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The President of China - Hu Jintao, announced Sunday that the economy grew faster than expected - 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2006 compared with one year earlier, but said the government was concerned about overly rapid growth. Chinese leaders have warned repeatedly that rapid growth could spark inflation or leave the country littered with unneeded factories and luxury apartments, causing problems for banks that financed them. “We do not seek high-speed economic growth,” Hu Jintao said during a meeting with a former Taiwan opposition leader in Beijing.

The Premier Wen Jiabao and other members of the State Council, or Cabinet, on Friday called for the policy changes after examining data on money supply and investment in buildings, factories and other fixed assets.

China plans to reduce its GDP from an annual average of 9.5 percent in the past 25 years to 7.5 percent in the next five years from 2006 to 2010 by improving economic quality and making domestic consumption the major driving force for economic growth.

Hu Jintao announced first quarter growth figures during a meeting with former head of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party Lien Chan carried live on state-run television. China issued new rules allowing mainland tourists to visit Taiwan, continuing Beijing’s efforts to court the disputed island with economic overtures, but it was unclear when any Chinese tourism to the island would start.

China announced possible aviation, agriculture and finance concessions to Taiwan at an economic forum in Beijing attended by Chinese Communist officials and Taiwanese opposition politicians. However Taiwan must accept it belongs to “one China” as the precondition for talks, Hu Jintao told Lien Chan, the former chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition Nationalist Party, who led the delegation of business leaders and party officials to the two-day forum. Chinese President Hu Jintao says new talks with rival Taiwan should begin as soon as possible to maintain peace in the region.

Information: Growth of the economy of China.

The author of this article is a publisher in Economics and politics.

If you believe passionately in political correctness and cannot bear to see it used as a weapon in a war against the idiots who originated the whole politically correct idea, do please leave now. And you needn’t return. Folks with no sense of humor give me a severe pain somewhere south of my belly button.

I hold a concealed handgun license in the State of Texas. I am also licensed as a concealed handgun instructor in Texas. Contrary to the belief held by most residents of the other 49 states, Texas has some of the strictest gun laws on the books anywhere outside of New York City. I mention this only to illustrate that I have absolutely zero criminal history in a state where at least ten percent of the population can expect to spend a year or more in a penal institution at some point in their lives - and it seems that more than half of the population has something to be found in the way of criminal history, whether violent or otherwise.

This makes me a minority!

Forget that I’m a woman (we are 52 percent, after all, even if it isn’t fashionable to mention it). Forget that I’m a small business owner. I am not a criminal. I own - and carry - a gun! Voila! I am a genuine, card-carrying minority.

It gets worse. I am a minority who is hated and feared by the majority.

It’s a very good thing I don’t have children. If I had kids, the venerable American Medical Association would advise you to ask my children (if you were too embarrassed to ask me) about the guns at my house - and forbid your children to play with mine if mine were to answer the “gun question” in the affirmative. Oh, yes. Absolute fact. And you don’t even want to contemplate the lawsuit that would have occurred the first time that happened to any child of mine! Luckily for those hapless parents, it won’t ever happen to me or to my non-existent kids. You may not be that fortunate.

Nevertheless, I am a full-fledged victim of discrimination. Yes, you heard me right, folks. I am a victim of discrimination every bit as severe and as real as that which was directed at people of color in the 1950s. I am discriminated against because of my deeply held belief that self-defense (and defense of the genuinely helpless) is my right and my sacred duty.

How does this discrimination work?

Well, aside from complete morons like the American Medical Association (who don’t even pretend not to discriminate), it works like this:

Texas law states that a business owner may forbid firearms carry even by licensed individuals on his/her premises if they are posted properly. Fair enough. That’s just freedom, no matter how vehemently we may disagree with the businessperson’s decision to totally exclude firearms (except, of course, for the firearms belonging to those individuals who will ignore the law, anyway). However, Texas case law has also established that a gun owner is responsible at all times for properly securing his or her firearm.

Add to that the fact that the Attorney General has ruled that the business owner’s “premises” specifically excludes parking areas - and we have come to the crux of the problem.

Because of the Attorney General’s ruling, there is no immediately apparent problem. In fact, in theory at least, there is no problem. I disarm in the parking lot, lock my firearm in my vehicle, and go transact my business, right?

Are you out of your bloody little minds??

Does anyone here really believe that a locked vehicle is secure? Boy, have I got a news flash for you! It takes less than five seconds to enter one - and that’s if you’re polite enough to avoid breaking the window. The younger the perp, the faster the job. And if you think you might have a rough time with the law if your firearm is stolen and used to commit a crime, you don’t even know what a rough time is until that firearm is stolen by a minor in Texas!

In practical fact, therefore, a business owner who excludes firearms excludes me - because, idiot that I am, I do honestly try to obey the law.

So I am a genuine victim of discrimination. I belong to a class of people who are being deliberately excluded from a fairly large number of businesses in my state. This class of people consists of those who (a) have no criminal history, (b) obey the law even when it’s silly, and (c) carry a firearm for self-defense - and, just incidentally, for defense of that business owner’s business, although he is obviously too ignorant and frightened to see it that way.

Now let me get to the fun part of this article.

The very liberals who want to take your guns wrote the strict laws against discrimination in this country!

What is happening is actually against both state and federal law. So what can be done to redress the situation? Well, obviously, the business owners can grow up and stop being scared of law-abiding citizens, but it won’t be quite that easy. For example, carry is forbidden inside any U.S. Post Office, which would almost be a funny knee-jerk reaction if it weren’t so awfully pathetic.

Carry is also forbidden in the secure parts of a commercial airport. I may disagree, but I don’t see that changing any time soon.

On top of that, there are even one or two prohibitions I actually do agree with - like hospitals. Defending my life inside the halls of a hospital - at the expense of countless helpless patients (when the oxygen system in the walls goes bang!) - is not a picture I like to contemplate, and it would kill me just as dead, anyway. So that particular prohibition makes sense.

There are effective ways to deal with the problem, though, and they would allow for pretty much all circumstances. What about business owners actually providing security for customer’s firearms? Why not? They provide wheel chair ramps, don’t they? And Braille markings on elevators! If the disabled are a class of people, then so are we!

It isn’t necessary to go to any great expense for this. A bank of lockers in a small alcove near the business entrance would work. The gun owner steps into the alcove, disarms, locks his handgun up and pockets the numbered key. When his business on the premises is concluded, he steps into the alcove, opens his locker and re-holsters the firearm before departing (the key is retained by the lock for the next user). The firearm is reasonably secure for the duration, and folks are not running around the paranoid business owner’s premises with firearms all day long. Problem satisfactorily solved - and cheaply, too. These locker systems are used in most post offices today (for small parcels), and airports (a larger type, for luggage), so they are available and fairly inexpensive. On top of that, the business owner can charge a dime or even a quarter for the rent of the locker.

Everybody wins!

Now is anyone so foolish as to believe that business owners are going to do something so logical without having their figurative heads knocked together??

Don’t answer that question. The foolish optimism of my fellow man never fails to astound me. Take it on trust from your cantankerous old grandma’ here - it ain’t gonna’ happen!

So what can we do? Well, my friends, that is exactly why we have a civil court system in this country. That’s why we have civil rights attorneys, too. If we have to put up with them (apologies to attorney friends), then we might as well use them!

Let me issue a challenge here. Are any Texas concealed handgun licensees reading this? Write me! Let’s get together and plan a class action civil rights lawsuit right out of the 1960s! If you climb on board, I’ll donate your next renewal class for nothing - you will need just your fee to the state! It’s a contribution I would be pleased - and proud - to make to this effort.

Are there any readers licensed in other states? Any instructors? Go for it in your state!

Are there any Second Amendment friendly attorneys out there? Step up and volunteer to take these cases on contingency! I’ll do your classes free, too, if you live in Texas.

Let’s get some real class action suits going, people! Let’s use the system for ourselves this once!

It can be done, and it can be won, first in state - and then in federal - court.

The simple truth is that if you aren’t willing to fight for your rights, you deserve to lose them.

About the Author

At a tiny 5′1″, Kathryn A. Graham is a licensed private investigator, pilot, aircraft mechanic and handgun instructor in Texas. Also a prolific author, she has written numerous articles, short stories and a science fiction novel.
http://www.kathrynagraham.com/

The following are the opinions of the author and although I believe them to be true I am not stating them as anything other than my opinions.

Ever since the time of Abe Lincoln, Democrats and Republicans have been fighting for control of the United States Of America. In the beginning, both political parties contained liberals, moderates and conservatives. As time wore on the Democratic Party moved more to the left or ‘liberal’ and the Republican Party moved more to the right or ‘Conservative’. This left room for fewer and fewer moderates.

Over the last several years, however, the far, far left has been taking over control of the Democratic Party and now the coup is almost completed. The far left zealots have virtually pushed most of the slightly left, the moderates and the conservatives out of the Democratic Party. Most of the moderates and conservatives left have learned to keep quiet and go with the tide in order to stay in office. Now the battle, for control of this country, has changed, it is now the far left against everyone else. People like Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Joseph Biden, Robert Byrd, Barbara Boxer, etc. (I don’t include Edward Kennedy because, in my opinion, he lost touch with reality long ago and just talks in order to see and hear himself on the news.) along with their Hollywood friends, Barbara Streisand, Susan Saranden, Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Sheen, Spike Lee, etc., now run the Democratic Party and more moderate people, like Joseph Lieberman, are being ignored or vilified by the party, the party’s supporters and a large part of the press. The far left only wants people, that think like they do or will do what they tell them to do, in the Democratic Party. They fear and dislike moderates, conservatives, moderate liberals and anyone that they can not control.

The far left has gone so far left that, in my opinion, they make liberals seem like hard right wingers. I don’t believe that the far left cares about America, the American people or anyone else except themselves. The far left politicians want power and they will do anything to get and keep that power. They claim to support our troops in Afganistan and Iraq, yet they do everything they can do to ruin the troops moral and aid the terrorists. They use their Hollywood friends and the ultra liberal press to spread half truths, lies, rumors and ridiucule about anyone who does not agree with them. They have even taken to giving responses to President Bush’s speeches before he makes the speech. They have learned from President Clinton how to take credit for anything good that happens and how to lay blame on others for anything bad that happens. They use people like President Carter, one of the kindest, most caring, most honest and most trusting men to ever hold public office, to critcize the present administration’s policies.

President Carter, does not have an agenda, he is just, as always, slightly naive about and too trusting of the good will of others. He believes that there would be peace on earth if people followed the dictates of the far left, so the far left uses him as a front.

The far left uses celebrities who are not only naive but insulated from the real world. Celebrities who are surrounded by yes people telling them that they are smarter and better than the rest of us, celebrities who are wealthy, do not have to go to a supermarket to do their shopping, who fly first class, drive whatever kind of car they wish, live in expensive homes or apartments and pay people to do most everything for them. These celebrities can afford to be idealistic and fight for ideals that can’t work. They can talk about raising taxes, after all, they can’t spend all the money they already have, demand rehabilitation for drug addicts, after all, the only drug addicts they actually deal with are other celebrities, rage against nuclear power plants and new oil drilling, after all they can afford to pay their electric and gas bills, no matter how expensive they are, fight for the rights of criminals and gun control, after all, they have bodyguards, many of whom are armed, and expensive security systems, to protect them so why should they worry about a storeowner who has been robbed three or four times or a woman who is raped and killed in her home. Most of these celebrities mean well, they just don’t know what it is like to live in the real world. Don’t tell me that many of these same celebrities had bad or poor childhoods. That was then and this is now.

Celebrities that do have an idea as to what is really going on and speak out against criminals, or support the war against terrorism, or fight for cheap utilities or heaven forbid support acknowledging god or who back moderate politicians or even worse support President Bush are ridiculed and ostracized. Some, no matter how talented, even have trouble obtaining work. Michael Moore, produces a poorly made anti administration movie and is lionized by Hollywood while Mel Gibson makes a well made movie about Christ and is ridiculed and put down by Hollywood. The fact that the people greatly prefered Gibson’s movie didn’t matter to Hollywood.

I am a slightly conservative moderate with many slightly liberal beliefs, however the far left is pushing me more and more to the right. I used to believe that you should vote for the person not the party. Now I am forced to vote straight Republican because I can’t trust any Democrat to stand up to the far left. I like Joe Lieberman but would not vote for him because the odds are that the far left will eventually push him out of office or force him to support them. I disliked and never trusted President Nixon but today I would have to vote for him rather than any Democrat. I consider President Kennedy to be one of our best modern Presidents but could not, today, vote for him.

Pleople say to me “What about Hillary Clinton? She is a moderate.”. I say “baloney, as far as I can tell, Hillary Clinton does not believe in anything. She says and does whatever, she thinks, will get votes and help consolidate her power. I don’t believe that she cares any more for this country or it’s people than her husband did. If she believes that the far left can get her what she wants she will become one of their most rabid members.

The far left has hijacked the Democratic Party and they are at war with anyone and everyone who does not follow their dictates. They hide under the title ‘Democrat’ and claim to want to change America for the better. What they really want to do is to rule this country and make it over into their own image. They want us to be free to do what they think is best, not what we think is best. They believe that the end justifies the means and in order to gain their rule they will lie, cheat, support our enemies, spend whatever amount of money they have to and do anything else that may help them.

As far as the far left is concerned, their biggest enemy, at this time, is President Bush. They hate him and fear him, so they are doing everthing they can in order to ruin him. They blame him for everthing that has gone wrong in the world. Their celebrity spokespeople have people believing that the problems caused by hurricane Katrina are all his administration’s fault. The fact that, both the Democratic Mayor of New Orleans and the Democratic Governor of Louisiana were extremely slow to act in calling in the Federal Government doesn’t matter, the fact that it appears that several crooked politicians spent money given to them, prior to the hurricane, for levy repairs, on themselves, doesn’t matter, the fact that the people of New Orleans never bothered to prepare themselves for a category 5 hurricane, doesn’t matter. All that matters is if they keep telling everyone that it’s the President’s fault, pretty soon everyone will believe it. People like Jay Leno, David Letterman and other celebrities and comedians constantly joke about how stupid the President is. The fact that he was smart enough to earn a university and a post graduate degree, doesn’t matter, thefact that he was smart enough to become Governor of Texas, doesn’t matter, the fact that he was smart enough to become President of the United States doesnt matter, the fact that he was smart enough to marry Laura Bush, doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Leno and Letterman joke about his being stupid, therefore he must be stupid (This country has elected many Presidents that may have done a bad job at running this country but, I don’t believe that we have ever elected a stupid President, and if we did elect a stupid President, doesn’t that make us stupid for doing so.). I could list numerous other examples but this article is already to long, so I won’t.

The citizens of this country better wake up and start fighting back or soon we will no longer be a two party system or have a democratic republican form of government. We will have one Party, the far left, and they will rule us. They will be telling us what to think, when to think it and how to think it. I don’t know about you, but I like my freedom. I want a country with liberals, moderates and conservatives. I want to have a choice in who to vote for. I want to be able to think for myself. I don’t want to be ruled by the far left anymore than I want to be ruled by the far right. I want a country that represents everyone, a country that is “one country, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.

David G. Hallstrom, Sr. is a retired private investigator and currently publishes several internet directories including http://www.resourcesforattorneys.com a legal and lifestyle resources directory for attorneys, lawyers and the internet public. For more lifestyle information see http://lifestyle.resourcesforattorneys.com, the Lifestyle directory from Resources For Attorneys.

English National Language: Our Senators Shows their Racial Bias

If English were to be our National Language, why didn’t our forefathers make it so? Maybe it was because they realized that immigration was bringing in people from foreign lands and that the English language would take care of itself.

Danes, Swedes, Poles, Italians, Germans, French, Russians, Jews from many lands, and Irish came into our country. There descendants now speak English. Yes, a few Italians are bilingual but for the most part, English is their language.

I spent a couple of years shepherding a flock of Spanish-speaking Mormons in Atlantic City. I noticed that those who had been in the country the longest spoke the best English and that their children were fluent in English. It is just a matter of time in our environment that the language for a Spanish-speaking family becomes English.

Here in Idaho where we have numerous Spanish-speaking people I am watching the language change again. If I say “Como esta?” I often get back this answer:
“I’m fine. How are you?”

The Spanish Speaking folks want to speak English and they love to show their knowledge of it. It’s true that the older a person is the more difficult it is to learn a new language. Some experts say that the ability to learn a foreign language diminishes rapidly after the age of twenty-five years. I’m sure this is true for most people. Only old people here fail to learn the English language.

In Europe folks often speak English and the languages of their neighboring countries. I went to a restaurant in Luxembourg late one evening and I was greeted in French, German, and then English before I could return an answer.

In Norway I was taken on a tour of Viking artifacts and the guide spoke Italian, German, English, Spanish, and her native Norwegian. Language is not a big deal among the civilized nations. In Japan, English is very common as in Holland and most European countries. Why don’t we speak French and Spanish? Colorado has been teaching kids starting in kindergarten for years, but Colorado is an exception.

Creating a National Language by law when one already exists is just a juvenile practice exhibiting juvenile prejudice. If our senators had one brain between them, they would place emphasis on the national debt, the trade deficit, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and finding Osama Bin Laden.

Poles, Italians, Russians, Jews, Africans, and Mexican have been held in low esteem in this country at various times. Some of these groups have lost some of the stigma placed on them by small-minded twerps, but for the most part, the prejudice still lurks. The American Indian was held to be sub-human my many Americans for decades. Some still feel that way. Such arrogant feelings lead to sadness and bloodshed. Race riots have not been eliminated in the United States. It appears that the Senate is doing all they can to create a new one.

Immigration is a fact of life in our world. Many people were displaced after World War II. Migrant workers are a fact of life in Europe and they are a fact of life in the United States. We need these workers to do the work we don’t want to do. In Idaho, the economy would shutdown without these workers that work hard and for long hours. When I see the dairy and irrigation workers out playing football (soccer) after they have spent a very long day at hard work, I’m amazed at their stamina. I realize that a good part of the money they earn each day goes back to their families in Mexico, Central, and South America.

I said in another article that this is a form of foreign aid. The difference is that the immigrants have to come here and work to get it. I think that is better than just sending money across the border that would never get past the fat hands of foreign bureaucrats.

We need to control our borders. I don’t find a problem with that. I just don’t see why we can’t get an agreement with Mexico and other countries to make the immigration of workers an organized and efficient process. There should be a way for many of these workers to become citizens. We need them as much as we needed immigrants during the early growth of our country. If they are citizens they will have a better chance of serving the country, fighting our wars, and teaching us some good manners.

The President is on the right track with immigration. He is not the greatest thinker in the world so he never details his plans. But we need to support him in resolving this problem with care and understanding and according to our laws.

The world is a crowded place. Move over!

The End

Immigration, Bush, Mexico, Jews, Poles, Italians, Senate, National, Language, English, tolerance, Spanish

copyright©2006 John T. Jones, Ph.D.

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.aaaflagpoles.com