I tried to open a lemonade stand
By John Stossel

Published February 24, 2012
FoxNews.com

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/24/tried-to-open-lemonade-stand/#ixzz1no9q7U60



Want to open a business in America? It isn't easy.

In Midway, Georgia, a 14-year-old girl and and her 10-year-old sister sold lemonade from their front yard. Two police officers bought some. But the next day, different officers ordered them to close their stand.

Their father went to city hall to try to find out why. The clerk laughed, and said she didn't know. Eventually, Police Chief Kelly Morningstar explained, "We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, and of what the lemonade was made with."


Give me a break. If she doesn't know, so what? But kids trying their first experiment with entrepreneurship are being shut down all over America. Officials in Hazelwood, Missouri ordered little girls to stop selling Girl Scout cookies.

It made me want to try to jump through the legal hoops required to open a simple lemonade stand in New York City. Here's some of what one has to do:

1) Register as sole proprietor with the County Clerk's Office (must be done in person)

2) Apply to the IRS for an Employer Identification Number

3) Complete 15-hr Food Protection Course!

4) After the course, register for an exam that takes 1 hr. You must score 70 percent to pass. (Sample question: "What toxins are associated with the puffer fish?") If you pass, allow 3-5 weeks for delivery of Food Protection Certificate.

5) Register for sales tax Certificate of Authority

6) Apply for a Temporary Food Service Establishment Permit. Must bring copies of the previous documents and completed forms to the Consumer Affairs Licensing Center.

Then, at least 21 days before opening your establishment, you must:

Arrange for an inspection with the Health Department's Bureau of Food Safety and Community Sanitation. It takes about 3 weeks to get your appointment. If you pass, you can set up a business once you:

- Buy a portable fire extinguisher from a company certified by the FDNY and set up a contract for waste disposal.

- We couldn't finish the process. Had we been able to schedule our health inspection and open my stand legally, it would have taken us 65 days.

I sold lemonade anyway. I looked dumb hawking it with my giant fire extinguisher on the table.

Tourists told me they couldn't believe that I had to get "all those permits." A Pakistani man said, "That's crazy! You should move to Pakistan!"

But I don't want to move to Pakistan.

Politicians say, "We support entrepreneurs," but the bureaucrats make it hard. The Feds alone add 80,000 pages of new rules every year. Local governments add more. There are so many incomprehensible rules that even the bureaucrats can't tell you what's legal. In the name of public safety, politicians strangle opportunity.

John Stossel's TV Special on America’s explosion of laws, "Illegal Everything", will air Saturday at 10 pm and Sunday at 3 pm EST.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/24/tried-to-open-lemonade-stand/#ixzz1noAEgvCy

America's Scorecard - Grade Suckminus

I don't know where these numbers came from, and I have no idea how you measure a misery index, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say these are probably in the ballpark of true. 

I know I say this alot, but Ron Paul is the only candidate that will do anything about this.

Mark Meckler on the Tea Party Movement

The Amazing Spider Man!!!

The Avengers!!!

Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight - A Must See!

Ron Paul Answers Tough Questions From CNN

Ron Paul is doing much better than the media would like you to believe.

If you believe in Ron Paul at all, donate a few bucks to his campaign. It can't hurt. It may even save America!

Link To The Ron Paul Store 

News for Ron Paul

Ron Paul raised $4.5M in January

USA TODAY‎ - 3 hours ago

By Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul raised $4.5 million in January, his campaign just announced.

PayPal co-founder donates millions to Ron Paul super PAC

Its not over.  The American people still have a chance.   If Obama wins, we all loose.

ADHD - Changing Education Paradigms - Industrialized Education - Divergent Thinking!!!

Brilliant! Watch this.

Why Barack Obama Must Be a One Term President

Here is a piece of information given to me by one of my readers that helps to explain what Barack Obama is doing to this country and why so many thoughtful, intelligent people, both democrat and republican, desperately hope he is 1 term president.

Link to the American Thinker Article

Excerpt:

This administration is making a habit of directing government agencies to change their very jobs without congressional authority.

The military isn't there to fight wars, but perhaps to help with disaster assistance. The Department of Education is to issue guidelines on children's diets. NASA is to stop flying into outer space, and instead is to propagandize about the scientific contributions of Islam through the ages. The Department of Energy is to thwart energy independence by denying permits that would produce domestic energy.

And now the Export-Import Bank is to loan money to domestic customers engaging in domestic transactions.

This administration is abusing government, by using agencies for purposes other than their constitutional or statutory functions. This government by executive fiat grows ever more random, ever more disconnected from the reality of the legislation that chartered these departments and agencies as they wander ever farther afield.

John F. Di Leo is a Chicago-based Customs broker and international trade compliance lecturer. His columns are regularly found in IllinoisReview.com.

The same reader who sent me this information sent me a parable that I posted earlier, which is also very helpful in explaining what Barack Obama is doing to America. I will re-post it at the bottom of this article.

I think it is very important that as many Americans as possible come to understand why people like me oppose and fear Barack Obama, what the Tea Party is mostly all about. And why Ron Paul is so important.

I think, and feel there is overwhelming proof, that;

Barack Obama and his administration have nothing but contempt for America and its people.

That they view the rule of law and government as are their play things, to be used and abused as they see fit.

And they are using and abusing government, heinously!

Even though Obama is a democrat, and the people's general perception of democrats are that they are the "liberal" side of the two party system, and thus generally less "establishment." Obama is, in fact, abusing power like no other President in history since Richard Nixon, and Nixon was nearly impeached for his abuses and had to resign his office.

I would argue that Obama's abuses of power are much grander, broader reaching and destructive.

Here is the parable I mentioned:

A little parable:

Monday:

President Obama announced today that he has issued an executive order requiring every American to eat $50 worth of pork each year.

President Obama's announcement was immediately praised by the Pork-Producers Council and the Hog Farm-Workers Union. In a rare joint statement, the industry group and the union pointed to declining rates of domestic pork sales, blaming it on "wrong-headed health concerns" and "post-NAFTA competition from Canadian bacon".

Declining sales, they said, was leading to severely diminished standards of living for pork-producers and farm laborers.

Tuesday:

An organization of Orthodox Jewish rabbis held a news conference at which they objected to Mr. Obama's pork-eating mandate, claiming that this requirement would violate long-held Jewish religious principles.

Within an hour, Occupy J-Street and Jews for Obama condemned the Orthodox rabbinate and said "it is high-time for Jewish religious law to be up-dated to reflect higher priorities, such as those advanced here by President Obama. Helping pork producers and farm workers, reducing the drain that unemployed farm workers place on the welfare system, and showing support for President Obama are much more important than some old, dusty biblical 'commandments' that are more than 100 years old. Who even reads them any more?"

Wednesday:

Several additional rabbinic and other Jewish organizations criticized the Obama pork mandate as violation of Constitutional rights securing the free exercise of religion and prohibiting the establishment of religion.

In other news, quarterly filings today with the Federal Election Commission showed that several pork producers and a very large number of persons identified as "farm workers" in the last 90 days have made maximum contributions to the Obama Reelection Campaign or have contributed significant sums to Obama-supporting Super PACs.

Thursday:

The U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and several Protestant organizations weighed in today on the Obama Pork Mandate, joining Jewish leaders in condemning what they decried as "another attack by President Obama on religious liberty in America."

Within an hour, Nutritionists for the Public Interest issued a statement saying that "Eating 'the other white meat' is, well, in the public interest. So is obeying President Obama."

Friday:

Imams in mosques all across the United States, preaching sermons at Friday Prayer, condemned the Obama mandate to eat pork as "a vile and unjustified trampling on the freedoms of believers."

Numerous prominent Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant leaders, joined by the heads of several civil rights and civil liberties organizations, held news conferences and issued written statements saying that in demanding that people of some faiths be required by government to violate the tenets of their religions was a threat to the religious liberty of people of all faiths.

Statements condemning the Obama pork-eating mandate were prepared to be read from pulpits in synagogues and churches all over the country during weekend services.

At 5:00 p.m. President Obama held a hastily-called news conference at The White House in which he announced an "accommodation" of "people who, on religious grounds, don't want to eat pork. No one has to eat pork against their will," said President Obama. "All anyone has to do is BUY pork. If you BUY pork, you don't have to eat it yourself.

You can throw it away -- or, better, give it to a nearby food pantry or soup kitchen. But pork producers and farm workers are suffering, We have to support them. And if everyone will send just $50 a year their way, which is not a lot to ask, then we will have saved a major part of the American economy from even greater suffering. This is a truly shovel-ready project. We're cutting out all the pretense of public works and just directly shoveling your money straight to people we think ought to have it."

Mr. Obama refused to take most questions. One reporter, however, asked him, "Where does the Federal Government get the authority to force people to buy pork, whether or not they actually eat it?"

As he walked away, Mr. Obama answered, "It is well-established in the courts that when people refrain from going into interstate commerce, their behavior -- doing nothing -- affects interstate commerce. By abstaining from pork, people are adversely affecting the interstate market for pork. So my authority comes from the Interstate Commerce Clause. Trust me on this, I'm a professor of constitutional law."

Later in the evening aides to Mr. Obama explained that the pork-buying mandate will be enforced by the IRS. Said the Secretary of Agriculture, "Either you attach receipts to your income tax form each year showing that you bought at least $50 worth of pork or you have to attach a check for $100."

An hour later, the President of Americans United for Subordination of Church to State, issued a statement praising "With this masterful compromise, President Obama has once again shown real respect for the religious beliefs of millions of Americans while still achieving the necessary goal of bailing out hundreds of failing pork producers and thousands of indigent pork farmers."

Saturday:

Speaker Boehner, appearing on a Saturday cable news program, said, "I don't get it. How can the President impose a mandate without Congressional action? And how can he impose a tax without Congressional action?"

Later Saturday, appearing on another cable news show, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid answered Speaker Boehner: "It's not a 'tax'. It's a 'penalty'. Besides, the President acted during a Congressional recess.

Speaker Boehner must not remember it, but last Monday the House and the Senate took a concurrent 15-minute bathroom break."

I can't stress enough how serious and lasting this complete disregard for the Constitution and government is. This is how totalitarianism and the suffering of people the world over happens. And its happening here, now.

The article below is the last law Barack Obama signed in 2011, while Americans were distracted with Christmas. It essentially allows for a KGB in America. This is real, its law, and it is a fact of American life today.

Countries that have laws like this are thought of as the "bad guys." Now "WE" are the bad guys! This abomination, "Marx, Hitler" law was passed without so much as American grumble.

Courtesy of ABC News: Link to original article

In his last official act of business in 2011, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act from his vacation rental in Kailua, Hawaii. In a statement, the president said he did so with reservations about key provisions in the law — including a controversial component that would allow the military to indefinitely detain terror suspects, including American citizens arrested in the United States, without charge.

The legislation has drawn severe criticism from civil liberties groups, many Democrats, along with Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, who called it “a slip into tyranny.” Recently two retired four-star Marine generals called on the president to veto the bill in a New York Times op-ed, deeming it “misguided and unnecessary.”

“Due process would be a thing of the past,” wrote Gens Charles C. Krulak and Joseph P. Hoar. “Current law empowers the military to detain people caught on the battlefield, but this provision would expand the battlefield to include the United States – and hand Osama bin Laden an unearned victory long after his well-earned demise.”

The president defended his action, writing that he signed the act, “chiefly because it authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and their families, and vital national security programs that must be renewed.”

--- Then why ad the part were you can imprison Americans forever without charge or a trial? Because your a Communist, that's why!
-- Me.

Senior administration officials, who asked not to be named, told ABC News, “The president strongly believes that to detain American citizens in military custody infinitely without trial, would be a break with our traditions and values as a nation, and wants to make sure that any type of authorization coming from congress, complies with our Constitution, our rules of war and any applicable laws.”

One official explained that President Obama does believe, however, that American citizens can be temporarily detained, and that the military has the right to capture and hold any citizen who is engaged in conflict against the United States. If various provisions in the law prove unworkable, the president could go back to Congress to ask for changes.

“The president is going to adhere to the policies that he has held over the last three years, making sure that none of these congressional provisions impede the ability of the counter terrorism and military professional from keeping the country safe,” the official said.

-- However the law says indefinitely, not temporarily. And now that the law is signed, you think Obama's or any other President, except maybe for Ron Paul, will check if its being abused?

Barack Obama said he signed this law into effect with "reservations," yea, reservations in hell -- Me

Evil wins when good men do nothing. So, what are you doing?

The Ron Paul Movement is Alive and Well!

Ron Paul Is Secretly Taking Over The GOP — And It's Driving People Insane

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ron-paul-maine-caucuses-gop-takeover-2012-2#ixzz1mYxSM6sB


Excerpt from article:


By now, it is clear that the Maine caucuses were a complete mess.

Evidence is mounting that Mitt Romney's 194-vote victory over Ron Paul was prematurely announced, if not totally wrong.

Washington County canceled their caucus on Saturday on account of three inches of snow (hardly a blizzard by Maine standards), and other towns that scheduled their caucuses for this week have been left out of the vote count. Now, it looks like caucuses that did take place before Feb. 11 have also been left out of final tally. 

As the full extent of the chaos unfolds, sources close to the Paul campaign tell Business Insider that it is looking increasingly like Romney's team might have a hand in denying Paul votes, noting that Romney has some admirably ruthless operatives on his side and a powerful incentive to avoid a fifth caucus loss this month. 

And there is more: Notice the democrats!

The media, is white washing over Ron Paul's campaign, but the number of people who support him is still growing, and there are many more of us than you think!  Millions more!

What you haven't heard is that huge numbers of democrats overwhelmingly support Ron Paul over Barack Obama.  I live in Illinois, (democrat nation!), and I can tell you personally that every young person I talk to on campus supports Ron Paul, no matter how liberal, and that's how Barack Obama won!

Older voters in my area may be more cynical (how could they not be?), but none of them questions Ron Paul's integrity.   And in the end people will vote for the man they believe to be genuine if you let them, and that is Ron Paul.

The establishment, may be able to block the true media reports about Ron Paul, but even if he doesn't win the nomination, his movement isn't going to get any smaller.  His son may need to take over his principle, or another candidate, but it will continue!

Electing another insider like the one we have now, or have had before, will only make things worse for the American people.

As life get worse, fewer and fewer people will be able to delude themselves into thinking that we can ever go back to the way things were before, and they will come to realize that restoring the constitution, and limiting the size and spending of government is the only way to heal our nation.

Change for a Dollar - A Masterpiece that Must Be Shared!

A Little Parable That Can Help You Understand How American Government Has Been Perverted, and Why People "Like Me" Have Come To Realize That RESTORING THE CONSTITUTION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK OF OUR GENERATION!

A little parable:

Monday:


President Obama announced today that he has issued an executive order requiring every American to eat $50 worth of pork each year.


President Obama's announcement was immediately praised by the Pork-Producers Council and the Hog Farm-Workers Union. In a rare joint statement, the industry group and the union pointed to declining rates of domestic pork sales, blaming it on "wrong-headed health concerns" and "post-NAFTA competition from Canadian bacon".


Declining sales, they said, was leading to severely diminished standards of living for pork-producers and farm laborers.


Tuesday:


An organization of Orthodox Jewish rabbis held a news conference at which they objected to Mr. Obama's pork-eating mandate, claiming that this requirement would violate long-held Jewish religious principles.


Within an hour, Occupy J-Street and Jews for Obama condemned the Orthodox rabbinate and said "it is high-time for Jewish religious law to be up-dated to reflect higher priorities, such as those advanced here by President Obama. Helping pork producers and farm workers, reducing the drain that unemployed farm workers place on the welfare system, and showing support for President Obama are much more important than some old, dusty biblical 'commandments' that are more than 100 years old. Who even reads them any more?"


Wednesday:


Several additional rabbinic and other Jewish organizations criticized the Obama pork mandate as violation of Constitutional rights securing the free exercise of religion and prohibiting the establishment of religion.


In other news, quarterly filings today with the Federal Election Commission showed that several pork producers and a very large number of persons identified as "farm workers" in the last 90 days have made maximum contributions to the Obama Reelection Campaign or have contributed significant sums to Obama-supporting Super PACs.


Thursday:


The U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and several Protestant organizations weighed in today on the Obama Pork Mandate, joining Jewish leaders in condemning what they decried as "another attack by President Obama on religious liberty in America."


Within an hour, Nutritionists for the Public Interest issued a statement saying that "Eating 'the other white meat' is, well, in the public interest. So is obeying President Obama."


Friday:


Imams in mosques all across the United States, preaching sermons at Friday Prayer, condemned the Obama mandate to eat pork as "a vile and unjustified trampling on the freedoms of believers."


Numerous prominent Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant leaders, joined by the heads of several civil rights and civil liberties organizations, held news conferences and issued written statements saying that in demanding that people of some faiths be required by government to violate the tenets of their religions was a threat to the religious liberty of people of all faiths.


Statements condemning the Obama pork-eating mandate were prepared to be read from pulpits in synagogues and churches all over the country during weekend services.


At 5:00 p.m. President Obama held a hastily-called news conference at The White House in which he announced an "accommodation" of "people who, on religious grounds, don't want to eat pork. No one has to eat pork against their will," said President Obama. "All anyone has to do is BUY pork. If you BUY pork, you don't have to eat it yourself.


You can throw it away -- or, better, give it to a nearby food pantry or soup kitchen. But pork producers and farm workers are suffering, We have to support them. And if everyone will send just $50 a year their way, which is not a lot to ask, then we will have saved a major part of the American economy from even greater suffering. This is a truly shovel-ready project. We're cutting out all the pretense of public works and just directly shoveling your money straight to people we think ought to have it."


Mr. Obama refused to take most questions. One reporter, however, asked him, "Where does the Federal Government get the authority to force people to buy pork, whether or not they actually eat it?"


As he walked away, Mr. Obama answered, "It is well-established in the courts that when people refrain from going into interstate commerce, their behavior -- doing nothing -- affects interstate commerce. By abstaining from pork, people are adversely affecting the interstate market for pork. So my authority comes from the Interstate Commerce Clause. Trust me on this, I'm a professor of constitutional law."


Later in the evening aides to Mr. Obama explained that the pork-buying mandate will be enforced by the IRS. Said the Secretary of Agriculture, "Either you attach receipts to your income tax form each year showing that you bought at least $50 worth of pork or you have to attach a check for $100."


An hour later, the President of Americans United for Subordination of Church to State, issued a statement praising "With this masterful compromise, President Obama has once again shown real respect for the religious beliefs of millions of Americans while still achieving the necessary goal of bailing out hundreds of failing pork producers and thousands of indigent pork farmers."


Saturday:


Speaker Boehner, appearing on a Saturday cable news program, said, "I don't get it. How can the President impose a mandate without Congressional action? And how can he impose a tax without Congressional action?"


Later Saturday, appearing on another cable news show, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid answered Speaker Boehner: "It's not a 'tax'. It's a 'penalty'. Besides, the President acted during a Congressional recess.


Speaker Boehner must not remember it, but last Monday the House and the Senate took a concurrent 15-minute bathroom break."

MOTIVATION - "Be Great, Powerful Beyond Measure" - Best Inspirational Video Ever

A kid brought this in to English class the other day.  Its my new favorite video of all time.

Video footage from Snatch. Audio clips from Muhammad Ali's speech, Rocky, and Coach Carter. Still photography by Gabriel Stiritz and Lauren Herreid. Music from Transformers and Gladiator. Hanz Zimmer.

Video by Eric Horner  -- Brilliant Eric, you made something great!


Here are the full words to this video:


Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure, beyond measure.

Ima show you, how great I am.

Last night I cut the light off in my bedroom, hit the switch, and was in the bed before the room was dark.

Ima show you, how great I am.

Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick, Im so mean I make medicine sick.

Ima show you, how great I am.

This kids gonna be the best kid in the world.
This kids gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew.

Ima show you, how great I am.

I have wrastled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale, I done handcuffed lightnin, thrown thunder in jail.

Ima show you, how great I am.

All you chumps are gonna bow when I whoop him, all of you, I know you got him, I know youve got him picked, but the mans in trouble, Ima show you how great I am.

But somewhere along the line you changed, you stopped being you.

You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you youre no good, and when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow.

Let me tell you something you already know, the world aint all sunshine and rainbows, its a very mean and nasty place and I dont care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.

You, me, or nobody, is gonna hit as hard as life; but it aint about how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward.
That's how winning is done.

Cause if you're willin to go through all the battling you gotta go through to get to where you wanna get, who's got the right to stop you.

I mean maybe some of you guys got something you never finished, something you really want to do, something you never said to somebody, something.

And youre told no even after you pay your dues, whos got the right to tell you that, who? Nobody.

Its your right to listen to your gut, it aint nobody's right to say no, after you earn the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do.

Now if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth.

But youve gotta be willing to take the hits.
And not pointing fingers saying you aint where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody.

Cowards do that and that aint you!

You're better than that!

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.


All you chumps are gonna bow when I whoop him, all of you, I know you got him, I know youve got him picked, but the mans in trouble, Ima show you how great I am.