What's A Trillion Dollars??

All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...

A billion dollars...

A hundred billion dollars...

Eight hundred billion dollars...

One TRILLION dollars...

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I'd take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slighty fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...

Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It's pretty surprising.

Go ahead...

Scroll down...

Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

Notice those pallets are double stacked.
...and remember those are $100 bills.

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars"... that's what they're talking about.

India To Obama: We're Not Interested In Capping Carbon Emissions

Hillary could not persuade the Indian Government to cap their carbon emissions like US democrats are pushing on American businesses.
No dice.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, and India's Junior Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, share a light moment upon the former's arrival at the ITC hotel chain's Green Building in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Sunday, July 19, 2009. (AP)

India's environment minister told visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the country is not interested in capping carbon emissions.
Bloomberg reported, via LGF:

India will resist pressure from the Obama administration to accept legally binding caps on its carbon emissions, the South Asian nation’s environment minister told visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have been among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions,” Jairam Ramesh said at a meeting today with Clinton in Gurgaon near New Delhi, according to a statement he issued to reporters. “And as if this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours.”

Clinton is on a state visit to India meant to showcase trade and security ties and seek common ground on climate change and arms control. India has said it will reject any new treaty to limit global warming that makes it reduce emissions because that will undermine the country’s energy consumption, transportation and food security.

Related... It was reported this weekend that House Democratic Leaders bought off key Blue Dogs the night before the cap and trade vote.

The potential cost of the democrat's cap and trade policy is enormous. It will likely cost $700 to $1,400 dollars per family per year. The Department of Energy estimated that a similar bill, S. 2191, the Warner-Lieberman cap-and-trade proposal, will increase the cost of coal for power generation by between 161 percent and 413 percent. Human Events reported that the DOE estimated GDP losses (see chart) over the 21-year period they forecast, at between $444 billion and $1.308 trillion. There are estimates that the bill could increase unemployment by 2.7 percent or about 4 million jobs.
No wonder a developing country like India is not interested.

Does This Scare You? It Should!

A group committed to establishing an international Islamic empire and reportedly linked to Al Qaeda is stepping up its Western recruitment efforts by holding its first official conference in the U.S. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global Sunni network with reported ties to confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Al Qaeda in Iraq's onetime leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It has operated discreetly in the U.S. for decades. Yet an inside source tells me that Iran already has a nuclear weapon and also have a way of delivering it. The IAEA knows this and has known it for a long time yet insists on keeping it secret. When will they let the world know?

The CIA Has A New Mole

,Here we sit, still listening to the Messiah as though he is accomplishing something. As nothing he has done so far has been successful he continues to blame things on the Bush administration. I suppose we may as well get use to it, as nothing he does will be successful. He has purposely set this country up to fail. And now his morons in congress are once again attacking the CIA, trying to protect the wicked witch, Nancy Pelosi over a program which was never even made operational. This congress CANNOT be trusted. They have their puppet in the CIA now in the form of the director Leon Panetta. Obama's own personal mole. Anything done within this organization now will be tattled to congress which in turn will inform the New York Times who will, of course broadcast it to the world including our enemies. Once the truth is known, this will be egg in the face of Democrats. This congress and administration have destroyed our national security beyond belief. But pay attention now. The hand is quicker than the eye! While they have the American public focused on Cheney and the CIA, they're trying to sneak the climate and health care bill through congress with our attention elsewhere. Smoke and mirrors is the motus operandi of the democratic congress. In a way, it is a positive thing that Obama is setting the precedence of investigating previous administrations of wrong doing as he himself will find his own administration being investigated for treason and securities fraud in the future. They are violating the constitution of the United States. Unfortunately, only those Americans who truly care enough about this country to know what is in our constitution will know what a blatant violation has been done.

Please be honest with yourself. Other than the words "WE THE PEOPLE" do you have any idea of what our constitution says?

The Declaration of Independence - We The People Have The Power For Change

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Unemployment Rates Since 1999

Here is a chart listing the unemployment rates by month since 1999. What happened in January 2009? Oh yeah, the chosen one started his slick wheeling and dealing.

Common Sense

I think I know who you are. After September 11th you thought our country had changed for the better. But the months that followed proved otherwise. We began to divide ourselves and the partisan bickering that was absent from blood lines and church service started all over again. You sometimes argue with friends about politics, not because you are a political activist, but because you think the issues are actually important. You have strong beliefs, but you also have an open mind and a warm heart. You try to do the right thing every day. You work hard, you always try to do your best and you play by the rules. You have credit cards, but you can make the payments. You have a home, but with a loan you can afford. Maybe you bought a flat screen television that wasn’t exactly a necessity, but you’ve never been reckless. You don’t have much in savings and your retirement plans have lost a significant amount of money. You may go to church, but most weekends, you don’t really want to—you’d rather sleep in or play with your kids. Besides, it bothers you that people cut each other off in the parking lot right after the service. You have children and, like all families, you also have your share of problems—but you’re making it. You constantly hope that your kids don’t notice you’re bluffing as a parent most of the time.

You don’t feel like there’s enough time in the day anymore to just be a family. Everyone is always going in six different directions. You know material things don’t matter, but you wonder why it makes you feel like a bad parent if your kids don’t have certain shoes, the newest video games, or aren’t signed-up for five different sports teams. You didn’t have anywhere near the kind of stuff that today’s kids have and yet you look back on your childhood with a sense of nostalgia and pride. If your family was poor, you didn’t know it. You turn on the television at the end of a long, tiring day and watch as faceless analysts in left/right boxes argue about things done by bankers that, in retrospect, seem implausible. You’re worried about what’s happening to our economy, but you’re more worried about what it means for your family—and you’re not sure what to do. You don’t hate people who are different than you, but you stopped expressing opinions on sensitive issues a long time ago because you don’t want to be called a racist, bigot or homophobe if you stand by your values and principles. You believe in treating people justly and honestly but there is a difference between right and wrong. You go to bed exhausted almost every night, knowing you have to get up the next day and do it all over again. You thought that the politicians you supported and defended cared about the issues you do. Then you began to realize that you were wrong—they only care about themselves and their careers. You feel used and betrayed. You don’t think it’s right that while you worked hard, lived prudently, and spent wisely, those who did the opposite are now being bailed out at your expense. You realize now that self-serving politicians and bankers built our financial system on a house of cards that, despite the cheery promises and rosy forecasts, is now collapsing. Now our government, the instigator of our problems, is telling everyone that they have to start sacrificing. Don’t they understand that I already have been, you think. You weren’t the one spending too much or living on money you didn’t have. You made decisions rooted in logic while others made decisions rooted in greed—yet now everyone must pay equally? Yet, despite all of that, you’re still willing to sacrifice more because you want America to succeed. But you demand a plan that’s based on common sense and that actually has a chance to work. You’ve called your congressman a few times in the past, but they don’t listen. Now you just scream at the television. It’s about as effective as the phone calls. The light from the television flickers on the darkened room walls - people at tea parties across the nation fill the screen. You don’t know how to feel. You want to do something, but that isn’t you. You’re not an activist. You don’t make signs or chant: USA! USA! USA! So, you turn-off your light and go to sleep. Every night it seems you are faced with a choice: do you unplug or do you speak out? Both of those options make you uncomfortable so you do neither…and your frustration continues to grow.

Send A Pink Slip To Your Congressman!

Many of our congressmen and women have totally lost touch with reality and the American people. Click the title above and send them a pink slip offered by moveoutcongress.org

It's time for them to enjoy the unemployment that they helped to create!

No Respect!

President Obama gets the respect that he deserves from Russian President Dmitry Medvede. He won't even look at him while shaking his hand. He and the rest of the world have come to find that "words are cheap!"

Happy 4th Of July - God Bless America