Words from the SoapBox

There are so many oil spills that happen all over the world that we are no longer shocked by the sight of coastlines inundated with the gooey mess. Even the image of hapless birds and other marine creatures covered in a deadly blanket of oil does not shake us as much as it ought to. Oil spills have a terrible impact on the environment and the true extent of the damage they cause is yet to be fully understood.

What is very obvious at the very outset is that an oil spill kills a lot of marine creatures just by blocking their access to air. An oil slick is huge and unpredictable in its movements and it can strike the coast at any place leaving people unprepared for what will happen next. The beaches get covered with bodies of marine creatures washed ashore because they die of asphyxiation. Animals that manage to avoid the spill are very likely to starve to death because all their natural prey would have also died in the same cataclysm. Even if some birds are saved by humans it is unlikely that they will ever return to their natural habitat.

The damage caused by an oil spill does not end at just that. If the spill area is in the path of animal migration, then a whole new population of animals will get affected by the same slick. Birds and fish are especially susceptible to this as their migration paths have been fixed for millennia and there is no way that they can be induced to change their path. This multiplies the potential devastation and it is very difficult for animal and bird populations to recover from such as blow.

If this was not bad enough, scientists are now conducting studies on the long term impact of oil spills on marine life and are coming up with very frightening results. It is believed with a good deal of certainty that oil spills cause the levels of arsenic in the sea to rise considerably. This will lead to devastating effects all the way up the food chain. Unusually high levels of arsenic can kill of plants that are the base of the food chain. It can also directly kill animals because arsenic is a dangerous toxin.

Arsenic has another dangerous and far reaching effect and it is that it can lead to genetic mutations in animals that are exposed to high levels of it. This can lead to a whole lot of birth defects amongst fish and other marine creatures. The other worrying aspect of it is that this arsenic can be very easily passed on to humans, especially in populations that are dependent on the sea for their food.

The full extent of the negative effect that oil spills have on the marine environment, and by association, on human life, is still to be understood. We should prepare for more bad news from this quarter because the number of accidental oil spills does not seem to be reducing, whether it is from an oil rig or from a ship.

Author Bio: I am basically a graduate at the University of Hamburg and you can get awesome articles and valid information from the ones which I submit specially for you to take a look at. Check out Marine Images, Marine Graphics or Marine Pictures.

I’m a novice when it comes to Civil War history. I get lost in the details of the major military campaigns of the war, much less the smaller skirmishes, and even the geography at times. My interest in the Confederacy relates to my ancestry and my interest in Confederate currency. I had three great grandfathers and three great uncles who served in the war. During a recent meeting of our Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp, Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Harold Knudsen of the US Army was our guest speaker. LTC Knudsen is the author of the book, “General James Longstreet: The Confederacy’s Most Modern General.” I had no idea of who General Longstreet was and, at the time, really didn’t care all that much. After all, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were my heroes. However, Knudsen quickly captured my attention as it became apparent that the legacy of James Longstreet had been swept under the rug by the philosophy of political correctness. I was so enthralled by Knudsen’s lecture; I was the first person at his book table to purchase a hardbound copy of his book.

LTC Knudsen’s book is small and is less than one hundred pages. It is tiny in comparison to the monolithic volumes that exist on Lee and Jackson and other figures. I have in times past started to read some of those exhaustive works on the Civil War and its heroes, but have rarely completed any. It seems I would get bogged down in what would seem to be the endless battles and forever lost in the explanations of force movements, placement of batteries, flanking maneuvers and all the minutiae of military speak. Even though Knudsen is militaryesque in his writing, he is succinct and keeps the reader’s attention. At one point I asked myself, where are the maps? However, I soon realized his descriptions do not require maps. Actually, I believe maps would have been a distraction.

Knudsen makes the case that General Longstreet has not only been misjudged by history, but actually was one of the most successful generals of the war. He subtitles his book “The Confederacy’s Most Modern General” and indeed it appeares Longstreet was. Longstreet broke with the Napoleonic practices of warfare and introduced innovations that had not been seen in nineteenth century warfare. Not until recently has Longstreet’s reputation begun a slow re-examination. In fact, it wasn’t until 1998 that the first monument to honor him was erected at Gettysburg.

James Longstreet was a South Carolina-born West Point graduate who was raised on a Georgia plantation. He received his first combat experience at age twenty four as the US began its war with Mexico. At age forty, he accepted a commission as a Confederate colonel with the Army of Northern Virginia at the start of the Civil War in 1861. Biographers of the post war era stated Longstreet was smart and ambitious but also a “know it all.” They turned against him for rejecting the ideology of the “Lost Cause.” Indeed, Longstreet was not a politically correct person, and according to the author, considered political correctness a form of dishonesty. Longstreet wasn’t interested in political debate and didn’t engage on the causes of the war, but instead excelled in the art of war. His view was simple: once war was decided to be the course of action; his goal was to win it.

It was at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862 that Longstreet carried out an effective and deadly approach to stopping a Union frontal assault. He merged firearm advancements with field modifications that Knudsen claims were fifty years ahead of its time. Longstreet combined discipline, low aiming, and clear lanes of fire, with one to two rifle loaders for each shooter. This produced an increased rate of fire equivalent to a machine gun in World War I.

Knudsen offers a chapter on the “defensive offense” and a chapter on the vindication of Longstreet’s strategic vision. It was the Battle of Chickamauga that gave Longstreet the opportunity to attack and set conditions for decisive victories. It was here that Knudsen believes Longstreet introduced a tactic similar to what the Germans used in their tank warfare in World War II, i.e., the Blitzkrieg theory. Knudsen leaves the reader with the notion that if Longstreet had been in charge of the forces at the Battle of Chickamauga instead of General Braxton Bragg, the Union Army would have been soundly defeated.

Knudsen does not discuss Longstreet’s post military career, other than mentioning his involvement with the passage of military reconstruction bills in Congress. However, that only fueled my curiosity in wanting to do more research on the general. My research uncovered that Longstreet enjoyed a career working for the U.S. Government and he was a convert to the Republican Party. Combining this with his support for reconstruction and some critical comments he wrote about General Robert E. Lee, he inflamed his detractors and distanced himself from his Confederate colleagues.

Portions of Knudsen’s conclusion were steeped with a good bit of military strategic lingo which required me to read it twice to obtain a good comprehension. Knudsen’s background in military command structure and control is very evident as he knows his stuff. However, parts of the final chapter sometimes leave the reader with a feeling he is at a military academy receiving a briefing on military policy and doctrine. All in all, I believe his book is long overdue and it deserves a place on your bookshelf. You won’t be disappointed.

Author Bio: Johnny Kicklighter is a member of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans, Lt. George E. Dixon Camp # 1962, Belleville, Illinois. The Sons of Confederate Veterans honor ancestry through the preservation of history and heritage.

In a period of less than one hundred years, humankind advanced from traveling by horse and buggy to making a trip to its planet’s satellite. Just imagine what the humans might be able to accomplish over the course of the next ten thousand years! That is possibly enough time to develop techniques for long-term human hibernation, to build extremely fast spaceships, and to explore every planet within a thousand light years.

Many years ago the famous physicist Enrico Fermi, when asked about aliens, replied: Where are they? Fermi makes a strong point. Stars in our galaxy range up to ten billion years in age and our own planet has more than four billion years of history. Within such of time scale, ten thousand years is hardly the blink of an eye. Indeed, there were even intelligent humans ten thousand years ago, and what if the alien civilizations have been around for even longer, maybe even for millions of years? Aliens, if they are out, would have visited us long ago, and without any visible signs of alien visitation, Fermi concluded that we are alone.

Fermi’s logic, however, relies on a couple of underlying assumptions that have yet to be proven. First, it assumes that alien technology is no more advanced that what we can imagine for ourselves in the future. Second, it assumes that the alien visitors, once they got here, would want to immediately and directly announce themselves. In other words, it is possible (even likely) that aliens have been here and we just do not know it.

The moral of this story is that the quickest road to finding aliens might come from looking into our past rather than looking into deep space. Every plausible sign of alien contact needs to be investigated. Of course, it is now well-known that the Egyptians did not need alien help to build the pyramids and so forth, but other phenomena are not so easy to explain. Among these stand the mysterious drawings on the desert floor near Nazca, Peru, drawings that were clearly intended to be viewed by an intelligent creature from the sky.

Scientists have determined, via radiocarbon dating of wooden stakes used to mark out the drawings, that the Nazca Lines date from around 600 A.D., but science has made little progress on determining why the people of Nazca drew those lines. Dozens of explanations to counter alien notions have been put forth but none are convincing. Sadly, even the late Carl Sagan, one of the great proponents of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, felt compelled to join the debunking effort, suggesting that they merely worshipped the Moon and made those drawings to entertain their god. I think it unlikely that Sagan, even with his powerful telescopes, found eyes of the Moon and so it is highly doubtful that the people of Nazca, with the naked eye, were able to see eyes on the Moon. As anyone who has studied the ancient philosophers like Plato and Aristotle would know, humankind has acquired a lot of knowledge over the years but we remain no more intelligent than our ancestors.

By no means does evidence of alien visitation have to be exclusively archaeological in nature. If the aliens are far advanced (it seems likely that their technology would exceed the mere ability to travel across the galaxy), they could easily assimilate the basics of the our mentality and absorb our spoken languages. In general, therefore, every major instance of supernatural phenomena in past history needs to be carefully scrutinized for signs of alien involvement. One such instance in post-mythological times was Muhammad’s encounter with the archangel Gabriel, which produced far more than what could be attributed to a hallucination. I’m sure almost everyone in the world (who is not a Muslim) would instantly write Muhammad off as a quack, but let’s be careful. From the other side of the world we see another sign of potential alien contact, namely, the Nazca Lines, arising during Muhammad’s lifetime.

Author Bio: Morten St. George is a native-born American, an ancient astronaut investigator by life-long hobby, author of several alien-related articles, author of the book Incantation of the Law Against Inept Critics, and creator of two ancient astronaut websites: Morten St. George Homepage and Senderos Secretos de la Sabiduria.

Workforce is undoubtedly any business’s most important asset. As the people working for an organization gain experience and skills, their learning graph grows and they become even more important for the organization. With the years of learning, gaining proficiency and working with dedication, both, the company and the employees benefit from each other.

As the employees grow within the organization, they get more vulnerable to various health problems that are caused due to malfunctioning of the body organs due to age. Employee absenteeism rates may increase, as they grow old. Medical benefits and re-imbursements may also increase with their age. There are many more concerns that may come up due to the aging workforce. These issues collectively form a bigger shape and it may not be fruitful for the company to ignore them.

Employee health programs for aging employees become essential in every company at some in time. Conducting regular health screenings helps in maintaining employee health conditions for common benefits to the employees and the employer. There are several health programs owing to the fact that aging employees get more vulnerable to diseases and life threatening conditions such as strokes, heart disease and osteoporosis which may not show any outward symptoms but can be very dangerous and often fatal. If health conditions are left untreated, they can form a bigger and more dangerous shape and a threat of loss to the employee as well as for the company.

Introducing these employee health programs are beneficial for the company because with age, people get tired easily, may develop some malfunctioning body organs, and lead to more insurance and health benefits claims, that they could have preserved for retirement benefits. This poses a great threat to the company and its smooth functioning; after all, employees are its greatest strength.

Following are some benefits that accompany the proactive approach of employee health programs:

Firstly, with proper screening and health programs introduced in the organization, one can notice a downtrend in the demand for medical benefits by the employees. This is a great saving avenue for the company. The employees can enjoy a better and healthy life with these programs.

These programs also help in reducing employee absenteeism rates in organizations. Those employees who are in the best of their health will be regular to the work place. They also remain cheerful and happy throughout the day and do their work with dedication.

In addition, employee health programs also help to spread awareness and safety tips to the employees. This allows them to help themselves for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and balance perfectly between their professional and personal lives.

There is another hidden benefit with these health and screening programs for employees. That is about the feeling of ‘being cared’ in the minds of the employees. When they see that their employer company is taking so many pains for their health, they get motivated on their own internally and work with all their dedication and capacity for the company that loves them so much.

Author Bio: Find out more about how all of this can apply to your company by visiting: Worksite Wellness Central Texas.

In the corporate world, health screening of the employees is a new trend that has been catching up. The employee health programs focus upon the most common health problems that have been in the limelight with the increasing differences in the lifestyles. These health programs cover screenings for diseases such as atherosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, and disorders with the bones such as osteoporosis.

Stroke / Carotid Artery Disease: Caused due to the clogging up of the carotid artery, a stroke can occur in different ways- all leading to physical and psychological disabilities. Stroke affects the activity of the brain. The clogging of arteries especially the carotid artery occurs with the deposition of plaque, which over the years, develops without showing any major symptoms, increasing the risks of a stroke. The corporate employee health programs focus upon early detection of this disease, giving people a chance to avoid this disease.

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm: The aorta holds the key to a healthy body as it is responsible for carrying oxygenated blood to the body. The aorta is designed in a way to absorb the pressure of the flowing blood and still maintaining its shape and flexibility. Aneurysm is the case when the aorta is no longer strong enough to maintain its shape and ceases in its function causing the abdominal aorta to swell, leading to aging of the wall of the aorta. Health programs use the color Doppler ultrasound method as a means to check the dimensions of the artery and keep a track of the artery’s functions.

Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD): This disease crops up with the deposition of plaque in the peripheral regions of the body especially the legs making it hard to walk. The screening includes checking the Ankle- Brachial Index which helps in establishing a ratio between the pressure in the arms and the legs. Clubbed with the Arterial Stiffness Index, this disease can be well managed when detected early.

Atherosclerosis & Cardiovascular Disease: Cardiovascular diseases cover all the health issues brought about by atherosclerosis. The disease includes the deposition of plaque on the walls of the arteries leading to reduced blood flow and thus, reduced oxygen. This results in bringing damage to the important organs, along with the other cardiovascular diseases such as Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, PAD, and stroke. The screening covers the diagnosis of the arterial index which is calculated for finding out the stiffness of the arteries. Like other diseases, when diagnosed and treated early, these diseases give chances of returning back to a normal life.

Osteoporosis & Bone Density: Osteoporosis is one among the leading bone- health problems troubling women and men with varied ratios. When left untreated, it brings about fragile bones which are inclined to fracture easily. The most commonly affected bones include that of the hip, wrist and spines which call for immediate surgery and hospitalization. The screening procedure includes the bone density check and the quantitative ultrasound. Women over 40 are more likely to suffer from this menace which is why an early detection goes a long way to prevent the disease.

The employee health programs cover the aspects of the ever- changing lifestyle helping the employees to focus upon the importance of health bringing about packages which are not only economical but also serve the purpose.

Author Bio: Find out more about the different types of corporate wellness programs by visiting: Employee Health Houston.

What in the world is cash gifting anyway? It is simply an act of giving another individual a declared sum of money as a gift and of course giving it freely without concern or force. It is exactly what the name implies, a cash gift. Through this very simple principle of rendering help to your fellow human, the members of a cash gifting program are quickly recognized and also rewarded for their contribution in the process of giving.

Whoa! Wait a minute, is cash gifting legal?!

Yup, it is very legal According to the United States IRS tax laws. The code states that people can present a gift to another person of up to 11,000 dollars every per calendar year with no tax liability to the giver or receiver of the cash gift, the tax on the cash gift has been paid already.

Thanks to Magnetic Miracle Money (MMM), a cash leveraging home based business opportunity with very helpful and valuable products, you can make good money right in the comfort of your home. You need to know that the products offered by MMM are for not for sale but for your own use. It really comes with every member’s package and it will depend on what they choose.

Whether you choose to believe it or not, this cash generating system is indeed one of the best cash leveraging system for many years to come. MMM is fast replacing the cash gifting activities, if you have no problem with mailing out postcards, then my good man or woman, you are most definitely on your way to making very good money week after week and month after month. MMM is known to a lot of people as the “push button postcard to wealth” because it really works successfully.

MMM is a great home based business program that explains to individuals the way to be extremely successful with their very easy step by step “copy cat” technique.

There is no program such as this that has ever been offered before in the home based field that provides individuals the precise formula and also steps that are very easy to follow. And it is combines with a truly profitable income opportunity that one can start with immediately. The great thing about the MMM program is its simplicity and its use of leverage – that is, achieving top results by using the least amount of effort.

A lot of people have used cash gifting programs as the means to:

-Pay off their debts

-Purchase homes

-Fund weddings

-Pay tuition fees

-Take earned vacation all through the year

-Start up a business

-Supplement their income etc

Lots of people join cash gifting programs for one reason and for one reason only, to make good money at the shortest realistic possible time. The Magnetic Money Miracle products offer individuals the opportunity to be successful almost immediately thanks to its simplicity and of course income structure. This program has given individuals from every walk of life the opportunity to be financially independent with its proven turn key home based business opportunity.

Author Bio: (845)656-0107(Direct) skype:livinglikeeric http://www.crazydoorstepcash.com “Pay The Price Of Success Or Poverty Will Cost You More”

In the month of the December of the 2012, the world we have known and loved will come to an end. There will be massive earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, volcanoes, and the air we breathe will be polluted with the stench of death, right ? No, 2012 will not be much different from 2010 or 2011. Every year we experience devastating events, it could be fires in Orange County, or San Diego County, or Los Angeles County. Landslides from heavy rains. Flooding along the Mississippi, or The Rio Grande, or in Bangladesh, or along the Amazon. Earthquakes in Japan, or Mexico, like the recent Mexicali earthquake. Hurricanes, such as Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Alex or perhaps Tsunami like the one in Thailand. The world is a dangerous place and once you set foot outside your home you never know where you will end.

One minute you could be enjoying the warmth and comfort of your home and family, the next minute you could find yourself on the street bleeding to death. What is certain about 2012 is that a lot of people are using it to exploit other people. It is a means of transferring wealth a little bit at time, enough so to turn a profit, buy boats, luxury cars, and fancy homes. What 2012 is all about is really nothing more than time to replace the old calendar. The old Mayan calendar has reached the end. It is the last page and if happen to have one, it will be time to enlist the help of all your friends and family to lug that giant multi-ton stone calendar out, put it on the recycling curb and get yourself the new one in.

Don’t know if the Mayans still make calendars, but a bit of their culture has been preserved, so maybe they still do.
It is sad to see how much physical, emotional and economic harm the 2012 Mayan end of the world myth has created. It may be that people want change and want to be on top for once. They are hoping that they are prepared for something that will put them on top. Essentially people are often looking for a do over. Lets start a fresh, so I can get ahead of the game. Not much different than wishing we could be 18 again and start life from fresh from the experiences we have learned during our lives.

These myths are often the kind of things that keep your local lawyers busy, whether it be an Orange County personal injury lawyer, a Florida Deputy DA, or perhaps New York attorney general. Essentially opportunity is created from false hopes and these myths and while the opportunists may sell products that are harmless in by selling solutions to non existing problems, others may sell products that go beyond that and may cause bodily injury, mental anguish, or perhaps severe economic harm.

A man once said there is a sucker born every minute and another equally brilliant but perhaps much more benign man said a penny saved is a penny earned. Both applicable to the 2012 replacement of the calendar myth and good advise, perhaps when understood in the right context enough to help guide someone in the right direction.

Author Bio: Free information that could save you big at Orange County Personal Injury Lawyer

When you have a garage attached to your home it can give you a number of advantages, one of these being lower car insurance premiums. Insurance companies give extra points to people who park their vehicle in a secured area over night because it reduces the risk of having the vehicle stolen.

If you don’t already have a garage attached to your home and you would like to have a concrete garage in which to keep your vehicle, then you do need to check whether you will need planning permission to do so. As a general rule you always need planning permission for something that is a permanent structure and becomes part of the house and grounds if you ever decide to sell. You would need to check out the guidelines from your local authority as there are variations from one area to another and even one property to another.

One of the easiest ways to add a concrete garage to your home is to go for a prefabricated or readymade design. Getting a pre-constructed concrete building may be considerably cheaper than having one built from scratch and you may not need planning permission for a readymade type. Local authorities differ in how they interpret what is and what is not a permanent structure that requires planning permission. The only thing that you can do under these circumstances is to check out the rules on planning permission from your own local authority.

The laws on planning permission can be a bit confusing. As a general rule the law regards pre-cast concrete garages as readymade and therefore temporary structures that do not need planning permission. There are, however a number of things to consider before you approach your local authority to ask whether or not you need approval for building a concrete garage. You should get several quotes for having your new building installed, don’t go with the first one that you find.

Ready built concrete garages come in different shapes and sizes and these factors can affect whether or not you need planning permission to build it in the first instance. As a general rule you won’t need to gain consent if the building does not stick out beyond the front of your house and providing it is at least a metre’s distance from your existing house wall. If the design you have in mind is more than three metres in height and needs to be attached to the wall of your home, then you will need to obtain consent to do so. Councils do vary in their interpretations of these general rules, especially with regard to readymade concrete garages and you need to check this out.

If your local authority says that you will need to seek approval from the relevant authority, even though you intend to have a pre-fabricated garage, then you should be prepared for it to be some time before you can actually have it installed. A lot depends on what else your local council has on the table and how much priority they give to planning permission requests for a garage.

Author Bio: Vincent Rogers is a freelance writer who recommends Compton Buildings, the UK’s leading manufacturer of sectional, prefab, prefabricated and concrete garages and sheds who also offer a range of garage doors, windows and security options.

This Fourth of July was very hot, forcing me in doors for most of the weekend. After watching hours of History Channel specials on the American Revolution, the Continental Congress, the Constitution, and other great stuff I had some thoughts I wanted to share. The HBO special John Adams was also on, which I highly recommend to everyone.

The origin of the United States of America came in the form of an idea. Americans were and are not an ethnic group. We possess countless ethnicities among our citizens. At the time of the Founding, Americans were not a politically unified entity but a fractured group of thirteen independent colonies. We were not annexed or conquered by a foreign power and forced into union. We have never had our own king or emperor to unite us in fealty to one divine ruler. The thirteen colonies united around an idea codified in the Declaration of Independence.

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.

This country is perhaps the only one that was founded upon an idea, a brilliant and revolutionary idea. We “decided” to become a country, after much deliberation and debate. It was not forced on any of the colonies. The United States of America exists because of the people of those thirteen colonies decided to dissolve their bond with the mother country, and form a new political band among one another. It was one that had never existed before. They worked to institute a new government that protected the unalienable rights of its people. It was the first bottom-up creation of a country. The Constitution would institute that new government and give structure to the ideals laid out by the Declaration of Independence.

The bond we share is not the single solitary decision among a specific group of men two hundred and thirty-four years ago. We have reaffirmed this unity countless times. At various periods in our history, we have been fractious. It is the natural consequence of individual freedom that we openly and at times fervently disagree and debate one another. Yet today, over two centuries later we are still one nation and there is no sentiment among the people to change that.

The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are two pieces of parchment that have kept us united. Today, some point to the flaws of these documents to argue for transformational change and outright rejection of certain provisions. The Founding Fathers were fully aware that the Constitution had flaws. To remedy those flaws, they installed the amendment process in Article V. Our government has used this process to remedy the flaws of slavery, gender inequality, unequal protection of laws, and voting rights for men and women that are eligible for military service. In other words, the people, through the Constitution itself, have improved upon the original document of the late 18th and early 19th century.

Today, progressive leaders do not want to use the Constitutional amendment process. In fact, the progressives have intentionally circumvented the Constitution with the concept of the “living document” and through trite criticisms of the “old Constitution” that made slavery legal. The reason for this is simple, the States and the people do not share their ideology. Less than a third of Americans regard themselves as “liberal”. Progressives will never be able to amend the Constitution with their ideals.

Any person advocating change from the existing system can be considered a “progressive” but that does not necessarily mean their ideas will actually lead to political, social or economic progress of any kind. Progressive movements are prone to continuing past their achieved goals and driving either the movement or the country off a cliff. As Americans we must guard against this by remaining informed, vigilant, and hold our government accountable to their actions.

Liberalism is a term applied to most progressive policies when in reality conservatives strongly support a number of principles of classical liberalism. Modern liberalism has warped the ideology into policies of strong centralized government and centralized administration of all laws. These policies are contradictory to classical liberalism and in fact can be better described as “statist” or strong preference toward the power of the state.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and President Barack Obama are more statists than liberals. Every single policy they have promoted and enacted has dramatically increased the power of the central government to the detriment of the states and the people. Recent polls and surveys clearly show the people oppose this, but why do the states seem to consent to these actions?

Democratic governors and legislatures often support statism and are more than happy to pass responsibility and authority to the central government in exchange for federal funds, political favors, earmark projects, and promises of jobs at the federal level when their tenure in state government has ended. It is no coincidence that the states facing the greatest fiscal crises and have the greatest need for federal bailouts are states where the Democratic Party dominates the state government. States such as California, Illinois, and New York are waiting for their colleagues at the federal level to bail them out, more than happy to pass the buck.

These events are happening before our eyes and it is up to the American people to reverse this trend and remove the statists from power. We allowed ourselves to be seduced by the powerful and charismatic speeches of Barack Obama and the belief that President George W. Bush was responsible for all the country’s ailments. Had we done our homework and looked into the details of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Government agenda, we would’ve never voted them into power in 2008. It is a mistake we can rectify in 2010.

Republics do not have a reputation for longevity. Free states have a tendency to collapse with time for several reasons. Sometimes it is a foreign invader, sometimes a tyrant seizes power, and sometimes it is the apathy and complacency of the people. It is not sufficient for a people to be given freedom and liberty. Freedom and liberty must be constantly protected and defended from the ambitions of would-be tyrants, greedy politicians, and misguided partisans. The people must be vigilant and active in its protection. We must do more to protect the source of our freedom, the Constitution. To do so we must support leaders that will defend it and oppose those who wish to circumvent it. Restore America’s Legacy aspires to do exactly that. The hope is that we will succeed in November and we can put this period of statism and ineptitude behind us.

Author Bio: J. Wesley Fox is the Chairman of Restore America’s Legacy PAC. He is a recent graduate of DePaul University College of Law and has been active in local and national politics for several years. He currently lives in New Jersey after growing up in the Chicago suburbs. www.restoreamericaslegacy.com

Many gardeners today have made the switch from chemical-based to organic green lawn care products. There are many reasons to why you should switch to organic lawn care. Switching is not difficult to do at all; it’s really just a matter of making up your mind. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits to you by doing so.

Good to the Environment

Switching to organic lawn care fertilizer is one of the most beneficial reasons to switch. It is much more environmentally friendly. Chemical-based products are damaging your plants and the environment every time you use them. Organic lawn care fertilizers protect the environment and help keep the world you live in healthy and clean.

Good on your Budget

Why would you use something that is: a. not good for the environment and b. more expensive? Going green is more cost-effective to you! For the most part, organic lawn care products are the same price if not cheaper than their chemical-based competition. Over a period of time as your lawn care adds up you will see how much you are saving yourself.

You are also improving your soil structure by using organic. You are just juicing up your lawn with unsustainable top growth through synthetic fertilizers. A lawn is only as good as its soil underneath it. So, get your soil tested. The results will provide you with answers to what the soil needs, so that you can put money into the materials necessary. You will be able to develop a fertilization plan around what the soil is deficient in. There are many organic fertilizers out there that provide many of the same nutrients as chemical fertilizers. It will save you money in the long run.

Good and Safe

Organic lawn care is safer for you to use. When using chemical fertilizers you have to be careful and worry about spilling it or having your children or pets around it. But, organic fertilizers are completely natural and you will never have to worry about the damage chemicals could do.

Less Waste

One of the biggest problems with chemical lawn fertilizers is their “kill everything” approach. They will often kill things like unwanted dandelions and ants, but they will also kill helpful organisms such as earthworms, bees and beneficial microorganisms. If your lawn was made of up 50% weeds, then you would still poison the soil in the remaining 50% with unnecessary chemicals. With organic lawn fertilizers, there is no concern for toxic runoffs.

Bio-Degradable

Man-made chemicals are much harder to dissipate, and often form more potent by-products in the process. Chemicals react with our planet in very unnatural ways; therefore organic products are better for the earth.
Organic fertilizers are widely available and are not hard to find in stores so this is nothing to have to worry about if switching to organic lawn care.

If you would like more information on how to implement an organic lawn care google natural lawn fertilizers for a variety of natural organic lawn care tips and strategies.

Author Bio: Eric Winston is a lawn expert with BUR-HAN Lawn Care, a Vancouver organic lawn care company. For more great tips please visit their website at http://www.bur-han.ca