Speaking the Same Language

Know why McCain wants to distance himself from former Senator Phil Gramm? It is not just because of Gramm's recent obnoxious remarks calling Americans "a nation of whiners" and that unemployed Americans are in "a mental recession." In fact, those remarks were so obnoxious that I wonder if they were engineered just to provide McCain an excuse for publicly distancing himself from Gramm. This issue is a lot deeper than it looks on the surface.

When Gramm was a Senator he was chair of the Committee on Banking, and in that capacity he was able to push through the legislation now known as the "Enron Loophole." This loophole allowed US investment banks to bypass the Federal regulations governing futures trading, and is the reason why the investment banks were able to falsely inflate the prices of oil, wheat, corn and other commodities through massive futures trading, causing your costs of gas, heating oil and food to go through the roof.

Gramm was a member of McCain's campaign team, but now Gramms' name is turning to mud. In addition to the Enron loophole, Gramm pushed through the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act in 1999, which got rid of the laws that seperate banking, insurance and brokerage activities in America. Essentially, this Act did away with all of the good laws written after the Great Depression to protect us from another Wall Street/Banking Industry collapse. That's right, Gramm stripped the system of it's safe guards nine years ago, and guess what? The value of the dollar has nose-dived, three major economic institutions have failed, Wall Street is highly unstable, and we are in the midst of a worsening recession.

Now you could say that this is not Gramm's fault, that he didn't know what the outcome of his actions would be. However, it turns out that the same investment banks that benefited from the Enron loophole and from the Gramm Act gave more than a million dollars to Gramm's campaign. Uh oh. A Congressional hearing is going to be convened to investigate this. And McCain wants to have noting to do with Gramm, wants us to forget that Gramm has been a key player on McCain's campaign team. Gramm was McCain's campaign CO-CHAIR and LEADING ECONOMIC ADVISER. Previously, McCain had said that he planned to appoint Gramm as SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. It looks like McCain is scratching that idea, now that the public is finding out about Gramm. Didn't McCain's team bother to find out about Gramm before publicly considering him as Secretary of the Treasury?

With Gramm in the driver's seat as McCain's leading economic adviser, now you know why economists and analysts are saying that McCain's economic policy plans are untenable.

As a hispanic, I disagree on the polls and lock step assumptions of who will vote for who. Barry has questionable character flaws. To assume that all hispanics will forget his flipfloping, move to the center, and promise anything; and vote this smooth talking carpet bagger into office then I will eat crow. I served my country proudly and served under Jimmy Carter. Our morale was low because of JC's poor decisions. I could see the same lack of confidence affecting our present military. I see the same sickness affecting our present military if we choose Obama. McCain could be a good Reagan if we choose correctly.

I cry when we lose a soldier or a marine. Losses have not been much, in perspective, with other wars. In one day during the Normandy D-Day, there almost 6000 casulties. The media and the lib dems with their steady drumbeat have demoralized the public and sprewed thier Hate Bush Agenda. I hope my fellow Hispanics do not flip the voting switch for this embarresment of a polictian. He will say anything. Recently, Obama wants to redo bankruptcy laws that are 2 years old and wants all children to speak Spanish. Jesse Jackson was right. Barry talks down to black people and to any voters that want free rides or bennies. This guy not not have the moral character to be president.

NYT David Brooks is right, Barry is "Machivallian evil" and will give us a Chicago gangland liberal quaqmire that this great country may never recover from. What if Iran bombs Israel and just to test barry? This man is not prepared and not ready. As a hispanic vet from texas I will choose a vet. McCain. May God bless America.

Wisconsin's unique landmarks once again find themselves in the pages of the latest novel to be presented to readers of history, thrillers and religion in a work that combines all three genres into an adventurous global conspiracy.

The Epoch Point, just released on May 1 and written by Wisconsin native Spencer Zimmerman, is a fictional novel that includes historical facts, certain to intrigue history buffs who are interested in history from the local to the international level, especially as that history thrillingly plays out into what Zimmerman describes as a worldwide "conflict between God and the devil, good and evil."

According to the book's synopsis, the lead character, Robert Davis, is "a young Airman fresh out of Air Force basic training," reflective of Zimmerman's own recent service in the Air Force. "After being held captive in China, (Davis) suddenly finds himself unraveling the most immense conspiracy in history...soon uncovering hidden facts suggesting Russian and Iraqi involvement...discovering the diary of Lee Harvey Oswald...As the clues surface, an evil emerges powerful enough to rewrite the entire history of humanity...before long the conspiracy takes on a supernatural form, marked by [natural disasters] and the wrath of God...Nothing [prepares] (Davis) for the final suspenseful twist the story takes, a da Vinci style revelation that reaffirms his belief in Christ."

Zimmerman, having lived in several locations around Wisconsin, including near Lake Mills and Watertown, incorporated Wisconsin locations and history into his novel, among them a Viking cathedral on Washington Island and the events surrounding Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. Also mentioned is a small village outside of Burlington, Wisconsin, founded by a Mormon religious leader who proclaimed himself king, the only monarchy to ever occur in the forty-eight continental states in American history. Among the other Wisconsin landmarks in The Epoch Point, and most notably, the famous national landmark Aztalan is discussed at length.

Zimmerman's discussion of Aztalan in his book in part follows what Zimmerman calls the "darker" side of Aztalan, including its cannibalism and religious practices, and the instantaneous disappearance of its thriving population. Zimmerman's writing also seeks to make connections between Aztalan's existence with that of the Minoan civilization from Ancient Greece and Zoroastrian culture of the Middle East. All three peoples had similar beliefs, worshipped fire (one of Aztalan's mounds is believed to have been the abode of an "eternal" flame) and practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism.

Zimmerman noted all of these "obscure (historical) connections," which ultimately inspired him to take the connections and formulate them into an adventurous plot. Writing his book took roughly two years.

The book's chapters are titled after the sixty-six books of the Bible, and the plot progresses as Davis reads through each chapter of the Bible, opening the Bible for the first time in chapter one of The Epoch Point. Each chapter follows a "flashback" style in structure, in which the book's characters experience revelations of historical events and experiences from 4000 B.C. to the present, which allow them to observe how those events contributed to the global conspiracy they are presently confronting. Zimmerman states that the book's events begin on New Year's Eve of 2000, and end on Christmas of 2006.

While writing novels remains at present a hobby for Zimmerman, he already has ideas for a second novel that he anticipates will follow a more scientific fiction path. The Epoch Point is currently available through Amazon.com, and Zimmerman is hoping to get copies of the book into some of Lake Mills's downtown novelty shops.
-Emily Ann Paape The Lake Mills Leader