Attago, Riley! I love it! It was so much fun for Jeanie and I to watch you
young girls play softball! You are fine young athletes!
Sam
_________________________________________________________
.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fast-pitch softball (also known as fast pitch or fastpitch without the hyphen or "fastball") is a form of softball played commonly by women and men, though coed fast-pitch leagues also exist. The International Softball Federation (ISF) is the international governing body of softball. The ISF recognizes three pitching styles: fast pitch, "modified" fast pitch, and slow pitch. Fast pitch is considered the most competitive form of softball. It is the form of softball that was played at the Olympic Games in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. The fast pitch style is also used in college softball and international competition.
Pitchers throw the ball with an underhand motion at speeds up to 75 miles per hour (121 km/h) for women and up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) for men. Considering the distance between the pitcher and batter (40 to 43 feet (12 to 13 m)), the equivalent batter reaction time in baseball would be to a 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) pitch from 60 feet (18 m). An allstar major league baseball team once played an exhibition game against Eddie Feigner of the barnstorming softball team "The King and His Court". The only major league player to make contact with a pitch was Rod Carew who hit a foul ball. The game was cut short after four innings due to the major league players embarrassment and the exhibitions never happened again. The reason for this is that a fastball can move up or down in a strike zone and baseball players are only used to seeing a ball that goes down or straight and therefore they will have diffeculties hitting a ball that rises.
Source
.Description above from the Wikipedia article Fastpitch softball, licensed under CC-BY-SA full list of contributors here. Community Pages are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, anyone associated with the topic.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
USA Today feature article "The Fading Middle Class"
USATODAY- 10-26-2011
See the front page feature article in today's USA Today I have been thinking of writing about 'everybody digging in my pile' for quite a while. Congress, business, whatever and whenever! They want what the USA's middle class has accumulated. We are very aware of the myriad taxes. When it accumulates to 100 %, there is nothing, nada, zilch left. we are getting there in this republic and they all keep coming after more. I endorse the most helpful flat tax that can be devised. We seniors have had no COLA's under this pusa.
Personally, it is hard to keep up! We had to have a new air conditioner in the house. My very reliable Prius is in the shop for $500 repairs. I pay for my "hobby" of writing books. There is literally too much to mention and I am sure that I am one of the more fortunate ones.
We have a pusa who rose from who knows where, who is circumventing our constitution wherever possible. The president and his ilk are cheerleading the left to rise up and riot against us of the Tea Party ilk. He just dreads losing his power for the plethora of mistakes he has made. A good lawyer should find him culpable of felonious mistakes.
Yet, I believe that the greater One is in control and that should last for us of the latter ilk!
See the front page feature article in today's USA Today I have been thinking of writing about 'everybody digging in my pile' for quite a while. Congress, business, whatever and whenever! They want what the USA's middle class has accumulated. We are very aware of the myriad taxes. When it accumulates to 100 %, there is nothing, nada, zilch left. we are getting there in this republic and they all keep coming after more. I endorse the most helpful flat tax that can be devised. We seniors have had no COLA's under this pusa.
Personally, it is hard to keep up! We had to have a new air conditioner in the house. My very reliable Prius is in the shop for $500 repairs. I pay for my "hobby" of writing books. There is literally too much to mention and I am sure that I am one of the more fortunate ones.
We have a pusa who rose from who knows where, who is circumventing our constitution wherever possible. The president and his ilk are cheerleading the left to rise up and riot against us of the Tea Party ilk. He just dreads losing his power for the plethora of mistakes he has made. A good lawyer should find him culpable of felonious mistakes.
Yet, I believe that the greater One is in control and that should last for us of the latter ilk!
Moose Hunting camp ... Thanks Clay!
Hunt Camp
Four guys have been going to the same moose camp for many years. Two days before the group is to leave, Ron's wife puts her foot down and tells him he isn't going.
Ron's friends are very upset that he can't go, but what can they do.
Two days later the three get to the camping site
only to find Ron sitting there with a tent set up, firewood gathered, and dinner cooking on the fire.
"Dang man, how long you been here, and how did you talk your wife into letting you go?"
"Well, I've been here since yesterday."
"Yesterday evening, I was sitting in my chair at home and my wife came up behind me and put her hands over my eyes and said. 'guess Who?' I pulled her hands off, and she was wearing a brand new nightie.
She took my hand and pulled me to our bedroom. The room had candles and rose petals all over. On the bed she had handcuffs, and ropes!
She told me to tie and cuff her to the bed, and I did. And then she said, "Do whatever you want."
So, here I am.
Man Without a Country ... Google Wikipedia
The Man Without a CountryFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)
Not to be confused with A Man Without a Country.
For other uses, see The Man Without a Country (disambiguation).
"The Man Without a Country" is a short story by American writer Edward Everett Hale, first published anonymously in The Atlantic in December 1863.[1] It is the story of American Army lieutenant Philip Nolan, who renounces his country during a trial for treason and is consequently sentenced to spend the rest of his days at sea without so much as a word of news about the United States. Though the story is set in the early 19th century, it is an allegory about the upheaval of the American Civil War and was meant to promote the Union cause.
Contents
1 Plot summary
2 Effectiveness
3 Background
4 Adaptations
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Plot summaryThe protagonist is a young United States Army lieutenant, Philip Nolan, who develops a friendship with the visiting Aaron Burr. When Burr is tried for treason (historically this occurred in 1807), Nolan is tried as an accomplice. During his testimony, he bitterly renounces his nation, angrily shouting, "Damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!" The judge, on convicting him, icily grants him his wish: he is to spend the rest of his life aboard United States Navy warships, in exile, with no right ever again to set foot on U.S. soil, and with explicit orders that no one shall ever mention his country to him again.
The sentence is carried out to the letter. For the rest of his life, Nolan is transported from ship to ship, living out his life as a prisoner on the high seas, never once allowed back in a home port. None of the sailors in whose custody Nolan remains are allowed to speak to him about the U.S., and his newspapers are censored. Nolan is unrepentant at first, but over the years becomes sadder and wiser, and desperate for news. One day, as he is being transferred to another ship, he beseeches a young sailor never to make the same mistake that he had: "Remember, boy, that behind all these men... behind officers and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother. Stand by her, boy, as you would stand by your mother...!"
Deprived of a homeland, Nolan slowly and painfully learns the true worth of his country. He misses it more than his friends or family, more than art or music or love or nature. Without it, he is nothing. Dying, he shows his room to an officer named Danforth; it is "a little shrine" of patriotism. The Stars and Stripes are draped around a picture of George Washington. Over his bed, Nolan has painted an eagle, with lightning "blazing from his beak" and claws grasping the globe. At the foot of his bed is a dated map of the old territories. Nolan smiles, "Here, you see, I have a country!" Nolan dies content after Danforth finally tells him all that has happened to the U.S. since his sentence was imposed. Nolan asks him to have them bury him in the sea and have a gravestone placed in memory of him, at Fort Adams, Mississippi, or at New Orleans.
[edit] EffectivenessAs Hale had intended, the short story created substantial support for the US as a country, identifying the priority of the Union over the individual states, and thus pressuring readers to view Southern secession negatively. In so doing, he convinced many individuals to join, or at least support the North's effort to, as Abraham Lincoln put it, "preserve the Union."
In the story, Hale skillfully convinced many readers that Nolan was an actual figure, thus increasing the story's effectiveness as a piece of patriotic literature. He achieved this realism through verisimilitude, creating an "air" of reality. By frequently mentioning specific dates and places and using numerous contemporary references, Hale grounds his story in a firm foundation of history and makes the story seem like a record of actual events. Furthermore, Hale makes the narrator, Frederick Ingham, seem a strongly reliable individual. Throughout the text, Ingham often acknowledges his mistakes and identifies possible lapses in his memory. For this reason, readers believe Ingham's sense of honesty, and automatically deem him a trustworthy and, to some extent, an accurate narrator. Finally, Hale uses a plain style, maintaining an unstilted and almost colloquial feel. Thus he makes the story easy to relate to, and the patriotic moral accessible to readers.
[edit] BackgroundThough "The Man Without a Country" is considered historical fiction, like many tales within the genre, it is based on historical events.[citation needed] Philip Nolan was an actual historical figure on whom the tale is loosely based. "The Nolan House" is an antebellum structure located in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, near the community of Pickneyville where Phillip Nolan once lived. There is also a Mississippi State Historical marker entitled "The Man Without a Country" at nearby Fort Adams where Nolan served in the U.S. Army under General James Wilkinson. Mention is also made of Nolan in the museum at the Historic Jefferson College State Historic site near Natchez in Adams County, where Aaron Burr and his co-conspirators were first brought to trial.
In 1863, Democratic Congressman and Copperhead leader Clement Vallandigham was arrested by Major General Ambrose Burnside, who was in charge of the Department of the Ohio, for making seditious speeches against the war. Lincoln was faced with a dilemma due to the fact that the Congressman was doing what Burnside said he was doing, but that Burnside's actions made the Congressman a possible political martyr. Vallandigham spent a number of months in Toronto, Canada West before sneaking back into the U.S. It is believed that this incident led Hale to write the story, and late in it Vallandigham is mentioned with several contemporary Confederates in the story.
This bit of American history was documented by Robert Ripley in his Believe it or Not comic strip some time after 1931 (Believe it or Not Omnibus) but before 1942 (Series 2 or Series 3). Ripley used existing documentation of the case—so it is possible that the US National Archive system may have been consulted in the process.
It is unclear whether this fictional story influenced the case of the officer.
Edward Everett Hale penned the book on Mackinac Island at Mission House.[citation needed]
[edit] Adaptations"The Man Without a Country" has been adapted for film several times, starting in 1917 with The Man Without a Country starring Florence La Badie, a 1918 film My Own United States and another Man Without a Country starring John Litel and Gloria Holden and released by Warner Brothers in 1937.
In 1973, a made-for-television movie titled The Man Without a Country was directed by Delbert Mann and written by Sidney Carroll. It featured Cliff Robertson as Philip Nolan, Beau Bridges as Frederick Ingham, Peter Strauss as Arthur Danforth, Robert Ryan as Lt. Cmdr. Vaughan, Walter Abel as Col. A.B. Morgan, Geoffrey Holder as one of the slaves on a slave ship, Shepperd Strudwick as the Secretary of the Navy, John Cullum as Aaron Burr and Patricia Elliott as Mrs. Graff.
There were other movies made in 1925 and another slated for distribution in 2008.
An opera of the story, also entitled The Man Without a Country, was composed by Walter Damrosch and premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1937.
A four-part dramatization was recorded in June 1947 and issued by Decca on two coupled 12" 78 rpm discs. Bing Crosby provided the narration and Frank Lovejoy portrayed Philip Nolan.
On May 8, 1977, a three-act radio play was broadcast as an episode of famous radio man Himan Brown's The General Mills Radio Adventure Theater. The venerable Russell Horton performed the part of Nolan. Tom Bosley, Howard Cunningham of TV's Happy Days, was host of the series.
[edit] References1.^ "The Atlantic Monthly Volume 0012 Issue 73 (December 1863)". digital.library.cornell.edu. 2009. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABK2934-0012-89. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
John R. Adams, Edward Everett Hale (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1977),
Melinda Lawson; "'A Profound National Devotion': The Civil War Union Leagues and the Construction of a New National Patriotism." Civil War History . Volume: 48. Issue: 4. : 2002. Pp 338+.
[edit] External linksOriginal 1863 magazine
The Man Without a Country and Other Tales at Project Gutenberg
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)
Not to be confused with A Man Without a Country.
For other uses, see The Man Without a Country (disambiguation).
"The Man Without a Country" is a short story by American writer Edward Everett Hale, first published anonymously in The Atlantic in December 1863.[1] It is the story of American Army lieutenant Philip Nolan, who renounces his country during a trial for treason and is consequently sentenced to spend the rest of his days at sea without so much as a word of news about the United States. Though the story is set in the early 19th century, it is an allegory about the upheaval of the American Civil War and was meant to promote the Union cause.
Contents
1 Plot summary
2 Effectiveness
3 Background
4 Adaptations
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Plot summaryThe protagonist is a young United States Army lieutenant, Philip Nolan, who develops a friendship with the visiting Aaron Burr. When Burr is tried for treason (historically this occurred in 1807), Nolan is tried as an accomplice. During his testimony, he bitterly renounces his nation, angrily shouting, "Damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!" The judge, on convicting him, icily grants him his wish: he is to spend the rest of his life aboard United States Navy warships, in exile, with no right ever again to set foot on U.S. soil, and with explicit orders that no one shall ever mention his country to him again.
The sentence is carried out to the letter. For the rest of his life, Nolan is transported from ship to ship, living out his life as a prisoner on the high seas, never once allowed back in a home port. None of the sailors in whose custody Nolan remains are allowed to speak to him about the U.S., and his newspapers are censored. Nolan is unrepentant at first, but over the years becomes sadder and wiser, and desperate for news. One day, as he is being transferred to another ship, he beseeches a young sailor never to make the same mistake that he had: "Remember, boy, that behind all these men... behind officers and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother. Stand by her, boy, as you would stand by your mother...!"
Deprived of a homeland, Nolan slowly and painfully learns the true worth of his country. He misses it more than his friends or family, more than art or music or love or nature. Without it, he is nothing. Dying, he shows his room to an officer named Danforth; it is "a little shrine" of patriotism. The Stars and Stripes are draped around a picture of George Washington. Over his bed, Nolan has painted an eagle, with lightning "blazing from his beak" and claws grasping the globe. At the foot of his bed is a dated map of the old territories. Nolan smiles, "Here, you see, I have a country!" Nolan dies content after Danforth finally tells him all that has happened to the U.S. since his sentence was imposed. Nolan asks him to have them bury him in the sea and have a gravestone placed in memory of him, at Fort Adams, Mississippi, or at New Orleans.
[edit] EffectivenessAs Hale had intended, the short story created substantial support for the US as a country, identifying the priority of the Union over the individual states, and thus pressuring readers to view Southern secession negatively. In so doing, he convinced many individuals to join, or at least support the North's effort to, as Abraham Lincoln put it, "preserve the Union."
In the story, Hale skillfully convinced many readers that Nolan was an actual figure, thus increasing the story's effectiveness as a piece of patriotic literature. He achieved this realism through verisimilitude, creating an "air" of reality. By frequently mentioning specific dates and places and using numerous contemporary references, Hale grounds his story in a firm foundation of history and makes the story seem like a record of actual events. Furthermore, Hale makes the narrator, Frederick Ingham, seem a strongly reliable individual. Throughout the text, Ingham often acknowledges his mistakes and identifies possible lapses in his memory. For this reason, readers believe Ingham's sense of honesty, and automatically deem him a trustworthy and, to some extent, an accurate narrator. Finally, Hale uses a plain style, maintaining an unstilted and almost colloquial feel. Thus he makes the story easy to relate to, and the patriotic moral accessible to readers.
[edit] BackgroundThough "The Man Without a Country" is considered historical fiction, like many tales within the genre, it is based on historical events.[citation needed] Philip Nolan was an actual historical figure on whom the tale is loosely based. "The Nolan House" is an antebellum structure located in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, near the community of Pickneyville where Phillip Nolan once lived. There is also a Mississippi State Historical marker entitled "The Man Without a Country" at nearby Fort Adams where Nolan served in the U.S. Army under General James Wilkinson. Mention is also made of Nolan in the museum at the Historic Jefferson College State Historic site near Natchez in Adams County, where Aaron Burr and his co-conspirators were first brought to trial.
In 1863, Democratic Congressman and Copperhead leader Clement Vallandigham was arrested by Major General Ambrose Burnside, who was in charge of the Department of the Ohio, for making seditious speeches against the war. Lincoln was faced with a dilemma due to the fact that the Congressman was doing what Burnside said he was doing, but that Burnside's actions made the Congressman a possible political martyr. Vallandigham spent a number of months in Toronto, Canada West before sneaking back into the U.S. It is believed that this incident led Hale to write the story, and late in it Vallandigham is mentioned with several contemporary Confederates in the story.
This bit of American history was documented by Robert Ripley in his Believe it or Not comic strip some time after 1931 (Believe it or Not Omnibus) but before 1942 (Series 2 or Series 3). Ripley used existing documentation of the case—so it is possible that the US National Archive system may have been consulted in the process.
It is unclear whether this fictional story influenced the case of the officer.
Edward Everett Hale penned the book on Mackinac Island at Mission House.[citation needed]
[edit] Adaptations"The Man Without a Country" has been adapted for film several times, starting in 1917 with The Man Without a Country starring Florence La Badie, a 1918 film My Own United States and another Man Without a Country starring John Litel and Gloria Holden and released by Warner Brothers in 1937.
In 1973, a made-for-television movie titled The Man Without a Country was directed by Delbert Mann and written by Sidney Carroll. It featured Cliff Robertson as Philip Nolan, Beau Bridges as Frederick Ingham, Peter Strauss as Arthur Danforth, Robert Ryan as Lt. Cmdr. Vaughan, Walter Abel as Col. A.B. Morgan, Geoffrey Holder as one of the slaves on a slave ship, Shepperd Strudwick as the Secretary of the Navy, John Cullum as Aaron Burr and Patricia Elliott as Mrs. Graff.
There were other movies made in 1925 and another slated for distribution in 2008.
An opera of the story, also entitled The Man Without a Country, was composed by Walter Damrosch and premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1937.
A four-part dramatization was recorded in June 1947 and issued by Decca on two coupled 12" 78 rpm discs. Bing Crosby provided the narration and Frank Lovejoy portrayed Philip Nolan.
On May 8, 1977, a three-act radio play was broadcast as an episode of famous radio man Himan Brown's The General Mills Radio Adventure Theater. The venerable Russell Horton performed the part of Nolan. Tom Bosley, Howard Cunningham of TV's Happy Days, was host of the series.
[edit] References1.^ "The Atlantic Monthly Volume 0012 Issue 73 (December 1863)". digital.library.cornell.edu. 2009. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABK2934-0012-89. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
John R. Adams, Edward Everett Hale (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1977),
Melinda Lawson; "'A Profound National Devotion': The Civil War Union Leagues and the Construction of a New National Patriotism." Civil War History . Volume: 48. Issue: 4. : 2002. Pp 338+.
[edit] External linksOriginal 1863 magazine
The Man Without a Country and Other Tales at Project Gutenberg
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Cain more like us blacks than obama- Newsmax.com
There are so many qualified blacks for President of the United States. I know a few from my hometown of Portsmouth, Ohio. It is a crying shame that our first black was this "created" front called barack hussein obama. He is with the islamicists and he is acting against America going forward to greater things.
SamKat
____________________________________________________________
Thomas Sowell: Washington's Meddling Wrecking Economy
Tuesday, 25 Oct 2011 05:56 PM
By Jim Meyers and Ashley Martella
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Email Us
Print
Forward Article 9
inShare inShare9 Economist and author Thomas Sowell tells Newsmax that banks and businesses are sitting on piles of cash because they’re concerned about “what new bright idea” Washington might come up with to “mess up” their investments.
Sowell, a senior fellow on public policy at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, says he would like to see a constitutional amendment barring politicians from intervening in the economy “under any circumstances.”
Story continues below.
Sowell is also a syndicated columnist and winner of the National Humanities Award. His latest book, “The Thomas Sowell Reader,” is a compilation of his writings on various issues over the past three decades.
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, Sowell was asked who is to blame for the dire state of the American economy.
“Practically everybody, and I think particularly the Washington politicians,” he declares.
“The crucial fact that brought this on was the failure of people with mortgages to pay those mortgages, and that in turn was due to politicians forcing lending institutions to lower their lending standards. That brought in lots of people who would not have been given mortgages before, who then failed to live up to their mortgages — which is exactly why the standards were higher before the politicians intervened.
“There’s a great pressure on people in Washington to ‘do something,’ and that pressure has led to many things that have been counterproductive.
“Right now the problem is not that there isn’t money in the economy. The problem is that the money is sitting idle. Banks and businesses have had record-breaking amounts of cash sitting around and are not doing anything with it. And they’re very prudent to be hesitant. They don’t know what new bright idea will occur in Washington over the next year that will mess up any investment that they make.”
Americans should not accept that unemployment will remain high regardless of who controls Washington, Sowell says.
“Not at all. Unemployment can go up and it can come down depending in many cases on what kind of policies the government follows.
“Even after the great stock market crash of 1929, the unemployment rate did not reach double digits in any of the 12 months that followed. It reached double digits after the politicians started intervening.”
His prescription for fixing the economy: “I would love to have a constitutional amendment that says politicians are not allowed to intervene in the economy under any circumstances. I think there would be a boom following that.”
Sowell, an African-American, recently commented on the Fox Business Network that presidential candidate Herman Cain “is certainly one of us far more so than Barack Obama.”
He tells Newsmax: “Barack Obama was raised in Hawaii, where there is very little black population, and went to an expensive private school. What Herman Cain did was much more typical of most of the blacks in the country.”
Sowell says Cain’s 9-9-9 tax reform plan would probably have repercussions, like any tax plan, but they “would not be nearly as bad as those we are currently having — and might be a significant improvement.”
Asked if he’d like to see the IRS abolished, Sowell responds: “Yes. The country lived for over 100 years before there was an IRS.”
He also was asked whether the Occupy Wall Street movement is right in blaming big banks for the nation’s income inequality.
“No. I’m always fascinated when people attribute very high incomes to greed. Greed tells you what you want. If you have high income it’s because other people are willing to pay it. And the other people who are willing to pay it very often in recent years have been the politicians who are spending the taxpayers’ money.”
Editor's Note: To get Thomas Sowell's latest book, “The Thomas Sowell Reader” — Click Here Now.
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
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Print
Forward Article Special Links: ALERT: What Your Tongue Says About Your Thyroid. See the Photo.
Are Your Prostate Issues an Inevitable Part of Aging?
Suzanne Somers Found the Doctors Curing Cancer. Watch the Video.
Sarah Palin’s America By Heart Only $1. Hurry Offer Ends Soon.
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SamKat
____________________________________________________________
Thomas Sowell: Washington's Meddling Wrecking Economy
Tuesday, 25 Oct 2011 05:56 PM
By Jim Meyers and Ashley Martella
More ways to share... Mixx Stumbled LinkedIn Vine Buzzflash Reddit Delicious Newstrust Technocrati Share: More . . . A A
Email Us
Forward Article 9
inShare inShare9 Economist and author Thomas Sowell tells Newsmax that banks and businesses are sitting on piles of cash because they’re concerned about “what new bright idea” Washington might come up with to “mess up” their investments.
Sowell, a senior fellow on public policy at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, says he would like to see a constitutional amendment barring politicians from intervening in the economy “under any circumstances.”
Story continues below.
Sowell is also a syndicated columnist and winner of the National Humanities Award. His latest book, “The Thomas Sowell Reader,” is a compilation of his writings on various issues over the past three decades.
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, Sowell was asked who is to blame for the dire state of the American economy.
“Practically everybody, and I think particularly the Washington politicians,” he declares.
“The crucial fact that brought this on was the failure of people with mortgages to pay those mortgages, and that in turn was due to politicians forcing lending institutions to lower their lending standards. That brought in lots of people who would not have been given mortgages before, who then failed to live up to their mortgages — which is exactly why the standards were higher before the politicians intervened.
“There’s a great pressure on people in Washington to ‘do something,’ and that pressure has led to many things that have been counterproductive.
“Right now the problem is not that there isn’t money in the economy. The problem is that the money is sitting idle. Banks and businesses have had record-breaking amounts of cash sitting around and are not doing anything with it. And they’re very prudent to be hesitant. They don’t know what new bright idea will occur in Washington over the next year that will mess up any investment that they make.”
Americans should not accept that unemployment will remain high regardless of who controls Washington, Sowell says.
“Not at all. Unemployment can go up and it can come down depending in many cases on what kind of policies the government follows.
“Even after the great stock market crash of 1929, the unemployment rate did not reach double digits in any of the 12 months that followed. It reached double digits after the politicians started intervening.”
His prescription for fixing the economy: “I would love to have a constitutional amendment that says politicians are not allowed to intervene in the economy under any circumstances. I think there would be a boom following that.”
Sowell, an African-American, recently commented on the Fox Business Network that presidential candidate Herman Cain “is certainly one of us far more so than Barack Obama.”
He tells Newsmax: “Barack Obama was raised in Hawaii, where there is very little black population, and went to an expensive private school. What Herman Cain did was much more typical of most of the blacks in the country.”
Sowell says Cain’s 9-9-9 tax reform plan would probably have repercussions, like any tax plan, but they “would not be nearly as bad as those we are currently having — and might be a significant improvement.”
Asked if he’d like to see the IRS abolished, Sowell responds: “Yes. The country lived for over 100 years before there was an IRS.”
He also was asked whether the Occupy Wall Street movement is right in blaming big banks for the nation’s income inequality.
“No. I’m always fascinated when people attribute very high incomes to greed. Greed tells you what you want. If you have high income it’s because other people are willing to pay it. And the other people who are willing to pay it very often in recent years have been the politicians who are spending the taxpayers’ money.”
Editor's Note: To get Thomas Sowell's latest book, “The Thomas Sowell Reader” — Click Here Now.
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
More ways to share... Mixx Stumbled LinkedIn Vine Buzzflash Reddit Delicious Newstrust Tell my politician Technocrati Share: More . . . Email Us
Forward Article Special Links: ALERT: What Your Tongue Says About Your Thyroid. See the Photo.
Are Your Prostate Issues an Inevitable Part of Aging?
Suzanne Somers Found the Doctors Curing Cancer. Watch the Video.
Sarah Palin’s America By Heart Only $1. Hurry Offer Ends Soon.
Breaking News from Newsmax
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Conservatives Rally Around Perry Flat Tax Plan as 'Great Step Forward'
Tuesday, 25 Oct 2011 12:45 PM
Texas Gov. Rick Perry was widely praised by conservatives on Tuesday as he issued his flat tax plan, which he hopes will . . .
Gaffney to Newsmax: Rise of Sharia Rule Will Bring War to Middle East
Monday, 24 Oct 2011 18:56 PM
War is on its way in the Middle East as Muslim countries are determined to force a showdown over the future of Israel, R . . .
Napolitano: Obama 'Shredding the Constitution'
Saturday, 22 Oct 2011 18:41 PM
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