Memorial Day, what's it all about?

Memorial Day is the most intense holiday we have.  I say that because just stop and think what it’s all about.  Young men and women just like the ones you see every day at the mall or on the street laughing and enjoying life have unselfishly given theirs so that we can go on enjoying ours.  Few of you given the choice would be willing to lay down your life just so others you don’t even know can live theirs in freedom?  Having been raised in the forties and fifties I know quite a few who made that ultimate sacrifice, they were just like you, happy go lucky kids they loved life, enjoyed family and most of all they wanted to live just as bad as you do right now.  When I hear the words Memorial Day it sends a chill up my back that so many think it’s just another day to relax and have a beer.  I’m not saying that you should curl up and cry but before you go have that relaxing day and drink a few beers all I ask is that you say a special thank you for those who helped make it possible.  I just wish we could do more just to let them know how much they were appreciated.  Thank goodness we have a God that will do that for us, I know they will always have eternal life by his side.

God bless those who have made the ultimate sacrifice

Who's running things?

 Our judicial system has been consistent for the last few years, consistently bad.  This latest fiasco with Jody Arias is just the frosting on the cake.  What needs to be done to convince some people of guilt, the participants of the jury all submitted to questions prior to being installed on the jury one of which was the death penalty question. (Could they sentence someone to the death penalty). They all answered in the affirmative that they could convict if the case was proven.  Let see, admittedly she shot him, cut his throat ear to ear and stabbed him 27 times and then took pictures and left him there in a pool of blood for his friends to find him.  Gee, guilty or not guilty, how could any member of the jury who told the truth going into this hearing about the question of the death penalty find not enough evidence to sentence her to the ultimate?  I guess when we have a government that can’t seem to find the guts to tell the truth it spreads to the populace.  Attorney General Holder our chief law enforcement officer seems to have memory problems, our leader President Obama answers questions that weren’t asked just to skirt the actual question.  Our Secretary of State can’t find the courage to tell us what happened in Benghazi, the head of the IRS compliance division takes the 5^th and the head of the IRS finds himself in a complete fog and knows nothing like Sgt Schultz of Stalig 13. 

Who’s running things?  Is everyone just acting on their own without having to report to anyone?  Why would the Justice Department charge a well known and respected reporter as an accomplice and as a flight risk in a leak case?  Intimidation is why and that is the worst case you can have, when the people cannot get the truth because reporters are being intimidated is exactly why our fore fathers added the 1^st amendment.  Without a free press we have no checks and balances in our land.  When government feels it can make up its own rules without consequence we the people are the ones who lose.  Whether you are a republican, democrat or independent you have to be worried when we find that either the whole political arm of our government bold faced liars or they are just too damn incompetent to do their jobs.  Even the staunchest liberal has to be concerned and should be able to see right through this charade. 

We used to hold our elected officials to a higher standard, even in the case of Watergate where some bumbling idiots that worked for Nixon’s campaign tried to steal information from the democratic committee’s office brought down a sitting President.  Now we have at least 3 or 4 things that make Watergate look like a kids prank and nobody knows anything.  The Presidents chief counsel and his chief advisor admittedly knew about the IRS scandal and we are expected to believe that neither one told the President for months.  Several democrat congressmen are even on record asking the IRS to checkout these groups during the presidential campaign.  During the Benghazi attack no one knows where the President was that night, he wasn’t in the situation room where it would be expected he would be.  We know however he was in Las Vegas for a campaign stop the next day.  

God help us people we all can’t be that dumb, something is wrong and we are letting it slide by like it’s nothing.  

Tragedy brings us together

Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with the people of Oklahoma this week.  We many times wonder  how God can allow such carnage among so many innocents.  I was always taught that God tested our faith constantly and when something like this happens he takes those who perish into his arms and gives them eternal life in heaven.  The real sufferers are those that are left behind to deal with the tremendous hurt.  We people on this continent of North America are subject to many potential catastrophes. The west coast and Alaska are subject to massive earthquakes and in some cases the possibility of volcanic activity.  The Heartland has its tornado alley, the south its hurricane and tornado potential.  The east coast has been hit with terrible storms causing chaos and costly damage to the infra structure of the entire area.  In each case the people of America have stood by ready to help.  It does not matter the politics of the people involved, the American people will stand with the people of Oklahoma as they rebuild their lives.  This will be a real test for FEMA as they are still reeling from hurricane Sandy.  There is an opportunity to learn from this and any tragedy as specialists in construction will be pouring over the wreckage to develop new and stronger methods for home construction in the tornado prone areas. 

Why not community shelters in prone areas where when we have a 10 to 15 minute warning the people could go to.  This could be at park or any green space in the area.  It would not be an expensive project if they would do away with the red tape and union interference and allow the counties and residents to work together to build it.  Many lives were saved in London during WWII by having bomb shelters that were accessible to the public.   The tornado's may never come through again but just knowing that there was shelter available would be a blessing.  All schools in tornado prone areas should be built with a subterranean shelter offset from the school large enough to house the students and teachers; equipped with water, first aid stores, blankets and enough M.R.E.  meals to see them through a 48 hr period.  Each should have a propane generator piped to the outside large enough to support lighting and supplying outside air and a port-a-potty wouldn’t hurt.  This could be constructed under the playground in an area that would not be potentially covered by massive debris.  

In the past we had Air Raid Wardens whose responsibility it was to organize and control shelters.  These were selected by the community.  It could be a similar post in the case of tornado shelters as someone has to be responsible for the distribution of food etc. 

If these sounds too expensive just ask the parent of child lost during this storm and they will tell you they would do anything to undo what has happened.

I just want to say God Bless America, we are a unique society that is always ready to come together for each other regardless any of differences in our backgrounds, religion or political belief when tragedy strikes.  

That’s my opinion, what’s yours today?

When is a cover up a lie?

I have been listening to the Congressional hearings on the IRS scandal this AM, much to the chagrin of most who listened all it was is a back and forth of condemnation and praise by the Congressmen based on party lines.  The witness's are also very adept at having memory problems and much like Obama's answer about when was the Whitehouse's notified regarding this problem, each answer was carefully crafted and non committal.  When asked for the name of who was responsible for the IRS in this Miller the acting head of the IRS said he couldn't recall. When asked if anyone in the Whitehouse had been given information on this situation before it hit the press, Obama simply said the until it was in the press he didn't know anything about the IG report.  That wasn't the question was it?  To me it is clear when a person knows the answer to a question and they answer by skirting the issue using semantics it is a sure sign of guilty participation.  Our country needs a fair and balanced government, what we have is a totally political environment in Washington that will never be able to solve our tremendous problems.  When a person is elected to a National or State office they need to forget their political affiliation and play with honesty and integrity on the peoples team.  The clout held by these very few in power has led to a corrupt system that is continually whitewashing important details regarding our safety and our lives in general. 

I condemn both Democrats and Republicans for doing the chicken dance around pertinent questions.  When you can tell it's strictly a party line issue you can't help but feel like we as "The People" are being cheated.  The truth is the truth and any deference to party affiliation is like telling us the voter that we don't matter.  I am ashamed for these people that will lie to cover up a problem, haven't they heard that the cover up is worse than the problem in the end?  I can respect a mistake, I can understand a misunderstanding but I can't fathom a liar who hides behind semantics to avoid an honest attempt to get at the truth.

Our goal and the goal of our legislators should be to use moral judgment in these situations and have no regard for party affiliation what so ever.  How refreshing would it be to have legislation based on fact not how will this affect me in the next election.  It could start by making sure our elected officials live by the same laws they make for the rest of us. 

That's what I've got today, how about you?

Enough of this, I lived through the Nixon years, now this?

Having lived through the Nixon years I am finding a strong comparison with all the scandals coming out of this administration.  I find it hard to believe that all these things are just happenstance and the top echelon wasn't aware of the doings of the rest of the organization.  Having lived in Chicago for a period of my life I recognize the fingerprints of the machine in all of this.  I wonder if Michelle is still finally proud of America as she stated just after the first term election. 

Why is it that American voters do not learn from history, the reason we have a free press is to vet our candidates completely as well as those they choose as a support staff.  Whatever happens with all this you can definitely blame most of the major media for the outcome.  It also inexcusable for anyone on the street not to know the names of the leaders of the House and Senate or even the Secretary of State.  The reason we have this problem is that we have a 50% uninformed population that goes to the polls and votes a straight line ticket without studying the ballet or even knowing the candidates background.  How else can you understand how a man who has never had a real job nor any outstanding legislation in his name be elected to the office of President and be expected to succeed.  An uninformed public elected Hitler because he sounded great and said all the right things during the campaign, if they would have checked they would have seen his blatant flaws  and more recently the election of the President for life Hugo Chavez and look how that worked out.  We can thank God for the end of that regime.

I really don't care what your politics are you have to be scratching your head about all the corruption we've seen from this administration.  Targeting the opposition with IRS flunkies is just the latest revelation in this book to be exposed with many more chapters yet to be written.  It's time to wake up people, this all can't be someone else's fault, somewhere along the way things have to be answered for.  Benghazi, the IRS, and now the Associated Press.  The cover up of facts that have been discovered during the Benghazi investigation show at the very least an incompetence from the top down.  The fact that top officials in the Whitehouse knew about the IRS corruption and supposedly didn't tell the President is a little hard to believe, if it's true they should all be fired immediately.  The Attorney General not being able to answer basic questions about the Associated Press scrutiny by his department claiming not to know any of the facts shows either total incompetence or he was just bald faced lying.

I've said what's on my mind, I'd better quit now so I don't get audited or have my phone records attached, I'd hate them to find out that I gave $100 to Romney.

That's my opinion and it's not stretching the 1st Amendment to state it.

Has America lost its identity?

I don't know how you feel but I think it's time to look deep inside our society and find out the rooted cause of things like the New Orleans Mothers day shooting, the random drive by's in Chicago and L.A..  Something is amiss with the basic human instincts in some people that is driving them to do these things.  In my own mind I think a lot of it has to do with the violence we portray on TV in the movies and in the so called games that have taken over the lives of our kids.  The acceptance of, rather than a real war on drugs.  When I was a child a million years ago yes we played soldier but it was against a common enemy of all people.  We didn't blow things up or randomly shoot into crowds to hurt as many people as we could.  We know we have an enemy in the Radical Jihadists and the Drug Lords of Mexico and South America but killing to solve a dispute among everyday people or just randomly shooting into a crowd is a cowardly trait, one Americans just didn't have in the past. 

Are our children being desensitized to killing through these games they are playing?  Is our society becoming so obsessed with violence that it is becoming common to them?  It's time we quit coddling the perpetrators of these horrific media's and clamped down on what our kids are seeing.  This isn't what our forefathers were considering when they wrote the 1st amendment to the Constitution.  These people have stretched the imagination of the meaning of the Freedom of Speech to the outer limits.  The entertainment industry is building its wealth and political power by poisoning the minds of our people. 

What are we broadcasting to the world on our television that is forming opinions of what we are as a people.  It used to be entertainment, shows like the Jackie Gleeson Show, Ozzie and Harriett or Carol Burnett.  Now the rest of the world is watching the sickest of our society perpetrating crimes against innocent people.  What must the kid in a foreign country think of Americans when all he see's on his TV about our country is violence and killing?  America was a place that people dreamed of coming to in order to change their lives and have a chance to raise their families leaving tyranny behind.  Now they tune into The First 48 and see a land of crime and punishment. I blame TV evangelism for some of the problems that have driven our youth away from the community church.  They have become money grubbers that have put a false front on religion.  The religion I grew up with was based on values, the value of a human life, the value of helping one another, having respect for one another and of course above all the knowledge that God was always watching over you.  Now on TV it's just how rich and powerful can the preacher get.

Now that they have successfully  taken God out of our schools we find it has also affected respect for the teachers, parents and society in general.  They have replaced any form of religion with political correctness as if it were a religion itself.  We have taken away competitiveness, personal achievement and replaced it with a philosophy of holding everyone to the same standard as the weakest in the group.  America wasn't built by the weakest in our society but the strongest who led by example.  Our politicians have proven they are not able to shake the political correctness that our progressive friends have installed so it's time once again for parents to become parents and not leave the raising of our children to the teachers and the entertainment industry.  How long has it been since you heard the words PTA?  (Parent Teachers Association) How many actually spend the time to see what's going on in our schools and having a voice in the curriculum? How many try to be friends with their kids before parenting?  Of course making a friend of your child and not having to face the confrontation involved with discipline is much easier.  America needs leaders and we are producing generation after generation of mind numbed robots addicted to their IPods.   The first words out of many job applicants has become; what are the benefits, the idea is not what they can bring to the company to make it better but what can the company do for them.   America has lost its identity and like Rome of old it will without a change soon lose its place of power in the world.    

What a strange language they use in politics

The strange language of politics can sometimes mean exactly the opposite of the words used.  What I mean to say is; have you ever noticed that when a politician realizes he is probably out of step with his constituency they tend to word a bill as to sound like it has the opposite meaning.  This is especially so in bond issues, you have to vote yes to say no to an additional tax.  We have seen this in our national politics in the last few years.  I have tried to listen and understand the words used in political speeches but many times there are so many contradictions that understanding is next to impossible.  I listened to the Gang of Eight who are pushing the immigration bill, what I heard was four different scenarios having opposite meanings.  It just depended what crowd they were speaking to.  How hard could it be; close the border first, hell Russia did it in East Germany to keep their people in, we'll be happy to let anyone out that wants to go.  We just have to do the opposite of the Russians.  

Getting back to reality and the immigration problem; we close the border first, then document the aliens who have been here for over five years and have been productive in our society, not constant welfare participants and abusers of our system.  Those who do not qualify for amnesty would be allowed 90 days to close their affairs and leave the country.  Anyone with a violent criminal record or a proven habitual drug problem is deported immediately and the rest who qualify would be given temporary green cards and a temporary social security card so they can work and pay taxes.  Anyone caught re entering after deportation is locked up for a minimum of five years and re deported. Those who have not been here for over 5 years but at least 3 years would be deported and put on a fast track to immigration if they have been productive and have no criminal record. 

The process for those who meet the criteria for this amnesty would take about 4 years and during that time there would be no benefits other than those earned by employment. No welfare, no Medicaid, Medicare or any other government paid benefit.  Private organizations, churches and other groups would have to fill the void.  Once they reach the final stage in preparation of citizenship they would be issued a red card that would be good for a one year probationary period showing their status.  If no problems arise they would be then authorized to take the time honored citizenship test in English without translation and be sworn in when passed.  Once they are legal United States citizens they will have the right to vote and partake of national programs just like any other citizen.      

Anyone attempting to cross the border illegally from the time this bill is passed, will be considered an armed smuggler and treated accordingly.  Drug or human smuggling on the border should be considered and invasion of our sovereign territory and should be met with armed force.

That's my opinion what's yours?

Commonsense

Normally as a person matures hopefully they develop what we call commonsense.  Somehow as a nation we have lost that ability.  In today’s reality commonsense has been replaced by political correctness which is the exact opposite in most cases.  Does the fact that we allow students from countries who hate us to come here and learn in our universities and then over stay their visa’s or return home and use their education to build weapons against us make any sense let alone commonsense?  We say it’s right to put restrictions on legal gun owners and purchasers when it’s the illegally obtained guns that are usually involved in shootings.  How does stripping law abiders of their guns that are used to protect society make any sense at all.  We know there is nothing we can do about the millions of illegal guns on the street now so why do we feel we have to inhibit the rights of those who legally have the right via the Constitution to own weapons for sport or to defend themselves. 

Commonsense also tells us that in order to work efficiently government has to find ways of compromise yet political correctness has influenced so many legislators to the point that any real compromise is impossible.  It seems that when we elect some politicians to high office they lose the ability to think for themselves, they allow their party hacks to do their thinking for them.   

Commonsense tells us that when we see a TSA agent frisking a crying 80 year old woman and allowing a person in a burka to pass with just a few questions and no pat down, that maybe something is amiss with our regulations.  Isn’t this is a case where political correctness has inserted it’s stupidity in our system.  The system of Tenure is another thing that defies commonsense.  Our nation’s work places are full of people who really don’t deserve to draw a paycheck, they are there because tenure has made it impossible to fire them.  It is also rampant in our education system, in many cases the teachers union has put the value of the teacher who is not performing above that of our children’s education.  When in our history did we discover that we should honor time served over the value of a great education?  Great teachers are let go for budget cuts rather than the teacher with the poorest grade performance.  

I wonder if the same is true for the Secret Service, does the guy with the poor aim get to guard the President?  Maybe even political correctness has its limits, that’s only commonsense, right? 

Our President seems to be afraid to use the words Radical Muslim Terrorist because some may be offended by it.  I’d rather see him offend a few and call it like it is, that’s just commonsense.  Where is the commonsense that allows radical Muslim clerics to preach hate in our cities under the guise of free speech?  Isn’t that similar to shouting fire in a crowded theatre?   When some cleric in a Mosque is telling people to kill the infidels, Christians, Jews and anyone else that doesn’t believe there are 72 virgins just waiting for them in heaven, it kind of seems commonsense would tell you that this is not what our forefathers meant to be called free speech.  There are so many more cases of political correctness gone wild that it would take a ream of paper to tell them all, isn’t it time to bring the commonsense we were born with back into this society we have done our best to destroy?

That’s my opinion, how does it compare to yours?

Miranda rights vs Public Safety

Please someone tell me the reason the Boston Terrorist was given his Miranda rights.  Just like everything this administration has done it has been done in a cloud of secrecy.  The FBI was interrogating the prisoner when in comes a Federal Magistrate, Federal Defense lawyer and a Federal Prosecutor and cut off the interrogation mid stream.  We find now that they were not finished with their terror, they were headed for New York's Times Square with another pressure cooker bomb and several pipe bombs.  Still our administration refuses to call them what they are; Radical Muslim Terrorists.

Just once I'd like to see evidence from the Muslim community that they are doing something about the radicalization of the their religion.  When Allah's words are used for terror to obtain an objective it is no longer a religion but a political movement driven by terror.  Tax exemption should be taken away from any Mosque that has a record of allowing this to go on.  Some of these people come here and enjoy the freedom and the rights of America only with the desire to destroy.  If they want to return to the Stone Ages go back where they came from.  I believe in the freedom to choose ones religion but when it becomes evident that they want to take away my right to choose a religion they are no longer welcome on our soil. 

We should establish our own Human Rights organization here in the U.S. and demand the banning of any type of clothing that is forced upon women like the burka or even the full headscarf.   Human beings are not property in the United States  of America and no group should have special rights outside our Constitution to force the use of them.  I've heard it compared to the Habit that Catholic Nuns wear which to me is a ridiculous comparison.  The Catholic Nuns do it voluntarily and may quit at any time.  The women of the burka are in it for life.  In some cases they are not even allowed outside the house without the accompaniment of a male relative.  There have even been reports of honor killings of daughters who have become to Americanized to suit their fathers.  Why on earth did they come to America in the first place if they never intended to assimilate into our society?

That's my opinion, sure would like to hear yours.

Where are today's Heroes

Are you aware of how much politics play a part in our everyday lives?  Let’s take the Sequester for example; this could have been handled easily if the Executive and the Legislative branches of government were not acting like children.  Folks we are in process of creating a $20 TRILLION dollar debt.  The amount that is involved in the Sequester is in relation to the loose change the average man throws on the dresser every night.  There didn’t have to be any pain involved for the population it just required a little leadership to maneuver the cuts to areas that need a cut.  The republicans agreed to the process that originated in the Oval Office.  Neither party thought the other would allow it to come to fruition.  Rather than allow these necessary cuts to slip easily into the budget the President is forcing a confrontation with the House by allowing the cuts to be used for what he hopes are a political gain.  The White House tours is one example but when the media actually reported how ludicrous it was they decided to make everyone pay the price by reducing the staff of Air Controllers in the major hubs across America.  In reality the FAA’s budget was not in question and this reduction is to make you and I pay for the fact that the house has forced this reduction down the throat of the President. 

The problem with this is that now we are talking about putting people at danger as they travel.  If the country can operate with less controllers effectively this may bounce back in his face like the White House tour situation.  The problem is that we don't know if the air traffic can be safely handled by less people. The blame for the Sequester can be spread around and is not just the President fault.  The fact that we have such a division in our legislative and executive branch is embarrassing to all Americans.  It would almost be better to have a Parliamentary Procedure and force the entire bunch into a special election and clean house.   I mean from the President down, we don’t need these childish tantrums coming from the White House or the Legislators.  Where are our heroes who should be leading us into the future.  The United States has had the greatest leaders the world has ever seen, those who we now have to depend on shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as; Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and more recently Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy or Reagan.   These were not self promoting narcissists, these were men who cared deeply about America. 

We need to dig deep into our souls and find leaders who will stand for something other than their next election.  In today’s world the campaigning never seems to end and the work of the government is treated as a part time venture.

That’s just my opinion, what’s yours.  

Whose reading this blog

This tells an interesting story as to what people in other countries follow in American politics.  These are regular readers of our blog by country and by method of internet used. 

Pageviews by Countries Entry Pageviews United States 888 Germany 81 Russia 57 South Korea 9 Turkey 6 Australia 4 Canada 3 Indonesia 1 Iraq 1 Venezuela 1

Pageviews by Browsers Entry Pageviews Internet Explorer 601 (56%) Firefox 195 (18%) Chrome 161 (15%) Mobile Safari 36 (3%) Safari 21 (1%) Opera 18 (1%) Mobile 10 (<1%) UniversalFeedParser 9 (<1%) OS;FBSV 8 (<1%) Kindle 2 (<1%) Pageviews by Operating Systems Entry Pageviews Windows 904 (85%) Macintosh 43 (4%) Android 37 (3%) Linux 36 (3%) iPhone 18 (1%) iPad 13 (1%) Windows NT 6.1 1 (<1%)

America, Home of the brave land of the free

America, Home of the Brave, Land of the Free.  Slogans seldom carry the weight of the one I just quoted and it’s up to us, this generation of Americans to keep it strong.  We have to take every opportunity to find the flaws in our system and correct them without giving up on our liberties.  America is strong because of our free society and our enemies would like to see us turn it into a police state where every move is questioned.  The crafters of our Constitution saw and anticipated the problems of a big government and built safety guards into the document to protect us from an overzealous Executive, Legislative or Judicial body.  We as a people have to take responsibility for what is going on around us at all times,especially at large events.  The goal of our forefathers was religious freedom above all, but when a religion takes on the role of politics and calls for the extermination of all others it has to be classified differently.  The radicalization of the Muslim world has spread throughout this country with the protection of our own Constitution and Bill of Rights. 

As the United States of America has developed as a country over the last 240 years it has been with the assimilation of many different religions and cultures.  When we see a definite separation and failure or refusal to assimilate into what has become the American culture of freedom for all we should be alarmed.  The conclaves of Muslims in our larger cities have gone so far as to demand sharia law in their communities.  Women are forced into the role of property and carry little voice in their communities.  We as Americans have laws that are supposedly representative of all people who live within our borders, why then should we allow a different standard for anyone else.  Would we allow a community of just Catholics or any other religion to impose their own restrictions on Americans living in their community?  Would we allow any other nation to build a settlement here with their own rules and regulations governing over our Constitution?  The answer is a resounding no! 

They should either assimilate or go back to where they came from if they like the laws and conditions there better than ours.  Over the years our Hispanic population has become more and more isolated.  The history of Hispanics is a proud one in the building of America yet a new culture of entitlement has taken hold of many.  People who come here legally have shown the desire to become one with our nation or they wouldn’t have waded through all the red tape and restrictions on the process.  When one comes illegally it is not with the desire to assimilate, it is generally to take advantage of this great system.  

That’s my opinion, I’d like to hear yours.