AFP (Breitbard.com) | US President George W. Bush said in an interview Tuesday he was forced to sacrifice free market principles to save the economy from “collapse.”

“I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system,” Bush told CNN television, saying he had made the decision “to make sure the economy doesn’t collapse.”

Bush’s comments reflect an extraordinary departure from his longtime advocacy for an unfettered free market, as his administration has orchestrated unprecedented government intervention in the face of a dire financial crisis.

“I am sorry we’re having to do it,” Bush said. Bush said….<<<Read the Full Story>>>

Of course, things look entirely different to members of “free-market advocacy groups,” as they like to be called. One such group is the Ayn Rand Institute, named after the matriarch of the movement, whose antigovernment and anti-regulation views are embodied in her best-selling novels “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.” Indeed, Greenspan himself was a friend of Rand’s, and a devotee of her extreme free-market philosophy…[Read Full Article]

Consider these staggering data:

*Fully 71 percent of Americans flunked a 33-question civic-literacy survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Among 2,508 respondents ISI randomly selected, 1,791 failed this test of U.S. historical, political, and economic basics. The average score was just 49 out of 100 — a solid F. While just 2.6 percent scored Bs on this quiz, only 0.8 percent earned As.

*Just 49 percent of rank-and-file Americans can identify>>>>Read the Full Article

According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, the Obama people dumped the Star Spangled Banner to make room for another speaker.

“We regret the miscommunication with Zach about today’s event, but we are pleased that several other New Hampshire residents were able to speak at today’s event where thousands of voters in both parties gathered to hear Sen. Obama discuss his plan to bring the change we need to Washington,” Sandra Abrevaya, communications director for the Obama campaign’s Manchester office told the Union Leader.

Bencal, who the Union Leader explained sings the anthem for a number of school events and is actively involved in local community theater, had been contacted by the Obama campaign to sing the anthem.>>>>Read the Full Article

The media is all over itself about how smart and experienced Biden is. Political analyst Charlie Cook is quoted in the Washington Post on Saturday as saying “Biden is clearly so much more knowledgeable, by a factor of about a million.” Saturday Night Live does a skit about Biden being smart, if slimy. Meanwhile, Governor Sarah Palin is treated as being nothing more than a simpleton.

Yet, take Biden’s statement from the debate on the role of the vice president:

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

The only authority the vice president has>>>>Read the Full Article

Key Points:

• Ian Usher, 44, has put everything to do with his current life on the eBay auction block in a package deal.
• He is hoping to walk away with ?230,000.
• His employer said they would give the winning bidder a two-week trial at his job with permanent status if everything works out after that.
• The Telegraph reports Usher as saying, “I am looking forward to moving on, and shedding the past. I am excited about the future, and really having no idea where events might lead me. I love the adventurous nature of the project, and am excited about a new start…Everything here is connected with that past life, and as I cannot have that life any more, then I don’t want to hang on to it desperately.”
• His friends suggest it is just a mid-life crises.
• Usher has created a website to promote the sale of his “life.” www.alife4sale.com

Conclusion:

While surely everyone would like the opportunity, at times, to do as Mr. Usher is attempting, the nature of life suggests that the stewardships we engage in are not as simple as selling everything and somehow starting over. That will, indeed, get rid of the material possessions of one’s life, but it will do nothing for the memories and the relationships that person leaves behind. The stewardship of life suggests that we use our agency to learn to overcome our trials and to increase our knowledge, experience and abilities; in short, to increase our Human Life Value. Running from every trial in our lives may appear to solve the problems, but when life is over what will we be able to say about our stewardship called life? Still, perhaps one can admire the resolve of such an individual to just dump everything pertaining to the current life and disappear into another life, another identity, another stewardship, maybe even a life worth loving.

Action Steps:

1. In a journal or a notebook, spend one hour writing everything you are thankful for and love about your life. Don’t think about the negative things or the things you don’t love at this time, unless you are truly thankful for them.
2. Write about the challenges in your life and how they, specifically can be for your good. Record some of the possible lessons you might learn from those experiences.

Reference(s):

Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Source: Telegraph, “Australian Auctions Entire Life on eBay”
Author: Lewis Carter
MRFC Principles: (3, 4, 6)