A Pax Americana and other fun stuff ........

My sincerest apologies

2011-11-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

I have had very little time to devote to the blog. I try to take my time and give you a blog worth reading, and I just can't do that between work, Army training, and starting up my new 13-piece band, Knight Shift. Find me on Facebook!
I will return to the blog as soon as I am able, especially as the Presidential Election gets into full gear.
GO NEWT!!!!

Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies A People

2011-03-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my fiance Tess is taking a Multicultural course as part of her masters program. And an assignment was to watch this video......

The full video can be found here.....
Reel Bad Arabs
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/reel-bad-arabs/

I watched it with her tonight and then, after coming home watched it again with a critical eye... here is my review.

The webpage accompanying Dr. Jack Shaheen’s “documentary” Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, states “By inspiring critical thinking about the social, political, and basic human consequences of leaving these Hollywood caricatures unexamined, the film challenges viewers to recognize the urgent need for counter-narratives….”

However, there is no critical thinking involved in the movie. It is one sided and terribly biased. At times it takes comedies and tries to illustrate that they are serious and at other times it negates the fact that Arab groups, individuals, and movements have proudly taken actions he considers
‘unfair stereotypes’.

Part I – Intro

First of all, inasmuch as this is an advertisement for a book Dr. Jack Shaheen (the “documentarian”) has written, there is obviously no objectivity. It is for this reason he never addresses movies like The Kite Runner or Lawrence of Arabia that show Arabs is an even-handed light.

Only 24 seconds into the film, he begins equating Hollywood’s (Westerners’) views towards Arabs with those of the Nazi’s towards the Jews - an obviously ad hominem argument, a fallacy often referred to as “Playing the Nazi card” or “Reductio ad Hitlerum” – it makes all further contentions of
the “documentarian” suspect at best, but we must press on with an open mind.

He states that he has studied “more than 1000 films” (2:05m) – the majority of those movies must have had white guys as the villain. I would like to see the statistical evidence of how often an Arab is portrayed as the villain in contrast to a Westerner. At the end of this review I will make a list of villains, and see what I can come up with.

The Myths of Arabland (3:21m)

The “documentarian” sets up a false premise that ‘all movies dealing with Arabs have a certain set of ‘fabricated’ images’ – ominous music, desert…etc.

1) Ominous Music – Nearly all movies have ominous
music at one point or another

2) “Desert, always the desert” – inasmuch as any movie dealing with Arabs most likely will take place in Egypt (97% desert) Saudi Arabia (80% desert) Syria (70% desert) Iraq (29% desert) Iran -formerly called “Persia”- (50% semi-arid or desert), odds are the events will
take place in a desert.

3) “Desert as a threatening place” A desert can be considered nothing but a dangerous and threatening place. Lack of water for a human is the quickest route to a non-violent death. A desert by its very nature is life-threatening to humans. The description of the oasis is merely a geographical reality, not sure how it reflects on Arabs in general.

4) “The palace that has the torture chamber in the basement… the Pasha sitting on his posh cushions with maidens surrounding him, none of the maidens please him, so they abduct a blonde woman from the west who doesn’t want to be seduced…” It seems he is taking a very specific plot from a handful of movies and attributing it to ALL movies about Arabs – again,
the scarecrow argument.

5) Belly dancing and scimitars – is he suggesting that there are no belly dancers in the Middle East, or that earlier Arabic warriors didn’t use scimitars – what would he prefer an Arab fighter to be shown with? An AK-47 assault rifle?

6) Flying magic carpets and snake charmers – refer to #4. I don’t believe every Arab
movie shows these, nor do the majority – yet he sets this up as a ‘typical’ view of Arabs.

(5:25m) “Aladdin”
– the story of Aladdin was taken from the 14^th Century SYRIAN fables “One Thousand and One Nights” – as dictated to Antoine Galland by Youhenna Diab “Hanna” – an Arab Syrian storyteller. It’s hard to make an argument that Aladdin is a white man’s stereotype of Arabs when the original story came from an Arab.

(5:50m)
“They cut off your ear if they don’t like your face” that line was removed after the movie was released - exactly FOR the cultural sensitivities he espouses. In his desire to vilify the white producers, he neglects to mention this. The replaced line was, “where it's flat and immense, and the heat is intense." The perception of Arabic ‘barbarism’ (a perfectly chosen word, since it comes from the Greek word for the Persians - meaning “not Greek” or “not civilized) is born of the fact that some Arabs will cut off the hand of a thief, they will not touch another with the left hand since that is the hand they wipe themselves with, Sharia law calls for the stoning death of an adulteress…etc..etc… actions that are, indeed, uncivilized to Western eyes. It is not derogatory; it is a statement of fact. To Western eyes, such actions are uncivilized and barbaric.

(6:40) “Arabs as buffoons” Referring to an obscure and disregarded movie such as “The Happy Hooker” does little to boost his argument, unless he’s also suggesting that a prostitute would be called into a Congressional hearing. Hollywood “buffoons” come in all shapes and sizes, Gomer Pyle, Barney Fife, Larry the Cable Guy, Forrest Gump, Sancho Panza, Bill & Ted, Wayne & Garth…on and on. At the same time, in any number of the movies he alludes to (and others he avoids) Arabs are seen as skillful and intelligent. Although in movies such as The Siege, Kingdom of Heaven, or Black Hawk Down, those Arabs skills are used to a malevolent ends other movies, such as Lawrence of Arabia are not nearly so malicious. Either way, it cannot be said that Arabs are consistently or exclusively shown as buffoons.

Portrayal of Arab Women

(8:00m) He then lists a number of movies in which women are treated as chattel (Cannonball Run2, Jewel of the Nile, Protocol, Never Say Never Again and Sahara). Although few Hollywood movies are NOT built upon hyperbole, does this not reflect the FACT that women are considered “less” than men in Arab cultures. The Sharia-following Taliban government in Afghanistan (pre-2003) forbade women from going to school, learning to read, leaving the house without a male escort, speaking to any man without her husband’s permission, wearing anything more revealing than a hijab or burka. It maybe unpleasant to face such facts, but exaggerated or not, women are considered little more than animals in many Arab cultures. Later in the movie he speaks of how Arab women of today are “exceeding in all professions”(12:50m). Do I have to ask if that includes the Sharia-ruled countries where women are not allowed to go to school or learn how to read? A clip of Indiana Jones is used to show how the image of Arabic women are “locked in the past”(13:42m), yet in this example, the movie is set in the 1930’s. A modern woman of any culture would be out of place.

Immediately following this tirade of how Arab women are not treated as intelligent, he bemoans how recently Arab women are ‘projected as a bomber… a terrorist.” (13:15m) This recent change in perception has followed the recent inclusion of women as suicide bombers and jihadists. You might say in this case art is imitating life, not visa-versa.

When he moves on to attacking “Father of the Bride 2” (10:58m) I realized how much he was relying on comedies. This is hardly a credible argument for “typical treatment of Arabs” any more than Larry The Cable Guy is illustrative of all white guys, or any of Adam Sandler’s characters are “typical Jews”… the intent of some comedy is the absurdity of exaggeration. All cultures are subject to the exaggerations of extreme when dealing with comedies. Have you never seen a drunken Irishman used as a joke in a film? Or a stupid white guy in an episode of Roseanne?

“Gladiator” – slave traders who take Russell Crowe back to Rome are Arabs. (11:46m)

Fact1 - Arab slave trade took place during the Roman Empire, and this scene, in all likelihood, is factually accurate. When the author claims that Hollywood is “injecting Arabs” in movies “having nothing to do with the Middle East” (12:10m) he is showing an ignorance of the worldwide trade of the Roman Empire during the time. The Romans traded with Arabs, and they traded with Arabs for slaves and gladiators. The movie is factually correct.

Fact 2 – The only countries in the world in which slave trade still takes place on a wide scale are Sudan, Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Chad – all countries claiming the sanctioning of slavery by Islam. Today, the country with the largest human slave trade is Indonesia – which is also the country most populated by Muslims. To portray Arabs and Muslims as slave traders is not some conjured “slur” against Arabs and Muslims, only an accurate portrayal of their culture.

The Arab Threat: Mideast Politics & Hollywood (13:49m)

Dr. Shaheen tries to assert that Arabs have been singled out for the villain role in American movies - specifically Network (16:20m). Seeing a culture, any culture as an enemy is nothing new, and it is not limited to Arabs. During WWII, it was Germans or Japanese (Kelly’s Heroes, Von Ryan’s Express, Bridge On The River Kwai…) and during the Cold War it was the Russians (Red Dawn, Failsafe…) sometimes even our own government (Dr. Strangelove, War Games, The Day After…). Movies often reflect their times and the threats (perceived or real) of the day. And once again, for good measure, he associates Hollywood with the Nazi’s. (17:50m)

Terror, Inc: Demonizing Palestinians and Muslims

It’s almost laughable how Shaheen condemns the Hollywood association of Palestinians with Nazi’s when he, himself, just utilized that same comparison for his purpose not two minutes before. He states how unfair it is that Palestinians are portrayed as a people who will kill “anyone, anywhere, at any time, for any reason.” And yet, is it not the Palestinians who suicide bomb wedding receptions, public markets, and buses of tourists or take hostages of innocent Olympic athletes – with no concern for the number of innocent women and children being killed? Do they not, in fact, kill anyone, anywhere, and at any time?

The documentarian states Palestinians are portrayed as a people “intent on injuring all Americans.” This would not only be the view of Hollywood/Washington DC but has been stated as much by the Palestinians themselves in countless “fatwas” or ‘calls to war.’ Many major Muslim, Arabic, and Palestinian groups have in fact called for just this sort of attack on America, its citizens, its interests, and its allies. This is not an invention of Hollywood. The torture scene from Death Before Dishonor (the drill into the hand) (22:36m)was confirmed to be an ‘approved’ Al Qaeda torture technique when an Al Qaeda handbook was retrieved in Iraq in May of 2007 (http://science.howstuffworks.com/torture-manual.htm) “They burn an American flag…” (22:45m) Is he suggesting Arabs don’t do this? They then “dispatch a suicide bomber to blow up [the American Embassy]” Again, is he suggesting these aren’t things Arab terrorists do?

His bringing up the obscure “Cannon Films” B-movie productions (23:17m)skirts very near the canard that America and Hollywood are ‘run by the Jews’ and was discomforting to hear, to say the least. I had never heard of, much less seen, any of the films he portrayed as standards of American film work.

Hell Squad? (23:39m) Really? Along with The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington, maybe he’s making a case that really crappy, unwatched B-rate movies engage in Arabi-phobia. Maybe he’s making a better case that he, personally, watches imbecilic, stupid, soft porn b-flicks and expects from them some deep interculturally significant message. Good Luck with that.

He claims that the movie “The Delta Force” is one of the ‘most popular and most racist’ films to project derogatory images of Arabs. (23:50m) Unfortunately for him, the entire scenario of taking an airplane filled with people and then separating out the Jews for execution was not a Hollywood invention, but a scene repeated on numerous airplane hijackings during the 70’s including the Palestinian hijacking of Air France Flight 139 in 1976. It was also why Leon Klinghoffer was singled out for execution during the taking of the Achille Lauro in 1985. Rather than ‘propaganda’ as he claims, it is an accurate portrayal of what commonly took place when airline hijackings took place in the 70’s.

It is at this point that Dr. Shaheen tilts his hand to show us his underlying premise; he refers to Palestinians as a populace “under occupation.” (25:14m) This is a short, but very telling phrase. Saying that Palestinians are under occupation is to say the Israelis have no right to occupy Israel.

He then goes on to ask why Hollywood cannot ‘humanize’ Palestinians the way we humanize Israelis. (25:37m) Perhaps because it is difficult to humanize any culture that condones and glorifies the wanton murder of innocents and children through suicide bombings. Israelis, Americans, Europeans, and Westerners anguish-over and regret ANY collateral damage. Military officers are punished and demoted if enough care is not taken to minimize civilian casualties (often at the expense of our own soldiers’ lives). The Arabs, however, take glory and pride in larger and larger death tolls – military or civilian, it doesn’t matter. The tactics used by terrorists (yes, I realize not all Muslims/Arabs are terrorists, but nearly all terrorists have been Mulsim/Arabic) are in fact barbaric and inhuman… it is for this reason it is difficult to ‘humanize’ a culture that embraces terrorism.

The Only Good Arab (26:07m)

A quick montage of movie posters accompanies a derisive commentary regarding movies made ‘in connection with the Department of Defense’. You’d have to freeze frame to see which movies are highlighted, but it’s curious the ones he chose. I did the hard work and will present them (in order) for you…

1) Executive Decision (1996) Arabs hijack a plane to get their leader released from American custody – reflecting the real life Palestinian “Dawson’s Field Hijackings” of Sept 1970 as well as the Palestinian hijacking of Air France Flight 139 in June of 1976, the Palestinian hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 in October of 1977, the hijacking of Kuwait Airways flight KU561 in February of 1982 as well as the 1985 Palestinian hijacking of EgyptAir Flight 648 (Although that type of rescue has no historical basis, the plotline of Palestinians taking hostages to get a comrad free was hardly invented by Hollywood!

2) Death Before Dishonor (1987) An American Embassy goes lax in its security measures and is overrun by terrorists, similar to the fall of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1978

3) Black Hawk Down (2001) It is very telling that Dr. Shaheen doesn’t address this movie directly. Perhaps he avoids it because according to all accounts it is a very accurate telling of the events that took place in October of 1993 in Somalia. It is difficult to argue bias and stereotype in a factually based film.

4) Patriot Games (1992) I find it laughable that this is included in the montage as it has nothing to do with Arabs, Palestinians, or the Middle East. The terrorists in this Tom Clancy story are members of the Irish Republican Army.

5) Navy Seals (1990) Yes, it’s American S.E.A.L.s vs. MiddleEastern terrorists.

6) Rules of Engagement (2000) I find it curious that Dr. Shaheen includes this movie, and in fact uses it as an example of stereotyping later in his documentary (27:02m), calling it the “most racist.” I find it curious because throughout the majority of the movie, the Samuel Jackson character is ASSUMED to be guilty, with the presumption of innocence placed upon the Arabs. Furthermore, much of the film shows the US government doing its damnedest to convict an American soldier who isn’t guilty of breaking the rules of engagement - in order to be politically correct and Arab-sensitive. I’m not sure this is the best movie to use if one is trying to show Americans as ‘hell bent’ to railroad Arabs. It also shows the after-effects
of American bullets (not exactly showing Arabs as ‘inhuman’)

7) True Lies (1994) Okay another Good guys vs Bad guys in which the bad guys are Arabs.

8) Iron Eagle (1986) More in common with a US vs Saddam than Western vs Arab… but we might give this one to the Doctor.

There are a good 25-30 more minutes in the film, mostly repeating what has already been stated – Arabs and Palestinians are victims of propaganda and stereotyping in American films. Nothing they do is wrong and nothing Hollywood (Westerners) have to say about them is right.

Among my friends and associates, I am one of the first to defend the Palestinians as a group (while condemning the actions of the few), but even I can’t call this “documentary” objective in any manner, much less an exercise in critical thinking. It is a one-sided diatribe that assumes the worst in Americans and Hollywood, and sees nothing but goodness and purity in the Palestinians and Arabs. Critical Thinking by definition should never take such an absolute view of anything!

We do ourselves a disservice to ignore facts in the pursuit of ‘understanding’ and ‘tolerance’; and the facts remain that Palestinians and Arabs cheered at the murder of thousands of innocents in the World Trade Center on September 11^th, 2001. The fact remains that they have declared war on us, our country, and our culture. The fact remains that the ‘torture’ of Abu Graib prisoners pales when compared to men being beheaded with agonizingly slow cuts of a knife as seen in Al Qaeda videos. The fact remains that many (if not all) Arabs have customs, ideals, and beliefs that are barbaric to Western eyes and can never be explained-away or rationalized (the aforementioned beheadings and treatment of women for example). The fact remains that until more Arabs clearly, unequivocally, and vocally condemn these barbaric customs and actions, they must accept being identified with them.

Oh yeah! The list I promised you.......
HIGHEST GROSSING FILMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Movie …. Enemy or Villain
1) Gone With The Wind – Poverty, Yankees, war…… no Arabs
2) Star Wars – Darth Vader, Old white guy in a black suit, the Empire (a buncha’ guys with English accents) Stormtroopers…. No Arabs, unless you want to make the leap that Sandpeople = Arabs, in that case they have a bit-part
3) The Sound of Music – White guys, namely Nazis
4) ET – The Extra-Terrestrial – The Federal Government, a buncha’ white guys in white suits, not an Arab in sight
5) The Ten Commandments – hmmmm, it does take place in the Middle East but I’m not sure if Phararoh counts as an “Arab”.. he certainly wasn’t Muslim, as Mohammed was still 6,000 years in the future
6) Titanic – Iceberg, rich white guy, class warfare… lotsa’ challenges, but no Arabs
7) Jaws – daaaa dum daaaaa dum dumdum dumdum… mmmm 1 shark 0 Arabs
8) Doctor Zhivago – Russians, Communists, or was it the Tzarists? Either way.. not a single Arab
9) The Exorcist – Lucifer, Belzebub, Legion, Lilith… not an Arab
10) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – I don’t think the Wicked Witch was an Arab or Muslim
11) One Hundred and One Dalmatians – never clearly defined, but I think DeVille is an Irish or Scott name, isn’t it?
12) Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Back – same as #2, except add Boba Fett… ethnicity unknown (Are Mandelorians Arabic?)
13) Ben Hur – Takes place in the Middle East but A-Salaam! The bad guy is a Roman! In fact ALL the Romans are bad guys! (accept for Ben’s adopted Dad)
14) Avatar – Rich, greedy, Capitalist white guys
15) Star Wars – Return of the Jedi – Still no Arabs in the Galaxy far, far Away
16) The Sting – non-Arabic Chicago thug (Italian, maybe?)
17) Raiders of the Lost Ark – Nazis (again), competing French archeologist. Oh yeah, and one scimitar-wielding Arab another bit-part villain.
18) Jurassic Park – Reconstituted Dinosaurs, none of which pray to Allah… oh yeah, and greedy, rich white capitalists again
19) The Graduate - Been a while since I watched this one, pretty sure it isn’t an Arab
20) Star Wars – Phantom Menace – Jar Jar Binks, no! wait, he was the annoyance… bad guys? The old white-guy senator, a bunch of robots, and some Nimodians that if anything resembled Orientals
21) Fantasia – I remember alligators, runaway broomsticks, a mountain sized demon, but no Arabs or Muslims
22) The Godfather – Italian mobsters, not ONE of whom was named Hakim!
23) Forrest Gump – villain? Not one I can think of, except maybe his own disabilities
24) Mary Poppins – ahh the rich old white guys again, this time MAJOR capitalists!
25) The Lion King – Was Scar a Muslim? An Arab? Depends on which part of Africa he’s from, I suppose. Let’s be nice and say maybe.
26) Grease – Mmmmm I don’t think Americans knew what an Arab was in the 50’s
27) Thunderball – SPECTRE, much more Soviet than Arab, and the Nassau scenes… mmm.. nope!
28) The Dark Knight – Joker’s not an Arab or a Muslim, but definitely a terrorist. Gotta’ say no on this one
29) The Jungle Book – depends on how you anthromorphize the animals. I’m saying no.
30) Sleeping Beauty – nope
31) Shrek 2 – nope
32) Ghostbusters – the Federal Government and Zool who happened to come from the Middle East – but neither a Musim nor Arab he be.
33) Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid… nope, nada, zilch
Okay, you’re getting the point. After these it’s Love Story, Spider-Man, Independence Day, Home Alone, Pinocchio, Cleopatra, Beverly Hills Cop, Goldfinger, Airport, American Graffiti, The Robe, Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Around The World in 80 Day, Bambi, Blazing Saddles, Batman, Bells of St. Mary’s… the top 50 highest grossing movies in history and not a single major Arab or Muslim villain in any of them! (In Airport the villain is a white guy, American businessman played by Van Heflin)
The rest of the list is here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films_in_Canada_and_the_United_States
In AFI’s list of 100 best villains, I couldn’t find a single Muslim or Arab in the top 50 (I didn’t find numbers 51-100)
So, in summary, White guys, Capitalists, Nazis, Wicked Witches, black guys, Orientals, women, and even children are found on our list of movie villains… but not a single Arab or Muslim.

"The Rite" Stuff

2011-02-03T03:32:00.000-07:00

Movie Review - The Rite

For those who would believe, no explanation is necessary, for those who wouldn’t, no explanation is enough.

The movie The Rite is to exorcisms what The Right Stuff was to space travel. Sure, today’s audiences love Armageddon and other ‘space’ movies filled with action and suspense… but both Tom Wolfe’s book, and the movie The Right Stuff also dealt with the tediousness of the never-ending medical tests, the selection process, the indignity of ‘space chimps’ and the mendacity of press conferences. Why? Because Wolfe wasn’t writing an action packed thrill-a-minute joy ride… he was documenting the early American space program.

So it is with The Rite. The vast majority of the beginning of this latest exorcism fare is spent introducing us to priest-in-training Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue). Above all, we learn that he has chosen his path reluctantly and without any particular calling. After four years at seminary school, he is ready to give up the whole idea of priesthood but his plans for an exit are interrupted when his Father Superior (Toby Jones) sends him to Rome hoping that training as an exorcist might intrigue him and entice him to stay. Father Kovak takes to Rome a full suitcase of disbelief, cynicism, and agnosticism. He challenges his Roman instructor (Ciaran Hinds) at every turn and makes no qualms in expressing his disbelief. For those viewers with short attention spans, this is the interminably long part of the film.

It takes nearly half-an-hour before we see what most viewers have come to see – Hannibal Lec…… errr… I mean Anthony Hopkins. This will prove to be, however one of Sir Hopkins best roles (insomuch as range of character, playing opposite ends of humanity and still being credible, and giving more than a taste of what we loved so much in Silence of the Lambs).

At this point, I’d love to say the pace of the movie picks up, there are trembling walls, spinning beds and Linda Blairs left and right, but this isn’t a horror or gore movie. At this point we learn about Hopkin’s character (Father Lukas Trevant) and a bit more about the beliefs behind exorcism, as well as the day-to-day ministering to the sick and possessed.

All the slow time is not without reason. Like society’s impression of demonic possession in general, we are lulled into thinking this is going nowhere, it’s a sham, it’s parlor tricks and much ado about nothing. At one point, Hopkins gives a line quite similar to the famous, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist” from The Usual Suspects.

The climax is worth every moment spent watching celluloid as thrilling as home movies. You realize what a prefect skeptic Fr. Kovak is; how unprepared he is for the task at hand, and we truly wonder what the outcome will be.

This movie takes turns and gives insights no previous exorcism movie has taken – perhaps because it was based on the true account of a California priest (Fr. Gary Thomas) and journalist Matt Baglio (changed by Hollywood to the very attractive Alice Braga). The special effects are spectacular without breaking the illusion of reality. Your greatest fears will come from the possibility that this is real, rather than any overblown, unrealistic horror effects.

Rating – Not quite The Exorcist for spectacular Horror/Thrill, and more believable than even Emily Rose.

(4 out of 5 spinning, pea-soup chucking heads)

I'm looking for help here!

2011-02-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

With Chucky Schumer's lastest display of genius
(Chuck Schumer's definition of the 3 Branches of Government)
... I thought back to other Greatest Hits of Democrat perspicasity..
(Sheila Jackson Lee and the two Vietnams), (Congressman Hank Johnson worried Guam will tip over)
.... and I came up with 3 "Epic Failure" pictures. Other than Obama's 57 States, can you think of any others that need to be immortalized before we forget them?

My 43rd... a landmark birthday!

2011-01-29T01:24:00.003-07:00

I usually try to spare the gentle readers from the oh-too-personal style blog - "Today I got up and brushed my teeth......... yada yada yada.."

But yesterday was my birthday and a truly remarkable one... so I shall remark. Actually I'll just paste the note I put on Facebook.

Okay, I'm almost to the point of tears, here. This birthday has been incredible! Over the last few years, I've found a home in the hearts of Tess' family... mainly her, her Mom & Dad. Tonight, when I refered to Stephen as my battle brother, I did so just as a play on the phrase we use "battle buddy." But when I started thinking about it, it moved me more and more...

Stephen truly IS my brother... along with Derek and Eric... we would do anything for one another. Seems obvious, considering we would lay down our lives for one another. But it goes beyond grandiose heroics... in everyday lives, there's nothing we wouldn't do for one another. We stand up for one another, respect one another, care about one another, help one another... with no pissing contests, tit-for-tat or unfairness.

There is no "do you deserve my firendship?" "Do you deserve my concern... my help.. my love..." "are you doing things as I would do them in your shoes?" There's none of that! There is true brotherhood! It's taken 43 years, but finally, I have the love of my life... and I have a family! Thank you Lord! As I said, I'm almost to tears at the thought!

So to Chaz, Tess, Jim, Jo, Derek, Eric, and Stephen... thanks for giving me a family!

Chaz

Me & Tess

Professor (and Major Ret.) Jim Moravec

Jo Moravec

Derek

Eric

Stephen

Cairo in flames and riots

2011-01-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Return of Jimmy Carter!

The scenes on television are so reminicent of 1978 Tehran. I'm not the only one feeling this way. Could we be seeing confirmation that we are witnessing the 2nd term of Jimmy Carter? I have no doubt Obama will once again sit back and watch, as he did with the protests in Iran back in June of 2009.

We could very well see an overthrow of the Hosni Mubarak administration. Then what?!?!? A fundamentalist Caliphate government?

This is exactly what I've been afraid of (though not with Egypt - I've been more concerned with the Glenn Becks of the world railing on Saudi Arabia) I've seen Glenn many times repeat how "the 9/11 hijackers were mostly Saudi's" Yes... they were Saudi's .... EXILED Saudi's. If the Mubarak regime falls that's not good... but if the Saudi family is overthrown, that is catastrophic! Not only in the terms of Jihadists having their paws on the oil spigot, but the de-stabilizing effect it would have on the nascent democracy in Iraq, the wave of liberty spreading through Jordan, Lebannon, Lybia, and yes, Egypt.

Once again, a weak president (like Carter in '78) will be shown to have long-ranging, detrimental effects effecting the entire world!

The State of the Campaign Speech

2011-01-25T20:47:00.003-07:00

The State of the Campaign Speech

This AWESOME Picture courtesy of http://totus-blog.blogspot.com/

He started out by once again connecting the Tucson shooting to “noise and passions and rancor of our public debate.” Just had to get that dig in, didn’t he? Not much else jumped out in the 2011 State of the Union speech, save that Obama is still pushing to punish big oil and ‘the wealthiest 2% of Americans’. Oh yeah, and has great but foggy dreams for the future – putting Americans to work building roads… he wants to see more Americans graduate high school, he wants college ‘within reach of every American’… he wants firefighters to be able to download building schematics on a handheld device, he wants 100,000 new teachers... He still wants to transform America into a ‘green’ nation (it’s worked so well for Spain, hasn’t it?)

It was basically a campaign stump speech to get rid of the tax loopholes, hire more people, spend more money, create rail systems… It was Obama at his vague and magical best; conjuring images in the air with no substance and no specifics. It had many well-worn staples like ‘simplifying the individual tax code’ and getting rid of fraud and waste :::::yawn:::::: “We need to out innovate, out educate, out build…. Yada yada, yada…”

He begged kids to think about becoming teachers without addressing how CURRENT teachers are leaving in DROVES because of how horrid the teaching profession is right now... paperwork, class audits, bureaucrats assessing teachers, more paperwork... lifelong teachers are having breakdowns, fighting suicidal tendancies and having heart attacks from the stress. I asked a professor what he would say to someone getting into teaching, he said, “Don’t! You'll have ulcers, sleepless nights, and you won't get to teach the kids without the government making your life hell... all the good teachers are leaving.” Obama didn't tell the prospective teachers THAT, now did he?

Obama proved he is still painfully out of touch with the main street American,,,” We are poised for progress. Two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come roaring back. Corporate profits are up. The economy is growing again.“ Really?!?!? Give me a break!

He threw so many ideas at the wall, some are bound to stick while most others can be shunned aside and forgotten. Those forgotten ones will be on the same shelf as closing Gitmo, getting us out of Iraq and Afghanistan “immediately… not next week, not next month… but the day I'm inaugurated” Remember him promising that back in 2008?

So, there were a lot of generalities, a lot of programs, a lot of spending… then a cursory talk of cutting 12% of domestic spending. So which is it? Are we going to cut spending, or spend on new programs? He spoke of the “10’s of billions of dollars” the Pentagon is willing to cut, but he’s also proposed increased spending on Family rediness, psychological treatment..." Again, throw both side of the issue at the wall, and someone’s gunna’ like it. This was also true with the talk on Afghanistan “we will not relent, we will not waver, and we will defeat you” (but troops are coming home in July regardless.)

There was a lot more joking and down home Palin-isms than I was expecting… talking about government oversight for salmon in fresh water, versus salt water…”I hear it gets even more complicated when they’re smoked.” Yuk Yuk Yuk… what a funny guy. Does he not realize that there are 20 million unemployed Americans out here that don’t want to see their President yucking it up as if everything’s hunky dory - HEY! let’s have a beer summit and some laughs?

What is it with Tunisia and Somalia? “And tonight, let us be clear: the United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the democratic aspirations of all people…” (but if you’re fighting for freedom in Iran, you’re on your own, bud!)

And again, on the military, “Tonight, let us speak with one voice in reaffirming that our nation is united in support of our troops and their families. Let us serve them as well as they have served us – by giving them the equipment they need; by providing them with the care and benefits they have earned; and by enlisting our veterans in the great task of building our own nation. “ ---- of course he’s freezing military pay, raising TriCare Insurance premiums, eliminating any benefits of shopping at the PX, and try and get us to cover battlefield wounds on our own private insurance. Oh! And his great example of supporting the troops? Getting rid of Don't Ask Don't Tell - a move 77% of combat military members were AGAINST!

In short, he said everything for everybody, making broad strokes and few specifics. He didn’t acknowledge the ‘spanking’ he and his party got in November. He was completely tone deaf to the shouting cries of the American public… again, reiterating that “out of touch” image the jokes and cutsie-cute remarks instilled.

It’s sad that with all the double talk, grandiose palaver, unfulfilled promises and directly contrary-to-the-desires of the American people strong-arming (ObamaCare, Stimulus…) he’s done in the past…. I can’t trust anything the man says, even the things that sound like great ideas. He promised ‘transparency’ yet every major bill he signed was negotiated and horse-traded behind closed doors with untoward back-room deals. He promised to ‘reach across the aisle’ yet told the Republicans ‘it’s my way or the highway’ on every major bill. So, what am I to believe?

As far as refering to this as our "Sputnik moment" - rudely and grostequely ironic considering HE gutted NASA and stripped them of their madate to explore space.... does he not realize when he's being perverse, or is he just that openly dishonest? This was a speech filled with sound and fury signifying nothing, a carefully vague and nonspecific ruse for the rubes that will follow him like children after the pied piper. I want my 60 minutes back!

Obama, GE, and Crony Capitalism

2011-01-22T02:47:00.005-07:00

The press is swallowing the "I'm pro-business" elixir that Obama poured in abundance during his recent trip to Albany New York. (How many frequent flyer miles does he have on Air Force One, already... can we exchange them for any free trips? Like maybe a one-way trip to Cuba?) Anyway....They say this is a beta version of his upcoming State of The Union Address.
"He's turning a corner, modifying his message, changing his image to a more pro-business look."

Malarkey!!!!!

This is no different than anything he's done over the previous two years. It's not pro-business, it's pro-GE!!

He announced the appointment of GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to head a new team of economic advisors. Wasn't he already the head of a group of economic advisors??

Ahhhh yes.... according to Wiki, " In February 2009, Immelt was appointed as a member to the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the president and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America's economic downturn.[7]" - Jeffrey Immelt
And yes! The economic recovery is going just soooooooooooo well, no wonder he's being rewaded with more power and influence!

Okay... the recovery sucks.... so what could possibly be the reason for the Federal Government cuddling up to GE and getting so cozy with GE and its CEO?

Maybe.... just maybe it's because of the Chicago Climate Exchange... an organization run by close Obama political cronies and set to earn 1 TRILLION dollars a year when Cap-And-Trade is implemented. So what does GE have to do with the CCX? Well, GE owns the rights to much of the technology that will be used by CCX.... GE is set to make billions, if not hundreds of billions of dollars when Cap-And-Tax is rolled out. On top of that GE Heathcare (The division Immelt formerly ran) cashed out like gangbusters with Obamacare. There is nothing new about this.... this kind of favoritism, graft, crony-ism has been around since the so-called trust-busting of Teddy Roosevelt (which actually made the trusts much stronger and richer than they were before.)

Remember GE also got the largest (non-banking institute) bailout from the porkulous....errr... stimulus package.

There is nothing new about this. Obama came to office promising "no more business as usual." Well, maybe he's right... the cronyism in crony capitalism used to be subtle and under the table (or in some back room) now, it's right there out in the open - obvious and blatant. Is this the change you voted for, America?

Memorial ?!?!?!?! Service

2011-01-18T22:27:00.004-07:00

Comparing Memorial Services

T-Shirts?? Really???

I've been mulling over in my head how to approach this... collecting pictures, article quotes and contentions....
Essentially, from Gore at Columbine to Paul Wellstone's Memorial to the Arizona Shooting Memorial it seems that when liberals gather "memorial services" become political pep rallies.

I will give proper credit to Bill Clinton's Oklahoma City memorial. (Notice how at the beginning of his speech President Clinton gives a "calm down" motion to keep the crowd appropriately solemn!)

BloodThirstyLiberal and Michelle Malkin have good takes on this, but let me add a few links.... for comparison.

Video - Ronald Reagan - Challenger Disaster Memorial

Video - George W Bush - Virginia Tech Memorial

and
Video - VP Al Gore at the Columbine High School Memorial (his speech starts at 1hr, whooping and hollering starts at 1:04) I'll forego his politicizing the tragedy for this blog

Video - The Paul Wellstone campaign rally...errr... "memorial service"

I'll let the videos literally speak for themselves!

Voter ID Proposed

2011-01-18T20:25:00.006-07:00

FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR and SENATOR and CONTACT THEM!! (Colorado)

Today as I was riding on the bus to the Buckley AFB BX, I read that "...Republican lawmakers are again looking to pass a bill that would require Coloradans to prove their citizenship when registering to vote."

Well, why the Hell NOT???
This seems to be a no-brainer! Who would it hurt? According to the article, opponents figure that it will somehow disenfranchise "...homeless citizens, senior citizens and some low-income voters who may not have proper identification but are still eligible to vote."

I'm not sure about the homeless, although I'm sure arrangements can be made so that they can get an ID with a shelter's address or some such thing... but I don't remember any signs at the Department of Revenue saying you couldn't get a photo ID if you were too poor or too old. That is such B!!(*#$%(*@#$%!!!

There is only ONE conceivable reason to be against such a bill - you want illegals to vote - and nothing could be more undermining of the fabric of our Constitutional Republic than having non-citizens, undocumented.... $%^#^# call them what they are - ILLEGALS!... voting for our representatives!

Ya' know... when the Constitution was originally ratified only property owners could vote. Was it because the rich land owners were just a buncha' big wigs hording the power all to themselves and trying to create a hidden oligarchy? No! (After all, if they wanted an oligarchy they could have created one! They were starting from scratch and could have made the new nation anything they wanted.)

They (the founders) felt no individual should have any say in the government without a VESTED INTEREST in the actions of that government. - For those of you in Boulder/San Francisco/the state of Oregon let me explain.... most people renting an apartment don't really care if property taxes rise because they don't own any property... see?
Okay so now we are going to allow (through lack of enforcement) illegals who have absolutely NO interest whatsoever - except the perpetuation of their leeching and parasitical bloodsucking the chance to voted unabated? What is wrong with a bill enforcing the law? Have we really gotten so far down this "illegals do no wrong" Politically Correct rabbit hole that we can no longer differentiate between citizens and non-citizens?

What's next? Allowing foreign nationals to contribute to elections through website bundling? Oh! Wait! Obama already did that. Nevermind.

This bill needs to be passed and passed NOW!
Contact your State Legislator at: The Colorado General Assembly
and if you need to, enter your address HERE to find out who your Legislator and Senator are.

The time has come to draw the line - Votes for Citizens ONLY!

Movie Brothers and Sisters

2011-01-17T14:52:00.015-07:00

I’ve always had a thing for seeing similarities in individuals, sometimes in looks, sometimes in voice or character… and I’ve always had an informal list of actors I would love to see play siblings. Some could play brothers or sister on looks alone (Jeremy Irons & Hank Azaria, Hans Matheson, Jerod Leto) while others just seem like they have a similar presence (Dennis Haysbert & William Clark Duncan)

So…. Purely for fun and “thoughts to ponder” I present my list of actors who should play brothers and sisters…..

William H Macy and David Caruso

Geoffrey Rush and James Woods

Jodie Foster and Helen Hunt

Melanie Griffith and Meg Ryan (Actually these two with Jodie Foster and Helen Hunt could ALL play sisters... maybe for an older version of "Little Women" lol)

Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell

Hilary Swank and Julia Roberts

Patrick Dempsey and Sean Penn

Craig Ferguson and Gabriel Byrne

Ben Kingsley and F. Murray Abraham

Billy Bob Thornton and John Malcovich

Tobin Bell and Malcolm McDowell

Bill Pullman and Jeff Daniels

Tom Sizemore and Colm Meaney

Jason Isaacs and Mandy Patinkin

Michael Madsen and Tom Sizemore

Michael Keaton and Howie Mandell

Pete Postlethwaite (R.I.P.) and Ian McKellen

Hank Azaria and Jeremy Irons

Kiera Knightingly and Natalie Portman

Laura Linney and Tia Leoni

Dennis Haysbert and William Clarke Duncan

Ed Begley Jr. and Bruce Davison

Ray Liotta and Kevin Bacon

Viggo Mortensen and Eric Bana

Helena Bonham Carter and Rachel McAdams

Hanz Matheson and Jerod Leto

Do you agree? Have any other suggestions? It's kinda' a fun mental exercize!

Tucson Shooter Mug Shot - Separated at Birth?

2011-01-17T04:03:00.006-07:00

This has really been on my mind lately.... brothers separated at birth?

1) Mug Shot of the psycho-shooter Jared Lee Loughner
2) "Sloth" from Goonies and
3) The Frankenstein Monster from Young Frankenstein
....... all three could be brothers. Coincidence? I think not!

Taking on the Mexican

2011-01-15T15:14:00.003-07:00

Our Westword here in Denver has a column called "Ask the Mexican" that routinely excuses, explains, and justifies any and all things illegal. I finally got fed up with his constant "illegals can do no wrong" and wrote in. The following is the published letter -

How can Mexico piss away such potential?
By Gustavo Arellano Thursday, Oct 7 2010

Dear Mexican:
Mexico is truly an amazing, beautiful country! Huge oil reserves, mineral deposits second to none, tourist potential unparalleled! God gave Mexico every possible advantage. And yet the Mexicans, in all their wisdom and intellect, have turned it into a backwater, undeveloped, narco-ruled Third World cesspool of corruption and poverty. How were you able to achieve such an accomplishment? Are you and other Mexicans just that stupid? I mean, really! How could you take such potential and turn it into a steaming pile of dung? Mexico should have a GDP rivaling that of any civilized country, but it remains a shithole to a level rarely seen outside of impoverished Africa. It seems to me that, like locusts, you ruined your own country and are now moving on to our fertile ground with nothing more to offer than knocked-up teenagers, gangbangers, illiterate generations, drug warfare, killings and kidnappings, with a generous dose of arrogance. First, how can a people totally piss away such potential? Second, with that track record, why should Americans expect you to achieve anything greater here in the States?
Someone Who Sees You for What You Are — Failures!

And his response ---

Dear Gabacho:
Gracias for your amazing insights. You're a funny guy, and by "funny," I mean "drunk off your cabeza." Mexico a Third World country? I established last year that Mexico is firmly in the bottom rung of the First World, thank you very mucho. Mexico not possessing a high GDP? Ranked fourteenth last year, behind Australia but ahead of South Korea — and that's not including our narco profits. Mexico undeveloped? You obviously think Mexican skyscrapers are limited to saguaro cacti and Aztec pyramids. Mexicans piss away such potential? Sure, we can always improve, but I think Americans are hardly in a place to criticize, given our self-made Great Recession. Mexicans locusts? We're cockroaches, silly! And finally: Mexicans achieve anything greater in el Norte? Already doing that — and if you don't believe me, talk to all those undocumented college students who graduate every year from college, pinche puto pendejo baboso.

The dialogue continues HERE

Other issues I've commented on are here:
Reader claims that Mexico has a defective culture
and here:
Ask a Mexican: What's with the trash dump in the Sonoran Desert?

Essentially, I'm standing my ground on these opinions. I am NOT judging people by their race but by THEIR ACTIONS! My frustration is not with a people, but with a small group of criminals (again... it's not the individual, but the individuals' actions.)

I am DONE with the illegals! I am done with those who are in America, but have no desire to assimilate in our melting pot. My Great Grandparents didn't expect the USA to cater to them and print voting guides in Gaelic. They wanted to BECOME AMERICANS. Learning and speaking English was something they were proud of... they wanted to be part of their new family. In fact, TODOS OTROS IMIGRANTES have learned to read, speak, and use English because they came to this country with the desire to BECOME Americans (the 7 million imported slaves obviously excepted.)

For the first time in American history we have an influx of immigrants who have no desire to become Americans. At some point I will have to flesh out a post I'm percolating... one that delves into how since the 1960's our own national self-depreciation and self-flagellation has brought this upon ourselves.

The Right, The Left, and The Arizona shooting

2011-01-10T15:55:00.003-07:00

January 10, 2011

Wow! I’m out of it for a while….

I was down at Ft. Carson this weekend for drill and didn’t watch the whole Tucson Shooting as-it-unfolded, so I’m playing a bit of catch-up.

What I AM gleaning, however, is that the Leftwing Lame Stream Media did everything it could do to pin this on Sarah Palin and the Tea Party as quickly as possible. Without knowing the identity of the shooter, his background, or motives… they immediately started pinning the blame.

-Paul Krugman “We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but…..”
-CNN – “If this shooting turns out to be a deranged supporter of Governor Palin, it…
- Jane Fonda via Twitter - "Progressive Arizona Rep Gabrielle Giffords is shot. In her ads, Sarah Palin had her targeted in a gun site. Inciting to violence."
-Keith Olbermann -“If Sarah Palin … does not repudiate her own part, however tangential, in amplifying violence and violent imagery in American politics,
Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas - “Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin,”

Reminds me of the rush to ERRONEOUSLY label the IRS suicide pilot as a rightwing extremist… even after his identity was ascertained. - Newsweek

Above all, read this on the pattern of jumping to blame the Tea Party - CentristNet
For some REAL investigative reporting, on who is Jared Lee Loughner check out this blog ….. Marktalk.com
DirectorBlue also does some good detective work - DirectorBlue

The facts are never so clear cut as “Palin did it” “The Tea Party is to blame”, &tc &tc… and many blogs and articles are tepidly ‘defending’ Palin and conservatives. So I will let them dissect the biases, the spin and hypocrisy.

What they are all missing is the longer-lasting and more meaningful effects of this knee-jerk ‘blame the right’ hysteria –
There are millions upon millions of Americans who consider themselves right-wing, Tea Partiers, or just conservatives. The more the left blames them (us) for things they (we) didn’t do, the more we will shut them out, ignore them and leather our skin to them. If they keep this up, we will write them off completely (instead of just viewing them with a wary eye.) They could be ringing the death knell for their own marginal influence (meager as it is.) The biggest result of this progressives practice of crying wolf could be their own irrelevancy. I can’t wait!

Looking at Obama from a new angle

2011-01-03T10:37:00.008-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS ALL!!
I LOVE the library!! I have read more books in the last two years than I could ever have afforded. I always saw the public libraries in the same light as busses... some inferior government substitution that only the broke and busted turned to.

Although the libraries have their fair share of bureaucratic drawbacks (right now the Denver Public Library has a kibosh on holds while they transfer to a new system…their hours are sucktacular… their choices on certain books is horrid…)… it still has allowed me to enjoy books I could never afford at the moment. The most recent is The Roots of Obama’s Rage by Dinesh D’Souza.

I have been a fan of Professor D’Souza’s work since I picked up The Enemy At Home
when I was working at Borders. That’s probably the best book for answering why the Islamoterrorists hate us, and well worth the read! But I digress.

In The Roots of Obama’s Rage, Professor D’Souza comes across as a true seeker of the truth behind Obama’s motives and action. Although his predisposition towards conservatism is no secret, this book isn’t really judgmental until the final pages. For the most part, he doesn’t pass a judgment on the worthiness of Obama’s actions… only seeks a consistent source of these actions.

In an earlier post “Stop Saying Obama a Muslim!” I addressed how the Obama-haters might be missing the truth of the matter in their attempt to just attack the man. Similarly, Dinesh D’Souza opens his offering by equally assailing Obama’s haters and lovers. He immediately shows that this will be an academic vivisection of Obama’s words, writings, and actions in an attempt to find some core philosophy that explains everything from the GM Bailout to the return of the Churchill bust to the British. He takes us along his journey of reading Obama’s tomes - Audacity of Hope and Dreams From My Father. He also gives us his own first-hand experience with colonialism as a child in India… a childhood very similar to President Obama’s in many respects. By the end, he has found a hypothesis that not only fits the previous actions of the Administration (including healthcare ‘reform’ and ‘the apology tour’) but gives us a glimpse of what is probably coming in the near future.

It’s a quick read that doesn’t become “textbook-y” and I found myself learning more about African colonialism than I ever imagined! With the feel of an NCIS, House MD, or Lie to Me… it takes evidence, observes it from different angles and then tries to read the tea leaves. One never gets the feeling that the evidence is being forced or twisted… just presented. In fact, Professor D’Souza from the outset clearly states his feeling that current judgments of Obama – from ‘he’s a Socialist’ to ‘he’s the greatest president ever’- need to shove puzzle pieces together to support their premises. He is in search of the philosophy that will fit all the pieces nicely. Does he accomplish this task? That’s for the reader to decide.

“BOBBY” The bastardization of history for the narcissistic need of a self-aggrandizing filmmaker.

2010-12-16T16:30:00.002-07:00

December 9, 2010

“BOBBY” The bastardization of history for the narcissistic need of a self-aggrandizing filmmaker.

I finally got around to watching the movie “Bobbie” not too long ago. It’s a pretty good movie, detailing the lives of fictional characters inserted for the actual five individuals injured in the attack that took Bobby Kennedy’s life.

As a story, it tends to fluctuate between intriguing and mundane. I found myself wondering, “why should I care about these individuals?” – of course, at the end you realize what they all seemingly have in common and you have that ‘Ohhhhhhh so THAT’s why!’ moment. So it ends up being an intriguing film afterall.

But then, for a history purist like me, I was darn near pissed off that “Bobbie’s” characters were NOT based upon the actual individuals who were injured in the attacks. So many thoughts went through my mind – were the true stories not intriguing enough?… how can someone intentionally bastardize factual events?… How many people will walk away thinking these were the true events?… Don’t we have an obligation to honestly and factually report history?… Has the rewriting of history gotten so out of hand that it’s no long done subtly or subversively but blatantly and unapologetically?

Soooo…. Being who I am, I immediately ran to the library to find a book stating the facts of the RFK assassination so I would have the real story. And yes, the stories of those also shot by Sirhan Sirhan were intriguing… as are the intrigues and possible conspiracy theories.

So, why did Emilio Estevez have to tweak with history… change history… LIE about history… why?!? If he just wanted to present a cross-section docudrama about various social strata of the 1960’s, couldn’t he have done that through a completely fictional movie? Was he therefore using RFK and his assassination to project his (Estevez’s) own statement about the 60’s? At that point didn’t he cross the line of intellectual necrophilia and disgustingly dismiss historical fact as a disposable hurdle to his own creative juices?

I admit I’m a historical purist… a somewhat intellectual snob… and an unapologetic, intolerant, passionate foe of dishonesty, spin, subterfuge, and lies. Emilio Estevez’s “Bobbie” goes beyond the Oliver Stone style of twisting history (which can be described as illuminating an alternative point of view) – this goes to out-and-out rewriting history and presenting as fact something that is any but! It is unacceptable!

America, The Last Will and Testament

2010-12-03T17:26:00.005-07:00

The first few pages...

James Montgomery Flagg Illustration
“Wake Up America!” Poster
1917, Library of Congress

To my dearest children,

I’m afraid there is no easy way to put this. You, and the representatives you have been electing are killing me! It’s been slowly progressing since the late 1800’s, but I fear I am reaching a point of no return, a point where I will become irreversibly terminal, and it is for this reason I need you to listen to me now before it’s too late!

As always develops in the relationships between offspring and their parents, the time has come for us to have a serious conversation. You see, I feel that my time on this Earth is coming to an end. And before I pass, there are things that absolutely must be said!
I call you my child although you are grown, matured, and independent far beyond childhood. I write this with full respect for your self-sufficient nature and your adult demeanor, but I can still call you ‘my child’ because you are. I am America and you, the beneficiaries of all I am, are an American – you are my child.

It is not unusual for one to have misconceptions and false judgments about one’s parents even into adulthood, and so it seems we need to be frank with one another about who I am, my past, my nature, as well as my hopes and dreams for you and your future.
There are times I honestly feel you didn’t know me, and haven’t for some time. Let me set you straight on something before we begin. I am not a country! Let me repeat that. I am not a country! I am found primarily in The United States of America, but nevertheless, I am not a nation, nor am I any particular government. I am not even a geographical location, although all of those things have been attributed to me at one point or another.

I am an ideology, a state of mind, and a way of thinking. I am neither Democrat, nor Republican. I have no political affiliation and I am not subject to one specific religion or another. Don’t take that to mean I’m Godless! Your government, press, and powers-that-be may be agnostic or atheistic, but my parents brought me up with a full understanding and appreciation for The Creator, and it is to Him that I am pledged to protect you. We will talk more about that later. I am greater than any political party or interest group. I have outlived, (and hope to outlive) every President, Congressperson, and Supreme Court Justice. Natural disasters and man-made tragedies have struck the United States time and time again, yet I live on uncompromised and unabated. My cities may fall into ruins, my population may be decimated through causes natural or not, but unless I am forgotten, I will still survive. I am an extraordinary entity consisting of ideas, beliefs, resolves, and character. I am of no race, but a beautiful bright light made up of all the colors of the rainbow. I have been described as a shining city upon a hill and a thousand points of light. My ideology is neither conservative, liberal, nor moderate but made simply of the love and adoration of the Divine human creation. I cannot be killed, but if I am forgotten I will surely die!

I am America

Who am I?
I need to set you straight about my youth. Although my character and essence were being formed for nearly 300 years before, I was technically conceived on July 2nd, in the year of our Lord 1776. The announcement of my impending birth was given two days later and you now celebrate that day as Independence Day. Fifty-six brave and somewhat eccentric men conceived me in that hot, humid Philadelphia summer. My fathers represented a multitude of different cultures, backgrounds, and social classes. Not true “diversity” by today’s standards, but for the late 18th Century they were a very eclectic mix of traders, writers, lawyers, cobblers, landowners and so forth. My parents were so diverse that those of the north couldn’t fully understand the dialects and drawls of my co-parents from the south. My southern fathers were primarily farmers and my northern parents were mostly traders. One was Catholic and many were Masons and Protestants. Over half were preachers or held degrees in religion. They were collected from thirteen separate geographic areas, held different ideals and dreams, different priorities and beliefs, different trades and incomes, but eventually they would all come together to give me my start in this world.

These highly knowledgeable and respected men recognized that the society, the culture - the very nature of the colonists they represented were different than any population in history. On this point, my grandparents (the British) were in enthusiastic agreement! In their eyes, the colonists were brash, uncultured, rude, ill mannered and terribly violent. Even the exceptionally gifted and intelligent Doctor Benjamin Franklin was considered “beneath” the standards of English society. At a Privy Council in London on January 29th, 1774, Dr. Franklin was defending himself, and the prosecutor spat the word “American” at him as though it were the most base of insults! This much was true; the colonists were British only on paper. Their souls and minds were of an entirely new and different sort – they were Americans! My fathers therefore proposed a new nation be created, one that reflected the new ideals, dreams and state of mind of the new world - a mix of ideas, beliefs, resolves and character that was already in the air and running through the blood of the colonists. All that was left to do was to give it a name and an identity, and that’s what happened when I was conceived in the summer of 1776. Ever since that summer, my character has most readily been personified in the immortal phrase “all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

As you can imagine, it was not exactly a wanted pregnancy by the grandparents back in England. Revolutions may seem commonplace today, but before I was born, it was absolutely inconceivable for a colony or group of colonies to break away from a mother country. It just wasn’t done! Certainly there were revolts against the Roman Empire in one province or another, but the idea of leaving your mother country and starting an entirely new and untested form of government was, in a word – revolutionary! It took eleven whole years before I would actually be identified as a country. In that time, over 25,000 men would die to make sure I wasn’t aborted or miscarried. Of the signers of the Declaration, nearly every one had their property seized and destroyed by the British. Nine died during the war either through hardships or in battle. Five were captured and imprisoned. All of my parents were considered traitors by the British and had bounties placed upon their heads, the heads of their spouses, children and even their business associates and friends.

On September 17th, 1787 I was born. My birth certificate, which I still cherish, is called the Constitution. According to my fathers, the pregnancy was not an easy one. I was nearly stillborn. During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, disagreements between my fathers grew so great; it seemed they couldn’t agree on anything! It was only after heeding the advice of Dr. Franklin and taking three full days to do nothing but pray for guidance that they could finally come together and create what has become the longest surviving Constitution in history.

Since then, relatively very little has changed about me. I am still the dreamer, the champion of the individual, and a lover of freedom. Liberty is still my favorite vocation and I still cherish the creation known as “man!” I don’t hold by ceremony as my grandparents did, and I still think that man’s problems are best solved by man’s ingenuity. I used to think the sky was the limit, but in that I have surpassed even my own expectations. I have never thought ‘inside the box’ and find it amusing when you, my children, need to remind yourselves to do so. Innovation is something that was instilled in my nature from before I was born. My character and nature are no different today than when my fathers conceived me in 1776. The government has shifted this way and that, and as a culture, you have grown. You have ventured in new directions. I have been heartbroken when I have seen you quibble, quarrel, and even kill one another. But at other times my heart has leapt with joy when you have been true to me and accepted all my children as “Americans.” And I am so proud to call you my children! Over 300 million souls each with its own dreams and solutions, each living his or her life in liberty and pursuing happiness, you have made me so proud!

There are a few issues I wish to go over with you however. While in some cases, you have exceeded my hopes and dreams, in others you have either built away from the foundations my fathers laid or have disregarded the ideals of the American family all-together!

No parent likes to chastise a child, and I will do my best to be as patient and understanding as I can. I am only telling you these things because I feel firmly that as you continue to deny the very ideals and foundations on which this family was based, you will wake up one day and will no longer be living in the greatest, most free, most advanced country in the world. I am America, and I don’t want you to lose me.

What is “American” and “un-American?”
It’s sad that this even needs to be addressed. Basically, this has nothing to do with where you choose to stand on the political scale. A conservative can be just as un-American as a liberal. It has nothing to do with who you have voted for in the past, or to which party you belong. The only requirements for being an American are an acceptance of the ideals of freedom, liberty, and rule of law on which I am based, and the willingness to protect and defend those ideals. One can even be against the government in Washington DC and still be a true American through and through! In fact our brave men and women in the Armed Forces pledge to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, not some individual, not some administration or regime! What is “American” is anything and everything that promotes liberty over tyranny, self-sufficiency over dependence, the individual over the collective, the choice of the person over the dictates of the state, the rule of law over the rule of men; free will, entrepreneurship and individuality. Freedom! The true test of ‘what is American’ can be determined by answering a simple question, “That would the founders do.”

“But why put such importance on your founding fathers? They lived 250 years ago, haven’t we grown, learned, and advanced beyond their primitive attempt at creating a government?”

This is an excellent question, my child. Keep in mind, however, that our founders knew more about government than most of today’s professors know about FDR. They were better versed in world history, Roman federalism and imperialism, Greek democracy, Russian, French, and English monarchy, tribalism, feudalism, oligarchies, autocracies (and every other type of governance ever tried) than most Ivy League graduates. When creating their new country from scratch they were free to choose whatever form they wished; they chose to create an entirely new type of Republic… gleaned from all the best parts of every system that had come before. Their greatest stroke of wisdom was in their reliance on the individual citizen. They realized if they divided power among the millions of citizens, no single citizen could become a tyrant. Furthermore, understanding human nature and the tendency of humans to unfailingly work towards their own best interests, they developed a system in which the counter-efforts of self-interest would keep society, the economy, and even the government in check. Their other great innovation was in forming a system based upon process rather than outcome. They weren’t as concerned with who, precisely, would lead the country, but rather the process by which that person would be chosen. This is akin to creating a detailed recipe rather than just saying, “You need to make a really tasty chocolate cake.” This founding belief (which has proven accurate) was that if the process was adhered to, the result will be assured. The process, and the foundation of that process… liberty and freedom… were what truly mattered. This trust and reliance on freedom, and this focus on the freedoms and liberties of the individual citizen are what makes America unique and exceptional! Free markets and freedom of choice within those markets are a major part of this! An American nature promotes life, liberty and an individual’s pursuit of happiness. It allows for difference of opinion without threatening to silence dissent. It recognizes that a person can rise from the lowliest of circumstances to the highest of heights through nothing more than their own hard work, faith and ingenuity. Again, I go back to Freedom and Liberty, for they are the core of everything American.

In this manner, there have been individuals throughout history like Alexis de Tocqueville, the Marquis de Lafayette, and James Smithson who were not citizens of the United States, yet embraced ‘the American way’ and were more truly Americans than some of the actors and reporters you watch every night. Currently there is a modern heir to these great men, a member of the European Parliament named Daniel Hannan. I am proud to consider him an adopted son. I urge you learn about these cousins, and glean from them an understanding for why my birth was (and is still rightly) considered a ‘5,000 year leap’ in human evolution!

There is yet one more aspect of an American that cannot be overlooked because it is at the very heart of everything that was created in 1776! Without this final key to the puzzle, everything else is mutable, secondary and meaningless! It is the glue that bonds everything else. Without it, there is no America!

The source of human rights
It may pain you to hear this, but according to the wise men who laid this nation’s foundation, a true American must recognize that each individual is a creation of the Supreme Being, God, Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah, or however else you recognize the Divine Creator! Furthermore because of this divine birthright, you are entitled to respect and self-governance. This includes respect not only from your fellow citizens but from your government. This may seem trivial, but it’s not! My grandparents in Europe ‘valued’ their subjects based upon who their parents were, or how much gold they had, or their family associations. This meant that if an individual wasn’t rich, ‘connected’, or a member of a wealthy and prestigious family, he or she was literally worthless! Sound familiar? Today the ‘elite’ maybe politicians, ‘experts,’ television commentators, or CEO’s of incredibly powerful companies -in short, only those who can give massive campaign contributions or can ‘boost’ a campaign through favorable coverage. They are treated better, given preferential treatment and favors.

There are, in the words of Senator John Edwards “two Americas.” But unlike the assertion of the privileged Edwards, the two America aren’t the rich and the poor, but the elite and the forgotten. How sad that you have returned to the very class system my fathers fought so hard to destroy! How sad you are once again in a world where all are equal, but some are more equal than others! My parents fought and died to change all that! You must discard this double standard, this idea of the “special” and the “ordinary.” There is no such thing as a common or ordinary American, and the sooner you learn to embrace that fact, the sooner you will be the happy, prosperous nation you were meant to be!

You, the individual citizen, are worthy of great respect! In fact any citizen who is old enough and fulfills the residency requirements can be elected President. Not only that, he or she must be a citizen! If the candidate holds any title or rank in the military or elsewhere, they must give up that title and become a citizen before taking office. Only in America is the title ‘citizen’ considered the highest rank or position one can attain! Again, this is because only America recognizes the divine nature of each individual, only in America are the people considered the supreme authority over the government, rather than the other way around.

In America, any governmental power over you comes from your own assent (as Thomas Jefferson phrased it) meaning your rights are given to you by God and you LEND those rights to the government! This is the single greatest difference between “American” and “un-American!”
Because even to this day, no other country recognizes that rights come from God and then the citizenry gives those rights to the government, you, and our entire system is different than anywhere else. We are the exception, and this is the foundation of American Exceptionalism! In most other countries, rights are given to the people from the King, the Parliament, the Caliphate or some other government ‘on high’. Now listen carefully! Those governments can take ‘rights’ back or pass them out willy-nilly. This very core belief in other countries (that the government gives out rights), prompts other governments to give rights to some while withholding them from others. They don’t distribute favors equally or fairly because under their definition of ‘rights’ such entitlements are not a gift of the Divine Creator. They do not believe all citizens are created equal, or have to be treated equally. Only here in America is that right to be treated equally guaranteed. And it is because you are all equally divine by your creation. You have the supreme power in the United States and this unique arrangement is evident throughout all the writings and speeches of my fathers! Those who do not believe in a God maybe offended by all this, but I view them in the same light as those who may feel the world is flat, Elvis is still alive, or Saddam Hussein was a nice guy… they’re an adorable lot, but not to be taken seriously. There is an Almighty, deal with it!

Here, in America, the government can never hold any right that you do not hold yourself. Nor can the government deprive you of your rights without your permission! The government is ALWAYS the servant of the citizen (individually and collectively) and never, ever dictates to the individual! Does is sound as if I’m talking about some foreign country? It’s not! This is what it means to be American! It was defined this way by my fathers in their speeches and writings, and is still true today. ANYTHING that runs contrary to those beliefs, no matter if it is “legal,” “set in precedent,” or accepted as fact… ANYTHING contrary is by definition un-American! Sadly, many things are in place right now, both legally and culturally, that are un-American but you mistakenly call ‘American!’

State sponsored lie: “a total separation of church and state”
My children, I would never have imagined we would become a country that would even consider that there wasn’t a Divine Creator! It baffles me and would sadden and dishearten my fathers. I often hear you bastardize a phrase my father Thomas Jefferson used… the ‘wall of separation between Church and State.” When Mr. Jefferson used this phrase he was writing to the Danbury Baptists to assure them that the Government could not interfere with their Church’s beliefs and practices – NOT the other way around! He wrote of freedom of religion, not freedom from it! In fact, my fathers had no problem with each individual state having its own official religion; they only forbade the Federal government from forming a nationally established faith.

“But what is wrong with a faith-neutral stance in the courts, schools, and government?”

From my point of view, as the personification of the America my fathers created, there are two major problems. Firstly, the absence of faith is considered Atheism, and when the government removes all references to the Divine Creator, it in fact creates a State-mandated “approved” series of thoughts and beliefs. In other words, you have created, or allowed to be imposed, an established religion – that of Atheism. Atheism is the absence of religion, and the government sanctions the absence of religion in its......"

These are the first few pages of America - The Last Will & Testament by C. K. Byrne

The book is complete... over 200 pages, with more than 100 pages of references, quotes, facts, and footnotes!

Undercover Boss - Subway

2010-12-01T14:42:00.004-07:00

Okay, so I've REALLY been trying to be less of a "negative ninny!" Buuuuuuutttttttt.........

I adore the show "Undercover Boss" because I enjoy seeing that lightbulb above an administrator's head light up when he sees how he can make lives better... for his employees as well as his customers.

But the Subway edition had me steaming!!!

In the Sunday, Nov. 21^st episode Don Fertman, the Chief Development Officer of the Subway franchise chain, went undercover learning to be a "sandwich artist," as well as being a delivery boy and taking on several "menial" entry-level tasks.

Okay, I can understand the whole desire to look like a nice guy on TV.... but isn't part of being a boss preventing hostile work environments and age discrimination?????? This boss was being pushed around by the kids... NOT in a productive manner like we've seen in the Waste Management or Frontier episodes... but just out-an-out hostility for (it seems) primarily, not being a young kid!

THIS CHICK ("Jessi") was just an out-and-out BITCH! She should have been FIRED, not helped with her college education! ("Oh... but that's so meeeeaaaan! She needs help!") No, she needs a swift kick in the ASS and a lesson or two about how to treat other human beings!

This is the first episode that has prompted me to NOT shop or apply for a job at a featured company. If disrespectful, arrogant, age-discriminating managers like Jessi are REWARDED... then I will shop at Quizno's thank you very much! Thank you Mr. Fertman for showing me the TRUE face of Subway!

2010-11-01T19:05:00.001-06:00

November 1 - Election Eve!!!!
The Voting Test
I wish the Democrats in the south during the 1940’s – 1960’s hadn’t so sullied the ideas of ‘conditional voting’ by racially imposing Poll Taxes and other slanted Jim Crow laws! Because I really, REALLY wish there was a type of intelligence test required for voting! I mean, really! If you’re too ignorant of the government and the foundations of this country, you really shouldn’t be making decisions that affect it! Should anyone be allowed to do brain surgery just because their heart is in the right place? Would you let someone work on your car who didn’t know squat about automotive mechanics? And yet, we allow ignorant people to make the most vital and life changing decisions in the voting booth when they have no clue as to what they are doing!

So I propose a simple, basic 10-question requirement for voting:

1) The three branches of government are:
____________________, ___________________, ________________

2) From the Declaration of Independence: (Fill in the blanks)
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they ________ _______ ______ __________ __________ with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are __________, _________ & ______________________. – That to ___________ _____ ___________ Governments are __________________ among ___________ deriving their _______ _____ from the __________ of the __________”

3) Who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence?
________________ ________________

4a) Name two Presidents from the 1700’s
_______________________, _____________________

4b) Name two Presidents from the 1800’s
_______________________, _______________________

4c) Name two Presidents from the 1900’s
_______________________, ________________________

5) The current President of the United States is:
____________________ ________________

6) Name the 4 people (and their job) next in line in Presidential Succession
____ __________ Title: __________ __________
_____ __________ Title: _________ ___ ____ _________
______ __________ Title: __________ _____ ___________
_______ __________ Title: __________ ______ __________

7) Presidential Veto, Advise & Consent of the Senate, Judicial overview, and Impeachment are all examples of:
C__________ & B___________
8) The first 10 ___________ of the Constitution are called the ______ ___ ________

9) Any bill dealing with finances can only come from ___ ________ ___ __________________

10) Name three current Supreme Court Justices and the Chief Justice:

Chief Justice: ______________________________
Associate Justice ____________________________
Associate Justice ____________________________
Associate Justice ____________________________

Okay… really not that tough. For bonus points ( a chance to still get 10 right even if you missed one above) – Name the 5 members of the Committee to draft the Declaration of Independence
_________ _____________
_________ _____________
_____ _________
_________ ____________
_________ _____________

Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?

Ready for the Revolution!

2010-11-01T18:53:00.002-06:00

GO TOM TANCREDO!!!! We need ya' more than ever!

Okay, onto the collection of blog entries I've ammassed since my last visit to the InterNet...

October 29, 2010

We dodge a bullet… AGAIN!
Today’s flurry of reporting on multiple “suspicious packages” coming out of Yemen brings attention to the current status of our War on Terror …. Whoops! I mean our overseas contingency operations.

Once again, OTHER COUNTRIES pulled our butt outta’ the fire and protected us. The packages that actually had explosives on them were intercepted in Dubai and Great Britain. IT WAS NOT THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT that saved us… AGAIN!

Just like the Detroit Christmas bombing attempt, we’ve been more lucky than anything else. How long can we keep successfully calling “heads” or “tails”? Eventually, our luck WILL run out! And how long will the American public keep thinking it’s our ‘skill’ or ‘preparation’ that is keeping us safe? We’re getting REALLY good at fixing barn doors after the horse is running in the field. As long as Dubai, Great Britain, can keep an eye on the most dangerous horses before they get out, we’ll be fine. For our part, we arrest a low-level wannabe in Washington DC that never hooked up with any group more nefarious than the FBI (who set up the sting to begin with.) We didn’t disrupt an already-formed and developed terrorist cell – we created a cell and caught some guy who was attracted to the cell WE created! Really?! Does that make you feel any safer?

Our efforts to fight this war through drone attacks is pure Clinton-era arm’s-length denial warfare. Didn’t we learn anything from the ‘90’s? Drones are great an all, but they don’t collect vital Human Intelligence! We aren’t listening-in, or sitting-in on Al-Qaeda meetings, nor are we cultivating relationships that would permit such listening-in. We’re just dropping bombs from remote-controlled aircraft. Essentially, we’re bombing the horse after he’s gotten out of the barn… and if not for the screeners at Dubai and Great Britain we’d be counting body bags right now. We really need to wake up and open our eyes, folks!!

Just a side note – it’s two years since the ascendancy of the Anointed Chosen One, the one who was going to bring the world together, who was going to bring civility and would restore the World’s love to America. If we just voted for him, the world would love us again – he would restore international relationships and the United States would be adored by the whole world. In short, countries wouldn’t hate us anymore and would stop attacking us.
How’s that working out for you?!

October 28th, 2010
Groupthink – group identity and the destruction of community

It is impossible for a conservative to be a racist – IMPOSSIBLE!

This is not spin, hyperbole, or fantasy; it’s a FACT! You see, conservatives see individuals one-on-one. Contrary to the false presumptions found in the media and history text books (both products of liberal Progressives), the Jim Crow laws, and other condoned governmental racism – if you read the actual FACTS of history – were the products of southern liberals, not conservatives. The last remaining KKK member of the Congress was the late Robert Byrd, a DEMOCRAT. The most famous racist in recent Congresses was Strom Thurmond – a Democrat when he spoke in racist terms, but later converted both in heart and in party to become a Republican. Lyndon Johnson, that great pillar of ‘racial progressives’, repeatedly voted AGAINST the Civil Rights Bill when he was Speaker of The House, only to switch sides for political gain when he became President.

Conservatives, and the few Republicans that fit into that category, don’t speak in terms of ‘the blacks’, ‘women’, ‘the rich’ or ‘the working class.’ They (we) see individuals with little concern for their color, gender, race, or income – we see individuals. Although the leftists try to paint any of us who disagree with Obama as ‘racists’, the fact is many of us would have voted for Condi Rice for President, or Colin Powell. Race just doesn’t matter to us… WE DON’T CARE! Nor do we JUDGE someone by his/her color, creed, sex, or anything else he/she can’t control. We tend to judge a person by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.

So, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we must venture past who sees the world as various ‘voting blocks’ and go to the heart of ‘what’s wrong with seeing groups?’

In nearly every Democrat/Liberal/Progressive argument you will hear the cries of victim/perpetrator. Just think of the targets of recent Administration policies – the evil banks, the racist Cambridge cops, the horrible doctors and HMOs that amputate kids’ feet for more money, horrible lending companies, racists and xenophobes in Arizona, Or, as he recently described them… “enemies.” This is pure Saul Alinsky.

This is also the core of what makes groupthink so insidious! When one identifies themselves, or others, by a certain group, it can only result in animosity, envy, conflict, and eventual hatred. What if – instead of calling all Wall Street bankers ‘evil’ – corrupt individuals were pointed out? Would that not open up the possibility of utilizing good bankers (yes, there are some out there!) for fixing the problem? Of course, that wouldn’t allow the government to take over the financial system, now would it?

PEOPLE WAKE UP! The Democrat/Liberal/Progressive agenda is ALL about divide and conquer! YOU ARE BEING USED! You are pawns in a larger game to gain power and control! You are being divided… most effectively and strongly into rich folks / poor folks… and they (those attempting to gain more power) are using your envy to gain more control over you!
“Now, Charles, you are speaking of the horrors of groupthink and dividing folks into separate groups, and yet I’ve read here on the blog you often rail against illegals – grouping all of them together. Hypocritical, are we?”
Good question, but you’re leaving out one major thing… actions vs. nature. There is nothing wrong with grouping illegals, felons, molesters, atheists, or even liberals because those generalizations are based on ACTIONS that define those individuals. No one chooses to be black, white, female, or male.

But it is the ACTIONS of a group of individuals that unites them. And, yes, you can lump ‘millionaire fat cats’ into a group – but ONLY if you truly believe that ALL millionaires and fat cats are alike in their actions. I don’t believe that all millionaires got rich through ill-gotten gains. In fact I would tend to be prejudicial the OTHER way. I think most rich people are like Bill Gates or Lawrence Ellison, or Sam Walton, or Andrew Carnegie… they EARNED their money through ingenuity and hard work (and should therefore be REWARDED instead of punished!)

It’s all based upon actions. And one of the actions that I tend to judge people on is how they CHOOSE to identify themselves. Do you identify yourself as ‘black’, ‘white’, ‘male’, ‘female’ or some equally innate characteristic? I had nothing to do with what color I was born… it has nothing to do with any effort or talent on my part. I had literally nothing to do with it. So why would I brag about it, or identify myself with it? I just don’t get that. It’s not like John McCain identifying himself as a POW survivor… he EARNED that title by surviving great hardship. His courage, bravery, tenacity, faith, and strength got him through a very difficult time, and that should rightly be part of his self-identification. But your great-great-great-grandfather was owned by a white man? Really, what exactly does that have to do with you and the person YOU are? It’s not as if you survived the lashings and indignities yourself. Heck! My grandfather had a cross burned on his lawn in the 1920’s because he was a Catholic. It has nothing whatsoever to do with who I am. It, perhaps, serves as an example that my family has overcome hardships and adversity in the past, but really has very little to do with where I am today. I guess I could whine and talk about how picked on I am because of what happened 110 years ago, but I know I’d be lying. I’d be playing the victim when I was never really victimized in the first place.

So that’s where I just don’t get the groupthink. I am an individual. The effects of my blood relatives, their histories, and our family’s past have so little influence on me and the kind of person I CHOOSE to be…in fact, I’ve even chosen to ‘get beyond’ things that HAVE happened in my past. If I don’t identify myself by THOSE, how could I possibly be so weak as to identify myself by things that didn’t even happen to ME?!?!
I can’t understand those who are enslaved by their identity as part of some group. I can’t imagine not thinking for myself. I can’t imagine voting for person “A” because all the other Catholics, or white guys, or 40-something are voting for them. I can’t imagine being that easily led. Maybe those that buy into the groupthink are individuals who are unwilling or unable to stand on their own. Hmmmmmm Something to think about.

Maybe those who choose to primarily identify themselves with a larger group are just folks who are too weak, cowardly, or insecure to stand on their own and have their own opinions. And maybe that lack of self-image is what allows them to have such a poor image of others, and see others as nothing more than sheeple and faceless entities in the larger crowd.

Wow! I like where this stream-of-consciousness is going. Adolph Hitler identified himself as part of the Aryan master race, and likewise saw the Jews as a single monolithic entity… so he had no qualms with slaughtering them. Was it his own lack of self-esteem (as a failed soldier and artist) that molded his outlook and projected his own self-loathing upon others? Do folks who have little or no self-identity outside one group or another share this same tunnel vision? Is this why it’s so easy for ideologues to demonize their opposition?

This blog has already taken up too much of your time, and I appreciate your interest in my musings. But just a few last questions to top this entry off.

Do you identify yourself by your accomplishments and triumphs, or by things you have no control over?

How do you view and identify other individuals? Is it by things they have no control over… or by what they have triumphed above and achieved?

When you first see someone, do you prejudge them by their looks, race, age, sex OR BY THEIR ACTIONS?

Do you truly believe all blacks are ________, or all women are _________, or all Asians are_____________? Do you believe all rich people are ______________?

How do you feel about people who primarily identify themselves (an action they choose to take) with things they have no control over such as color, race, gender and such?

JUAN WILLIAMS fired from NPR

2010-10-21T17:24:00.001-06:00

October 21, 2010

Juan Williams fired by NPR

Wow! It’s now official that National Public Radio is enslaved to left-wing, liberal special interest groups. Last night on The O’Reilly Factor commentator Juan Williams quite candidly mentioned he gets nervous if he is on an airplane with individuals in Muslim garb. He then explained that it wasn’t right to ‘profile’ or judge, but that it was his honest reaction when on a plane with Muslims.

CAIR – a Muslim activist group - called for “action” in retaliation to the supposedly bigoted speech… and NPR fired Juan Williams.

Other blogs undoubtedly will dissect if the comment was appropriate, accurate, bigoted or whatever. We may even get Obama to state that NPR acted ‘stupidly’… but that’s not where I’m going.

During the campaign and just after the election, Mr. Williams was a definite cheerleader for Obama and the progressive tract of the administration. This lasted a few months. But then I was shocked to see him drift moderate – even conservative. He agreed that the Health Care Bill went against the will of the people, was far too complex and convoluted. He recognized the abomination of 2000-page bills that were being passed unread. I was thrilled – Juan Williams was coming to see the light.

Then someone got to Juan Williams. I don’t know if someone told him he needed to ‘get back into his place’ or what. But the result was as obvious as a cockroach on a white carpet… the old Juan Williams was back… with more Kool Aid than ever! Since the Summer of ’09 he’s even more of an apologist for the Obama/Pelosi/Progressive agenda than ever.

Then this happens and NPR fires him. NPR. Not exactly the most ideological “level playing field”. A left-wing news outlet gets rid of a moderate. He’s carried so much water for the liberal left and they just cut him loose for speaking his mind. The supposed champions of free speech – the left – show themselves for what they are. They are hypocrites who only support the free expression of their speech. This is why it is only conservative speakers like Ann Coulter that are assaulted at college appearances. It is why Tess and I witnessed hecklers here in Denver shouting down Newt Gingrich during his presentation at the CELL function. It is why liberal operatives like Mara Liason, Bob Beckel, Susan Estrich will consistently turn a dialogue into a cacophonic shouting match – trying to prevent the other side from speaking their mind.
=== ADHD moment --- why won't Susan Estrich just ONCE sing Hello Dolly?!?!? I would buy Pay-Per-View for THAT one ---

Conservatives (like me) agree strongly with Thomas Jefferson’s opinion that the cure to ‘bad’, ‘unpopular’, or even ‘hate’ speech is not censorship… but more speech. Obviously the liberal fascists don’t agree… to them any speech that conflicts with their own progressive agenda must be silenced. When do the book burnings begin?

And the vital part of this argument, that I doubt many others will address – one I alluded to before – No matter how much Juan Williams did to promote the liberal agenda, the moment he (forgive me) ‘went off the reservation’, he was cut loose. TOTALLY cut loose from the liberal left and disowned.

Now, granted the GOP cut their members loose as well, but (here’s the key) only in cases of unethical behavior or even accused unethical behavior. The Progressives on the other hand throw their comrades under the bus when they don’t tow the liberal line. Time to look up Saul Alinsky. Rev. Wright, Van Jones… and now Juan Williams. It’s getting awful crowded under that bus!

AND RANDOM THOUGHTS
October 20, 2010

The Pretender

Lately, I’ve been borrowing the TV show The Pretender from the library, catching up on episodes I missed. I love The Pretender like no other series I’ve ever watched. Why?

I truly empathize with Jarod in so many episodes!

Of course I recognize the differences - I’m not a genius as Jarod is. Of course, no one is… at least I hope not. Not because I’d be worried or afraid of someone with that much knowledge, but because I realize that a ‘Jarod’ couldn’t exist without all the pain becoming ‘Jarod’ would require. (Pain that is accurately shown in the flashbacks of the series). Look at Bobby Fischer, or better yet Michael Jackson… here was truly a musical genius (a phrase far too overused, but appropriate with MJ)… and that genius was the result of a childhood few of us would envy. And so it is with many prodigies. Often they excel in their ‘youth’ because they are escaping something. They throw themselves into their learning as a type of self-medication or as an escape. This gives them a different perspective and ‘starting point’ when compared to the rest of us, and it forever shapes their lives. Genius like that doesn’t come without a price.

In the Pretender, the bad guys always get what’s coming to them. Not only will they be found out, found guilty, and punished… but there is the added bonus that they will be made to feel as their victim felt. Along with Quantum Leap, there are very few TV shows that I can think of that have a core of beliefs truly dear to my heart –

One person can make a difference
Our minds are limitless, we can be anything we want to be
Nothing is as important as helping others, and nothing is more fulfilling
Seeking justice is right, but one must always be vigilant not to cross the line to vengeance, for that makes you no different than the perpetrator.
None deserve love and assistance like the innocent and the young
Sometimes people get the ‘short end of the stick’ through no fault of their own… sometimes through the malevolent, evil, or greedy design of others. It is our responsibility as decent human beings to correct those wrongs!
Everyone has the opportunity for redemption, with the condition that one admits their own mistakes and make amends first
We change the world with one person, one simple action at a time
There is no weapon like knowledge
There is nothing so precious as fairness, and nothing so worth fighting for
Doing the right thing is honestly its own reward – kindness with attention is not pure and therefore not kindness, only grandstanding.
ALL THE ABOVE IS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT LOVE

I guess most of the old shows, from “Adam 12”, “Cheers”, “M*A*S*H” and even “All in the Family” have some essential lessons and many of them are common from one show to the next. But when you look at a “6 Million Dollar Man” or a “McGuyver”… yes, they have the moral lessons, but overall they are action/survival shows. The Pretender could be safe, rich, and successful… actually incredibly wealthy if you think about it, if he just kept his head low and didn’t try to help others. But he wouldn’t be happy if he were only selfish and concerned about self-preservation. His happiness is in using his abilities to help others.

“I’m amazed how, after all you’ve been through, you still have the compassion to help others.” – Jarod’s Dad in the episode “Donnoterase”

Another thing I love about the series is its fidelity to roles Jarod takes on. He doesn’t just mumble some great sounding mumbo-jumbo to sound impressive… the medicines he describes as a doctor, he describes accurately, the SEAR techniques he refers to as an Army Survival trainer are actual Army techniques and practices. They must have had a BOATLOAD of technical advisors on staff!

Dialogue, Episode “ Risqué Business”

• Jarod (As a sex therapist) – “I have a case that’s starting to trouble me.”

• Dr. Arnett (Another sex therapist) – “Maybe I can help you with it.”

• Jarod: “Maybe you can. Being that you have such insight into the mind of sexual predators. You see, I’m having trouble understanding his motivation.”

• Dr. Arnett: “You know, Jarod, it’s control. Sex maybe the avenue they choose, but underlying motivation? It’s always control. To get it, to put the victim down, debase his very humanity… it’s the only way the predator can convince himself he’s worthy.”

• Jarod: “And if he refuses to seek treatment?”

• Dr. Arnett: “Without admission of responsibility… very little hope of improvement.”

• Jarod: “Then guess I better figure out a more radical form of therapy.”

Few people outside the counseling/social services fields know this very simple fact, have considered it, or even heard of it. It’s this kind of fidelity to plot that permeates every episode, and makes every episode so enjoyable. It is also for this reason that episodes aren’t just empty costume parades… an endless fashion show of personas and abilities (this week he scuba dives, next week flies, wait for him to take off in a shuttle!) He’s a cop, or a fireman, an NTSB investigator… he’s not a Congressman or President… the plausibility is never beyond the acceptable. I’m halfway through Season 4… can’t wait to see the rest!!

As soon as I can, I’m buying the whole freaking series on DVD! If you get the chance, rent it and watch it. Or do what I do, get it from the library! It’s well worth your time.

Where Housing Went Wrong

2010-10-18T19:19:00.003-06:00

There’s a warning of an oncoming ‘tsunami’ of housing foreclosures. Banks are currently holding on to enormous numbers of ‘bad assets’ – namely foreclosed properties they confiscated when families couldn’t pay their mortgages. If and when the housing market turns the corner, and sales start to improve, the banks are expected to flood the market with hundreds of thousands of properties – glutting the market and sending housing prices spiraling downwards.

Much has been made and said (here as elsewhere) regarding the Community Investment Act. This boneheaded move by President Carter, advanced by Clinton, and spearheaded by Barney Frank placed the government in a fascist position of forcing banks to loan to unqualified buyers. The banks knew darn well the buyers couldn’t afford the houses they were buying, but were threatened with the wrath of the federal government if they (the banks) didn’t make the unsecured and unwise loans.

The argument then, and now, is that the Community Investment Act opened opportunities to lower income families and made the American Dream attainable to millions of Americans stuck in the dead-end of renting.

BUT there is a key aspect to this scenario that has been totally ignored. There WAS a program designed to do the very same thing… on that worked very well even BEFORE the Community Investment Act. HUD homes served the exact same purpose and worked very well. The way HUD homes used to work was this:

Let’s say someone bought a house for $200,000 but stopped making payments after $80,000. The bank foreclosed and turned the house over to HUD. HUD then put the house on the market for $120,000. The bank was happy; it made $80K. HUD was happy; it made $120K. The new buyer was happy; they got a $200K house for only $120K. A lower-income buyer was able to get a good house for an amount they could reasonably take on.

BUT THEN the government got greedy. (Aren't you shocked!!) They switched from trying to help citizens to trying to collect money. They decided, “Why make only $120K on a house worth $200K? Lets make as much money as we can!” So they switched from turning around houses and giving lower-income folks a chance at home ownership to soaking more cash from the citizens. They instituted a bidding format by which those wanting to buy HUD homes had to present sealed bids which would then be compared by a HUD board… the highest bid would win the house. WHEN THE GOVERNMENT ENDED THE OLD WAY OF GRANTING HUD HOMES, they created a “crises” - a ‘crisis’ they could then fly in and fix through more government intrusion by way of the Community Investment Act. There’s a part of me that thinks, “If they had just left things alone, then we wouldn’t have the problem in the first place.”

But then my Libertarian/Founding principles side kicks in and I ask, “Why does the government need to be involved in the first place?” Couldn’t banks just… on their own… decide to sell that house for the $120K that’s still owed? It would be like a transfer of a car when the owner just wants someone to assume the payments. The bank hasn’t lost any money, again someone has grasped the American Dream, and the bank isn’t holding a ‘bad asset.’ Best of all, the government doesn’t have its greedy paws on a private transaction.

It’s examples like this that show just how LITTLE we need the government, and furthermore how getting the fed involved will screw things up even worse than they were to begin with. When individuals (especially liberals and Progressives) say that Capitalism doesn’t work they don’t recognize that we haven’t had Capitalism in the United States since FDR and the New Deal! The fed has gotten its grubby paws on the free market and caused problems that weren’t there to begin with! The majority of banks and bankers in America are true Americans - like George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) in It’s A Wonderful Life. It’s the GOVERNMENT that has more in common with Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore)! Do I think we should go back to a Capitalist free-for-all with limited rules and regulations? ABSOLUTELY! Contingent upon a return of morals, ethics, faith, and standards! We must reinstitute the number one regulator of free markets – the golden rule; treating others as you would have them treat you. Respect, shame, self-restraint, and yes – Christian attitudes – are the only thing that will make it work!

But it CAN work! It HAS worked! Before the Progressive Era of the early 20th Century, these were the ideals considered ‘commonplace’ throughout the country. ‘Progress’, ‘Change’, and ‘moving forward’ ARE NOT always a good thing – if that change and forward progressiveness takes you in the wrong direction!

STOP SAYING OBAMA’S A MUSLIM!

2010-10-15T18:42:00.001-06:00

October 13, 2010

Look, I’m as enthusiastic as anyone in pointing out that Obama is a self-serving Progressive with a self-loathing of this great country. He is a blame-America-first apologist in foreign affairs and a staunchly redistributive Socialist in domestic affairs.

As far as his place of birth, the evidence is extensive yet specious on BOTH sides, so I wouldn’t be surprised either way. When I see the emails like the ones referring to “Cattle Guards” I check sources and quickly dismiss the obviously bogus assertions. I don’t ‘bite’ for just anything that happens to be anti-Obama.

When this hullabaloo regarding his faith “30% of Americans think Obama is a Muslim” emerged, I took it with a grain of salt as well. My initial reaction was, “It doesn’t really matter what he says he is… what are his actions?” After all, isn’t it the bible that mentions we shall know what a tree is by its fruit? When I was growing up in Catholic schools we would sing the song “The shall know we are Christians by our love.” It was the prime example of ‘actions speak louder than words.’

But what has Obama himself said about faith?

Here’s a quote from an article he wrote in Time Magazine in October of 2006:
“This isn’t to say [my mother] provided me with no religious instruction. In her mind, a working knowledge of the world’s great religions was a necessary part of any well-rounded education. In our household, the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad-Gita sat on the shelf alongside books of Greek Norse and African mythology.”
It appears he views the Bible as little more than any other series of mythic beliefs. But he goes further…
“I was made to understand that such religious samplings required no sustained commitment on my part…”
Imagine a guy who sees relationships the same way… who sees sex as requiring ‘no sustained commitment.’ It would be the kind of guy who keeps books like the Kama Sutra on a shelf next to his Penthouse collection alongside Dr. Laura books on relationships… they are all just different views of relationships and sex; good resource material. But the need for commitment isn’t there… one doesn’t have to be invested in one book or another, because various views of sex and relationships are all equal.
Obama continues…
[such religious samplings required] no introspective exertion or self-flagellation. Religion was an expression of human culture, she would explain, not its wellspring, just one of the many ways – and not necessarily the best way – that man attempted to control the unknowable and understand the deeper truths about our lives.”

So religion is to Obama an ‘expression of human culture.’ Like art, or music, it is only a way to communicate beliefs. It certainly isn’t something ‘real’ or ‘concrete’ as George Washington, Ben Franklin, or Thomas Jefferson saw it. Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammad- they are little different than John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Bob Dillon, or Hercules or Isis. He’s not talking about the Creator of the Universe (as Jefferson phrased it in the Declaration of Independence) or the ‘Almighty God’ that Lincoln invoked in the Emancipation Proclamation when he requested His ‘gracious favor.’

This is a man who sees religion as a set of viewpoints, observations, and expressions but not really “real.” This explains his condescending and dismissive attitude when he spoke of Americans ‘clinging to their guns and religion.’ This is also why, for over 20 years, he associated with a church that was more interested in a political philosophy (Black Liberation Theology) than a purely gospel/epistle foundation. If you read through Jeremiah Wright’s sermons (not just the overplayed sound bites) he is far more a political speaker and activist than a biblical scholar. Which is exactly what drew the Harvard Law Student and Community Organizer Barry Obama. And let’s take this one step further. It explains the ‘objective’ and ‘detached’ position he takes regarding the Jews and Palestine – when one removes the religious significance of Jerusalem (those silly superstitious beliefs), one sees the Jews and Palestinians as quibbling over a few square miles of real estate and certainly not deserving of deference one way or the other.

Obama is a “post religious,” “post faith,” and “post God” president. He doesn’t need to follow the same myths and superstitions that the hoi polloi cling to. So from his vantage point, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jim Jones, or David Koresh are all the same. He doesn’t really care if he’s considered a Christian or Muslim any more than he cares whether he’s considered a Beatle’s fan or a Korn fan… they are all just expressions of belief anyways. As Obama wrote in the above mentioned article, “[religion is] a phenomenon to be treated with suitable respect, but with a suitable detachment as well.”

In the words of John Lennon, “Imagine no religion.”

A Non-Profit world

2010-10-04T16:03:00.000-06:00

October 3, 2010
The Non-Profit world

I guess my first exposure to non-profit organizations was back in 1972 when Fr. Dennis Dwyer brought me on board for the Catholic Youth Services’ The Original Scene. With The Original Scene I performed in Heaven Help Us!, Oliver!, The Sound Of Music, The Music Man, George M! and a number of showcases called “Bits ‘o Broadway.” In all I was with The Original Scene from 1972 to 1981.

Since 2007, I’ve been involved with the Littleton Community Music Association. Consisting of a number of bands, including The Skylarks Octet, The Windjammers Jazz Orchestra, the Rootin’ Tootin’s Dixieland Band and most recently, Sock Hop! 50’s and 60’s band, it is dedicated to bringing musical opportunities to the citizens of Littleton and the surrounding areas. Alternating monthly, regular performances are scheduled at the Buck Recreation Center and Lone Tree Recreation Center. With LCMA, I have been a vocalist, roadie, office worker, marketing specialist, and general helper.

Before that, between 2000 and 2006, I was associated with Magic Moments of Colorado. In 2000, 2001, and 2002 I served as volunteer vocalist and then, in 2003 joined the board of directors – a position I held for two years.

And previously still, since 1990, I have performed for Angels Unaware, countless senior- and retirement-homes, charities, and given yearly shows for the North Metro Community Association.

Therefore (especially since 2000) I have had a great deal of experience with not-for-profits. I love them, I love working with them, and I love what they do! They are a wonderful, caring, selfless, and deeply devoted segment of our culture. Yet they hold a somewhat “otherworldly” and unrealistic view of the world… a slightly nieve and absolute view of the world totally disconnected from the ‘real’ world.

These are organizations that survive entirely on the generosity of others. Therefore they have an utterly skewed look at the world, the people outside their realm, and the concept of compensation in general. Since they don’t earn, but rather solicit, for their funds, they make no connection between quality of work and payment. They collect their donations either way, so there is no motive towards excellence or growth that a competitive environment would demand.

In a non-profit, there is no measurable import in anything, anything other than the organization’s goal. For this reason, little appreciation is placed in quality – what does it matter how good the product or the extent of effort as long as the true purpose (of collecting and distributing funds) is accomplished? Unprofessionalism, lack of talent, ability, or effort are discounted as long as the grants and donations keep coming in. Even less is expected as far as efficiency or accountability. And above all, compensation – bluntly, pay, income, cash is almost seen as dirty, nasty, and perverted. Non-profit workers are made to feel as if their talents, their sweat, and their hard work are to be given for free. How dare they expect to be compensated for what they have given! Again, the ends are of sole importance, not the workers or their industry.

The purpose of a non-profit is to be generous, specifically, to be generous with other peoples’ money. In this sense, non-profits are the quintessential liberal organ. The ends is all-important, the people are a tool for achieving those ends, and the volunteers should be satisfied – not with any compensation or appreciation – but with the fact that they are ‘being charitable.’ Often the volunteers willingly take on the hardships, the lack of appreciation and wear it as a badge of proud martyrdom.

But, the point is, that when funds are given out of generosity, rather than in exchange for services rendered, those services will forever be lacking. Those that work hard will be patted on the head, told, ‘your contributions are so appreciated’ and left to be satisfied only in their own sense of generosity and pride. Meanwhile, many others will expend the least possible effort, knowing their sub-standard performance will not be in any way penalized. After all, they are so kind for just showing up and helping the cause!

Unlike the real world, the non-profit realm is one void of consequence, unaware of the connection between hard work and increased rewards. It is one that expects everything – from the grants that are their lifeblood to the long hours of their volunteers. Entitlement and assumptions are at the very core of a non-profits’ very being.

Wow! As I’m reading over this, it sounds much more upset and passionate than I intended. I’m neither angry nor vengeful as I’m sitting here… these are just some absolute truths I have observed over the last five-to-ten years.

It’s not that non-profits or those that lead them don’t care about their volunteers; they are kind and friendly towards their subordinates overall… but in no case is an individual volunteer or worker anywhere near as important as the cause, and this is reflected in the priorities.

We now have a community organizer at the head of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. He rules along with a Congress that acts as though the United States Government is the only important charitable group out there. And the mindset of Washington is veering strikingly towards that I have witnessed in typical non-profits.

Both collect funds, and don’t earn them per se.
Both are ‘ends-focused’
Both feel competition and compensation are at best unfortunate necessities, and at worst evil.
Both give a sense of offense if results or returns on investment are demanded.
Both snub competition and competitive spirit (outside the upper tiers of organizers, you will never hear comparisons with other similar non-profits)
Both consider their base (volunteers / voters) as not too much more than the means to their ends.
Think of Air America… which was also run in the style and efficiency of a non-profit… had the same unrealistic expectations of free money (grants) and return on investment.

But perhaps this is just applicable to small and medium-tier non-profits. It would make sense that successful, large-scale non-profits (American Red Cross, Amnesty International, Greenpeace….) have adopted much more business-centered tactics and structures. Certainly, we’ve heard of the Non-Profit CEO’s with incomes in the millions of dollars as well as the ENRON-like financial scandals many of them have been involved with.

So, dang it! This went somewhere I didn’t expect it to go… The federal government isn’t being run like a non-profit… it’s being run like an amateur non-profit!

What Needs To Be Fixed!

2010-09-03T16:32:00.003-06:00

September 3, 2010
What needs to change…

There are times I really worry that my increased reading / learning is doing little more than increasing my frustration and shortening my life. The more you learn about George Soros (The Shadow Party by David Horowitz & Howard Poe), Progressives (Theodore Roosevelt, The Progressive Party &... by Sidney Milkis, The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes, The Progressive Presidents by John Blum, and Liberal Fascism by Jonas Goldberg), the New Deal and FDR (New Deal or Raw Deal by Burton Folsom Jr.), Anarchists (The Coming Insurrection by The Invisible Committee), and the Obama Administration (Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin), the more frightening the world seems.

Whenever I read these books I keep in the back of my mind ‘careful you’re not getting sucked into some kind of ‘new world order’ conspiracy theory. But when I actually read the statements of the individuals (like Soros, Hillary, Van Jones, Cass Sunstein, et all…) I realize there are some very, very powerful individuals with very anti-American (anti-Founder’s) ideals. There are truly groups and individuals who honestly feel Americanism, and Capitalism, are bad things. They openly admire Mao, Chavez, Stalin, Marx, Castro and other totalitarian despots. These individuals really want to ‘fundamentally transform’ the United States into a class-less Socialist ‘utopia’. And let’s get this straight right now – OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST! It’s not a matter of opinion, it’s a fact! Merriam -Webster’s definition of “Socialism” is –

"1: any of various economic & political theories advocating collective or government ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.
2: a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property. b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3: a stage in society of Marxist theory transitional between Capitalism and Communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done"

Considering what Obama did with Chrysler (overturning years of contract law by giving Unions the lion’s share of bailout when secured bondholders should have been the first to be paid back), AIG, Student Loans, the Auto Industry, Goldman Sachs, GE’s CEO actually one of Obama’s top advisors… and all the other collusions between Government and Business… Socialism in America since Obama took office (in two out of the three definitions)IS A FACT, not just some hyperbole thrown out as political fodder!

So, for someone like me, who absolutely LOVES America and the ideals on which it was based, I can’t help but seeing how far we’ve built away from our foundations. And it’s not just some problem I have with Obama – we’ve been moving away from our ideals since Teddy Roosevelt, and haven’t had a REAL conservative President - who holds to the founders’ ideals - since Calvin Coolidge. Yes, I really, REALLY admire Reagan, but his immigration policy stunk (as did GW Bush’s), and I appreciate GW’s attempts to put power back in the hands of the people (with his attempt to partially privatize Social Security, as well as other policies) but again, the immigration policy was lacking – that... and he totally sold out to the Democrats when they took control of Congress in 2006.

So, what exactly, needs to be fixed? With the elections 60 days away, candidates are promising a whole plethora of ‘fixes’ from repealing Obamacare to restoring fiscal responsibility… such a list of small adjustments would require hundreds of bullet points. So, instead, I will present three (only three) broad aspects that need to change in America immediately. These will filter down into all the other minutia and things will get fixed in turn. So my master list of what needs to be fixed –

1) Ethics and Morality: This not only needs to be fixed in our politicians, but in us. WE need to stand up and say representatives who lie, cheat on their wives (or taxes) or engage in unethical behavior will NO LONGER BE TOLERATED! We demand integrity, honesty, morality, and all the traits we used to admire in Superman and other heroes – both real and fictional. We can start with the ideals the military still holds true – Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor (and honesty), Integrity, and Personal Sacrifice. We must insist on these traits in our elected representatives and in ourselves! Only when we purge ourselves of our own ‘little white lies’, spins, hedging the truth, taking advantage of others, and cheating the system can we expect as much from our elected officials. We MUST elect 535 “Mr. Smiths” to go to Washington… and we can only do that when we are nearly blameless ourselves.
2) American Exceptionalism: We must once again recognize that America IS ‘special.’ This isn’t some prideful nationalism or Americentrism – it’s a FACT! We are still the only country that is based on the philosophy that “all men are endowed BY THEIR CREATOR” with their inalienable rights. This makes us the ONLY country that places such an importance on the individual citizen and contends he/she controls the government, and not the other way around. This isn’t some small matter… it is EVERYTHING! It is the very basis of our liberty and freedom. When we lose this, we lose our liberty and freedom – because once we lose the idea that freedom and liberty are OURS BY GOD-GIVEN RIGHT, then the government can hand them out and take them back willy-nilly. This truly would make us like every other ‘free’ country out there. We must recognize this uniqueness – this exceptionalism – and return to it. We must give freedom back to individuals and yes, even to companies – by taking it AWAY from the government! Either the people are in control of the government, or the government is in control of the people – YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS – they CANNOT coexist! We must recognize the wisdom the Founders had in pitting individuals’ self-interests against one another… total and unabashed freedom… and let the system work as it was intended. We’ve tweaked and fiddled with it for over one hundred years – no wonder it’s not working! We must RETURN AMERICA to what MADE it exceptional in the first place – it worked before and it will work again!
3) We must learn to trust our fellow Americans. We all know that none of the people we associate with would allow a child to starve, or go without a roof over their head, or do without. Neither you, nor your friends would cheat someone out of their retirement. So, basically we are all good folks – it’s always the unknown ‘them’ who would do all these cruel things to others. I contend that these evil ‘them’ are nearly non-existent. We outnumber them! Yet the government spends billions upon billions of dollars to protect us from the horrible ‘them.’ The government needs to have a Welfare program because without it ‘they’ won’t take care of the poor and unfortunate. Obamacare is being pushed because ‘they’ won’t give the unfortunate health care. Government needs to step into Wall Street because ‘they’ will squander your investments. Yes, there are unscrupulous individuals who will take advantage of others, I freely admit that. But consumers can ruin a company through bad press (just ask Kathy Lee Gifford!), through stockholder meetings, through internet and press… the millions upon millions of consumers and private consumer advocates can be much more effective than ANY government program. RID YOURSELF of the phrase ‘we need the government to….” and realize that you, me…. WE can do a much better, more effective, and less expensive job! You have bought into the false belief that we need the federal government – it’s a LIE! THEY NEED US – WE DON’T NEED THEM!
Just rethink and re-examine exactly what you believe. Do you really need the government to take care of the poor? Even with the confiscatory taxes that are taken from us… we, individually, each and every one of us, are STILL the most generous of any civilization in the history of the planet! We give more, personally, to earthquake ravaged, hurricane destroyed, famine infested people than any government could possibly give! Do we REALLY need the fed to do it for us? NO we don’t! Do we really need the federal government to tell us to engage in fair business? Would you honestly cheat someone? I don’t think so! I have faith in you… after all… you, unlike the government… believe in those archaic rules, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you” and “love one another as I have loved you.” That’s what comes from having something the government doesn’t have – faith in God.

Who is your God?!?!

2010-08-27T16:03:00.000-06:00

Who is your God?

We all have a God. Even the atheists and agnostics have a God… a model by which we live, a personification of that which is most important to us…a perfect example of our values and beliefs. With all the online tests out there that can tell us “What kind of kisser” we are, “what famous movie star’ we are most like, and so on, I would love someone to put together questions that would truly reveal who our personal God is. Questions could be asked like…
 Do you believe honesty is a trait that should never be compromised even on taxes and spreading rumors?
 Do you feel it’s okay to lie if it puts your enemy in a bad light?
 Is it okay to tell a white lie if you can gain a few more bucks?
 Do you feel you have a right to change people for the better through anger, intimidation, and threat?
 Do you define yourself by your beliefs, your job, or your sources of pleasure?
 Is it worse to commit a crime or to cover for someone else’s crime?
 Do the ends justify the means?
 Is it worse to kill someone, rape them, or financially ruin them?
 Is it okay to marry for money?
 Can you still feel compassion for those you passionately disagree with?
 With your last five dollars would you buy a gift for someone else, a mocha, donate it, or save it?
 Could you love someone who hurt you?
 When disagreeing with someone do you try to change their mind or do you try to destroy them personally?
 Would you forgive someone’s horrible, even criminal, ‘mistake’ if overall that person is pretty okay?
 Is it okay to work on the Sabbath?
 Is stealing someone’s property or reputation okay if it’s to ‘teach them a lesson?”
 Do you get past difficult times through hard work, faith, government assistance, or friends?

I wish I knew how to put such quizzes together! The possible outcomes would be “The Biblical God Yahweh,” “lucifer, the god of hedonism,” “You, yourself are your own God,” “The Almighty dollar is your God.”

I guess I’m playing with the idea that God isn’t just somebody we visit one day a week, He’s (it’s ) who/what we turn to in our everyday lives, with countless decisions and choices.
 If we’re praying to win the lottery to get us out of our troubles, then aren’t we looking towards money as our savior? Does that not make money our god?
 If we go to church on Sunday… but at work Monday-Friday we stab a coworker in the back so we can advance… aren’t we spending more time worshiping ourselves than the hour we spent worshipping God at church? That’s a 40:1 ratio of worship if you think of it!
 If we daily want to destroy those around us we disagree with… I mean really destroy them… rather than debate, discuss, or communicate with them… can that coincide with worshiping someone who told us to “do unto others…?”
 If we identify ourselves by our car, our fashion, how much we can drink, snort, have sex, or endure… are we deifying hedonism? Are we in fact making pleasure our god?
 If we spend 15 hours a week at the gym focusing-on perfecting our body… aren’t we spending more time worshipping ourselves than God? Does that not make our body in effect our god?

If we look at it in purely and hours-invested and importance-assigned… who would our real God be? I’m as guilty as anyone on this… it’s just a random thought.

A Day in the Life - A Night in the Underground

2010-06-28T11:45:00.007-06:00

June 27, 2010

The Beatles and Elvis
If you saw the movie Pulp Fiction, you may remember the conversation Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) have at Jack Rabbit Slims just before their twist dance. Mia states that everyone is either an Elvis fan or a Beatles fan… you can’t be both. Although I would be the first to agree (for the most part) with her assessment, there are a very very few of us that really enjoy both.

The Beatles and Elvis each defined a decade and their fans are terribly possessive, each in their own way. Their respective impersonator/tribute band fan-bases are a bit forgiving. They enjoy the memories, the songs, and the whirlwind of nostalgia that whips through a venue whenever their respective ‘favorites songs’ are played. It is for this reason you see so many impersonators/tribute bands that aren’t exactly ‘right on’ vocally, musically, or visually but still maintain unfailing loyalty from the fans. To this fan base NO person can recreate the magic of the King or the Fab Four, so they really don’t expect them to. No priest could walk across water or turn water into wine… so what’s the use in expecting it?

For those that perform exclusively for these audiences (at conventions, contests, and showcases,) the unending accolades and standing ovations can be a sweet assumption!

I, on the other hand, have spent the majority of my two decades as a professional entertainer singing, performing and impersonating in front of much more critical and discerning audiences. Nothing against my brother Elvi on the contest circuit, there just aren’t that many contests and opportunities between Chicago and Las Vegas. I’ve been forced to take on a greater breadth of characters, a wider scope of eras and a more challenging range of styles – from big band to 90’s. At times, this eclecticism has made me ‘persona non grata’ in the Elvis circles, but that’s for another blog… this one’s not about me.

Okay… after all that verbal foreplay I’m finally getting to the meat of what I wanna say.

The presence, charisma, and vocal magic of Elvis… and the harmonies, absolute musicality and soul of the Beatles are all terribly, terribly difficult to recreate for a non-fan-base audience! You have no idea how difficult! This was evident and fully in play in a show I saw tonight.

Tonight the “Captain Quirk and Friends” performed the Abbey Road Show at the Soiled Dove Underground club. It was a fundraiser for Craig Hospital and PHAMALY (a wonderful organization that assists those with a wide range of disabilities.) I am better than casually familiar with a number of the musicians. The drummer, Larry Ziehl, is one of the finest percussionists I have ever worked with, and is the drummer for my band Sock Hop. Keyboardist Donna Debreceni (again, one of the finest in her field) and the equally talented Mitch Jervis and I have worked together before and aren’t members of my band only because I can’t afford them and their schedules are too booked. Austin Hein on bass I knew by reputation. So I assumed the show would be good.

I was wrong.

It was SPECTACULAR… GREAT…. AWESOME… choose your adjective! The harmonies were spot-on (which is not an easy task with Beatles’ songs!) Mitch’s guitar licks and Larry’s tempos were not only note-for-note precise, but the subtle inflections and hits were straight off the record albums. I have never ever enjoyed hearing cover songs as much as I did tonight. I almost feel guilty pointing out only a few musicians because each person on stage was just as professional and entertaining as the next. There is no keyboardist with the talent, spunk, and energy of the Awesome Goddess herself, Donna! The vocalists – Dan Langhoff and Regan Linton were both of a level that they could be the lead in any band. I was a bit disappointed the soundman didn’t have the bass levels a bit higher (considering how McCartney’s bass was such a mainstay of Beatles songs) and from what I could hear, Mr. Hein was every bit up to the caliber of the other band members. But aside from that, I couldn’t find any noticeable shortcomings in the entire 2-hour show.

And it wasn’t as if they leaned back on the 5-chord blues basics of the early 60’s. They took on the complex, intricate and impossible tempo-changing songs like “A Day In The Life” and “Dig a pony!” The highlight, for me was hearing “Because” – starting with the keys…vocals and Mitch’s guitar only (a subtle, almost imperceptible tempo being playing - almost inaudibly -by Larry.) As in the original, the rest of the band fills it out about halfway through. It was intoxicatingly beautiful!

No matter how good a vocalist you are, there is a wonderful security when you know there are brass, keys, guitar, bass and drums to help mute any possible mistakes you may make. To go out there acapella (or very nearly to it) you are really hanging yourself out there… just begging to have your faults displayed for all the world! It’s the vocal equivalent of walking onstage bare naked! So I heard that opening riff of Because and thought…wow! Are they really gunna’ try ‘n pull this off? Most bands and singers wouldn’t even go NEAR that song! But they attacked it with the charisma and confidence they showed in every other one of their songs! And sure enough, they nailed that…. song, harmonies and all!

I’ve heard concert performances by Ringo and McCartney, and even they don’t sound like the original recordings. In fact they don’t even try to replicate the original versions. As someone who has made his living trying to replicate styles, inflections, and ‘tonality’ as one director described it… I can tell you it is exasperatingly difficult to replicate anywhere close to such well-known and often heard legends as Neil Diamond, Nat King Cole, Orbison, Holly, Louie Armstrong, and Dean Martin. The Beatles and Elvis? That’s a whole level higher still! And every musician on stage… Larry on drums, Donna on keys, Austin on bass, Mitch on guitar and the melodic voices of Dan and Regan accomplished the task with command and apparent ease. Even Larry took a shot at vocals with Octopus’ Garden and did better than Ringo. Okay, that’s not saying that much. Okay.. Larry was GOOD! As was Donna with her vocal lead. (A little Help?!.. not sure)

The Abbey Roadshow was a unique and magical once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – the chance to hear exactly the songs you want, exactly the way you want to hear them. It felt like a private performance of favorite songs flawlessly played! It was a show I would return to time and again, just to hear the melodies… to hear the Beatles as the Beatles should be played!

Speaking out while I still can

2010-06-25T17:33:00.003-06:00

I'm re-entering the National Guard soon, so I'm getting out some venting before I have to take that oath of obedience and submission again....

June 25, 2010

According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, Obama’s disapproval rating is higher than it has ever been at 48 percent. What amazes me is the remaining 45 percent of “true believers” that refuse to face the facts. I have one such friend myself… a very good friend that just baffles me! The other day I asked him “If G W Bush had taken over the auto companies, ousted a corporate CEO and began dictating the day-to-day affairs of the company, he’d be rightfully accused of being a power-grabbing dictator… but Obama does it and nobody seems to have a problem with it. Why?” His response was simple.
“Because it’s Obama.” And he was completely serious!
Really? Are you kidding me?!?!
There are so many actions taken by this president – that had anyone else had even attempted them, liberals, the media, and everyone else would be up in arms!
 He promised transparency, but has conducted everything from BP meetings to Health Care negotiations behind closed doors and in the shadows.
 He promised bills would be online for the entire public to view before any major issues were voted on, yet health care, cap-and-tax preliminaries, the stimulus package, TARP II, and the omnibus bill were all shoved down our throats without even a SINGLE DAY of the bills being placed online.
 He promised that the age of lobbyists’ influence would be ended, yet has signed countless waivers in order to appoint dozens of lobbyists to his administration.
 He promised to represent not ‘red America’ or ‘blue America’ but the United States of America and yet never before – not even under the supposedly demonic GW Bush administration- has the language from the White House been more vitriolic and partisan.
 He has failed to support the most patriotic, loyal, and devout Americans among us, in particular our police (Cambridge,) our CIA (pressing forward with criminal investigations,) our military (prosecution of Navy SEALs,) and even the governors of our states (Jindall and Brewer.)
 He has betrayed our closest allies (Israel and Great Britain as well as his removal of defensive weapons from our Eastern European allies) while embracing enemies like Hugo Chavez.
 Defying the will of over 60% of Americans, he shoved the socialized health care bill down our throats.
 Defying the will of 70% of Americans, he is taking an oppositional position on the Arizona law regarding illegals.
 His department of labor created a public service announcement featuring Secretary of Labor Hilda Salis telling illegals that they are entitled to fair pair whether they are documented or not.
 When the democrats and the administration couldn’t get bills passed by the legal and constitutional manner demanded by the Constitution, they reverted to sleazy and underhanded parliamentary tactics to shove the legislation through.
 Obama refused to even mention the attacks against men and women at Ft. Hood until he gave a ‘shout out’ to a guest at the press conference – spending a full two minutes before addressing the attack on soldiers and civilians – clearly showing the lack of concern he has for those who wear the uniform of our country.
 Also along the lines of disrespect and disregard for the military, Obama has consistently taken contrary positions to his military advisors (re: troop levels as well as the don’t-ask-don’t tell policy) completely discounting the opinions of military experts, choosing instead to dictate his terms and social policy regardless of the effects on the performance, moral, or effectiveness of the Armed Forces.
 He has strong-armed not only private businesses, but individuals in congress, invoking practically fascist attitudes in coercion; embracing the philosophy of ‘not only the force of persuasion, but the persuasion of force.’ His administration as intimidated, threatened, and coerced anyone foolish enough to get in their way.
 To unprecedented levels, he has demeaned, insulted, and put down America on the world stage – choosing to blame America first and utterly failing to embrace or praise the land of his birth… err… the land he represents.
 He has defended and befriended domestic terrorist groups including the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground.
 Obama has created a virtual ‘shadow government’ of advisors and Czars unconstrained to the checks-and-balances ensured by Senate confirmations. These Czars have included self-declared communists, socialists, and radical revolutionaries with admittedly anti-American and anti-capitalist beliefs.
 When a court struck down the oil-drilling ban, the administration disregarded the court orders brushing aside judicial jurisdiction and pressed forward with yet another ban.
 According to the New York Times, Obama is now considering giving a blanket amnesty to illegals by fiat – also called ‘executive order.’
 Then there’s all the things that haven’t come to light, such as the billions of dollars Obama’s friends have to gain from Administration policy regarding BP and drilling (Soros and Petrabus,) Cap and Trade (Shore Bank and Obama’s Chicago cronies,) the Smart Grid (Immelt and General Electric.) These are SO far beyond anything that happened regarding Halliburton under the Bush administration – we’re talking about literally TRILLIONS of dollars of business just in the case of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX!)
 In order to justify the moratorium on oil drilling, the administration tampered with a peer-reviewed recommendation, adding two whole pages to the review after it had been signed-off on by the experts. Those two pages entirely misrepresented the views and conclusions of the experts, who later condemned this fraud perpetrated by the administration.
The corruption and cronyism as well as the lack of transparency – the Chicago style politics – have risen to a level never before experienced in this Republic! So again I ask –
IF GW BUSH DID ANY OF THIS, WOULD YOU BE OKAY WITH IT?

The most glaring difference between today’s liberals/progressives and the conservatives lies in the fact that if GW Bush had been guilty of any number of the above usurpations and draconian power-grabs, they would have been the FIRST calling for Bush’s resignation or impeachment. It says so very much about the progressives that they have no problem with dictators, fascists, and autocrats – as long as it’s their fascist dictator or autocrat!

I haven’t even included the typical partisan Washington BS – like blaming Republicans for ‘obstructionism’ when it is numerical impossible for them to obstruct anything! The Democrat party has a supermajority in the House and is only one vote short of the same in the Senate. That means there is absolutely NOTHING the GOP can do to obstruct ANY bill going through Congress! The Republicans could stay home and not even show up and it would make no difference.

This administration is the absolutely worst in history, far outpacing the fascism of the Wilson administration, the corruptions of the Harding or Nixon administrations (I mean really – breaking into a campaign headquarters to get dirt on hookers-for-donors seems rather tame today, doesn’t it?) The dictatorial lengths to which this administration has gone have already outpaced the New Deal and the current socialist tendencies have dwarfed the Great Society. The one-trillion discrepancy between GW Bush’s inherited surplus (based upon the emasculation of the military by Clinton)and the deficits he bequeathed to Obama (due more to the internet bubble burst, Katrina, 9-11, and the wars rather than the tax cuts) have been completely eclipsed by the quadrupling of the debt by Obama! I know the lefties screamed the hyperbole “the worst president in history” through the 8 years of Bush, but point by point by point, there are FACTS that support the argument when it is applied to Obama.

When lefties screamed about Bush’s suspension of Habeas Corpus regarding terrorists, there was a precedent in the Lincoln administration – unwarranted wiretaps and the Patriot Act, a precedent set by Clinton in the War on Drugs - military tribunals, a precedent set by FDR during World War II. The only precedents applicable to the actions of the Obama Administration lie in the Weimer Republic, The Soviet Union, The Peoples’ Republic of China, and the Third Reich of Germany. No, I’m not saying Obama is replicating all the aspects of Nazi Germany – only that his actions bear a striking resemblance to those of 1930’s Germany – pre-concentration camps.

“Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”
- George Santayana
“Those who never learned the past to begin with… they will recreate the past without even knowing it!”
- Charles King Byrne

Oil, Arizona and Dads....

2010-06-18T12:27:00.002-06:00

June 17, 2010

Arizona is taking the lead in telling the Federal Government to go suck lemons. The feds have failed miserably to respond to the murders, kidnappings, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and drug wars brought about by the porous border situation. As a result, Arizona is picking up this dropped ball and running with it.

Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana could be next… if we’re lucky! (Florida should be too… but who can trust Crist?!)Bobby Jindal (Governor of Louisiana) seems more and more at his wits’ end with the federal stupidity, inaction, and posturing. Jindal knows this disaster could have been avoided had the feds acted with urgency and purpose. But President Obama, Secretary Napolitano and the others from Washington were more interested in pressing through their pet projects, spending more billions of dollars, enslaving more Americans, and playing golf… or going to a Paul McCartney concert than tending to the threats against American citizens.

So I’m praying (literally) that Governors Jindal, Haley Barbour, and Bob Riley take a hint from Governor Brewer in Arizona and take matters into their own hands. Show exactly how inefficient and ineffective the federal government is! Make it clear once and for all that the STATES are better situated and equipped to handle the problems of American citizens.

These three states can combine with Arizona to create momentum of subtly separatist states. Not revolution so much as a strike of states. The states need to go on strike, collectively telling the federal government, “We can do this without you thankyouverymuch!”

FATHER’S DAY

This has to be the easiest of all holidays for me. Obviously (to those who know me) my Dad died the week I graduated from High School – makes it easy to remember what class reunion is coming up. My paternal grandfather (P. Harry Byrne) passed away 8 years before my birth and my maternal grandfather (Mason Avery Lewis) died five years before I was born. I had two uncles, Ed (passed in ’81) and Harry (died when I was 2 years old) who are no longer around.

So I have no ‘dads’ to wish Happy Father’s Day to… except my adopted Dad Jim… who will soon be my legal Dad-in-law. SOOOOOooooooooooo
I can wish a Happy Father’s Day to Eric, Derrik (my adopted brothers) and all my other friends – especially here on FB. So HAPPY FATHER’S DAY guys!!

The Case For Small Government Part 2

2010-06-10T22:21:00.002-06:00

If you didn't catch Part One, read the entry below first....

TRANSFORMING BACK… how to go back home.

So, how do we keep all the good things that government provides – the social safety net, consumer protections, benefits, and other niceties while keeping the Federal Government small? They are dichotomous intents… you just can’t have both! Either you accept the bloated Federal Government and all it provides, or you slash and burn the Federal structure and say goodbye to Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, The Departments of Education, Commerce, Labor, Interior, and all the other things that combine to create the greatest Civil monster ever designed by man.

Once again we venture into a briar patch of debate misled by intentional or accidental diversion. In the struggle for civil rights, from the reconstruction era all the way through current times, certain words and phrases that have a meaningful place in discourse have been bastardized and deemed “verboten”. Allow me to start off by saying that the phrase “states’ rights” has little – almost nothing – to do with slavery or Jim Crow laws! Unfortunately, the liberals, Southern Democrats, carpetbaggers, and Dixiecrats so intertwined that one phrase with their own desire to keep the black culture “down” that we are almost inured with a sense that any State calling upon its Constitutional rights is somehow advocating the return of Poll Taxes, lynchings, and even slavery itself.

States DO HAVE RIGHTS and those rights are specifically protected by the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. It’s not some archaic, antiquated, cute little law like horses needing to be properly tied to a hitching post when downtown; it is a very instrumental, structural support for our bottom-to-top government. We need to recognize the necessity and irreplaceable nature of the States in our system, and call on them to restore our Republic.

The first step is to spend a significant amount of federal money to build Government Contact Centers in the one hundred most-populated cities and towns. These would be large and inclusive buildings or campuses able to house remote offices for the majority of federal departments. Labor, Commerce, Agriculture, Transportation, Interior, Veterans’ Affairs, Social Security, ATF, Immigration… ALL federal departments would have a local presence and a centralized location.

NOW HERE IS THE DANGEROUS POINT that must be handled carefully!!!

If the federal government is allowed to just fill those offices with new employees, WHILE KEEPING THE main offices in Washington DC, all would be lost! The intent would actually be subverted and the purpose would be flipped 180 degrees. The country would at this crucial point be vulnerable to another massive growth in the federal government, potentially the largest federal power grab in history… which is the LAST thing we need!!

The officials, staff members, and personnel in Washington DC MUST BE RELOCATED and sent out into the country. The offices in Washington DC must be left with skeleton crews of no more than 10 individuals in each department!!

While these Government Contact Centers are being built, the President must have intensive and inclusive meetings with the governors of every state. The subject of these meetings will be the seamless transfer of most benefits and responsibilities from the federal level to the states. Incorporated into these discussions will be how to mitigate the transfer of tax collection. The feds and states would have 35 months from the President’s inauguration to devise a plan by which the federal government can hand-off the responsibilities to the legislatures of the separate states.

By January 1st of the President’s third year, the IRS would for the most part be dissolved. A three percent Value Added Tax (federal sales tax) would be implemented to provide for the military, State department, and to pay off Federal debts. The cost of all other services would be assumed by the states. Therefore, the vast majority of taxes on the state level would rise, in some ways skyrocket, but when balanced to the suddenly negligible federal taxes, the transfer shouldn’t present a panic or spike in taxes. The analogy would be a person paying fifty dollars to “John” every month. On January 1st he would begin paying ten dollars to John and the other forty to Jim. The state legislatures should be encouraged to fix their state taxes to total no more than twenty percent of personal and corporate income, and work within those guidelines to assume the costs of federal programs.

The federal and state governments would have nearly three years to make sure the transfer is as seamless as possible.

This rosy scenario is assuming the Congress is equally interested in limiting its own power and influence. Fat chance! So the solution is to move forward with the Government Contact Centers as well as negotiations with the state Governors and legislatures without Congress. Plan the transfer and build the infrastructure. As the head of the Executive Branch, the President transfers the staffs of Executive Departments to the state offices. He/She decentralizes nearly every executive department unilaterally. When the budget is approached during the transfer period, the President presents to Congress a budget assuming the transfer of departments to the states… he asks for the smallest federal budget since Teddy Roosevelt. If Congress insists on a bloated, expensive federal budget the President would just transfer those funds to the state offices. If the Congress places restrictions on how the funds can be spent, the President places those funds into a trust fund to be released when the restrictions are removed.

By its very nature, this process will create a ‘showdown’ between patriots and progressives. Throughout the entire process, the message of “returning the power to the citizens’ and ‘taking power and influence from Washington’ must be hammered home! As with any massive change, the citizens must be firmly on one side supporting and demanding the transfer of power. If handled correctly, this should not be difficult.
Power to the citizens… the federal government is overgrown, ineffective, and malignant… power should be local… power in Washington is held by multimillionaires and huge corporations that can buy influence and access… the arguments for decentralization are filled with populist and individual-centered arguments that already fill the political discourse!

Make no mistake, those with entrenched influence and power will fight passionately and without reservation! They will paint the program as anarchistic, undermining the federal structure, starving kids, putting people on the streets, disenfranchising minorities…they will hold no punches, and will not be constrained by the truth (just look at how the current argument over Arizona’s new illegals law is being misrepresented and lied about!) In fact, it will return power and influence to the hands of the individual citizen. It would no longer matter how General Electric outspends the mom-and-pop barber… the barber would have his rightful influence and voice! As power diminishes in Washington DC, the federal government’s influence would increasingly become irrelevant – AS WAS INTENDED by the founders!

So what do we do if we don’t have a President or Congress willing to gut the federal government? It is my firm belief that if such a President isn’t elected in 2012, we may well be venturing beyond a point of no return… a tipping point beyond which we can no longer claim our American birthright… our government “of the people, by the people and for the people.” If Obama, or a similarly Socialist-Progressive President takes office after the 2012 elections, we must, we MUST take matters into our own hands! The last hope is to engage the failsafe last-ditch, safety catch provided us by the Founders… the Constitutional Convention. We, as citizens, through our State Legislatures must push for the adoption of new, restrictive Amendments to the United States’ Constitution. It is for this very reason I have bought the domain names ConCov.org and ConCov2012.com and am currently developing this ‘central clearing house’ for all Constitutional Convention movements! Beyond that action, the ONLY option is rebellion and bloodshed – which is NOT an option! Neither is continuing with the status quo! Our system of government, our culture, our very essence as a civilization is under attack… it is being purposefully killed, destroyed, and transformed! If we do not act NOW, we will never again see the liberty and freedom on which we were built and thrived!

The Case for "Small Government"

2010-05-30T19:26:00.001-06:00

The Case for “Small Government”

The very structure of our system of government is bottom-up. The concept “of the people, by the people, and for the people” is not just a string of nice words muttered by Abe Lincoln on a civil war battlefield; the idea is the very foundation and structure of our system of government! When our founders designed our Republic, they wished to assure that the people were always involved in the decisions that would effect their lives. There were limitations at first, and those restrictions of race, color, property ownership, and gender have been remedied bit-by-bit until we now have the universal citizenship many of our founders dreamed of. But as always, the primary source of power rests in the hands of the citizens… or at least it should, that’s what this system was designed for. Today we have adjusted, tweaked, added-to and perverted our system so much that it runs like a Ford 500 engine that has so many modifications that it’s now plagued with wiring problems, leaks, and no longer has the pure horsepower it was built with. The engine was created extremely well with certain structures, restrictions, and physics and there were many good and wise reasons for this:

In part the bottom-up structure addresses a moral imperative – It ensures that an overgrown and overreaching Federal Government cannot impose its will, its dictate, and its force against a subjugated populace. A government at arm’s length cannot strike or injure the citizen.
Secondly, it addresses a spiritual aspect – I have said it many times before, and I will never tire in repeating it, our rights come to us from our creator, not the government. “Governments are instituted among me to protect those rights…” Those aren’t MY words; they are found in our own Declaration of Independence. So the rights, powers, and control come to us, the citizens, from God and we then LOAN whatever rights we wish to the government, keeping the lion’s share for ourselves.
Primarily, however, the bottom-up structure (which to this day is unique in all the world – we are the exception to the global rule of top-down governance) has a very practical and pragmatic characteristic – the larger any entity or organization grows, the more it tends to be fraught with corruption, misappropriations, avarice and greed. Ironic, that the government is the first to notice these vices in business, yet blind to its own abuses!

The cure to this is a limitation in the size of the Federal Government, to return it to the sleek powerhouse engine as it was designed… and to do so for the very same reasons government breaks up massive conglomerations and big businesses. An entire tangent could be followed at this time dealing with exactly HOW the Federal Government is in fact the single largest business in the world, or how its de facto mergers with General Electric, Chrysler, Student Loans, General Motors, AIG, Goldman Sacks, et all… is little more than one monopolistic entity gobbling up its competitors… but lets stick to the subject at hand.

Inasmuch as the citizen is the primary holder of rights in our system of government, it makes little sense to have the other major influence in our lives 3000 miles away in Washington DC. In many ways, this is precisely the resurrected argument of the 1770’s. At that time we, as English colonists, were doing quite well for ourselves. We were as self-sufficient as we could be under sometimes-unreasonable English restrictions. We had endless resources, a strong sense of community, prosperous trade and an advanced communication system that could fill the continent with news of events within a couple of weeks. Due to the advancements of printing and organized dissemination (thanks in large part to Dr. Benjamin Franklin) and the postal carriers (also under Franklin’s influence) Colonists in Charles Town South Carolina received news of the Boston Tea Party in less time than a World War Two soldier’s family would receive a letter from the front lines almost 200 years later! If we had one wish, it was that the King and Parliament would just leave us alone… to be allowed to grow the colonies as we saw fit. When the distant government started to impose taxes on us to pay off war debts and overspending by the Mother Country, most colonists weren’t as upset about the tax increases as they were insulted by the imposition without our consent – at least TALK to us about it before you levy your taxes! This is the same frustration that emerged last August during the much-reported “town hall meetings.”

So, we can settle on the fact that a distant and unengaged government can, and has tended to, act without our best interests in mind. In fact, as with any organization, the larger it grows the more evil, corrupt, and dictatorial it becomes! It can be dogmatic, draconian, and overbearing. At the same time the large infrastructure needed to support such a distant government lends itself to misappropriations, fraud, deceit, corruption, and waste. In short, a large, distant government is never EVER a good thing!

Now don’t think for a minute that we ‘smaller government’ folks want to starve children, endorse unsafe work places, or are Anarchists!! Far from it! We believe in the rule of law, and therefore know government is required to set and enforce those laws. Anarchists believe in no government at all… a bit of a fallacy in and of itself because even the wilds of the Serengeti have a type of government… the lions govern, the hyenas govern and if you are an antelope or wildebeest you are the governed. In truth, no matter where you go on this planet somebody governs someone else! The weak govern the strong; the smart govern the ignorant, and even in the “paradise” of communism, the Politburo governs the masses. What we as… I guess you would call us libertarians….desire is a balance between self-rule and government oversight. Some things we can do for ourselves…take care of our neighbors, our business, our faith, and our pursuit of happiness. We don’t need the government to tell us our coffee is hot, and if we burn ourselves… well, stuff happens! Deal with it and move on!

WE WANT A SMALLER, LESS INTRUSIVE, LESS NANNY-STATE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! For the ethical, practical, spiritual, and pragmatic reasons expressed above we want to drastically shrink the Federal Government until it is no longer involved in our everyday lives! If the federal government is so small that it doesn’t really effect our lives, then we don’t really care how ineffective or corrupt it is. Right now, unfortunately, this distant behemoth controls our incomes, our purchases, our raises, our churches, our food, or communications….EVERYTHING! Such control should never, ever, EVER be farther than a bicycle ride away! Such power should only be held by people we can personally talk to, campaign for, and address over coffee at Starbucks! Such power and control shouldn’t be in the hands of multimillionaires or huge corporations that can “buy” access and influence! The engine wasn’t made for that! We are installing that Ford 500 into a semi-trailer designed for a diesel. We are flipped on our head and attaching more wires and accessories hoping to cure the problems we’ve created. We need to flip everything back, un-capsize the boat, and totally remove all the accessories that are destroying the engine!

The question is HOW do we do it? With such a drastic strip-down required, such a resetting… how do we transform back to they system that made us the wonder of the world, the beacon of liberty to millions, and the vanguard of advancement and freedom? That will be in the next post…. Stay tuned!

Just random ADD thoughts from the past week:

2010-05-23T14:56:00.004-06:00

The current nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, has stated that believes there is nothing wrong with holding and interrogating an American citizen without Miranda Rights, charges, or due process indefinitely if the citizen is suspected of funding a terrorist group.
Yet, she is part of the same political mob that feels it’s inappropriate to ask potential illegals in Arizona for their green cards.
Does this not mean that illegals are being treated even better than American citizens? Have we gotten to a point that illegals are more protected than Citizens?

Speaking of Arizona… Los Angeles has voted to boycott business with Arizona over the new illegals law. Since 24% of LA’s electricity comes from nuclear power plants in Arizona, certain members of Arizona’s state government have suggested LA get their electricity elsewhere. Since there are contracts involved, and Arizona (unlike the Californians) have the integrity to fulfill those contracts…they won’t just cut off the electricity. It would be up to California to have the strength of their convictions and choose to get their electricity elsewhere. In the meantime, shouldn’t Arizona pass a ‘hardship’ tax to offset the revenue lost by the boycotts? I’m not sure how effective it would be since California is bankrupt anyway. I mean, really, what are they going to do, withhold their IOU’s????

SEIU mobs ‘protesting’ Bank of America official - Glenn Beck mistakenly compared this action to the Sons of Liberty going to the house of Governor Hutchison in the days before the revolution… but the only thing I was thinking when I saw these videos was “where’s the burning cross?” This intimidation has a GREAT DEAL more in common with the (Progressives and liberals in the…) KKK than the assembling of the Founding Fathers. The Sons of Liberty were trying to get the attention of an uncaring and unresponsive government… SEIU was just intimidating and terrifying an individual and his family.

The teacher in Houston, Texas who wailed on the student. I was watching the video of the beating and I started listing the actions that would get an Army Interrogator prison time in Leavenworth. Starting with the backing of the student into the corner… that ALONE would have an interrogator in cuffs! So, the lesson to be learned? A teacher in Houston can treat a student worse (an have fewer repercussions) than an interrogator can treat a suicide bomber… an Al-qeada operative… a person sworn to murder American civilians by the thousands.

Conserve, Recycle, and the Smart Grid Years ago, before the Soviet Union fell, we Americans would watch with wonder, incredulity, and pity at the images of Soviets waiting in line to buy toilet paper or other essentials. The Soviets were told by their leaders in Moscow that ‘sacrificing for the common good’ was part of the Soviet lifestyle – the Soviet citizens should see sacrifice as something noble and admirable. We, on the other hand, saw it as a very American trait to overcome such shortages. We would invent, develop, invest, and produce whatever was needed to avoid such hardships. And yet, somewhere along the line, the Progressives told us we have to sacrifice for the common good. From pollution to consumption, to water… in fact, if I recall correctly, water was the first resource we were prompted to conserve.
What happened to American creativity and ingenuity? There was a time instead of saying “take a shorter shower” we would have been working to find a more economical and efficient way to desalinate sea water. We would have worked to advance technology instead of rationing. Now, with the development of the Smart Grid… which can (and probably will) be used to make sure we ration our electrical usage… we are taking a HUGE step towards that Soviet-style “you must sacrifice for the common good.”

The CCX. Have you ever heard of the CCX, the Chicago Climate Exchange? I am amazed at the number of seemingly well-informed friends I have talked with that have NO IDEA what the CCX is!! This is the infrastructure to make Cap-And-Trade work… it is a MASSIVE billion-dollar structure that, upon passage of Cap-And-Trade, will become a second Wall Street! Can you imagine not knowing that an entire Wall Street/NASDAC structure is being built and you didn’t even know about it? Then when you look at the influence peddling and kickbacks within the formation of the CCX, it gets really scary!!! And you probably no nothing about it!

NEWSWEEK - Reagan “not conservative enough” for the modern GOP Some are saying that if Ronald Reagan ran for office today he wouldn’t be conservative enough to get a nomination from the GOP. Although this is obviously a blatant attempt to divide the Reaganites and Reagan Democrats from the more conservative Republicans and Tea Partiers, I think the underlying argument is intriguing. The Tea Partiers aren’t really interested in the ‘D’ or ‘R’ behind someone’s name because they realize Progressives are in both parties. Teddy Roosevelt was just as Progressive and Lyndon Johnson… the party affiliations don’t really mean that much.

Imagine a line numbered from 0 to 10. On the zero end is the label “Anarchy” and at the ten level is “Totalitarian Government Control.” When the Articles of Confederation were passed in the late 1700’s we were somewhere around the 3 level. The Constitution took us to the 5 or so and the Bill of Rights took us back to a 4.

Since then, we’ve drifted towards the 10. Sometimes was took lunges (Reconstruction Era, The Age of the Progressives 1900-1920, FDR’s reign, the Great Society…)

Today we are hovering somewhere around the 8. Business have been taken over… financial institutions Nationalized… the influence of Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae…government dictates in Health Care… Nationalized auto manufacturers, and if Cap-And-Trade passes… OMFG!!! So, yes we have drifted so far away from the foundations of this nation and the will of the Founders, the Tea Partiers and conservative Republicans are looking for someone to take us back towards a level 4 or 5.

Reagan was probably a strong 6 which was good at the time (coming on the heals of Carter , Nixon, and Johnson.) But Obama is a 9 at LEAST and there is an understandable blowback coming in November. It’s not enough to elect a 6 (which will average us out to a high-7 or 8… the Tea Partiers are looking for a 3 or 4 so we can get somewhere around a 5 or 6.

Lastly... ever since Denver passed the "medical" marijuana law you can't go ANYWHERE in Denver without smelling it!! A few nights ago I was walking up the 16th Street Mall... enjoying the beautiful Denver night (not too hot or cold, just a slight breeze... I LOVE this weather!!) and of the three blocks I walked from Light Rail to the bus stop TWO WHOLE BLOCKS reeked of pot! I watched some conventioneers obviously in town visiting just about throw up at the stench... and I thought, "wow! this is gunna' do WONDERS for our reputation and convention business!"

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful, wonderful week ahead.

PS---- CONGRATULATIONS TO CHAZ! HE GRADUATES ON FRIDAY! WAY TO GO BIG GUY! I am SOOOOOOOO incredibly proud of you!

The meritocracy of mediocrity

2010-05-18T12:42:00.008-06:00

May 16, 2010

Tonight BBC America showed V for Vendetta. When it first came out, the hype repulsed me from the movie. When anything seems to be artificially pushed into prominence (the rock group Blink, The Incredible Hulk movie…) I tend to avoid it like the plague. Often, I will find my reluctance justified... and other times I will revisit the object of my prejudice – after all the hype has died down – to find my biases were unfounded (as was the case with the Harry Potter series.) When I first saw V for Vendetta, I caught it halfway through and was put off by many of the political stereotypes. Since it was released during the Bush administration and portrayed the evil government with various well-worn accusations against ‘right wingers,’ I saw it as typical Bush-bashing left wing propaganda. I shrugged it off and figured I would revisit it later when I could watch the whole thing.

Since then, over the last year particularly, I have been reading voraciously about the rise and implementation of Fascistic states… Stalin, Mao, Hitler… Wilson and Roosevelt… and upon watching the movie tonight I was impressed with how well it

The connection they failed to make was that without exception, all fascist dictators have been leftists… against business and capitalism… against private ownership of guns… in favor of unrestricted abortion… pushing a government-mandated healthy lifestyle… in favor of environmentalism… in favor of ‘elites’ telling others how to live… But that’s to be expected from Hollywierd.

I realize this particular movie was pushed and produced by those who sincerely felt threatened by GW Bush… who honestly felt he led us into Iraq based upon lies, stole the 2000 election, was planning on using the Patriot Act to keep himself in power… or any of another mischaracterizations of the former President, but I can still appreciate certain aspects of the film. In fact, I can potentially see it becoming one of my favorite movies. It’s almost a 1984 or Brave New World with a happy ending. It is what the common man can do to defeat an overbearing, oppressive government. It is what the colonists did in the 1770’s and it’s what we all wish the Germans had done in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s.

Another aspect struck me, however…a small yet significant side issue brought up regarding the victimization of gays and lesbians. Granted, Hitler persecuted the GLBT community… as do the Islamofascist extremist governments today. (A.D.D. moment- GW Bush never treated the GLBT community as badly as the Taliban or Iraqi governments… why did’t they kiss GW’s feet for deposing those intolerant regimes?)

Anyway, back onto the track. I finally figured out WHY I have such a disdain for the activist wings of the GBLAT community as well as of the gender-based NOW group or any of a number of racially-based groups like the NAACP, La Raza,, Ku Klux Klan &ct. You see there are two types of people out there in America today. The first group is in line with the Founding Fathers; they believe in a meritocracy.
This group does not begrudge John Elway, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, or even George Soros for making and holding their millions or billions of dollars. If they earned that money through their talent, intelligence, and abilities… more power to them! If they earned it through treachery, deceit, underhanded backroom deals… then they should be shunned and despised. If they earned it illegally, they should be prosecuted. But all these actions rely on judging the merits by which the individuals gained their fortunes……… which should be the ONLY judgment we should place upon them.

The other group… the one currently in power and gaining acolytes by the day, base their values upon on things that require no hard work, no talent, no intelligence, wisdom or creativity.

Who you choose to sleep with, what the color of your skin is, whether you are a ‘protected class’ or how destitute you are. These are the new criteria for how well you are treated by the state and society at large.

More and more we see any semblance of merit discarded while non-meritorious traits are used to judge, endorse, and assist segments of society. Personally, I don’t care who or what a soldier decides to sleep with, only how his/her presence helps the Army achieve its purpose of protecting the country and delivering whoopass upon our enemies. And if the Army believes that someone with polka-dot freckles is disruptive to the mission…well, so sorry polka-dotted friends, you have no place in the military. Join Blackwater or some other NonGovernment Agency… but the military is not the place for you. If the Army decides that guys who listen to Duran Duran aren’t helpful to the mission, I’ll gladly step aside and say “good luck, guys… go get Bin Laden without me!” Why? Because the military’s mission isn’t all about ME… it’s about protecting the country and keeping this country safe. If I can help the mission by serving, great! If I can’t, or if my presence would hinder the mission… then it’s better for the country that I’m not there.

[“Ah! But then aren’t you saying that a person should be disqualified based not upon merit, but upon something else?]

Good counter, but the military is a separate issue in that fairness isn’t the primary goal – the mission comes first, not the political correctness or even fairness… the military can be as unfair as it wishes as long as it gets the job done. In this sense, it is the ONLY organization that I feel it is right to place the ends over the means… the military PROTECTS democracy, it doesn’t PRACTICE it… it never has! I believe that if the military is defeated due to an abundance of political correctness, so-called fairness, or other distractions, nothing else will really matter… ‘cause at that point, fairness, political correctness, gay rights, women’s rights and waterboarding wont matter as much to Americans as the death of a million or more of our fellow citizens. And I, for one, will not sit back watching a mushroom cloud hover over Manhattan and think, “well, at least we didn’t torture anyone.” Tell me something, if there were a dirty bomb detonated a block away from your son or daughter would you be willing to accept the results of not using enhanced interrogations?

But we’re getting sidetracked again; the question is merit. I don’t want anything I didn’t earn! And if I have the choice of getting a house just because I’m of Irish descent or living in an apartment for the rest of my life, I’ll take my chances with the apartment thankyouverymuch!

But so many today, our children particularly, believe that just because they are breathing air, just because their mom’s popped them out in America they are OWED something! This is what the graduations-without-valedictorians, contests-without-winners, participation awards without first- or second-places, and lack of competitions (dare I say bailouts-without-failures?) have created! The meritocracy our Founding Fathers fought and died for is itself an archaic concept! And as is always to be expected when competition, challenge, success and failure are removed from the equation, the environment will inevitably settle to a level of mediocrity.

If you work hard, develop a new and improved mousetrap, and become fantastically successful you will be vilified, taxed and condemned. You will be called a ‘fat cat’ by the President and the majority of your income will be taxed to pay for the 49% of Americans who AREN’T paying any taxes at all.

But if you just go out and @#$%@#$% a person of your own gender, you will be protected, paraded, lionized and told you’re ever so brave and courageous for your…. mmmm…. habits of fornication.

Really?!?! Have we truly gotten to a place in our history where whom I sleep with says something, ANYTHING worthwhile about who I am as a person? Do I really want to hang my reputation, my worthiness as a member of society on who I have sex with? Sex! It’s not exactly an achievement to have sex with someone, or something. Animals do it. It doesn’t take intelligence, hard work, integrity, work ethics, devotion, honesty, or bravery. It’s just sex. And yet THIS is with what we value our own existence? I could say the same for skin color. Does the color of your skin have ANYTHING to do with what kind of person you are… if you’re kind, caring, compassionate, loyal, honest, truthful, tenacious, ethical… ANY of the things that really matter about a person?

NO!

Skin color and sexual behavior have NOTHING to do with ANY of that, so why do we even care about it? Much less why do we judge a person’s worthiness on something so unimportant and unevolved? Should we base our values of a person on whether they stand or squat in the restroom? It has just as much significance! I’ve often laughed at ‘taggers’ and graffiti artists… they take pride in doing something my dog does (marking its territory – of course he does it with urine and they do it with spray paint… but it’s essentially the same thing.) Do you really want to be remembered for doing something any schnauzer or dachshund does on a daily basis? Do you really want to be remembered for your sexual habits, something every animal does? Do you really want to be remembered for what color your skin was?

How far down this rabbit hole must we go before people realize there is merit to a meritocracy?

An overview of the Illegals situation

2010-05-10T16:25:00.005-06:00

May 9, 2010 - Link = http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/the-krentz-bonfire/Content?oid=1945848

The Illegal Situation

It amazes me how well the liberal machine works! By subtle nudges of the language of debate, they can obfuscate, confuse and complicate a very simple matter. They are such masters of the manipulation of discourse. In the same manner that they took the issues of perjury, undermining of one branch of government by another, unethical and corrupt maneuverings by public officials, lying, suborning perjury of others, and then tweaked them into the simplistic and puerile “It’s only about sex,” the progressives have now thrown such canards as “hard workers,” “just trying to better their lives,” “human rights,” “bigotry” and “breaking up families” in order to confuse a very well defined problem.

We get mired in how much money is spent by the government supporting each illegal, how much they contribute or take from our economy. We get pulled down in the figures; 11 million, 20 million or 30 million. We address or avoid the number of illegals in our jails, our hospitals, and our welfare offices. I wish instead to address the core principles and beliefs… those rarities that are the very substance of ethics and ideals. Beyond the dollar signs and census numbers; what is right or wrong about being an illegal living and working in the United States?

So many strawman arguments, obfuscations, and distractions have been thrown into the mix, that the core facts have been lost in the din.

If a criminal broke into your house, snuck into your attic and lived there without your permission, would you start introducing him as a member of your family? What if he started handing your silverware, your jewelry, and your cash out the windows to his friends outside the house, would you try to find him a path to family membership? To Mike Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, John McCain and other so-called conservatives I ask, “can I break into your house, eat your food, raid your medicine cabinet, read your books, and send your money to my friends out on the street? Would you recognize that I’m just trying to make a better life for me and my family? Would you allow, even excuse that? Or would you call the cops and have me arrested for trespassing?” I often dream of thousands of peaceful protesters doing just that - engaging in civil disobedience by camping out in the front lawns and back yards of prominent politicians. And when arrested asking, “why are the borders of your property so much more important than the borders of our country?”

Let’s get this straight from the start; illegals are not immigrants. They are trespassers. “Immigrant” implies a desire to relocate and become a member of another country. Illegals have no such desires or goals. They are here not to become Americans but to milk the cow of American wealth and prosperity. They are certainly not undocumented workers anymore than a drug dealer is an unlicensed pharmacist!

They have no respect for out laws.
They have no respect for our culture.
They have no respect for our customs.
They have no respect for our history.
They have no respect for our language.
How can any such individual be considered an American or even a prospective American? Again, THEY ARE NOT IMMIGRANTS!

The cold hard fact is that they are the first group of people in history who have voluntarily crossed our borders and yet have NO DESIRE to become Americans!

This brings up another of the side-arguments. What of the natural born American children of illegals – so-called ‘anchor babies?’ They are American citizens by birth, their parents are not… Do you really wish to break up those families? Do you want to deport the illegal parents and leave the helpless child here? Of course not! No one wants to tear parents from their kids! But let me ask you something. Can a five year old purchase a gun? Can a three year old be judged by a jury of his peers? Can a fifteen-year-old vote in an election? Can a ten year old get married? Of course not. But these are all rights guaranteed to American citizens by the Constitution. Just because there is a right enumerated in the Constitution, it does not mean that such a right can be exercised before an age of majority. Such could be (and should be) the legal case against anchor babies. They should be deported along with their parents. If they wish to return at 21 and exercise their rights as an American citizen, so be it. But the United States shouldn’t be blackmailed into housing, caring for, incarcerating, or supporting illegals just because they timed their illegal border crossing within the last few months of pregnancy! I do not deny little Manuel’s American citizenship, only his ability to exercise that right before he is of legal age… just like the rights to bear arms, drink liquor, vote, or any other right guaranteed by the Constitution.

The overall argument is neither complex not complicated. Illegals are not citizens; they are not bound by the guarantees of our Constitution any more than they are subject to defend that Constitution in event of a draft. They are not entitled to support anymore than they are bound by the taxes they don’t pay. They don’t contribute to the planting or the harvest, and cannot reap the rewards of seeds they haven’t sewn. They do not value our customs, our history, our laws or our language, and should therefore not be forced to express allegiance to a culture they obviously don’t respect. But similarly, they should not be the recipients of our treasure, our graciousness, our charity and our naïveté’.

They have allowed their own country to descend into a failed narco-state, why should we expect they will have any better influence here in America? Quite to the contrary, like locusts they have ruined a country replete with minerals, ores, warm water ports, oil, and manpower. Mexico has everything any country would desire to be prosperous! They were given every possible geographical and geological opportunity and all they have to show for it is poverty, corruption and a populace flooding the borders to get out! Lumber, gold, fishing, tourism, oil, mineral deposits, and ideal trade placement… if they can’t make a golden opportunity like that work, what do we expect them to make of our country?

We cannot accept this parasitic and destructive swarm to engulf our shining city on the hill! They cannot improve our lives or our country; if they could they would have done so in their own country first. In every way possible we must resist this invasion. We must push these malcontents, these illegals, and these parasites back across our southern border. If they can succeed in their own country, then maybe they can come to our shores… but only if they are willing to assimilate. They must have a desire to become part of this great family! They must show they wish to BECOME AMERICANS, not just use America.

Here I must make an appeal to a so-far silent group gravely affected by the influx of illegals. Legal Americans of Latino decent no matter how long you've been here... American Latinos, Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans (who are indeed Americans from birth), as well as Immigrants and first-generation Americans of any background who spent countless hours studying for the entrance exams, who have spent thousands of dollars on attorneys, who waited months and years to enter this country legally… YOU MUST STAND UP!

You must separate yourselves from the criminals who are blackening your good name. You! You, the first generation Americans are everything that is good and great about America! You came here for freedom and for opportunity. If YOU do not stand up and distance yourselves from the illegals you will never be recognized for your hours upon hours of commitment, your investment in money and effort… your love, admiration, and loyalty to your new home! You know what is great about America. You said goodbye to the security of your homeland, the peace and familiarity of family and friends. You sacrificed so much just to become an American. But your voice is unheard! You have the biggest dog in this fight, and yet you remain silent! Do you really want your good name, your dreams, your commitment, your honor, your integrity and your character sullied, muddied, ruined, and blackened by these illegals? Do you really want to keep hearing that the problems with illegals are quote- an immigration – unquote problem? You are not illegals, and they are not immigrants! Why must you allow them to steal your good name and honor? Americans… true Americans love you! You are the very best of us! How can you stand shoulder to shoulder with these thugs, these usurpers, these criminals… these people who piss upon everything you stand for, everything you’ve sacrificed for, and everything you’ve worked for?

This problem is not complex, and the solutions are not confounding. They are simple. Any criminal must be punished and convinced to never commit the crime again. The penalties for being caught illegally in the United States must be so grievous that any attempt must be considered foolhardy at best, and terrifying at worst. The penalties for employing an illegal must be so sever that employers won’t even risk the possibility of being caught. At the very least, a company’s license to engage in commerce must be immediately and permanently revoked. Those who approved the hiring of illegals must be jailed.

As far as the illegals, themselves, they found their way to our doors, they can find their way out. If a criminal is caught, they must be treated not as a member of our American family, but as the trespasser he or she is. The Constitution is a legally binding contract between Americans and their government. Illegals are not a party to it, and are afforded no protections under it. That is not to say they have no rights as human beings; only they have no protections under our Constitution. If you wish to have your Miranda rights read to you, then you must pay the entry fee and declare your allegiance to that very document that protects such a right! You do that by immigrating and undergoing the naturalization process. You must show you wish to become a member of this family, as millions upon millions have over the last 600 years.

It takes more than crossing a border to become an American. You either become an American, or you will be treated… not as a second-class citizen… but recognized as being no citizen at all!

We who stand here today to defend our country and our culture are not the descendants of the Know Nothing Party, who were against immigrants of all stripes, but as Americans who embrace our legally and lovingly adopted brothers and sisters. We welcome immigrants with passion and a deep understanding that they remind us… an often jaded and ignorant populace of native-borns… of what is truly great about these United States. America, and being an American is something worth living for, sacrificing for, and even dying for. It is the immigrants that remind us this is a shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom, liberty, and opportunity in a world sadly lacking in all those things. We stand with our immigrant brothers and sisters. And we condemn anyone who would shortcut the journey of naturalization, who would spit upon the very laws, history, culture and language that we cherish, anyone who would cheapen the title of American citizen! Illegals are neither our bothers nor our friends. They are criminals, thieves interested only in what they can take, not what they can give. They have no desire to contribute to this American family, only to take from it everything they can. If they wish to live here, within our American home, they must show a willingness to respect our rules, our history, and our language. Until then, they are trespassers and burglars who must be treated as all others of their illegal ilk. They must be arrested, detained, and removed from our home!

Charles King Byrne
Denver Colorado 80211

JACK ABRAMOFF!!

2010-04-29T11:22:00.002-06:00

ooops.... I meant HASSAN NEMAZZE!!
Okay... this democratic fundraiser has been found guilty of a 292 MILLION DOLLAR fraud.
He raised money for both Clintons, John Kerry and Obama.

I'm sure this will be all over the press as the Abramoff scandal was. Should I start holding my breath?

STEVE WINN THREATENS TO MOVE HIS BUSINESS TO CHINA

2010-04-26T14:27:00.000-06:00

April 24, 2010

The logic of this should have been seen from a mile away. Businesses have been flocking to Nevada from California because the tax environment in California is horrendous! But now, the Federal Government is stepping in and raising taxes nationwide, including in states have been wise enough to keep them low. As with any other Socialist country, equality of misery is the first mandate.

As the Federal government raises taxes and regulations, even the flourishing states like Nevada and Texas will see their industries (in the words of Ronald Reagan) ‘voting with their feet’ by moving to more tax friendly countries. It’s not a case of being anti-American or unpatriotic, it’s a case of survival. There’s nothing Patriotic about laying off worker after worker so you can pay your taxes.

The job of any business is to succeed; to make profits and grow. The positive collateral of success is increased workforce, increased wages, and true “spreading of the wealth.” However when the government comes in and dictates (Hmmmmm… isn’t that the sources of the word ’dictator’?), businesses can’t grow, can’t hire new employees, and therefore can’t contribute to the economy.

“But rich big wigs don’t care about the workers, they just wanna get richer. Increased profits doesn’t mean increased labor force or pay,” I hear you say. Really? That’s like assuming someone with a really expensive tricked out, exotic car is never gunna’ put gas in it. History has shown the exact opposite. Look at the most successful businesses, MicroSoft, Wal-Mart, Oracle… they all expanded. And business can’t expand without more employees. Even after their founders grew filthy rich, they continued to expand, continued to hire new workers, and continued to grow. Today, Google has the most outrageously plush, nearly decadent, offices in the world (outside of Royal palaces) and because of this ‘pampering’ of their employees people are pounding down the doors of Google just to get the opportunity to work there! Google didn’t need some government regulation to make them offer onsite massuses or meditation rooms… they did it because it attracts the best of the best employees! They did it on their own.

But even these true havens to the workers will be fleeing overseas if punitive Federal taxes force Google to fire their massuses and daycare providers. Like most government programs, it will have the EXACT OPPOSITE effect of the intent!

Now… let’s say for argument that if the government backed off of regulations and did something that would jumpstart the economy like a shot of adrenilin to the heart… that the big mucky-mucks in corporate America didn’t hire new workers, they collected higher profits and just sat on them. I don’t think for a moment this would happen – businesses want to grow, you can’t grow by putting your profits into a mattress, and the corporate bosses know this – but let’s just play this game and accept the premise for argument’s sake. When corporations “sit on” their money, they do it in one of three ways…. 1) They give bonuses to their current employees and administrators 2) they invest their profits in the stock market and other negotiables or 3) they just put the money in the bank.
NONE of these three actions is some dead end or black hole to the economy (and therefore your wages/employment!)
1) Bonuses… those bonuses are spent on big yachts, fancy cars and other big ticket items. This employs thousands of boat builders, auto workers, tire manufacturers, windshield makers, big-screen TV makers, Bose employees, construction workers needed to create huge estates… &tc.
2) 2) Investments – the money put into stocks of ‘public’ companies funds research, development, and expansion IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR. Stocks are a type of loan from the individual to a company that fund the further growth of that company. If people would jump into the stock market and buy stocks of nanotech companies we would see a growth in cancer prevention/treatment, cleaner energy, and a host of other advancements. When mankind enters the nanotech era, we will see an advancement not seen since the invention of language… and it will be funded by stocks and stockholders… not the government. With all that is being said about “green job” potential, it doesn’t hold a match to the potential for nanotechnology!
3) Money in the bank. This is where the money that funds your home mortgage comes from. Your car loan, your small business loan, your home improvement loan; the funds for these all comes from individuals who have put their money in a savings account, a certificate of deposit, or other bank program. So you WANT people to put money in the bank… it gives YOU more money to borrow.
Now, what is REALLY the dead-end and black hole of the economy is the Federal government. The waste, fraud, and abuse present in the federal government is unmatched! When you send your money to Washington (in taxes) it truly DOES go down the drain. This is the entity that was paying four-thousand dollars for a toilet seat and thousands for a hammer!

The solution to a sluggish economy and unemployment? Easy. Elliminate all, or most, corporate and business taxes! Just bare with me here. Imagine the result of the United States becoming the most business-friendly country in the world.
First – Businesses start flocking to the United States in droves, eager to take advantage of an entire tax-shelter country. The exedous we’ve witnessed from California and New York would now be an exedous from the entire planet TO the United States as a whole.
Second – Employment skyrockets towards 100% as there are so many jobs, and only so many workers to fill them. As someone who has spent the last year trying to land a full-time job, I can’t tell you how nice it would be to hear “yes” at a job interview!
Third – Because of a worker shortage, businesses offer incentives, better workplaces, and better benefits. They are so desperate to get the limited available workforce they will bend over backwards to recruit new workers and do almost anything to keep the workers they already have. They whole idea of ‘taking advantage’ of a workforce would be ludicrous! No company will take a chance at losing even one employee! Quite the opposite, they will offer better benefits, better wages, better hours, more flexibility , onsite daycare and other amenities to attract the best workers.
Fourth – Inflation. Workers are in demand, and can therefore demand higher wages. They also have more disposable income and have no problem paying another five thousand dollars on a car. Many people view inflation in the same light as terminal cancer or homeless individuals… to be avoided at all costs. But just like the homeless person, inflation actually has a great deal to offer. Namely, it makes our astronomical debit easier to pay off. As long as wages rise at the same rate as inflation (which in a worker-friendly environment it would) there really wouldn’t be an inflation rate at all. If the price of a car goes up 10% but your wages also increase by 10%, technically you have 10% inflation, but you personally you haven’t felt any pinch. Along those same lines, I would love to see a study comparing inflation over the past decade with wage increases and standard of living. I would bet that when the realities are compared we would find we have been in a trend of DEFLATION which is even more devastating than INFLATION!
Fifth – Increased tax revenue. “How can that be if you’re cutting all taxes on businesses?” Okay, first of all I think few would argue that businesses are paying their full share of taxes as it is. Tax shelters, legal loopholes, subsidies, federal incentives… they all go to making sure that well-connected businesses bear less of the tax burden than the other guys. That’s why these bills are 2000 pages long, to define who is, and is not, favored by the government. Sure, some get socked with the taxes, but others like GE and others that are in bed with the feds get sweetheart deals. (Countrywide anyone?) Secondly, an unemployed American is an American not paying taxes. In fact that person is being PAID by the government in the form of unemployment insurance, Medicaid, and Social Security. So right there you have a double-hit to government expenditures – you are drawing taxes FROM, and no longer PAYING one individual. Now multiply that by a few million. The increase in productivity that would result from a tax-shelter country drives up production (GDP), growth, investment, and wages… those all bring fresh new revenue to the government.

But these rosy scenarios can NEVER EVER come to pass if we are chasing our companies overseas with higher taxes and regulations. We will become a national version of California, watching our wealth, our jobs, and our investments pour to other countries like rats fleeing a sinking ship!

STATE !!!

2010-04-22T19:02:00.000-06:00

April 21, 2010

STATE! For a man to take a State Championship in his Senior year… there is NOTHING better! Congratulations, Chaz. I can’t yell WAY TO GO loud enough!!!!!

Chaz took first place in Economics at the FBLA Competition in Vail on Tuesday!

And it couldn’t have come at a better time! Naturally, with the end of High School just 5 weeks away, the stresses of graduating, college (Chaz was accepted to CU!!) as well as other stresses… this has been a tough few months for Chaz. This well deserved and well earned accolade couldn’t have been better timed!

Congratulations, Chaz! You earned it, you deserve it. This is all yours, you own it… and no one can EVER take it away from you! You are the best in the State!

WTG CHAZ!!!!!!!!

The international slut

2010-04-22T19:00:00.000-06:00

April 18, 2010

I’ve got something to ask the guys. Do you remember the girl in High School who seemed to throw herself at any guy willing to give her a lingering glance? Perhaps there were guys who acted the same way, but I, naturally, wouldn’t have noticed them. These were the girls that were soo desperately in need of affection they would do quite literally anything for a moment of feeling special and ‘loved.’ Personally I was such an unattractive geek in High School, I never gained even their affections, so I never dated one. But we all knew who they were.

In short, they were the girls who everybody knew ‘put out,’ and not just for one steady guy… they would get passed between a group of friends like the latest cassette tape.

Some onlookers gazed down their holier-than-thou noses at them; others used them for everything they could. And others looked upon them with sadness and pity. We knew they were only starving for affection… no matter in what form that affection came. They just wanted to be loved.

Most were eventually slapped in the face by reality when, at some point, they realized the guys who were bedding them on a regular basis didn’t really care about them… they were just getting off. They were using them. This realization had to be profoundly devastating on an emotional level. Akin to thinking you have a million bucks in the bank, only to wake up and realize you’re a few million dollars in debt. Betrayed, violated, abused, used. Can you imagine what it would be like; how humiliating and degrading it would be when realization and reality finally kicked in?

Well, you better think about it! Right now, the United States is exactly that girl, spreading her legs just to be loved by the likes of Hugo Chavez, Acmdinijad, and Vladimir Putin! Barack Obama has such a deep need to be loved, he will throw away any thought of American Exceptionalism, our ‘unfair’ capitalist system, and our military and scientific dominance just to gain the affections of the world. He is willing to be a slut and a whore just so Kim Jung Il will give him a kind word or two.

And like those poor lost girls in High School, we’re gunna’ get screwed. If you asked any of those girls what they were getting out of the arrangement, they would have been hard pressed to come up with a tangible benefit to their relationship. In fact, they were fulfilling their need to be loved, only not realizing the ‘love’ they were receiving had nothing to do with care, concern, or compassion.

Obama’s bowing and cow-towing to the world’s despots hasn’t gained us one more batallion of help in Afghanistan, or any more assistance in Iraq. None of the countries we are cozying up to have taken a single Gitmo detainee off of our hands, and no one is forgiving our debts as we forgave the debts of the Marshall Plan. OPEC hasn’t lowered the price of a barrel of oil, and no one is jumping to lower interest rates on our loans. So what have we gotten from the Almighty Cairo speech, or the Extended Apology Tour?

The world “loves” us more than they did when Bush was in office. Well, I remember those girls in High School thought they were “loved” too… in fact, all they were in reality, were individuals willing to be used. Like them, we’re f****** in so many ways!

First they came for.....

2010-04-19T16:33:00.003-06:00

First they came for the financial CEO’s and Wall Street big wigs, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a rich CEO. Then they came for the auto industry, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t part of the auto industry. Then they came for student loans and I didn’t speak up because I had already graduated. When they come for me and my business who will be there to speak for me?

With all due apologies to Martin Neimoller,

Edit: Hey HEY! This got published in the Denver Post on April 24th ... yeaaaaahhhh!
http://blogs.denverpost.com/eletters/2010/04/23/who-will-stand-up-for-america%E2%80%99s-businesses/

Open letter to Glenn Beck

2010-04-19T16:33:00.001-06:00

Mr. Beck,
You’re losing me! I was a staunch supporter and advocate of your seemingly unbiased and honest arguments, and often I still agree with you. But when your obsession with “a pox upon both your houses” went beyond “fair and balanced” to demagoguery unsupported by facts, I began switching around to other channels during your show. Now, you’ve taken a further step and pretty much lost me entirely.

When you summarily dismissed the motives of the IRS suicide pilot, I chose to take you off my DVR list. In no way should violence be condoned, but having been trained as an interrogator, I can assure you, to dismiss a person’s motives because of their actions only increases the furtherance of those actions.

Al Qaeda has valid complaints regarding our Godless culture and (in their eyes) Satanic embracing of pornography, promiscuity, abortion, secularism and divorce.
The IRS suicide bomber apparently has valid complaints regarding an overbearing government, (in his eyes) heartless corporations, and the complex and confiscatory tax system.
Timothy McVey had valid complaints regarding the fascistic invasion of the Branch Dividian compound at Waco – which, if we were honest about it, was really not much different than the attack on Concord by the British Regulars in 1775.
THIS DOES NOT EXCUSE THEIR ACTIONS, but neither can we just bury ourselves in denial, pretending their respective actions were the result of mental disorders.

In each of these actions, these very normal (and mentally sound) men felt pushed to a point of helplessness; a point of no alternative. You were blessed and fortunate that night you lay on the kitchen floor in the fetal position inasmuch as you saw a way out. These men saw no alternatives, no other choice, and no other course of action. Their honest beliefs and opinions shouldn’t be either dismissed or unquestionably accepted, but at least addressed. Remember, even in our own revolution, it wasn’t the Tea Act, the Townsend Acts, or even the Stamp Act that was intolerable, but the continued apathy and disinterest of Parliament and the King.

As far as your ‘pox on both houses’ attitude; comparing GW Bush to Obama is akin to comparing a Pinto to a Lamborghini, your continued equating of the two reflects more on your biases than on presidential policies. I mean really? A man who wanted to privatize Social Security was some closet Progressive? Really? Come on Glenn, get some perspective!

the end of don't ask, don't tell

2010-04-19T16:28:00.002-06:00

I’m quite sure our female readers would be terribly uncomfortable taking a shower in a room with fifty or eighty men! They would understandably feel vulnerable, possibly threatened, and deem the situation a horrible violation of their privacy.

During the Democrat National Convention, as a member of the Colorado National Guard, my fellow soldiers and I showered daily in a common room with dozens of men. We also were housed in the massive drill hall of the Denver Armory – 400 men on cots, shoulder to shoulder under a single roof with no partitions. Privacy is a luxury in the armed forces, and is often discarded if the mission dictates. Tents, latrines, barracks, forward positions (“foxholes”) and the like are gender-segregated as much as possible to lessen the sexual opportunities and sexual unease between genders.
Yet sexual tensions, the unnerving lack of privacy, and the distress of confinement will explode with openly gay soldiers placed into the mix. What is the purpose of separate latrines, if not to prevent sexual tensions?

Would you consider having common latrines and showers for men and women? Of course not! And yet (short of having separate latrines/showers for men, women, gays, and lesbians) the end of ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ will place every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine in an environment no different than forcing both genders to shower together. Last week, after serving in the National Guard for three years, I stepped away – not even considering reenlisting (nor will I until Obama is out of office.) I won’t be the last to leave over the elimination of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell!” The soldiers I’ve lived with, known, and talked to for three years are nearly unanimous in their disdain and frustration with this President and his inane policies… but they can’t speak because it is illegal to criticize or even disagree publicly with the Commander in Chief. I am no longer under that gag order, and I can tell you without hesitation that ‘friendly fire’ incidents, ‘code red’ blanket parties, an exodous of good soldiers, as well as the disintegration of troop cohesion will skyrocket as soon as ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is repealed!

We don’t blame civilians for this ill-conceived idea, we understand you can go home and enjoy your privacy as you use the toilet, or take a bubble bath; you aren’t privy to the overcrowded and intrusive nature of the military. But the next time you close that glass sliding door on your shower, ask yourself how you would feel if there were a homosexual, or heterosexual member of the opposite sex, showering right next to you.

The more liberals change.....

2010-04-19T16:27:00.001-06:00

Feb 1st 2010

From the powerful Copperheads of the Democrat Party during the Civil War (1860’s), to the micromanagement of Vietnam by Democrats in Congress (1960’s and early 70’s)… from leaving embassy employees and military personnel unprepared to defend our embassy in Tehran (1978), to the second-guessing of Generals in the field during the “Black Hawk Down” disaster (1992) and the defeatist anti-surge policies of Harry Reid and then-Senator Obama during Operation Iraqi Freedom… there is a clear and undeniable pattern going back over 150 years. Are we just too ignorant of American history to realize that (with the exception of FDR), when Democrats control the military they consistently choose defeat over success, retreat over victory, and humility over --------? Once again, Democrats are second-guessing the advice of military leaders on the ground who have decades of experience and learning in tactics, techniques and strategies of war. Their audacity and arrogance is akin to telling Bill Gates how to run a successful computer business! General McCrystal knows how to fight and win a war, while the Democrats seem to have a history of only cowardice and defeat. When will we learn?

Isolated Incidents

2010-04-19T16:26:00.002-06:00

Dec 30 2009

On June 1st, 24-year-old Abu Hhakim Mujahid Muhammad shot and killed Private William Long and injured Private Quentin Ezeagwula when he opened fire on a Little Rock recruitment center. It was termed by the Administration “an isolated incident”
On November 5th, Major Nidal Malik Hasan shot and killed 13 individuals and injured thirty more while shouting ‘Alluh Ackbar’ at Fort Hood. It was termed by the Administration an “isolated incident.”
When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallb ignited, but failed to detonate a bomb on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 he injured two other passengers, but very nearly killed 289 passengers and countless more on the ground. The Obama Administration has called it an ‘isolated incident” even though Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the planning, funding, and implementation.
So why are the President and his Administration so reluctant to see what is so obvious to the rest of us; Al Qaeda is still at war with us, even if we no longer use the term “War on Terror.” Are they in denial, or just ashamed that the horrible George W. Bush kept us safe for seven years and this Administration has failed three times within the first year?

Por Que no hablo?

2010-04-19T16:21:00.000-06:00

November 15th, 2009

Editors,

Russian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Hungarians, Irish, English, Italian, Ethiopian, French, Belgium, Greek, and every other emigrant group that has come to America has learned the common language and actively striven to be adopted into the American family – save one. Why must one group consider themselves better than all the others? Why must I walk the streets of the city in which I was born, in my own country and feel as if I am walking through the trashed alleys of Juarez or Ensenada? Why must I feel like an alien in my own country?
Are they, as a culture, too ignorant and stupid to learn a new language? Do they not wish to become Americans, as our ancestors did? Do they just want to suckle at the tit without buying the American cow? Do they think they are better, or more entitled than our grandfathers and grandmothers were? What is the reason that one group feels they don’t need to pass the same rights of passage every other immigrant group has?

And furthermore, why do we say nothing? Why do we encourage this separation, this segregation, and this sense of entitlement? I am an American, and I shouldn’t feel like a foreigner in my own home town! Hablamos Ingles in Los Estados Unidos! And if you can’t read this, volver a Mexico!

Charles Byrne

Feb 25th 2009

2010-04-19T16:17:00.001-06:00

Personal Response to Barack Obama’s first address to Congress

The debate before us is an ages old one dating back to our founding fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, to the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, to the Union States and to the Confederacy, to every Presidency and every Congress in our history.

The eternal question it seems in American governance is to which side the scales of power will tilt. Wise founders like Jefferson envisioned a union of individual states that teetered precariously close to controlled anarchy, others in history, such as FDR imagined a country in which the federal government guided, protected and influenced nearly every aspect of our daily lives.

Our job, our sacred duty as citizens of this incredible country is to instruct our elected representatives and provide guidance; dictating to them exactly which course we (as a nation) shall take. Whether that course be one of Capitalism or Socialism, government control or restraint, expansion or contraction we, as American citizens control that destiny.

As a nation built upon capitalist philosophies, or economy is intricately woven into our democracy, to address one aspect while ignoring the other is not only naive, but inexcusably foolish.

In any form of government, (but most predominately in ours) there is a perverse but undeniable version of a golden rule – whomever holds the gold makes the rules.

So it is even in a republic such as ours. When the Federal Government holds the gold and lends the gold, it can place strings, restrictions and controls on how that money is spent. And with each string, with each restriction and with each control the liberty and freedom of the recipient is compromised.

It is every American’s right to place the power and responsibility into the hands of their government if they so choose, but please, do not do so without a full understanding of everything it entails. Freedom IS a zero-sum equation; the more gold, the more power a citizen relinquishes to the government, the less they retain for themselves.

I had a friend when I was younger whose parents bought him a car, paid his insurance and faithfully filled the tank with gas. In exchange for their generosity, he had to run errands for them, couldn’t drive the car beyond a certain distance, and had to have any venture he took approved in advance; after all… it was really their car. They paid for it and had every right to dictate how it would be used. If he wanted the freedom to drive where he wanted, how he wanted, and when he wanted he would have to purchase and maintain his own car.

Many of us as parents have uttered those dreaded words “while you’re living under my roof you will abide by my rules.”

Every cent of tax we allow our representatives to strip from our paychecks is one more step we take back into that environment of parental dictatorship… only we have exchanged the warmth of a loving and concerned parent for the dictates of a cold and self-interested machine called the government.

Most of us don’t even grasp just how controlling and dictatorial this intrusive parent already is in our lives. You brush your teeth with a toothbrush that has gone through months of scrutiny before it is approved by our ‘parent’ the government, the fuel we place in our gas tank must meet an inordinate number of examinations and regulations before we are graciously permitted to use it.

To the extraordinarily wise founders such as Thomas Jefferson, this subtle intrusion into our liberties would be unconscionable enough in and of itself, but realize that with every inspection, every regulation and every invasion into our freedom comes a bureaucracy that sucks even more of our personal income in order to maintain itself.

Our local sales taxes are obvious and evident on our sales receipts; seven, eight, or even ten percent of our purchase is added directly to the cost and printed clearly for us to see. But what isn’t noticed is the sneaky and insidious ten or twenty percent that is already covered by the cost of the item. You may think a shirt costs twenty dollars quote-unquote ‘before tax’, but how much of that twenty dollars goes to the gas tax paid by the trucker who brought the shirt to the store, or the tax the shirt maker paid when they bought the fabric, the property tax the store pays, or the employment tax each and every person involved with making that shirt pays? All of those taxes are lumped into the twenty-dollar cost of that shirt. The cost you think is ‘before tax.’ Again, I remind you… wherein lies the gold, lies the power.

Many may think that government oversight keeps us safe, and is worth the various taxes, the costs of those oversights and regulations… they contend that without government regulations companies would be selling snake oil and unsafe or even deadly products. They will loudly protest that without such government oversight toys would be covered in lead-based paints, toothbrushes would suddenly become unsafe and poison would instantly appear in household products. Ignoring the fact that these horrendous events have taken place even with government regulations in place, keep in mind Consumer Reports and Underwriters’ Laboratories are NOT government institutions, and yet they do more on a yearly basis to keep us safe than billions of dollars of ‘government oversight.’ Furthermore, in this day and age of massive and instantaneous communication, word of mouth is no longer just neighbors talking over the fence… it is blogs, websites, text messaging, and untrammeled sharing of warning and opinions never before seen in history. Ask Cathy Lee Gifford what devastating effects ‘word of mouth’ can have. Her reputation and business were destroyed with unfounded accusations, and all the government oversight in the country didn’t defend her.

I am in no way saying we don’t need any government, any regulations, or any oversight. What I am saying is that, like a patient that has been overdosed with a beneficial drug, too much will kill us. It will kill our economy, and thereby our country, in many ways it already has.

The perception that companies are flocking overseas so executives and CEO’s can merely pad their wallets and satisfy an insatiable sense of greed is disingenuous at least and class-baiting at worst. Companies flock to greener pastures just as any entity will migrate to a friendlier climate… friendlier work environments with lower tax burdens, less regulations and less government and union interference.

They don’t flee tax burdens because they are unpatriotic; many do it because the very survival of their company depends on it. When union shops are forced to pay ten dollars or more per hour than their non-union competitors, and when companies must pay millions to conform to government regulations it is not a question of greed, it is a question of unsustainable overhead. If there is a question of greed, it is one that should be asked of the worker who would prefer to see his employer go under rather than take a five dollar an hour pay cut… who has no problem with every one of his coworkers being thrown out of a job as his company goes bankrupt, but can not bear the thought of seeing a reduction in his pension. Therein lies the true greed! When union workers can not be fired or laid off, and must be paid overly generous pensions one can not lay the accusation of greed on the administration alone.

Many will say this is a country of the “haves” and the “have nots”; they will say it is a country of the “rich” and of the “lower and middle-classes.” They refuse to see it is a country of the employers and the employees, and it is indisputable that each group needs the other. Employers need to create work environments in which workers are proud to contribute to the goals of the company, they are compensated fairly, and their concerns are heard and addressed by the higher-up’s. In return, the loyalty and productivity of the worker rewards the employer. But as with every aspect in our lives, government intrusion does not help to build this amicable relationship, in fact it creates a situation where either side tries to influence the third party, the government, in order to gain an ally against the other. Managers and executives contribute to campaigns to gain favor, and unions do likewise. The candidates and the government make out like bandits by playing both sides against each other and reaping the benefits of the battle.

In every aspect of our lives, one must recognize that the heartless, cold, and calculating government serves little purpose except to perpetuate its own existence. It may dress itself up in the flag, in grandiose and benevolent facades of servitude and reverence to populace ideals, but the heart and soul of America are not in Washington DC! Our elected representatives talk of a two thousand dollar tax credit when most wouldn’t blink at dropping two thousand in an hour or two of shopping! Not one person in that chamber – Congressmen, Senators, or the President – would consider two thousand dollars anything but petty change in their own lives. How can they possibly understand our hopes, needs, or even our lives? They have valets, drivers, staffs, consultants, second houses and lavish two-hour lunches. Obama praised his $13 a week relief checks when he himself wouldn’t know what it feels like to thrill at finding thirteen dollars in a pocket. To him and the other millionaires in the chamber, bending over to pick up a ten-dollar bill would be a waste of effort.

The values, the ideals and the very essence of America will not and cannot be found within the beltway. Honesty integrity, courage, innovation, neighborly concern and self-sacrifice… those things are found in the farmlands from Ohio to Nebraska, the ranges of Texas, Oklahoma and Montana. They are found in the high altitudes of Colorado and South Dakota when perfect strangers help dig a fellow citizen’s car out of a snow drift. They are found in Kansas when you see scores of people gathering to distribute food and water to tornado victims. The spirit of America… that spirit of fellowship, of dreaming, of hard work and just rewards… the spirit that drives the American Dream (a spirit not shared by our illegal visitors from the south I might add), is found in Americans… those millions of unexalted and unrecognized American citizens that don’t consider themselves above the law or too important to play by the rules… those that aren’t in a Presidential Cabinet or sitting in a Congressional Chamber.

And so we must recognize that the solutions to our problems will not and cannot be found in Washington DC. The survival of our nation is now and always has been most assured when it is in the hands of the American people.

If we relinquish our money, and thereby our power and our freedom to the cold machine in Washington it will only spend that money to perpetuate its own existence, to feed its own unslakable appetite, and to claim more power for itself. The solution, the ONLY solution is to elect representatives who would return the gold, the power, and the control of this country to the people who the founders intended… us the citizens.

I only fear a day will come when the people can no longer ask for that return of power and will choose to wrest it by force!

Reichstag Fires – American Style

2009-05-07T16:05:00.000-06:00

Date: May 7, 2009

Reichstag Fires – American Style

ENERGY CRISIS

Lately we’ve been frustrated with increasing power outages here in the oh-so-rural (/sarcasm) Northwest-Central area of Denver Colorado. One of the recent outages was caused by a single car accident that I witnessed, but there are at least four others that I have no idea what caused them.

Now, I have never been a conspiracy theorist. I scoffed at Art Bell when he would go off on rants about the HARP project and whatnot… the 911 truthers still baffle me with their idiocy and complete disregard of the laws of physics…. BUT…..

…before the increased talk of the pending GE monster “Smart Grid”, we never had these frequent power outages. Hmmmmmmm

PRODUCE CRISIS

Then Congress started talking about regulating farms (both large and small), animal production facilities etc.. and surprise, surprise… WHAM! Suddenly we have a HUGE upsurge in tainted foods, spreading Hepatitis and the like. The latest was a scare at our local grocery store, Albertsons. Now, I fully realize the capriciousness of attention [after you’ve been in a car accident you are hypersensitive to noticing other car accidents… that kinda’ thing]… but really, doesn’t it seem that just as the government is talking about new Federal powers and oversights… BAMO! The heretofore unknown and unperceived “problem” to their solution presents itself. Perhaps these little annoyances that we are now noticing for the first time are a practical campaign not unlike the Reichstag Fire that brought about the rise of the National Socialists in Germany during the 1930’s.

BANKING AND SUBLOAN CRISIS

While the mass media and many American citizens are blaming those evil rich white guys at the banks and big businesses like AIG, Merril Lynch, Citibank, and Bank of America for the financial debacle we are currently fighting. Of course Obama, Barney Frank, and Chris Todd are encouraging this virulent warfare of hatred towards the rich because if we (as citizens) were to dig further and discover the cause of the cause… if we were to discover such things as the “Community Reinvestment Act” we would then learn that the TRUE culprits and founders of this economic failure were the Federal Government and the Congress themselves. We would learn that the Democrats (with the complicity of feckless Republicans) and their liberal social engineering passed laws that demanded of the banks to engage in NINJA loans (No Income, No Job, No Assets). The government FORCED them to make loans to people who couldn’t afford to repay the loans!!!! If banks and lenders didn’t loan to minorities and “the underprivileged” they would be fined, taxed, and penalized into the ground. So ALL of this loan “house of cards” was created by government telling businesses what they should and shouldn’t do. It created a crisis of devastating proportions… now the government will fly in to the rescue. After all, Geithner himself said “never let a good crisis go to waste.”

SWINE FLU CRISIS

NOW we have the histrionic scare of SWINE FLU… whoops H1N1 or whatever the Orwellian doublespeak is that we are using this week…. JUST IN TIME for Secretary Cibilus to get rushed through the confirmation hearings (just hear them shouting once again “This is too important to take with slow deliberation… she HAS to be confirmed NOW!!!!” Didn’t anyone ever learn that when someone says, “You have to act right now to get this deal” [speakers sold out of vans in parking lots, late-night infomercials…] IT’S NOT A GOOD DEAL!!! If it were a good deal, the deal would be good tomorrow, next week, or next year! Sellers only pressure you to “act now” when they are afraid further scrutiny will show it to be a lousy deal. This is how we got suckered into thinking Tim Geithner would be a great Treasury Secretary, that Janet Napolitano would be a great Secretary of Homeland Security. WHEN WILL AMERICANS WAKE UP????

This pattern of create-a-crisis then present the solution goes SO far beyond the conspiracy theorists’ accusations regarding Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld preplanning 9/11 and revealing their nefarious plans when they said, ‘it’s gunna’ take another Pearl Harbor before we get serious about the Islamic terrorist threat.” In that case the situation was parallel to someone standing on a street corner watching people flying through an intersection without caution and saying “It’s gunna’ take a major car accident before people wake up and put in a traffic light.” When that accident happens, it’s not the witnesses’ fault… they only had foresight and wisdom. But it becomes more and more apparent in this administration they are actually CREATING the threats and then offering Big Government solutions… not unlike the Nazi’s creation and manipulation of the Reichstag Fire.

By the way ... the 5000 Year Leap is probably the best book I've read EVER!!!! And that's saying something!!! (Well, besides the Bible of course) ANYONE who wants a true understanding of what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they created this Republic of the United States must must MUST read this book!!! It constantly refers back to the actual words of the founders and cross references like CRAZY! IT"S AWESOME!!!

Currently reading:
The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World
By W. Cleon Skousen

The Problem with Harvesting

2009-05-07T16:04:00.001-06:00

Date: May 7, 2009

The Problem with Harvesting

Current mood: blissful

April 23, 2009

A group of environmentalists and animal rights activists are up in arms because a biofuel processing plant in San Francisco wants to use animal waste (animal fat, bones, body parts, butcher scraps etc…) in its mixture of sources for creating biofuel.

The argument presented includes the fear that “This is a slippery slope. If we are using animal parts now, what prevents the possibility that down the road we might be genetically designing animals and then harvesting them for use in conversion to biofuels.”

Okay… so wherein lies any difference between this argument and the protestations many of us hold over embryonic stem cell research? The circumstances, the current use of “surplus” embryos and “embryonic scraps” as well as the fear that someday human embryos might be genetically designed and cloned for use in scientific experimentation and implementation of stem cell research…. The fears, arguments, and “slippery slope” analogies are EXACTLY THE SAME.

So, in short, San Francisco liberals have NO problems with unborn humans being cloned, designed, and harvested for experimentation, but using animals in the same manner is abhorrent! Is it any mystery why many of us look at Pelosi and the other San Francisco freaks with complete incredulity and wonder?

:::::: humming ::::: “It’s P e l oooooo si the San Francisco freak”

Random ADD Moments

Is it more than coincidence that Paris Hilton and Perez Hilton are both vacuous, self-absorbed media whores with the intellectual depth of an amoeba colony?

Is Perez Hilton a Heterophobe or what?

Why is it those who argue loudest for tolerance and acceptance are the least tolerant and accepting, themselves?

WOW! Janet Napolitano makes Dan Quyale look like a freaking genius!! First the “Right Wing Extremists” threats…

-those who have Ron Paul bumper stickers are a threat…

-those who support 3rd parties are a threat

-soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are a threat. When approached on these slanders of 3rd party supporters and troops she NEVER SAID she was mistaken… she just apologized for the wording… so, she still feels that normal folks and those who have defended this country are threats to National Security… she just thinks the “word smithing” was a little harsh.

Then she repeats the outrageously false statistic that “90% of weapons used in Mexican drug crimes come from the US.” That particular statistic comes from the amount of weapons that have serial numbers and have been turned over to the ATF for tracing. The overall number of American guns crossing the border southbound is around 17%…. Hmmm…17 percent compared to 90 percent that’s a reasonable mistake…lol.

And as if she isn’t already the gift that keeps on giving, yesterday it was reported that in an interview in Canada she said the 9/11 hijackers came across the US/Canadian border…. Uhhhhhh….. BUZZZZZ Wrong answer!!!

Then she tries covering her tracks by saying, ‘yeah… but the millennium bomber came across the US/Canadian border’…. Kind of like her justifying her attack on American vets by saying, ‘yeah, but Timothy McVeigh was a Marine.’ So, out of hundreds of truly threatening individuals out there particularly Al Qaeda and other Islamofascists, Ms. Napolitano finds the ONE that is former military… or the ONE that came over from Canada and bases her entire anti-terror campaign on those two folks. BEAUTIFUL!!!

“GREEN IS THE NEW RED”

For years we’ve seen the increasing hostility and leper-izing of smokers and conservatives. Any attack on those people is okay because they are such evil, stupid, selfish, unhealthy scum! Jeannie Goraphalo’s description of Tea Party attendees as nothing more than racist bigots is a prime example. But we’re used to that.

To a lesser extent, attacks on Catholics and deeply religious folks have been equally tolerated. (Although incidents of pedophilia is no more prevalent in the Catholic Church than any other organization… when a priest is caught it hits the national headlines) Actually, anyone who expresses morality or a religious conviction (such as Miss California) is viciously attacked and berated without mercy. ADD moment – if Don Imus made comments towards a gay person that Perez Hilton did towards Carrie Prejean would he still have a job?!?!? –

Now the intolerance has shifted to anyone who doesn’t buy into the Global Warming scam. Tell me, since the 1970’s has the Earth warmed or cooled? Answer: Cooled! Read Glenn Beck’s “An Inconvenient Book” – it gives the scientific, and well founded arguments that Global Warming is a hoax! But anyone who dares dispute the Almighty Government’s position on Global Warming they are marginalized, condescendingly dismissed and labeled an ignorant dolt. Compared to the Obamabots, McCarthy was an amateur! “Are you now, or have you ever been a debunker of Global Warming?” OMG!! You HERETIC! You blasphemer! You unclean infidel! How dare you spread such heresy!

Individualism and free thought is dying in the streets. Good luck with that, America!

Currently reading:
The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World
By W. Cleon Skousen

EARTH DAY and T.E.A. Parties

2009-04-22T21:35:00.000-06:00

Date: Apr 22, 2009

EARTH DAY and Tea Parties

Current mood: confident

April 22nd 2009

Today in commemoration of Earth Day I contemplated a way to cap all the active volcanoes in the world since they are the single greatest warmer of the planet! All those florocarbons and hydroflorocarbons and upper atmosphere particulates!!! They have done more to raise the temperature of the Earth that all the automobiles, cans of Aqua Net and cow herds in history COMBINED!! Those evil, EVIL volcanoes, how dare they! THEY MUST BE STOPPED!!!! Of course, truth be told, we've been below our global average for a good 1750 ... so we are just rising back up to "average"... psst .. but don't tell the Global Warmers that!! Try Googling "Maunder Solar Minimum"... interesting stuff!!!.... In short... low sunspots, low temps... rising sunspots, rising temps... simple. There's a much closer corelation to the number of solar sunspots and global warming/cooling than anything else... can't do much about the sunspots so I'll work on the volcanoes.

April 16, 2009

Party like it’s 1773!

I’m so proud of myself! J I just shoveled our walks for the second time. Being that we live on a corner lot, I am very very proud of myself. This morning it was a very slushy snow that had the consistency of a 7-11 Slurpie, but this afternoon it was more of a spring snow perfect for packing into snowmen, snowforts, and snowballs! I remembered longingly of when Chaz and Zach were kids and we’d go out in a snowfall like this and have fun!!

The Denver Tea Party

As you can imagine, I was down at the Capital steps with thousands of other peaceful, patriotic Americans – all ten-feet Uncle Sam of me! It’s interesting the various “take-aways” and reporting of the event(s) the mass media is giving. From my vantage point four feet above the majority of folks, I estimated 1500-2000 people. The media said it was around 1000 and thee Denver Police said the crowd was over 4000, so take the estimate that most suits you.

The other great distortion of the major media is the characterization of the attendees. They’ve tried to paint a picture of small extremist groups filled with right-wing, Timothy McVeigh militia fanatics who were basically sheep for Halliburton, big Oil, big business and hired by CEO’s to protect ‘tax cuts for the rich.’ They couldn’t be more off the mark! I didn’t see ANY six-figure types carrying signs, chanting with us, or dressing up as patriots, oversized pigs, Guy Fawkes, or (like me) Uncle Sam. Nor did I speak with anyone who had been contacted by millionaires through voicemail, email or texting saying, “Show up and save my tax cuts!” Quite to the contrary, there were as many people against corporate greed out there as there were folks who were outraged at a bloated, over-reaching, out-of-touch bureaucrats in Washington.

And if anyone tries to tell you the gatherings were filled with ignorant hicks, ask them if they can relate the history of the Federal Reserve Bank. These folks could. They could compare the administrations of Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt, the similarities between Wilson and Carter and the dissimilarities of Hoover and GW Bush. CAN YOU DO AS MUCH?? Can you compare the actions of the Obama administration to those of Hoover, FDR, and Carter (with references)?? I can’t begin to tell you how many folks at the tea party – just normal everyday citizens, not professors, political hacks, or politicians - knew exactly the legalities and illegalities, the foundations and unconstitutional aspects of the FED. They could tell you how Andrew Jackson treated the FED (most people can’t even tell you that Jackson is on the $20 bill!)

These people were well read and well informed. They are well versed in BOTH sides of the argument and were not shills or Dittoheads as the media is attempting to portray them! The diversity was HUGE! Folks of all colors, political parties, “agendas”, men and women, kids and elderly, vets and pacifists, you couldn’t find more diversity if you tried… even at a Star Wars cantina! There was one unifying factor – all felt the federal government was too big and too out-of-touch with the everyday citizen! Almost as to prove their point, President Obama’s press release about the Tea Parties said he was unaware of the Tea Parties. How perfect! Not sure which is worse, politician’s ignorance or their apathy –they don’t know about us and don’t care.

Also in contrast to the media caricature of the right-wing extremist militia types, I didn’t encounter a single mean, grump, angry, or violent individual. In fact in the nearly 1000 tea parties nationwide with somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 in attendance I didn’t hear of a single arrest, fistfight, burned car or gunshot. There were no smashed windows, no bloody noses, no CS or tear gas deployment, no tazer shots… NOTHING like that! But we’re a buncha’ Tim McVeigh’s looking to gather our fully automatic weapons and overthrow the government??? Apparently not.

Although we were certainly squeezed in and were sardine’d in, the people we encountered were kind, friendly, accommodating and very pleasant. It was such a uplifting experience to find others that know their history… that know the founders wisely formed a country of LIMITED government… that know Socialism has NEVER worked… in Germany, The Soviet Union, North Korea, China, Cuba and countless thugocracies in Central and South America… they know that the more Socialist a country has drifted, the less productive it has become… again, they know their history. It was WONDERFUL!!

And I learned SO much about the Federal Reserve that I never knew before!! Check out www.endthefed.us

I also firmed up my support for a consumption tax (also known as a “fair tax” or national sales tax”) I would LOVE to see the IRS eliminated, and the other benefit is, with a fair tax the rich still get “soaked” but in a much fairer way. Obviously, a wealthy person will pay more taxes on a Ferrari than you will on your Geo Metro… so, the rich still pay more, but in a fairer way. And best of all, the government couldn’t play favorites with tax breaks, tax incentives, and tax credits… which is probably why the power hungry bureaucrats will never let it pass. “Green” companies would get any tax breaks, Labor Unions couldn’t get sweetheart tax deals, the Federal Government couldn’t punish tobacco companies or oil refiners. It would take a GREAT deal of power and leverage out of the hands of the Federal Government, and they won’t give up that power without a fight.

We are in historic times! The amazingly drastic restructuring of the Government/Market relationship that has just taken place over the last few weeks is mindblowing! The United States is not the same country it was just six months ago! The massive “borrow and spend” actions of the Congress are unprecedented. President Bush (“W”) pushed the limits of government intervention, spending, and growth as no President before, and in just 2 months, President Obama has blown those expansions out of the water. To compare the two Presidents would be to compare a Piper Cub to a supersonic jet, or comparing Harris and Kleybold to Jim Jones… there really is just no comparison!

I am fondly reminded of the 1770’s when the populace was reaching the end of (as Jefferson wrote) “the patient sufferance” of long usurpations. To continue with that incredible Jeffersonian creation…

“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms; Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”

Hopefully our absentee Representatives and Senators won’t make the same egregious mistake of ignoring us the way the Parliament of the 1700’s did.

Currently reading:
An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems
By Glenn Beck
Release date: 2009-05-12

9:15 PM - 0 Kudos - 0 Comments - Add Comment - Edit - Delete

Through The Looking Glass

2009-04-04T21:48:00.000-06:00

Date: Apr 4, 2009

Through the looking glass

Current mood: quixotic

Wow! It's been quite awhile since I posted here and subsequently at my public blog,( http://charlesking.blogspot.com/ called "A Pax Americana and other fun stuff") There have just been SOOOO many things going on, I really didn't know where to start.... the rise of Facism in America? Socialism takes hold? Assigned to Afghanistan? The passing of my dear friend (and mom)?... where to start, where to start?
February 13th, 2009
Mom passed away of an overwhelming systemic failure following years of declining health. I thank God I was there for all but the last 2 hours of her last day. By the time I left, she was unresponsive and she was for the most part already gone. But the morning hours and night before she died were incredible in so many ways. It was an experience that ratified every belief I have in the hereafter. She was obviously standing with one foot in this world and one in the next.
The conversations we had in those final hours were surreal but so meaningful. She knew it was her time and was in a hurry to get where she needed to go. She would stand up next to her bed and demand "I need to go...NOW!" The first time she did this, I guided her to the restroom. Ooops! We got there and she said - rather impatiently- "I don't need to use the restroom!"
"But mom, you said..."
"No I said I need to go!"
"Go where, Mom?"
"Heaven! [of course!]"
She then had conversations with Dad, Uncle Harry, Nannie, Her dad... passing on messages and all the things they were telling her... It was truly amazing! About half way through, I realized that I was witnessing this all by myself, and I asked the nurse to get Cath (who was in the lobby) so she could share in the magical conversations taking place.
About 4 in the morning, Mom sat on the edge of her bed for the last time. After that, she laid down, and to my knowledge never got up again. I held her hand as we said a rosary at 7AM before I left. Although her eyes never opened and she never spoke, from the time I began the Apostles' Creed to the final "Hail Holy Queen" her grip on my hand was noticably tighter.
By the time I got home, she had passed. Not only do I miss my mom, but a dear friend and fellow conversationalist. One of her final statements to me will remain in my heart and mind forever. "Do you know what happy is? It's love. That's it. Happiness is love...PERIOD!"
Amen!
___________________________
THE GUARD
Things are as unpredictable as ever, although I LOVE the group I'm with ("The Rear Guard"). We number about 30 soldiers who didn't go over with the other 70 to Baghdad. They (the forward guard) are assisting the 30th in Iraq while the rest of us will be sent over to Bagram with our parent Batallion (the 86th) for a COIN mission tentatively leaving for Pre-Mobilization on October 10th.
I've been talking to guys who just got back with the 220th, and I'm definately happier to be heading to Afghanistan where I can do some seriously meaningful COunterINsurgency service. Iraq is completely winding down, with most of the heavy lifting being done by the Iraqis.
Overall, this is GREAT! Every individual who said it would never work, or that peace and liberty couldn't be brought at the end of an M16, or (like Harry Reid) said the war was lost - must now eat their own words! IT WORKED! IRAQ is free! They have a democracy. Granted it's not a Jeffersonian democracy in the image of the US - but if it WAS then we would be guilty of "imposing our culture" on the Iraqis. It is a democracy formed in the image of the Iraqis. So much for that "imperical America" accusation. Anyway, I drift.... in Afghanistan, there is still a war to be fought and won, and I can be a part of that, which is why I rejoined in the first place. In Iraq, the interrogators will be interviewing the same scores of individuals who have been interviewed a dozen times before... the missions in Afghan will be unique sources and gather truly important intel... I'm looking forward to that!!!
_______________________
Tess' and My Wedding
We just started the classes for being married in the Catholic Church... it's really happening!! lol! That's kinda' the way we felt during our first class... "Oh Boy! This is really going to happen!!" Scary, exciting, exhilerating and breathtaking. August 8th is coming up REALLY quick!
________________________
America Bashing
I hafta' be careful here... can't speak badly of my Commander and Chief, ya' know... Let me just say this. If America is "arrogant" it is because we have done more to help others than any other country in the history of the world. If there is an earthquake or a tsunami, Americans are the first there and spend more than most other countries combined. America has given more to the victims of AIDS in Africa and elsewhere than all other contributors combined... when "The UN" flies in to "rescue" some oppressed people, it's actually Americans carrying the weapons, spilling their blood, and nutralizing the perps. In Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, Kosovo, and most other UN "rescues" when the UN turned tail and ran, it was the American who had to stay behind and pick up the pieces. -ADHD moment - When are those American troops coming home from Kosovo that Clinton promised would be back by Christmas in the '90's??---
Most countries :::::::coughcanadacough::::::::: don't even NEED a military because they know "Those horrible yanks" will defend them. I don't apologize for being an American! I don't apologize for being part of the country that brought freedom to Europe not once, but twice... to the South Pacific, Indionesia, North Africa, Iraq and 'coming soon' Afghanistan. I don't apologize for being part of the culture that has advanced medicine and technology far more than any other civilization in history. I'm not the first to say this, read what a Canadian had to say about America - Gordon Sinclair circa 1972 -http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/sinclair.asp
And what is Washington DC (particularly the Congress) doing to preserve the most productive, most successful, most advanced, most free civilization ever created on the planet? The country that has lead the rest of the world for the majority of it's 200 year history? They are trying to turn it into France... into the EU... into the same failed system that created the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, China... such wonderful role models. How stupid do you have to be to realize you can't spend your way out of debt?!?!?!?!?!?! "Duh! My credit cards are maxed out... so let me get another credit card and transfer the ballances and put intrest onto intrest .." Yeah! There's a winner of an idea!
Well, they wanted change and they got it in spades! Let's see how they like them apples in 2, 4, or 10 years when intrest skyrockets, when the massive printing of paper money has devalued the dollar, and inflation comes back in double digits! We didn't get Bush's 3rd term, we got Carter's 2nd term... God help us!

Currently watching:
The Dark Knight (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy)
Release date: 2008-12-09

Uggggh! The Guard is driving me insane!

2008-12-04T11:51:00.002-07:00

December 4, 2008 - Thursday

Things are crazy
Current mood: crazy

Okay for most of you this is going to be utterly boring, but give me a second to vent, would ya'?

Here's a chronology of some of 2008's significant events for me:

February – April 2008 Pvt. Charles K. Byrne deploys to Warrior Transition Training at Ft. Sill Oklahoma, Santa Fe New Mexico, and White Sands Missile Range New Mexico. His unit, B Company, 86th BDE, IBCT (Mountain) is scheduled to deploy to Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) around February of 2010.

March 22nd, 2008 Realizing he hasn't been paid for training to date, Pvt. Byrne files form 2142 "Pay Inquiry" at White Sands Missile Range. Through investigation, it is found that although Charles updated his pay information at the National Guard level, the Regular Army had directly deposited paychecks dated March 17th '08, April 1st, '08, and April 9th '08 to a pre-paid credit card Charles no longer possessed.

April 4th, 2008 Pvt. Byrne graduates from Warrior Transition Training and returns to Denver. Moves into his mother's new apartment while arranging a new place to live for himself.

May 19th, 2008 After weeks of trying to resolve the pay issue, Pvt. Byrne enlists the help of Sergeant Patton of the 86th MI Company.

June 2008 Pvt. Byrne is selected to be a member of the Joint Task Force for the 2008 Democratic National Convention and begins training for crowd/riot control and chem/bio attack response.

July 11th 2008 Pvt. Byrne and the rest of the 86th MI unit are informed that due to their exceptional readiness and training levels, their deployment date is being "bumped up" from February 2010 to February 2009 – 8 months away, it will also change from Afghanistan to Iraq. Upon receiving this information Pvt. Byrne reassesses getting an apartment of his own. Of the eight upcoming months, no less than four will be required for his MOS training as an interrogator. Another month will be spent as part of the DNC detail, leaving three months "at home" before a 1-year deployment to Baghdad. Charles and his mother agree that it would be easier all around if Charles were to stay at the apartment and find a new place after returning from Baghdad in 2010.

This announcement also completely blows apart the plans Tess and I are making for a 2009 wedding.

August 22nd – August 30th, 2008

Pvt. Byrne and the rest of the DNC detail are placed on "lockdown" before and during the Democrat National Convention. While training for the Democratic National Convention, Pvt.Byrne is assisted by SFC Tyler in tracing down the $960.00 + in lost WTC checks. Also during this time, the health of Pvt. Byrne's 79-year-old mother deteriorates.

August 31st – September 2nd, 2008

Pvt. Byrne is in Kiowa, Colorado performing for the FCRV Statewide Convention. Charles returns to Denver to find his mother (Dorothy) has been taken to St. Joseph's Hospital with multiple system failures.

September 9th, 2008 Dorothy Byrne is taken to The Hospice of St. John's and given a prognosis of "weeks not months."

September 5th, 2008 Pvt. Byrne receives confirmation from ATRRS (The Army Training Requirements and Reservations System) that he will be attending Interrogator School at Camp Williams, UT from October 3rd – December 17th, 2008.

September 10th, 2008 Pvt. Byrne receives confirmation on travel to and from Camp Williams. At this time, he cancels a number of shows and instructs his agent (Terri Fisher of 5-Star Talent and Events) not to schedule any workdays during his training period.

September 10th, 2008 Pvt. Byrne completes his "E QIP" application for security clearance (An interim 'Secret' clearance is required for Interrogator school). Charles is also informed that "the unit" will be going "on orders" on November 1st. "Going on orders" means those involved will be transferred from "one weekend a month" to fulltime Army and will be paid the full monthly allowance their rank earns. Also, when one "goes on orders" they are given a reimbursement for rent/mortgage.

October 2nd, 2008 On the day before he is to leave for Camp Williams, Pvt. Byrne is informed he will not be going to school as planned. This decision was based upon a faulty understanding of the requirements for Interrogator school. It was assumed that a "Secret" clearance and "interim Top Secret" clearance was required to attend. However, those restrictions do not go into effect until October of next year. Currently, only an "interim Secret" clearance is required. He is assured at this time, however, that he will still be going "on orders" November 1st.

October 12th, 2008 Charles requests information and an application from the Colorado National Guard Foundation – an organization designed to help Guard Soldiers in temporary financial straits.

October 15th, 2008 Pvt. Byrne faxes his request application to the CNGF.

October 16th, 2008 Pvt. Byrne learns from his squad leader (Sgt Tracy) that he will in fact NOT be included in the group that is to "Go on orders" November 1st. Pvt. Byrne also receives an email from the CNGF stating that they are unable to release funds at the time due to an end-of-the-year audit. He is referred to EANGUS "We Care for America" Foundation.

During the following weeks, Pvt. Byrne applies to Target, ACE Hardware, Starbucks, Home Depot, Blockbuster Video, Hollywood Video, Rent-A-Center, as well as several convenience stores and a number of bars. Many (such as The Cheesecake Factory and Hard Rock Café have current hiring freezes until January) On October 21st, 2008 he applies to Able Body Labor attempting to gain temporary labor employment.

November 14th, 2008 During drill weekend, Pvt. Byrne learns from SFC Tyler that the paperwork of August 22nd was returned to her due to an error in the paperwork. She further stated she corrected the error and resent the paperwork the last week in October and Pvt. Byrne should be receiving a check within three weeks.

Situation as it currently stands:

When contacted, SFC Tyler said I should be receiving the WTC checks "any day now". Furthermore, $300.00 bonus money for each drill in October and November is also outstanding. This is not a problem unique to me, but unit-wide and is being pursued by the unit command. So this adds a further $600.00 I should be getting "anytime now." As I am working on resolutions to these challenges, I am also working to resolve my security clearance issues. Once my "interim Secret" clearance is resolved, I will be attending Interrogator School. Upon graduation of Interrogator School, I will receive my $20,000.00 enlistment bonus. Searching for employment in the civilian sector is also ongoing. On December 2nd, Lisa Cooley of Family Readiness Support provided me with more contacts to help in the job search.

So excuse me for a moment.......

UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Okay I feel much better now!

Currently watching :
The Usual Suspects (Special Editon)
Release date: 2002-04-02

OUR TAX SYSTEM EXPLAINED....

2008-10-08T10:45:00.000-06:00

October 8, 2008 - Wednesday

When Obama talks about how the "rich" have gotten such a sweetheart deal from Bush and will continue to under McCain, an understanding of the tax system is REQUIRED to sort it out... here ya' go!

OUR TAX SYSTEM EXPLAINED....

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers, he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers?How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.!

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'

'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!'

'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'

'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Currently listening :
The Best of Howard Jones
By Howard Jones
Release date: 1993-06-29

Ratification of the previous post

2008-10-03T21:03:00.001-06:00

October 3, 2008 - Friday
Ratifying the previous post Current mood: sore
I just found this over at YouTube....

Take the time to watch it, and follow up with Google searches.... it's ALL TRUE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASvqtD6g8PU

Currently watching : The Usual Suspects (Special Editon) Release date: 2002-04-02

This housing crisis

2008-09-23T11:29:00.000-06:00

September 23, 2008 - Tuesday

This housing crisis
Current mood: anxious

I found this over at
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/anotherlook.aspx

Good Intentions Gone Bad
By AP | Thursday, September 18, 2008 4:30 PM PT

In view of the mortgage meltdown that led to the current financial crisis, we couldn't resist rerunning this 2004 photo from the Associated Press that appeared in this spot April 3. It was taken after Bank of America agreed to a $6 billion affordable housing program pushed by the Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America (NACA). The program was designed to provide mortgages to low-income homebuyers without requiring a down payment or charging closing costs and fees. The expressions on the faces of CEOs Kenneth Lewis of BofA, left, and Chad Gifford of FleetBoston as they listen to NACA's Bruce Marks say it all.

Click to Enlarge

My take:
With all that is being said about the current financial meltdown, little time is being given to the fact that people were buying houses they couldn't afford. When we were trying to get Mom into the duplex, we were very specific about what monthly payments she could handle. If a property was out of her/our range, we didn't even consider it. Sure we could have moved her into some 4 bedroom nice places in Arvada with a sub-prime loan... but we realized that those payments would go up and get out of her grasp in short order... so we kept looking. The purchase turned into a fiasco (the lender backed out because he felt the seller was being unethical... which turned out to be true) and we got stuck in a rental disaster with no rental agreement and ever increasing rent, but that's outside the point.

This crisis was caused by "programs" initiated by liberal government ideals such as the Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America (NACA) mentioned above. All with good intentions "let's get not-so-wealthy folks into houses." BUT the "not so wealthy folks" couldn't AFFORD to get into houses just yet... and they defaulted on their mortgage loans. Now, once again, like the McDonald's hot-coffee plaintiff, common folks are looking to the government to make up for their own mistakes and self-inflicted "crisis." There's this whole mentality nowadays that the government should fix any mistakes (or out-and-out frauds) that we bring upon ourselves... and to speak contrary to that "benevolence" makes you cold and heartless ("How could you possibly fault working class Americans that were just trying to buy a house for their families and live the American dream?")

1ST Question -
How many of these defaulted loans by "working class Americans" were taken out by/for illegals? I'm just curious. Bank of America is proud of the fact that it extended loans to "undocumented workers" - where do they fit into this puzzle?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2003586080_harney25.html

2ND Question-
What SHOULD the government have done instead?
They should've kept HUD homes the way they were intended... selling them for pennies on the dollar and THEN the working class (myself included) could have actually moved in and invested time and effort into fixing up the place. However, HUD now (in order to turn a profit for the government) MUST sell the house at the "fair market value" making HUD nothing more than another property-holding company.... and NOT the opportunity it was intended to be!

Just my two pennies

Currently listening :
Duets: An American Classic
By Tony Bennett
Release date: 2006-09-26

11:04 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Responsibility

2008-08-30T12:52:00.000-06:00

RESPONSIBILITY
These last two weeks of lockdown at the Armory has gotten me thinkin' about a BUNCHA' stuff! Although we were typically up at 0400 and training straight until 2100 (9pm) minus meal times, of course... lying on a foldable cot in a warehouse-like room with 300 other guys in the dark... you get a lot of thinking done as you try to fall asleep (and ignore all the snoring). We deploy in January for MOB and after a 4-day leave in March (to say goodbye to family and friends) we fly out to Baghdad... so lotsa' things are being done ASAP and the myriad of thoughts is hard to contain.

ONE THING I SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF TIME ON:

What kind of person are you?

Do you take on your fair share of responsibilities... less or even MORE than your fair share? If someone needs help, love and compassion... do you take the time and make the effort to make sure that person is okay... or do you pawn it off on someone else figuring "it'll get done." Do you figure you will get around to your responsibilities "one of these days"? Is your life so hectic that some responsibilities just fall to the wayside and before you know it weeks and months have passed since you last checked in on those responsibilities?

Are you the one who does the heavy lifting, or do you make excuses, justifications, and flimsy reasons for not doing what you SHOULD be doing? This is equally applicable for soldiers, workers, friends, family, politicians... what have you.

THOSE WHO SHIRK RESPONSIBILITY:
TYPE 1 Person: The Excuser
"Ya' know, I would _________ IF I didn't have to deal with _______." Ahhhh what a convenient excuse... saves you all the heartache, hard work, and demands of a responsibility, and you get to play the victim card at the same time. Funny, how people that are like that are guaranteed to not pick up the slack even WHEN that obstical is no longer there.

Type 2 Person: The know it all
"The way this is being done, is lousy! If I were in charge....."
Again ... such a wonderful excuse, while at the same time building yourself up as some superior, smarter, more enlightened master of the universe. Of course, the fact is... if your ideas were actually TRIED and TESTED.... they might not work, but then again.. you don't have to worry about that do you? "Cause you haven't lifted a finger, have you?

Type 3 Person: The complainer
"I won't have anything to do with this.. the person in charge is a louse"
Similar to the "know it all" mentioned above...no need to do anything.. just attack the chain of command, the person 'in charge' and you again don't have to lift a finger, only complain.

Type 4 Person; The Bulldozer in a China Shop
This is the pro-active version of the "Know it all"... I don't care what you want or say... we're doing it this way like it or not. This is the equivilent of a superior who enlists no information, suggestions or input from inferiors. "But Sir! There's a mine field there that will wipe out this entire batallion!" "Shut up... the plans don't mention a mine field... I've set my mind and we're going... I don't care about new information."... note: this isn't something I've encountered in the Army, just a hypothetical to illuminate the behavior. The Army is VERY cognizant of new intel and reacts accordingly! The bulldozer can sit back and say "I took responsibility"... but in fact, responsibility WASN'T served, only that person's need for ego and control. Responsibility includes serving the wishes and requirements of those being served.

Taking responsibility requires sacrifice, it doesn't consist of doing things the easy way, nor does it consist of passing the buck. Above all, it doesn't consist of letting someone else do the work while you kick back making excuses, complaints, and criticizing how things are being done!

As George W. Bush has learned in spades, taking responsibility often means being attacked for the manner in which you take care of those responsibilities... by people who don't have the balls, the patience, or the abilities to take on the responsibilities themselves.

THE SOLDIER'S CREED
I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.

ARMY VALUES

Loyalty
Duty
Respect
Selfless Service
Honor
Integrity
Personal Courage

DNC, here we come!

2008-08-21T01:01:00.001-06:00

August 21, 2008 - Thursday

DNC, here we come!
Current mood: tired

Can't really get into much about what we're doing (we had a long briefing about OPSEC "Operational Security") but I can say that I have been working my BACKSIDE off and sweating up a storm with the Army National Guard preparing for the Democrat National Convention!..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

It's been long, long hours learning how to calm a situation, avoid confrontations, subdue violence and otherwise protect the citizens of Denver, tourists, delegates, press, and other visitors who will be flocking to Denver this next week. I can't TELL you how hot it's been in our gear training every day from oh-dark hundred to sometimes 9:30 at night!!!!

One thing I CAN tell you is this has given me a whole new perspective on "riots" in general and law enforcement specifically!!

I've been reading up not only on the protest groups that are planning on being here in Denver (some very angry, inventive, and violent folks!)... but also gaining perspective by reading the original accounts of Chicago's 1968 riots, Kent state and other similar situations in the past. So many paint "the man" as some inhuman collection of automatons hell bent on exercising power over protesters,... as though they were rabid pit bulls just looking for a fight. Even before the situations got "out of control"... according to these 'reports' the cops etc.. were bound and determined to hurt someone. I can't jump into the minds of the 1968 Chicago cops... but I can tell you from Denver 2008......

First of all, NOBODY... no cop, no soldier, no law enforcement official wants to see a riot! The idea of striking, shoving, or hitting a fellow citizen (or worse) is something none of us cherish! I'd be quite happy if all this training is for nothing... if Tent State, Unconventional Denver, the KKK, Black Bloc, the Aryan Races and Recreate68 protest peacefully and the Guard never has to be called out. I'm gunna' see enough action against true enemies in Baghdad next year, I don't want to be fighting with my own countrymen! However, the training has given us the tools to deal with any situation that presents itself. We WILL keep Denverites and visitors safe!

We have SO many less-than-lethal options at our disposal; I'm encouraged that the peace will be kept without having to resort to drastic measures. Above all, we are here to support local, state, and federal civilian authorities.

Just FYI... some have asked me how we can be Army and acting as law enforcement... doesn't that violate Posse Comitatus? As Guard members, we have been activated by our Commander-and-Chief of Colorado (Governor Bill Ritter), and are under his direction. It's the same as if there is a wildfire or flood... the Governor calls us up to help keep Coloradans safe (or to keep cows fed in huge snowstorms.) So although in February, Governor Ritter will "loan me out" out to the new President of The United States, until then I'm under the direction of Governor Ritter. Make sense?

Another question a few friends have asked me... "Why did you join the Guard instead of the 'real' Army?" A: In the regular Army, once you are MOSQ'ed (once you've been trained in your 'job') you aren't offered many opportunities to learn other jobs. In the Guard, however, you can school up like crazy! Before our deployment date was moved up a year, I was planning on not only qualifying as an interrogator, but also go to Monterey to take Arabic school and then go to Counter Intelligence school, so I'd have 3 MOS's and be very adroit when I got shipped over. That got changed when our deployment changed... now I'll probably take Arabic while in Iraq and go to CI school after I get back. Either way, there are a number of different options.... which is why I chose the Guard in the first place.

Well, I'm on only a 20-hour pass, so I need to hit the rack, I'm BEAT!! Everyone stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Love
Charles

Currently reading :
John Adams
By David McCullough

Here we go again, more of the same!!

2008-08-03T13:23:00.000-06:00

August 3, 2008 - Sunday

Here we go again, more of the same
Current mood: tired

Well, it should come as no surprise, the rules of the Democrat party mean as much to Democrats as well.... laws and rules apply to Democrats in general. A rule was passed by the Democrat party that Florida and Michigan would have no delegates at the convention as punishment for their breaking the rules. ("Thou shalt have no primaries or caucuses before Feb 5th")

In May, like some drug dealer negotiating his way into a plea bargain, a "compromise" was decided upon - delegates get half-votes at the convention.

Today, "the chosen one" Obama said Florida and Michigan should be given full voting privileges at the convention.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080803/ap_on_el_pr/obama_delegates_1;_ylt=Am.DzcW5pVjcPPogM7VIo6_Za7gF

Tell me, do the Democrats believe in ANY rule or law????? We're setting up another "it all depends on what the meaning of 'is' is" administration. Another administration that has NO respect for rules or laws, another administration that considers rules and laws mere suggestions and guidelines, but not really important.

Whether you believe Bush was acting on faulty information re: Iraq, was acting on accurate information that was covered up before we entered Baghdad, or out-and-out lied about WMD... how can ANYone not see the pattern in Democrat thinking - Rules and laws are all fine and dandy.... but not really that important... We can change them before, during, or after the fact if it suits our needs (Gore's attempt to change election laws midstream during the 2000 election)... or we can just ignore them if it's in our best interests (Kennedy ignoring murder and/or manslaughter charges for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne on July 18, 1969... DEM Barney Frank's prostitution shenanigans or Clinton's many violations of sexual harassment laws and reported rape of Juanita Brodderick.

And yet the Bush-bashers will bury their heads in the sand, drink the Kool-aid and delve themselves deeper into denial from the facts....

LAWS AND RULES MEAN NOTHING TO DEMOCRATS!

(Kennedy's murder of young Mary Jo Kopechne)
http://www.ytedk.com/intro.htm

(Barney Frank running a prostitution ring from is home)
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=29223&category=23483
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958598,00.html

(Juanita Brodderick story)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/broaddrick022599.htm

Currently watching :
24 - Season Six
Release date: 2007-12-04

Waiting For the WARNO

2008-07-28T23:13:00.001-06:00

July 28, 2008 - Monday

Waiting for the WARNO
Current mood: stressed

WARNO - Warning Order

Me and my MI unit got the news last week that we are to expect a WARNO. Originally, we were scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan Feb of 2010. Nix that! It's a "done deal" that we are now deploying Feb 09 instead of '10. Yep! That gives us a whopping 6 months before I go over to the sandbox. As of now, it's 99% assured it will be Baghdad instead of Afghanistan. In the meantime, I still gotta' hit the schoolhouse to get MOS-q'd, gotta' get all my affairs in order here... write my will, arrange benefits for Chaz, finalize my security clearance...etc...etc...etc.

Anyway... between all the things I'm having to arrange...plus my career, making sure training won't conflict with gigs (read: "income").... I'm ALSO part of the Colorado National Guard's Democrat National Convention Security Detail! UGH! I'll keep the blog up to date as much as I can... but, time is getting rare and precious!

God Bless to all of you my friends!

Currently reading :
John Adams
By David McCullough

The Audacity Of Hubris

2008-07-22T15:38:00.003-06:00

July 22, 2008 - Tuesday

The Audacity of Hubris
Current mood: hot

hu·bris ..>play_w2("H0312100")..> .. (hybrs) also hy·bris (h-)

n.
Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance:
The free online dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hubris

On the Today show on July 9th, Senator Barack Obama gave this quote in an interview with Matt Lauer
"We've got enormous burdens on our military families and we're spending 10 to $12 billion a month in Iraq that could be used to put people back to work here in the United States and to create an energy policy that frees ourselves from the dependence on foreign oil. So my job as commander and chief is to listen to the commanders, but to shape a strategy based on all the factors that go into American security." (My emphasis)

Okay, Washington Post Opinion Writer Charles Krauthammer has an excellent OPED piece on "who does Obama think he is?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071701839.html
But allow me to add this bit of evidence... in his answer Barack doesn't even put in the qualifiers "When I'm in the White House....", "As President my job would be...", "If elected President, my job would be...." NO! He terms it in the PRESENT sense, "MY JOB AS COMMANDER AND CHIEF IS TO LISTEN......"

Now, I've been interviewed by scores of television reporters, radio hosts, etc... When one is being interviewed, it takes a GREAT amount of effort to "mask" true, gut feelings if one doesn't think they would be palatable to the audience. Unlike a prepared speech, a tv commercial, or even 4x5 notes for a presentation.... interviews allow gut feelings to come forth.

BARACK OBAMA THINKS HE IS ALREADY PRESIDENT and it's only a matter of the inconvenient voting and vote counts. This is known in some circles as "Albertgoreabetes." To him, he is ENTITLED to the Presidency, maybe 'cause he's black, maybe because everyone is already heroworshiping him, maybe 'cause he feels that it is ordained.

The fact is, however, he hasn't EARNED a damned thing! He hasn't taken the time to learn what leadership is. He hasn't had any hands on experience as a leader or an executive. If it weren't so serious, it would be the laughable moment in "Days of Thunder" when Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) says he can race NASCAR because he's watched it on ESPN!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying a politician has to put his time in, kiss the right rings and "do his time" in order to earn the right to run. I'm saying that "Doing your time" "Paying your dues" and such is an invaluable lesson in "Learning the ropes." No one can effectively armchair quaterback because they haven't spent YEARS learning defense formations, linebacker shifts, and traits/abilities of the opposition as the PROFESSIONAL quaterback! No civilian should think they can out-general a US Army General because they (the civilian) hasn't spent years or DECADES studying tactics, strategies, weapons capacities, manpower abilities and such. The General has! Can George W. Bush rightfully expect to step into a Hollywood film and make the same amount of money, or perform as well as George Clooney? (Okay, skip that 2nd part... Clooney's a movie star, not an actor.)

Enough said, Barack is not only inexperienced, he's SO inexperienced that he has no clue what a neophyte he is!

IT'S THE INEXPERIENCE, STUPID! (T-shirts saying this can be bought at http://www.cafepress.com/mhbumpersticker )

Currently reading :
An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems
By Glenn Beck

3:07 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Up is down, black is white, left is right and right is wrong

2008-07-16T22:38:00.001-06:00

July 16, 2008 - Wednesday

Up is down, black is white, left is right and right is wrong
Current mood: tired
Category: News and Politics

Anyone else feel like we are slipping further and further into the Twilight Zone? Or maybe further down Alice's rabbit hole?!?!?!?!

Here is an article reporting that the RESCUERS of the Columbian hostages might be facing charges of WAR CRIMES for misusing the emblem of the Inernational Red Cross. !!!!!

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/16/america/colombia.php

Okay, I fully understand the need to keep the Red Cross emblem one of unquestioned neutrality.... but WTF??? WHY wasn't the ICRC involved to BEGIN with?!?!?!There were clearly human rights violations taking place by FARC, the ICRC had every right to be there.... WHY WEREN'T THEY??

So, now the people who actually did the RIGHT thing (by rescuing people who had been held hostage for 10+ years) are in more trouble than the group that took the hostages to begin with! That would be like arresting Border Patrol agents for doing their jobs!!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,244193,00.html

What next??? Millions of supporters for an inexperienced, untested, America-hating slick-talker for President????
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGH02DtIws
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/05/11/old-media-ignores-obamas-57-states-couldnt-get-enough-quayles-potatoe
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/02/20/michelle-obamas-america-and-mine/

Curiouser and curiouser.

Currently reading :
Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph
By T.E. Lawrence
Release date: 1991-06-01

A Mixed 4th

2008-07-05T13:42:00.000-06:00

July 5, 2008 - Saturday

Mixed 4th
Current mood: peeved

Every year for 5 or 6 years now, I've performed as Uncle Sam at the Thorntonfest 4th of July Celebrations here in Colorado. Last night was no difference 6pm - 8:30pm walkin around getting folks in the mood - waving, saying "hi", passing out candy... the standard routine. I love it!
http://www.cityofthornton.net/rec/4thofjuly.asp

First, the good stuff! This year they presented the travelling Vietnam War Veterans Memorial. http://www.thorntonveteransmemorial.org/news/index.html Wow! Truly a moving experience! I haven't yet seen the original in Washington DC, and this 3/5ths scale replica was just incredible! http://www.travelingwall.us/

The fireworks display was the first in nearly 40 years that has brought me to the verge of tears! The accomapnying mix of music (Presented by KYGO radio http://www.kygo.com/home.cfm ) included expected favorites like "Proud To Be An American", but also mixed in Lonestar's "I'm Already There" (with phone calls from servicemembers' spouses and kids... telling how much they miss their loved ones etc...) and Toby Keith's "American Soldier." It was the single most moving 4th of July I've witnessed (including when I was a member of the Jaycees in Estes Park and helped launch the fireworks!) Thank heavens Tess was there. I've got only one more 4th of July with her before I deploy, so every emotion was a bit cranked up!

Okay, now the moment of bitching, whining, and disgust. For the last few years I've had people "earn" their candy by answering simple American trivia questions (Name the three branches of government, who's the current Vice President, who was the first Vice President... what 3 presidents died on the 4th of July....etc....). Every year I've had to make the question a little bit easier than the last. This year it was disgusting! I had adults who didn't know the current President!!!! I kid you not!!! I understand GW Bush has only been in the Oval Office for 7 whole years, so they might have missed that bit of "trivia." A couple of times, my frustration got the better of me and I let it slip "You don't actually VOTE do you??? Please tell me 'No'!" It gets sadder and sadder!! But it certainly explains why some folks out there actually consider Obama potential Presidental material! ::::: shaking head ::::::: It's so depressing! As I told Tess last night after the fireworks, I love this country SO much! The more you learn about how it was formed, what it stands for, what we have fought and died for, you just love it more and more!!!! And to see folks that don't have the foggiest notion or the simplist facts about our government and its history.... it's sad!!! It's like watching someone who's looking at a Ferrari but doesn't have a clue about motorized transportation! ("so the wheels turn and it moves? Yeah but red is such an outrageous color! I don't like it. It's ugly trash!")

I definately have two loves... Tess and the US of A!

Currently listening :
Elv1s 30 #1 Hits
By Elvis Presley
Release date: 2002-09-24