oh zee TV: Former Secret Service Agent: Obama is NOT God

oh zee TV: Former Secret Service Agent: Obama is NOT God: He welcomes former Secret Service agent and New York police officer Daniel Bongino, who is running for the Maryland Senate. http://www.b...

Rand Paul: New Personhood Law Will End Abortion ‘Once And For All’

Help Rand Paul get this new law passed, and overturn Roe v. Wade (1973)

Ron Paul: "Nightmare" (speech)

Ron Paul is the one man that changed my entire perception of our government. "We The People" have become gradually less educated, to the point we are accepting a Holocaust to happen against ourselves. I know that the world can initiate the necessary actions to make our situation greater overall, if the was a way to get Ron Paul on a broadcast to everyone in the world at one time. To everyone who actually sits quietly and listens, he will make a lasting impression with sincerity, and coviction.

I want to in the same path, to defending our constitution, not the constitution of today, with over 14,000 pages of jargon, and political hogwash. If restored the original, we would all live at a much higher standard, simply due to the fact that we didn't have the CIA, FBI, USGS, FEMA, DHS, FCC, FDA, FDIC, DOC, DOE, all being fed by the FEDERAL Reserve.

Sandy refugees say life in tent city feels like prison

Reuters/Reuters - Ashley Sabol, 21, of Seaside Heights, New Jersey looks over her accommodations at Tent City in Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey November 9. 2012. (REUTERS/Michelle Conlin)


By Michelle Conlin | Reuters

OCEANPORT, New Jersey (Reuters) - It is hard to sleep at night inside the tent city at Oceanport, New Jersey. A few hundred Superstorm Sandy refugees have been living here since Wednesday - a muddy camp that is a sprawling anomaly amidst Mercedes Benz dealerships and country clubs in this town near the state's devastated coastal region.

Inside the giant billowy white tents, the massive klieg lights glare down from the ceiling all night long. The air is loud with the buzz of generators pumping out power. The post-storm housing — a refugee camp on the grounds of the Monmouth Park racetrack - is in lockdown, with security guards at every door, including the showers.

No one is allowed to go anywhere without showing their I.D. Even to use the bathroom, "you have to show your badge," said Amber Decamp, a 22-year-old whose rental was washed away in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

The mini city has no cigarettes, no books, no magazines, no board games, no TVs, and no newspapers or radios. On Friday night, in front of the mess hall, which was serving fried chicken and out-of-the-box, just-add-water potatoes, a child was dancing and dancing — to nothing. "We're starting to lose it," said Decamp. "But we have nowhere else to go."

The tent city is emblematic of the crisis left by Sandy: the tens of thousands of people who have no place to live. Some are without power and heat - even if the utilities have their power back, their electrics and heating systems in their homes may have been destroyed by the floods. They are the short-termers. Others have a longer-term problem - their houses were made completely uninhabitable by flooding, ripped apart, or burned to the ground. And they pose a far more daunting challenge.

To read the rest of this article click here!

Topless photos of Kate draw deep royal dismay - CBS News

Topless photos of Kate draw deep royal dismay - CBS News: "Topless photos of Kate draw deep royal dismay comments124 inShare 2More Photo released by Malaysia's Information Department show's U.K.'s Duchess of Cambridge delivering speech Thursday  (AP) PARIS — Photos apparently of Prince William's wife, Kate, sunbathing topless in the south of France were published in a French magazine Friday, and an aide to the royal couple said they were "hugely saddened" to learn about the images. The royal family said it was considering legal action for a "grotesque and totally unjustifiable" invasion of privacy in the same country where William's mother died while fleeing paparazzi."

'via Blog this'

Poems to my Mother on my 27th Birthday. Thank You!

Love. Your. Mother.





What is it about nature that draws us in and erases our mental boundaries?

Fading sorbet-colored skies at dusk, ruminations under the brilliancy of the Milky Way or the fresh scent of spring flowers, break down the idea of singularity and allow for a moment of melting; an opportunity for a true meeting between the earth—the mother that bore us—and this human mind.

It might be an interesting experience to delve into the fundamental source of our existence and reach toward the very mother of our being; we could learn a great deal about ourselves while looking into the heart of life.

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”

~ John Muir

And yet, today, it seems her children work incessantly and unknowingly against her, slicing down forests and polluting her life-giving seas.

When I look around, staring out at the expansive sprawl of Los Angeles or watching the smog build up over San Jose in the afternoon, I often wonder how we got here; seven and a half billion people, the sixth great extinction event in the history of life on earth, human-induced global warming, all on this grain of sand, swirling in the midst of infinity.

I look to the religious traditions—the archetypal creation myths coursing through the veins of modern human society—and hear about some place called heaven, yet I can’t imagine one more profound than a redwood grove or a black sand beach (the velvet texture of sand grains oozing up between our toes only to have that experience meld into gazing upon the majesty of swaying monoliths).

When our eyes our opened, it becomes difficult to deny the beauty of it all; the way ocean waves greet the shoreline and how these coastal zones bleed inland to intertwine with desert landscapes and towering mountains, to form a habitat that nourishes us, moment after moment.

How do we, as a species, remain out of touch with this reality?

Is it modernity? Is it the idea that our home is not heaven and that we will all go to a carnival in the sky? Is it that many of us don’t believe that we are the descendants of apes, only a few million years removed?

Or is it the rampant nature of our complex minds? In the end, it is something for you to look into and examine carefully.

If we keep looking away, if we continue to stay out of touch with our vital connection to the mother that bore us, we will miss the heaven that is here, all around us and in our ignorance, we will destroy it.

There is so much we can do.

Joining an organization and giving our time or currency is one idea, while lobbying the government to be more proactive is another.

But, fundamentally, there is something far more important we can all do first: we can rekindle that vital, pulsating connection we have to our mother.

This mind, when quieted and flayed out, is the way into a deep relationship with life.

The more people who can ignite it through consciously wading into nature and realizing the vibrancy of life and our place within the interconnected dynamic of vastness, the faster we can save the real, tangible heaven.




“Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.”

~ W.H. Auden, September 1, 1939



Be a steward for the earth and cherish life.



~

Editor: Bryonie Wise

Like elephant green on Facebook.

photo by: DonkeyHotey

oh zee TV: Audit the FED is one step closer to being reality

oh zee TV: Audit the FED is one step closer to being reality

Olympic Victory: IOC Gets Americans Asking for Rule Change

Olympic Victory: IOC Gets Americans Asking for Rule Change: LONDON – American athletes risked disqualification by leading a revolt against the International Olympic Committee on Monday and its draco...

SAY WHAT YOU FEEL, REGARDLESS OF OTHERS FEELINGS

California medical marijuana operation targeted by feds

Article from L.A. Times
By Joe Mozingo, Los Angeles Times

The federal government is moving to shut down the nation's largest and highest-profile medical marijuana dispensary operation, filing papers to seize properties in Oakland and San Jose where Harborside Health Center does business.

Copies of the federal Complaint for Forfeiture were taped to the front doors of the two dispensaries Tuesday, alleging that they were "operating in violation of federal law."

Medical marijuana advocates, as well as some state and local officials, decried the action, saying it hurts patients in legitimate need of the drug and breaks repeated promises by President Obama's Justice Department that it was targeting only operations near schools and parks or otherwise in violation of the state's laws.

The U.S. attorney for Northern California, Melinda Haag, said she now found "the need to consider actions regarding marijuana superstores such as Harborside" because they presented unique opportunities for abuse.

Harborside was co-founded by outspoken marijuana activist Steve DeAngelo in 2006 and was the subject of a reality show, "Weed Wars," on the Discovery Channel last year. While other dispensary operators have sought a low profile since California's four U.S. attorneys began cracking down on the industry in October, DeAngelo has consistently railed against the federal intervention, advocated for better state regulations and become a leader in the movement.

"People are not going to stop using cannabis, they're just going to buy it in the illegal marketplace … on the streets," he said Wednesday in an interview. "Why are federal prosecutors using their discretion to do something so profoundly destructive?"

DeAngelo said that he would fight the Justice Department "openly and in public" and that he would resist any effort by his landlords to evict the dispensaries in response to the federal complaint — which targeted the property owners, not the tenants.

While all marijuana use and sales are illegal under federal law, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder told the House Judiciary Committee last month that federal agents were targeting only those large-scale growers and dispensaries that have "come up with ways in which they are taking advantage of these state laws, and going beyond that which the states have authorized."

In a statement released late Wednesday, Haag suggested "superstores such as Harborside" fit that bill.

"The larger the operation, the greater the likelihood that there will be abuse of the state's medical marijuana laws, and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a demonstrated medical need."

She noted that Harborside claims to have "over 108,000 customers."

California's medical marijuana laws are nebulous in regard to how the drug is to be distributed and courts have yet to settle the matter. Still, marijuana activists often hail Harborside as a model of professionalism and compliance. Its main facility in Oakland is one of four independent enterprises permitted and strictly regulated by the city.

"If Harborside is not in compliance with state law, no one is," said DeAngelo, 54.

The Oakland dispensary was awarded its permit in 2006 after the city put out a request for proposals. DeAngelo says it does about $22 million in annual sales, and the San Jose shop does about $8 million. Together they pay about $3 million in city and state sales taxes, and employ more than 100 people.

The state Board of Equalization estimates it collects $58 million to $105 million in annual sales tax from dispensaries.

"If we continue to drive everything underground, we're going to create an unsafe environment for patients who need this product … and lose revenue," board member Betty Yee said.

This week's move against Harborside further highlights the continuing conflict between local and federal officials over the drug.

"The city of Oakland has developed a system to assure such distribution occurs according to state law in a fair and orderly process," Nancy Nadel, member of the Oakland City Council and vice mayor of the city, said in a statement. "It is most unjust to our citizen patients and distributors who have followed local guidelines to be harassed and treated as criminals by federal officials."

Medical marijuana advocates said the Obama administration has repeatedly reneged on its promises that it would not meddle with the state laws.

"This is the most obvious and significant step by the federal government in attacking completely law-abiding dispensaries," said Kris Hermes, spokesman for the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access. "It becomes more untenable for them to say they are just going after certain facilities and not just undermining the state's marijuana laws."

What Is the Children Learning? CA Pushes Gay History Into State Curriculum

Never mind that homosexuality is an extremely divisive issue, in California classrooms it is not enough merely to tolerate—teachers are required to advocate.

SB 48, the so-called gay history bill, was signed by California's Governor Jerry Brown with the ironic statement that "history must be honest". Yet this law explicitly prohibits honesty in the classroom.

It was pushed through California's radical legislature supposedly as a further weapon in the war on bullying. But the law says nothing about bullying. Instead it mandates that all social science classes, starting at kindergarten, add curriculum that is positive toward lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual accomplishments in the social sciences, including history. But even more, it outlaws curriculum that "reflects adversely" on these same groups. SB 48 also prohibits a parent opting out of this radical curriculum.

So what harm is there in only saying positive things about a group of people and avoiding saying anything bad? In a social science class, this could present a rather distorted view of the world. Recently a group of gay activists was invited to the White House. Some media outlets found it newsworthy when a few of those activists posed for pictures while making rude finger gestures at a portrait of Ronald Reagan. In California, post SB48, a newspaper story recounting this ugly display would be banned in any school current events class.

Even faithfully liberal voices like the Los Angeles Times criticized the misguided law by noting, "Real history is richer and more complicated than feel good depictions."

A broad coalition is backing a ballot initiative called the CLASS Act. The Children Learning Accurate Social Science Act demands that social science curriculum include individuals based on their contributions to society, not their sexual orientation. And it goes further to require that no person is left out of books or instruction based solely on their sexual preference.

We need your help! There is less than a week left to collect the necessary signatures to put the CLASS Act on the California ballot. Supporters of the CLASS Act need signatures and additional funding to get their message out.

Download and sign a petition today in order to place the CLASS Act on the ballot and let the people decide if this is what they want their children taught in the California schools.

It is easy to see why Californians might take the time to help with this cause, but why would those who live outside the Golden State care? California is not Las Vegas. What happens here rarely stays here. The wonderful and the worst are exported equally to the other 49 states and the world. Defeat SB 48 in California now or look for it in a school near you.

How SB 48 will Impact your Children

Donate to Stop SB 48 from spreading to your state.

Yes, I want to donate $4.80 to Stop SB 48 with the CLASS Act

Yes, I want to donate $48.00 to Stop SB 48 with the CLASS Act

Yes, I want to donate $480.00 to Stop SB 48 with the CLASS Act

The Different Choices We Face

Each of us has two distinct choices to make about what we
will do with our lives. The first choice we can make is to
be less than we have the capacity to be. To earn less. To
have less. To read less and think less. To try less and
discipline ourselves less.

These are the choices that lead to an empty life. These are
the choices that, once made, lead to a life of constant
apprehension instead of a life of wondrous anticipation.

And the second choice? To do it all! To become all that we
can possibly be. All of us have the choice.

To do or not to do. To be or not to be. To be all or to be
less or to be nothing at all!

Like the tree, it would be a worthy challenge for us all to
stretch upward and outward to the full measure of our
capabilities. Why not do all that we can, every moment that
we can, the best that we can, for as long as we can?

Our ultimate life objective should be to create as much as
our talent and ability and desire will permit. To settle for
doing less than we could do my people, is to fail.

Results are the best measurement of human progress. Not
conversation. Not explanation. Not justification. Results!
And if our results are less than our potential suggests that
they should be, then we must strive to become more today
than we were the day before.

by Christabelle Ogechi

Dear Rand Paul, WTF were you thinking?

Dear Rand Paul,

Your Dad knows he can still win the nomination, right? We have spent the last Seven months getting elected as delegates all over this country to win at the Convention... That has been the plan this entire time. What changed?? They told you both something!! Well regardless of what you, your dad, or the biased mainstream media tells us, rest assured we will Nominate your father at the convention!

If you think your cute, because you may get the VP spot along the campaign, you better look over the man you'll be standing next to, and what he represents. Greed, Money, and Banker Buddy Bail-outs. Now ask yourself if you can side with him on any of his platform topics? The Answer is NO! Do not committ political suicide, if you haven't already. You're Father has earned your endorsement by raising you and being your idol still to this day, not Mitt!

Rand this is probably the worst decision you will ever make in your entire life. You have endorsed the most flip-flopping Presidential Candidate Americans have ever seen. He wrote Obama-care, and now wants to get rid of it? How can you stand behind him even for a moment, without him trying to play you for a fool.... YOU CAN'T!

I know the globalists have done everything possible to keep your dad out of the oval office, and you're okay with that?? Stand up for the cause you two have begun, or we'll finish it by adding you both to the list of puppets. This country is sickening, I got cheated out of the mayor's seat here in Stockton, CA. But I will continue to get by any and all of the walls standing in my way! Not by changing direction, but by overcoming them either by hurdling, or breaking them down! You have no sympathy for US Citizens, because you are now running with the devil! Not the thing to do, being christian and all, please rescind your endorsement, and put it towards your father's movement, because it is now too big to be stopped.

Best wishes,
Greg Pitsch (oh zee)
Leader of the "Free World"

Alex Jones takes on Frustrated Paul Supporters about Rand's endorsement

CA: Pushing welfare recipients to work

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown wants to shift the safety net protecting California's most vulnerable residents pressured by a $16 billion budget deficit, the governor is proposing a major overhaul of the state's welfare-to-work program with the strategy of slashing people's benefits to motivate them to get jobs faster.

The move, if approved by the state Legislature as part of the 2012-13 budget package, would save $880 million, but beyond the savings, analysts say it represents a shift in the philosophy of how the Golden State helps its neediest residents.

"It's a reversal of the state's historic commitment to these families and children," said Scott Graves, senior policy analyst with the California Budget Project. "It's a very significant change."

California is the national leader in welfare recipients. About 3.8 percent of state residents were on welfare in 2010, the highest percentage in the country. In fact, California houses about a third of the nation's welfare recipients, while only housing one-eighth of the national population.

Most of the recipients, however, are children — more than three-quarters of the 1.5 million in the welfare-to-work program CalWORKs, which stands for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids. The rest are mostly single mothers who must work or participate in job training and related activities to receive cash assistance.

The state has traditionally held a relatively generous attitude toward welfare. For instance, CalWORKs gives cash grants to children even when their parents are ineligible for benefits for various reasons, such as being illegal immigrants, receiving disability, or failing to abide by the program's rules. Only three other states — Indiana, Oregon and Arizona — have such an expansive policy.

California also allows parents to receive job services and cash grants for up to four years. Before last year, the limit was 60 months.

The policies have made the program an expensive budget line — the state spends $2.9 billion on CalWORKs and related programs — and an easy target for lawmakers looking for costs to trim with little political fallout. In years past, lawmakers have proposed doing away with benefits to children with ineligible parents and even slashing the whole CalWORKs program.

The state's budget woes have given renewed impetus to whittle away at CalWORKs. Last year, the maximum five-year benefit period shrunk to four years and monthly grants were diminished 8 percent. A family of three currently receives $638 a month, less than the rate in 1988.

For the next fiscal year, the governor is proposing more sweeping cutbacks, including a 27 percent cut in cash assistance to children with ineligible parents and further slashing the time limit for full benefits from four years to two years.

Other rule changes would restrict benefits to mothers of younger children and families earning poverty-level wages and increase sanctions on those who violate program terms.

"We felt the program was losing its focus of welfare-to-work," said Todd Bland, deputy director the state Department of Social Services' welfare-to-work division. "The reason we wanted to refocus is because of the very difficult budget environment."

The changes also come at a time when California is appealing federal penalties of $160 million because it failed to move enough welfare recipients to private sector jobs of at least 30 hours a week in 2008 and 2009, a requirement to receive federal money that helps pay for CalWORKs. Many California recipients are given part-time, publicly subsidized jobs so they get work experience.

CalWORKs recipients say getting a regular job that pays enough to support a family is not easy as lawmakers think.

Sarah Smith, a 31-year-old divorced mother of four in Los Angeles County, had been a stay-at-home mother since the age of 18, only working sporadically between having children. She was forced to turn to CalWORKs a year ago after her husband stopped paying child support. She received $850 a month in cash aid and $700 in food stamps.

She's also been able to make herself more marketable through the job services the program offers. She's beefed up her clerical skills, self-confidence and resume with a minimum-wage, temporary job as a customer service assistant with the county Department of Social Services, but the job ends this month.
She's hoping she now will be able to find a permanent job. If not, she will try for a subsidized job program where the county pays half her salary and the private employer pays the rest.

Policymakers don't realize that people need a chance to rebuild their lives, Smith said, adding that CalWORKs aid is far from enough to live on.
"It's still a juggling act," she said. "People are trying to get jobs. No one really wants to be on welfare. Most people are trying to get off it."

Nearly half of CalWORKs families move off the program within two years, but about 18 percent are long-term. Those families are often have very young children and headed by parents who lack a high school diploma or job skills, or have a family member with a disability, according to a report by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Brown's reforms aim to get parents off welfare before they become entrenched. The plan calls for parents to be hired or employable within two years of entering the program by providing job training and counseling, mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence support services, and child care. They must either work or participate in those activities to get the cash aid.

After two years, the services and some money would be cut off if they do not find a private sector job — a move that would affect about 130,000 parents, according to the state Legislative Analyst's Office.

Those parents could still receive a much-reduced cash benefit for child maintenance. A parent with two children would receive $375 a month, a drop of $263.

If parents do find employment, they could still be eligible to receive services such as child care for another two years and some cash aid if their income remains below a certain level.

Social service providers say it's overly optimistic to expect the private sector to absorb tens of thousands of people, many with minimal job skills, with California's unemployment rate the second highest in the nation at 10.9 percent in April. Only 11 percent of CalWORKs parents had private sector jobs of at least 30 hours week in 2009, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

"CalWORKs recipients are living on a shoestring as it is," said Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California. "This is going to plunge many children into poverty and likely increase homelessness. You're shredding the safety net at a time when it's needed most."

Republicans say it's about time California pushed harder to get people to self-sufficiency, and say more is needed. Halving the time limit is a good move, but continuing to give parents cash for children with no strings attached defeats the purpose of welfare-to-work.

"It removes the responsibility from the parent. You're taking away the accountability from the oversight of the program," said Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, vice chairman of the Assembly Human Services Committee.

Instead of focusing on half measures of welfare reform, the governor should concentrate on job-stimulation strategies so people have a place to go, he said. "If there's no regulatory reform, he's wasting his time," Jones said.

The debate over CalWORKs' mission is likely to continue, especially if state revenues continue to fall short, said Caroline Danielson, policy fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

"The interest is in reorienting the program toward work," she said.

Contact the reporter http://twitter.com/ChristinaHoag.

DailyHoroscope.com | Daily horoscopes written by Rick Levine & Jeff Jawer

DailyHoroscope.com | Daily horoscopes written by Rick Levine & Jeff Jawer

She believes her creative writing, its all fiction

By Theresa Seiger - tseiger@raycommedia.com
(Email her and tell her that she should give up on reporting B.S., the americans are awakening, and she will be on the wrong side of this battle.)

(RNN) - After months of hard campaigning, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) is admitting what we all knew: he will not be the Republican nominee for president.

After announcing last month that he would be suspending "active campaigning," Paul admitted to supporters in an email Wednesday that he's not likely to make it onto the Republican ticket. (I have been getting his campaign's weekly e-newsletter since last September, I guess I didn't get this one?)

Paul has amassed 137 delegates, according to the Wall Street Journal - far below the 1,144 needed to secure the nomination. Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney has 1,480 delegates.

"While this total is not enough to win the nomination, it puts us in a tremendous position to grow our movement and shape the future of the GOP!" he said in the email.

Still, he was optimistic about his delegate count, writing that the number of supporters he gained "shatters the predictions of the pundits and talking heads, and shows the seriousness of our movement."

Paul announced May 14 that he would continue to court delegates, but his campaigning was basically over. He told supporters that he didn't have the money to continue chasing delegates while Romney seemed to have the nomination in his pocket.

Paul is the last of six other GOP candidates to admit defeat in the race to the White House. Most recently, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich withdrew from the race, citing a lack of voter support.

Paul ran on a platform of "limited government" which included ending the Federal Reserve and limiting U.S. involvement in foreign affairs, as well as lowering taxes and protecting American borders.

Paul currently represents the 14th congressional district in Texas, which includes Galveston.

Paul first served in Congress from 1976 to 1977 after winning a special election; then again from 1979 to 1985. He has held his current seat in congress since 1997.

This presidential election marked his third run for the White House, once as a Libertarian and the other two times as a Republican. However, he did not file to run for Congress again in the coming year, choosing to focus on his presidential bid.

Paul grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from Gettysburg College and the Duke University School of Medicine. During the 1960s, Paul served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force.

Paul moved to Texas in 1968 to practice obstetrics and gynecology.

Paul has five children and 18 grandchildren. His son, Howard "Rand" Paul, is the junior senator from Kentucky.

Copyright 2012 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.

SEN. RAND PAUL DID NOT ENDORSE MITT ROMNEY!

FOR SOME ODD REASON, WHILE READING THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE I COULDN'T STOP LAUGHING... THIS IS THE BIGGEST HOAX SO FAR IN THIS ELECTION CYCLE. FIRST OF ALL, RAND PAUL WOULD NEVER ENDORSE MITT ROMNEY, BECAUSE HIS FATHER IS STILL IN THE RACE. SECONDLY, HE ISN'T EVEN A REPUBLICAN, HE BELONGS TO THE "TEA PARTY." HOW MUCH MORE OBVIOUS CAN IT GET? THEY ARE LYING TO YOU EVERY CHANCE THEY GET!!

RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT 2012
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday night, but he made clear he'd prefer someone else.

"My first choice had always been my father. I campaigned for him when I was 11-years-old. He's still my first pick," the tea party favorite told Fox News' Sean Hannity. "But now that the nominating process is over, tonight I'm happy to announce that I'm going to be supporting Gov. Mitt Romney."

Paul's father, Texas congressman Ron Paul, suspended his active campaign operation last month, but is still pursuing delegates so he can have an influence at the GOP nominating convention in August.

Paul noted in the Fox interview that Romney's father, George, also fell short in a presidential bid in 1968.

Romney said in a statement on his campaign website that he was "honored" by the endorsement and called Rand Paul "a leading voice in the effort to scale back the size and reach of government and promote liberty."

Where is Stockton's Harry Potter?

Where is Stockton's Harry Potter?

You know, the boy wizard who defeated the evil Lord Voldemort and set things right in the wizarding world. That is exactly what Stockton needs, someone to fight this vicious financial crisis.

Need parallels?

This is what Rufus Scrimgeour (pronounced scrim-ger), the Minister of Magic in the Harry Potter series, said to the people in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows": "These are dark times, there is no denying. Our world has perhaps faced no greater threat than it does today. But I say this to our citizenry: We, ever your servants, will continue to defend your liberty and repel the forces that seek to take it from you! Your Ministry remains, strong."

Well, aside from the reference to "ministry" for government, that statement very well could apply to Stockton.

This is in part what Mayor Ann Johnston said during her State of the City speech a few weeks ago: "This has been a difficult year for all of us with tough decisions. The City Council has made extremely tough decisions, and we're going to see even tougher decisions ahead of us. The fixes to our financial issues will not be pretty, but we're determined to come out of this with the city on a solid financial foundation that will move Stockton forward."

When Scrimgeour made his speech, Voldemort's minions had infiltrated the government and were creating chaos in the world. The threat was active and, in that world created by J.K. Rowling, very real.

In our world, the threat is the city's financial crisis. The recession has hit Stockton hard, there is no denying, particularly housing in an area dependent on real estate-generated revenue.

For example, a bank-owned house in my neighborhood is listed at $115,000, about 70 percent less than what it would have sold for six or seven years ago.

Worse, it seems whenever the city has a plan or economic engine to kick-start a comeback, things sputter and fall to the wayside.

Where is a good wizard when you need one?

Contact Donald W. Blount at (209) 546-8251 or dblount@recordnet.com. The Record senior editors' blog is available at recordnet.com/editorblog.

I GUESS THEY FORGOT THAT I AM "THE WIZARD OF O.Z." Let's take this city back!!

To finish reading this article click here.

Reality Check - Liberty Revolution Taking Over GOP

Ron Paul is Collecting a lot of Delegates