#2 Responds To #1 E85 FlexFuel Ground Swell

"SWITCHGRASS" - Release Name, El Reno - Scientific Name, Bouteloua curtipendula - Common Name, sideoats grama - This is only one of many switchgrass varieties - Photo Credit: USDA

Toyota, the world's #2 automaker, has begun discussions to consider offering E85 capable cars. General Motors, the world's #1 automaker, has offered E85 FlexFuel cars since 1999 and has the most extensive line of automobile form factors that are able to make use of this fuel alternative.

Ford and Chrysler have models available and ready for the market, but Chrysler currently only offers its E85 car in its fleet sales division.

Toyota may be able to offer an E85 car in the marketplace by 2008. Toyota is currently deeply committed to its electric/gas hybrid technology powered automobiles that use electric motors to assist a petrol gas powered engine to achieve greater fuel economy.

The main problem with a hybrid technology approach, given the current geo-political problems that surround the cost and availability of oil, is that it still requires and consumes a greater amount of petrol based fuel than an E85 powered vehicle would require and consume.

The main problem with E85 is distribution. Once distribution is established, the problem will be production with the key structure being local, in-country resources. America does not need to purchase ethanol from foreign resources so that we then become dependent on other countries for our fuel needs (the problem we now have with our petrol fuel needs).

Excerpts from the Daily Breeze -

Report: Toyota plans on ethanol
U.S. sales of alternative-fuel vehicles from the Japanese company would start by 2008, financial newspaper says.
By Muhammed El-Hasan - Daily Breeze

Toyota Motor Corp. will announce in a few months its plans for vehicles powered by ethanol, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Financial Times reported Wednesday that the Japanese automaker plans to sell ethanol- powered vehicles in the United States by 2008, citing an unnamed company executive.

Cindy Knight, a spokeswoman for Toyota's North American sales and marketing arm in Torrance, said she could not confirm the Financial Times report. Knight did say that the company was studying the technology.

"Toyota is looking at a range of alternatives for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles. And ethanol is one of many," Knight said. "It's something that we are looking at doing. But we haven't made an official decision on what vehicles we'll offer it in and when. That decision will come in the next few months."
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California has only four stations that sell E85, and not all of them are open to the public, Barthmus said. GM is pushing to make E85 available more broadly, including in California. GM ran TV ads during Super Bowl XL and the Winter Olympics to promote ethanol with the slogan "Live Green Go Yellow."

E85 may be scarce in California, but much of the gasoline the state's residents use already has ethanol, spokeswoman Carolin Keith said.

ExxonMobil's Torrance refinery bought ethanol to mix with the gasoline it sells. The ethanol is used as a substitute for MTBE, which was phased out in California in 2004 because of concerns it polluted groundwater. The Torrance refinery phased out MTBE in 2003.
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"I think things are changing with ethanol and biofuel," Knight (Toyota spokesperson) said. "So I think you'll see more of that in California because we've got the agriculture."
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The sooner we get to E85 as a standard for our automobile fuel needs, the sooner we will be on a stronger "war footing", we will get a cleaner burning fuel alternative as a bonus!

ICE Begins Crack Down

Demonstrators march through the streets of Los Angeles to protest against legislation that cracks down against illegal immigrants, April 15, 2006. Almost 1,200 illegal immigrants and seven current or former managers at a Netherlands-based firm that hired them were arrested as part of a national crackdown, authorities said on Thursday. (Photo Credit: Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Dutch company feels frostbitten as ICE (the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement department) begins crackdown. Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security states that this is only the beginning.

The effort is aimed at those who are "exploiting illegal aliens'' and "who adopt as a business model the systematic violation of immigration laws,'' Chertoff told reporters in Washington. The government will "make sure we come down as hard as possible.''

Excerpts from Reuters via Yahoo! News -

Workers, managers arrested in immigration case
By James Vicini - Thu Apr 20, 12:58 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Almost 1,200 illegal immigrants and seven current or former managers at a Netherlands-based firm that hired them were arrested as part of a national crackdown, U.S. authorities said on Thursday.

Raids were carried out this week in 26 states at plants operated by IFCO Systems North America, which is based in Houston and makes wooden pallets and crates.
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IFCO said in a statement that it is cooperating fully with the investigation and that it hopes "to have this matter resolved as soon as possible." The North American operation is a unit IFCO Systems, based in Amsterdam.

About half of the firm's 5,800 U.S. employees in 2005 had invalid or mismatched Social Security numbers, federal officials said.
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So doing the math, ICE still has a little more work to do (about another 1,200 illegal aliens to go) at IFCO. Jobs open up in 26 states for high jobless segments of our society.

Help Wanted! ... from U.S. citizens!

DNC Chief Becomes The New Republican

Howard Dean – Photo Credit: AP

Boy, we all would really love to believe this stated change in position. I do not feel we can trust the Democrats (or the Republicans for that matter) to clamp down on illegal immigration because all politicians look at a body, any body, as a future vote. They do tend to forget that 1) we are at war, and 2) Nearly 80% of the voting citizens of this country want the borders tightened up and the illegal immigrant problem to be solved through enforcement of our laws.

Excerpts from The Washington Times -

Dean calls the border top priority
By Ralph Z. Hallow - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - April 20, 2006

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday called border security his party's top immigration priority for November.

"The first thing we want is tough border control," he said. "We have to do a much better job on our borders than George Bush has done. And then we can go to the policy disagreements about how to get it done."
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"If Dean means what he says about border enforcement, that would put the Democrats somewhere to the right of President Bush on immigration," said Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican.

A spokesman for the Republican National Committee dismissed Mr. Dean's "newfound commitment to border security" as "not believable."
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Mr. Dean said he wants "immigrants who obey the law and pay taxes to be able to apply for citizenship. We support earned legalization vigorously. And, much to my surprise, so do the American people."
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Speaking yesterday at a breakfast for political reporters at the St. Regis Hotel, hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Mr. Dean told reporters that Democrats would attack Republicans on "values" in this fall's midterm elections.
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"Don't forget -- the Republicans have been in power for five years. They've had the House and Senate and the White House most of that time. And they have done nothing about immigration."

Not true, said Mr. King, who represents a district along the Missouri River in western Iowa. He said 200 Democrats voted against a bill passed by the House in December that mandates stronger border security.

"If Dean and his Democrats in the Senate are serious, they could force the president to make a decision to sign or veto an enforcement-only package," he said. Mr. Bush and several Senate Republicans have sought to tie border enforcement to a guest-worker plan -- a program that many of the Republican Party's conservative supporters sharply criticized.
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"I have no intention of losing this battle," he said. "They started it, and we are going to win it." Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz yesterday responded scornfully to Mr. Dean's immigration rhetoric.

"Someone should remind Howard Dean that it was [Senate Minority Leader] Harry Reid [Nevada Democrat] who obstructed immigration reform, underscoring the fact that Democrats would rather manipulate the issue than reform it," he said. "President Bush and Republicans in Congress have increased border-security funding by more than 65 percent, expanded the number of border agents by 30 percent and significantly upgraded technology on the border."
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This may be good news for all of us citizens out here if the politics of the situation forces the Democrat and Republican parties to fall all over themselves and appeal to the wishes of the "voting" public.

We Will See!

The Convenience Of Swords And Stars

Extreme Fang - Huge One Hand Weapon - Photo Credit: excaliburbrothers.com

The neighborhood standards council in Tacoma, Washington is all up in arms about the sales of "Arms" in convenience stores. It seems that the local convenience stores in the area have been able to identify a niche market in the area for swords, throwing stars, and crossbows. It sounds like the renaissance faire might be just around the corner.

Excerpts from Convenience Store News Daily -

Washington C-Stores Encounter 'Sword Fight'
From Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. -- Some government officials are crusading to get cheap versions of medieval weapons off the shelves of local Washington convenience stores because the appearance of collectible swords, crossbows and throwing stars is upsetting some customers, reported the Associated Press.

The city’s lawyers are having a difficult time, however, figuring out how to revise Tacoma’s “dangerous weapons” ordinance to stop the stores from selling collectible swords without also making it illegal for grocery stores to sell bread knives or camping stores to offer hunting knives, according to the report.
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“I see no reason for a weapon to be convenient,” Fred Brookshire, chairman of the South End Neighborhood Council, told the AP.
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At MAXINE, we are willing to guess that this "Starbucks" guzzling neighborhood council chairman has never been to South Central Los Angeles, say ... after a court verdict.

FlexFuel E85 For Freedom And Life

Chevrolet Astra Multipower - Photo Credit: Women Motorist

Interestingly, there are about 6 million flex-fuel vehicles in the US, but only 600 stations where they can refuel with E85.

The biggest and best lessons about the ethyl alcohol fuel transition experience come from Brazil. This South American country has been serious about the use of cellulose derived fuels for about 30 years now and their experience is paying big benefits as petro based fuel prices skyrocket.

Excerpts from Women Motorist -

Alternative Fuels - Lessons from Brazilia
by Bill Siuru, PhD, PE

In his 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush made a commitment "to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." He also said ethanol from not only corn, as now produced in the U.S., but also cellulosic ethanol from wood chips and stalks and switch grass would be key in achieving this goal. Brazil, which should be independent of imported oil this year, is showing it doesn’t require any advanced technology like fuel cells. Not only will Brazil be foreign oil-independent, its motorists will not be dependent on only one fuel.

When the first of the fuel crises hit, the Brazilian government reacted with Proalcool in 1975, 75-percent gasoline blended with 25-percent ethanol produced from sugar cane, a major Brazilian crop. It responded to the second crisis with vehicles running on pure alcohol. By the mid-1980s, over 90-percent of Brazilian cars and light trucks ran on alcohol that was substantially cheaper than gasoline and available everywhere in Brazil.

When oil prices dropped in the mid-1980s, coupled with the discovery of new offshore oil fields, gasoline became cheaper. This was further compounded by a drought and a poor sugar harvest disrupting the supply of alcohol. Then by 1989, sugar prices started to rise dramatically and producers exported sugar rather than turn it into fuel. By 1997, alcohol capable cars represented less than 1-percent of new vehicles sold in Brazil.

Brazil learned a lesson from these ups and downs. The result were flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) that could run on any fuel from pure gasoline to pure alcohol. All Brazilian gasoline is blended with at least 20- to 25-percent ethanol. Some 29,000 out of 31,000 fueling stations in Brazil also offer 100 percent ethanol for the older alcohol-only vehicles. Brazil currently has between 3-million and 4-million ethanol fueled vehicles.
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We could also look at fuel economy in fuel in a new way, that is 'miles-per-gallon of gasoline produced from fossil fuel' (MPGFF.) Thus, while vehicles running on E85 get less MPGs, they get significantly more MPGFFs. For example:

FUEL ECONOMY - Combined City/Highway Mileage
Vehicle MPG City MPGFF (miles-per-gallon-of-fossil-fuel)
Chevrolet Tahoe Gasoline 17
E85 13, 88 mpgff
Chevrolet Impala gasoline 24
E85 19, 126 mpgff
Ford Crown Victoria gasoline 21
E85 14, 93 mpgff
Toyota Prius gasoline 55
E85 35-45, 233-300 mpgff
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Distribution, Distribution, Distribution ... Oh, and then let's grow something!

Numbers Game Isn't Real

Photo Credit: http://www.geocities.com/rummyfan/pics.html

Our democracy, in all of its nearly 230 year history, has survived many different military challenges, but none are more important than the challenges to the founding principle of civilian control over the military we are currently faced with.

Allot is being made out of the fact that (at the time of this post) up to 12 retired generals and "Flag" officers have a different opinion and approach to the management of the military than the present Secretary Of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. This, in light of the additional fact that there are over 7,000 retired generals and Flag officers as well as 1.4 million men and women currently serving in the military, who understand, respect, and appreciate the established American tradition of the military being subordinate to civilian direction and control.

There will be disagreements but the principle remains more important than the opinion of a few, albeit well trained and informed retirees.

Excerpts from the New York Post -

RUMSFELD'S JOB SECURITY
FIRING HIM LOSES IRAQ
By John Podhorez

April 18, 2006 -- WHAT'S the dumbest thing George W. Bush could possibly do right at this moment - the action that would, more than any other, suggest his presidency was and is all but finished?

The answer: Fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Either a forced resignation or a dismissal would effectively bring the Bush presidency to an end.

This is something that Bush's out-and-out foes and opponents of the war in Iraq surely understand, otherwise they wouldn't be salivating over the prospect and doing everything they can to put pressure on the president to make it happen.

But some supporters of the president's efforts in Iraq also seem anxious to see Rummy replaced. These thoughtful people have had problems with the war plan from the start and have been insisting for several years that only with another Defense Secretary can the war plan's mistakes be corrected and the conflict brought to a positive conclusion.

Yet such a move would be an unmitigated disaster for the effort in Iraq.
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At the end of this destructive process, the new Secretary of Defense would take the oath of office in the midst of a general meltdown. The American people, hearing no confidence coming from the war's own leaders about the coming victory, would be throwing up their hands in even greater numbers.

And the 150,000 brave men and women of our armed forces who are in Iraq attempting to do something great, could not but realize that their countrymen and their leaders were really and truly washing their hands of the effort. At which point they would rightly lose heart, and they too would begin to lobby for a getaway.

If you are among those who now basically think we might as well declare defeat even before we go home, then by all means, shout "Fire Rummy" at the top of your lungs.

But if you are among those who believe the war in Iraq must be won and that we can win it, it is madness to join the "Fire Rummy" crew. Even if you think Rumsfeld doesn't deserve to keep the job, he must. There's no other way.
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Wine?, Beer?, Which Is Healthier?

Beer drinkers toasting. A new Canadian study found that beer drinkers are more at risk of developing lung cancer than their non-beer-drinking peers, while wine consumption has an opposite effect. (AFP/File/Carl de Souza)

We are not talking calories here. A new study from Canada looks at two previous studies and is able to factor out smoking as a component in the results. It turns out that people who normally drink beer, have a higher chance of getting some forms of cancer.

Excerpts from Agence France-Presse (AFP) via Yahoo News -

New Canadian study links lung cancer risk to beer
Wed Apr 12, 3:36 PM ET

MONTREAL (AFP) - A new Canadian study found that beer drinkers are more at risk of developing lung cancer than their non-beer-drinking peers, while wine consumption has an opposite effect, scientists told AFP.

The study, which looked at two earlier large studies in the francophone province of Quebec, tried to discount the possible effects of smoking, which often goes hand-in-hand with beer consumption, to get clearer results.
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"The type of people who drink beer are usually different from the type of people who drink wine in terms of socio-economic status, education level, lifestyle and eating habits," said lead author Andrea Benedetti. "Beer and chips versus wine and a salad."

Also, eating fruits and vegetables regularly seemed to counteract the carcinogenic effect of beer, Benedetti noted.
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So, actually, you are more of what you eat as opposed to what you drink. Here at MAXINE, I will celebrate 14 years of the non-consumption of alcohol and tobacco at months end.

Looney Left - Rant vs "One Long Sustained Scream"

Maryscott O'Connor says her liberal Web log, My Left Wing, is "one long, sustained scream." - Photo Credit: By David Finkel - The Washington Post

This from The Washington Post -

The Left, Online and Outraged
Liberal Blogger Finds an Outlet and a Community
By David Finkel, Washington Post Staff Writer - Saturday, April 15, 2006; Page A01

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. -- In the angry life of Maryscott O'Connor, the rage begins as soon as she opens her eyes and realizes that her president is still George W. Bush. The sun has yet to rise and her family is asleep, but no matter; as soon as the realization kicks in, O'Connor, 37, is out of bed and heading toward her computer.

Out there, awaiting her building fury: the Angry Left, where O'Connor's reputation is as one of the angriest of all. "One long, sustained scream" is how she describes the writing she does for various Web logs, as she wonders what she should scream about this day.

She smokes a cigarette. Should it be about Bush, whom she considers "malevolent," a "sociopath" and "the Antichrist"? She smokes another cigarette. Should it be about Vice President Cheney, whom she thinks of as "Satan," or about Karl Rove, "the devil"? Should it be about the "evil" Republican Party, or the "weaselly, capitulating, self-aggrandizing, self-serving" Democrats, or the Catholic Church, for which she says "I have a special place in my heart . . . a burning, sizzling, putrescent place where the guilty suffer the tortures of the damned"?

Darfur, she finally decides. She will write about Darfur.
Read More>>

All by herself ... It is sad, really. With no facts. With no links. With little context or perspective. Driven to write about an African country without the internally developed sense of a religious or spiritual life (evidenced by the fact she feels the only way she can express herself is through "one long sustained scream"). To have to write about the Muslim genocide of Christians out of fascistic fear and hatred.

Be afraid, very afraid, if we do not show up at the polls to vote. The people she will elect get to run the country. They will run the global war on terror. They will watch over the country during the bird flu pandemic. Pray for her better mental health, peace, and serenity.

Reconquer - It Doesn't Surprise Mayor Antonio

The Mexican Cession (1848) is shown in red with the Gadsden Purchase (1853) in orange.
© 2004 Matthew Trump.

Last week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa summed up the enormous undercurrent of discontent in the crowds gathered to protest our government's move to address immigration saying: "We wave these American flags because we say to the Americans that we clean your toilets, we clean your hotels and we take care of your children and now we ask you to help us take care of our children as well."

Excuse me; didn't we elect you mayor of an American city to represent the interests of the citizens of America that live in the city? Mayor, you sound as if the American citizens of your city do not matter and only the Latin illegal immigrants do.

Maybe we should all move to Tijuana and have the Mayor of that city take care of our children as Mayor Antonio wants us to do for the special interest group that he represents!

Excerpts from The Washington Times -

Mexican aliens seek to retake 'stolen' land
By Valerie Richardson - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - April 16, 2006

DENVER -- La reconquista, a radical movement calling for Mexico to "reconquer" America's Southwest, has stepped out of the shadows at recent immigration-reform protests nationwide as marchers held signs saying, "Uncle Sam Stole Our Land!" and waved Mexico's flag.
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The revolutionary tone has surprised even longtime immigration watchers such as Ira Mehlman, the Los Angeles-based spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

"I've always been skeptical myself about this [reconquista], but what I've seen over the last few weeks leads me to believe that there's more there than I thought," Mr. Mehlman said.

"You're seeing people marching with Mexican flags chanting, 'This is our country.' I don't think that we can dismiss this as youthful exuberance or a bunch of hotheads," he said.

Hispanic rights leaders insist there's nothing to the so-called reconquista, sometimes referred to as Aztlan, the mythical ancestral homeland of the Aztecs that reportedly stretches from the border to southern Oregon and Colorado.
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At the same time, some analysts say the seismic demographic shifts brought on by unchecked border crossings and birth rates are resulting in a de facto reconquista.

"Demographically, socially and culturally, the reconquista of the Southwest United States by Mexico is well under way," Harvard University professor Samuel P. Huntington said in 2004.

"No other immigrant group in U.S. history has asserted or could assert a historical claim to U.S. territory. Mexicans and Mexican-Americans can and do make that claim," he said.
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MEChA, an acronym for the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan, has come under fire for revolutionary language in its "El Plan de Aztlan," a founding document that declares "the independence of our mestizo nation," decries the "brutal gringo invasion," and says that land "rightfully ours will be fought for and defended."

What's notable about MEChA is its otherwise mainstream image. Most Hispanic leaders, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, belonged to MEChA in high school or college. Former Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante came under fire from conservatives for refusing to renounce his membership during the 2003 gubernatorial race.
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"Aztlan isn't what people say it is, like the reconquista," said Mr. Rangel, who carried a MEChA sign at Monday's rally. "It's a spiritual homeland to Chicanos."
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MAXINE says - If it walks like a duck .... !

Mayor Antonio has been clear to stand in support of Latin illegal immigrants and it is easy to see why in the context of this article.

Tell the Mayor to visit Campo de Cahuenga in North Hollywood, California, near Cahuenga Pass. It originally was an adobe farmhouse on the Rancho Verdugo where the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed between Lieutenant Colonel John C. Frémont and General Andrés Pico in 1847, ending hostilities in California between Mexico and the United States. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ceding California and Texas to the United States, formally ended the war.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was the peace treaty that ended the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). The treaty provided for the Mexican Cession, in which Mexico ceded 1.36 million km² (525,000 square miles) to the United States in exchange for USD$15 million. The United States also agreed to take over $3.25 million in debts Mexico owed to American citizens.
(ht: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mexican-American_War)

Easter - Jesus Christ Has Risen Indeed

Romans 6:8-11

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

Easter ain't eggs!

Easter is the living hope that the death and rising of Jesus Christ signifies:

• Hope of God's Presence in our midst of our most troubling circumstances.
• Hope of God's Power in the wake of our acknowledged failures.
• Hope of God's Promise in the face of our greatest fears.

1 Peter 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... (NIV)

Romney Explodes Democracy

Governor Mitt Romney signed the landmark health insurance bill in Faneuil Hall yesterday as political leaders, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy, looked on. (David L. Ryan/ Globe Staff)

There is a famous quote about democracy by a noted Scottish jurist and historian, Alexander Fraser Tytler (1742-1813) that reads in part:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship."

The Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, has found a way to give the voters largess from the public treasury.

Excerpts from The Boston Globe -

Joy, worries on healthcare
As Romney signs bill, doubts arise about revenues
By Scott Helman and Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff April 13, 2006

Governor Mitt Romney signed most of a sweeping new healthcare bill into law yesterday at a festive Faneuil Hall ceremony hailed as a hallmark of bipartisan achievement, even as healthcare specialists expressed concern that the plan could start losing money in three years.
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In a moment widely praised as historic for the state and seen as a big boost to Romney's presidential aspirations, the Republican governor basked in the credit and shared some, too, as he was joined by Democratic leaders of the Legislature and US Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

But amid the wide grins and handshakes, questions surfaced about the cost and the sweep of the legislation, which makes Massachusetts the first state to try to insure nearly all of its residents through an individual mandate to buy insurance.

A legislative staff analysis estimates that the groundbreaking healthcare plan would start losing money in two to three years, which could put pressure on lawmakers to spend more tax money, increase the fee on businesses or scale back the coverage of the sweeping bill. The analysis projects that the plan will be about $160 million short of its estimated cost of $1.56 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2008.
Read All>>

So, is this really a good idea? Sure, we love to not pay for health care, but these type of programs will kill our way of life and explode our democracy.

To continue with quoting Tytler -

"The average age of the world's great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:
from bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency;
from complacency to apathy;
from apathy to dependency;
from dependency back again to bondage."