&gt;. Despite the fact that the assistant football coach had been allegedly raping children, and there was significant evident that the head coach had helped cover it up, students at &lt;place w:st="on"&gt;&lt;placename w:st="on"&gt;Penn&lt;/placename&gt; &lt;placetype w:st="on"&gt;State&lt;/placetype&gt;&lt;/place&gt; rioted in response to the school’s firing of the head coach.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Video of the students flipping a news van on its side can be seen here: &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=C4I84Gy-cPI"&gt;&lt;span style="color: purple;"&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;v=C4I84Gy-cPI&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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If people will riot over a game, what would they do if they were actually hungry? &lt;br /&gt;
Anyone who has been to a store when a big storm is forecast can testify that the systems we rely on are fragile. Once, I was in a Wal-Mart store when we were forecast to have a large ice storm.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The shelves were mostly bare.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I witnessed two nicely dressed middle aged women get into a physical fight over the last case of bottled water. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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So we’ve learned some of the reasons why preparedness and survivalism have seen an increase. But what is neo-survivalism? The term was arguably coined by Gerald Celente, &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;a devastatingly accurate trends forecaster and recent victim of the MF Global heist. In his 2010 and 2011issues of Trends Journal, Celente describes neo-survivalism as survivalism for the mainstream. It is simple precautions and plans which families and individuals can implement to increase their odds of thriving in uncertain times.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In many ways, necessity has caused this trend.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Whether you’ve decided to pick up some of your favorite foods in bulk, learned to garden or bought some rounds for grandpa’s old shotgun you’ve probably thought about your own survival within the last year.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Somehow, our survival instinct has been branded as kooky and many of life’s basic skills have been removed from our social memory.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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Another interesting twist to this story is the “Zombie Survival” crowd. I know grown men who have a gear and sometimes an entire room or closet designated for zombie survival.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;These men have high-dollar weapons, extra ammunition, MRE’s and the works.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;There are entire websites dedicated to the subject.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I have a theory that it is these men’s instincts that have tipped them off to the real dark cloud on the horizon, rather than purely a childish fantasy. Regardless, this theme has exploded. When did it become LESS weird to prepare for a zombie apocalypse than to take reasonable preparations for real-world situations?&lt;br /&gt;
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Whether you think it’s necessary or not, a growing segment of society has taken an increased interest in their own survival. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SelfEvident/~4/9ei8gYXFr4w" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/feeds/8587467490666515738/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/11/disaster-economy-give-rise-to-neo.html#comment-form" title="1 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/8587467490666515738?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3781842126876455731/posts/default/8587467490666515738?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SelfEvident/~3/9ei8gYXFr4w/disaster-economy-give-rise-to-neo.html" title="Disaster, Economy give rise to Neo-Survivalism" /><author><name>Eli Bruton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06769489060353138385</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="21" height="32" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2_buB9M83e0/T1D0Pw2AZdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vt5mou4Tj_o/s220/9579027714f49723b114e40.98578546.jpeg" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6U81MjHWCnQ/TtMzYLz9flI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/tDh_peEF5mM/s72-c/viz.png" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>1</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://eli-bruton.blogspot.com/2011/11/disaster-economy-give-rise-to-neo.html</feedburner:origLink></entry></feed>
