How did we get here?

Its an election year, which means that politics are front and center.  The situation in our nation has been gradually sliding around for the entire 20th century.  We've lost sight of some things that used to be considered values.  Here's a list of some things I think we'd do well to bring back.

Honor
We used to place value in our own name.  We would behave a certain way, work a certain way, in order to not dishonor our name.  Honor is something that has become twisted over time.  Every society defines honor differently.  Honor to me means doing everything you can to the best of your ability, placing others before yourself and serving them to the best of your ability.

Honor is sacrifice.

Honor is not killing someone else because they've insulted you.  An honorable man will take the insult in stride, recognizing that everyone has an opinion.  They will reply to the insult in varying degrees, depending upon the circumstances.  The rule to this response is that the response cannot exceed the initial insult.  If you insult me verbally, I cannot in honor respond to you in any way other than verbal.  If you push me physically, I will respond physically.  In legal terms this is called "due force".  You push me, I push you.  You try to hit me, I try to hit you.  You take a lethal action against me and I am free to respond lethally against you.

Honoring our first amendment (I did a post a while back about Paying the Bill of Rights and this ties into that) means that we will be insulted, offended and disgusted.  That is guaranteed.  Those who do so have a right to do so.  I have a right to insult, offend and make them disgusted in return.  I do not have a right to prevent them from expressing their opinion or limiting their Freedom of Speech in any way.  I do not have a right to take a verbal or written insult and respond physically.  Legal response is only an honorable choice if said insult or offense has wounded us in some way; either our reputation or financial situation.

Duty
Duty is an obligation that is imposed upon us.  It may or may not be voluntary.  I have a duty to my family; my wife and kids, my parents and siblings and other members of my extended family.  I also have a duty to my country: I once swore an oath to honor and defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic.

These duties mean placing others ahead of myself.  I feel a duty toward my fellow man, so I have at times endangered myself in an effort to aid them.  When I was in the Coast Guard we had a saying: you have to go out, you don't have to come back.  We were a service intended to save lives.  If that meant we died in the effort to save others, then that was the price required.  I have applied that to the rest of my life as well.

I place the needs of my family ahead of my own desires.  I place the needs of my friends ahead of my own.  I have in the past and will in the future given others food that I would have otherwise eaten.  I share freely of my time and talents.

Duty is sacrifice.

Selflessness
Its funny, when I start writing these rants I have a vague idea of what I want to say and everything else just sort of comes out.  The result is that, if I had to define how we arrived at the society we have it would be that we lost the sense of selflessness that we once prized so highly.  Both Honor and Duty are putting others ahead of ourselves which is a way of expressing selflessness.

Ironically, the selflessness of previous generations has created the selfishness of ours.  Most of my peers, and often me, think of life in terms of benefit and cost to ourselves.  "If I take this job, will it better my situation and that of my family?"  "I know water is better for me, but I really like soda."  "I want to be able to pay for my kids' education and give them a hand up that I never had."

Yes, that last one is selfish.  What does your child learn if you pay their bills for them?  Do they learn how to control and manage money?  Do they feel any investment in their education?  Will they apply themselves the same when they're not paying the bill for it?  History has shown us no.  Too many people in my generation and those following had no idea how to manage debt appropriately and got into trouble as a result.  Animal House had a joke that Bluto was in college for seven years.  That isn't a joke today: that's an average student.

The hardest lessons are the ones we learn the most from.  Giving your kids what you think is a hand up can really be a hand out.  I would rather give my kids a house when they get married than pay for their college.  I would rather take them to get a loan and insurance for their first car than purchase it.  Acquiring debt is unfortunately necessary in today's world.  Getting a loan for a car and college will teach my kids more than if I paid for them.  By the time they get married, they'll have already learned about how to manage money.  Purchasing them a house at that time will allow them to have more cash flow to pay off those debts.  They'll have learned how to care for things they own.  They'll have learned how to manage their cash flow.  The money pit that is home ownership would be easier for them to manage at that time.

And let's face it: if I can afford to buy them a house, it'll be a "fixer upper" that they'll be pouring money into anyway.

Tying it together
In the end, by learning to sacrifice and be selfless we would have greater empathy for others.  We would be more inclined to help others.  We would hopefully have acquired the necessary wisdom to know how best to help them up, not give them a hand out that benefits us more.

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for life."

That old saying is more valuable than many think.  It is easier for the giver to spend a few minutes giving a hand out than the hours it would take to teach a valuable skill.  Giving a hand out is selfish.  It satisfies our guilty conscience without inconveniencing us in any meaningful way while simultaneously not really solving any problems of the people we are pretending to help.

"How does this relate to politics?"

Glad you asked!  This nation is in dire straits.  Our economy is on the verge of collapse.  Enemies are knocking at the door.  Congress is filled with infants holding their breath rather than take the chance of listening to their political opposition.  A little more honor, duty, sacrifice and selflessness in our halls of government would change the direction we are headed in.  We would be once again the shining city on the hill.

Do not take the easy route.  Honor demands that we consider all options before us.  Duty demands that we take an active part in the political process.  We need to give up on the shorthand of political parties and listen to what the politicians say and see what they do.  Both sides are guilty of hypocrisy.  Who would be willing to reach across the aisle and find a solution that works for everyone?  Right now, the capitol is filled with corruption.  Both sides are beholden to special interests.  Don't chose the candidate beholden to the special interests you like, chose the one who will be willing to put aside their own interests and serve others.

After all, that's what they're really there for.

Twister Lessons

I live in the greater Springfield area, which has been slammed by a tornado last week. Yeah, that one. We've been working with folks from church and other volunteers to assist in the cleanup as much as possible. We've donated all of the stored food we've accumulated and are looking to donate some clothes as well.

Then I read this story in the Boston Globe, which looks promising until you get to the end and read this:

"In Massachusetts, Patrick filed a supplemental budget bill Monday that included $10 million for tornado relief, but that money is not designated for individual homeowners. It will be used by state agencies to cover the costs of calling up the National Guard, operating shelters, paying police overtime, and other unanticipated costs such as chopping up trees and clearing debris."

So the Governor budgeted money to pay the state for their efforts in mobilizing but no aid will go to the beleaguered homeowners that have lost all of the their material possessions. No doubt, the Governor is counting in the federal government to foot the bill for some of the $90,000,000 in damages (that number is based on insurance claims that have been filed). It remains to be seen if Westfield, West Springfield, Springfield, Monson, Wilbraham or Brimfield will meet the minimum dollar amounts of damage required for those federal funds. Make no mistake - that clean up money is going to clear out the public properties like streets, which is a necessity. I would be surprised if any of that went to help rebuild Monson's town hall or police station. Springfield has a history of voting Democrat and I would like to say this;

Look around you at the devastation and see who it is that is helping you when the chips are down and you need it most. It is your neighbors, your friends and your fellow citizens not the government. This is how life is. When we need help the most, our neighbors, friends and fellow citizens are the ones there to give us a helping hand. The government will take care of itself first and if there's any money left over, it will go to those organizations that try to assist the people and if there's any money left over after that, it will go to the insurance companies to help them deal with the financial impact these storms have had on them and if there's any money after that it will go to help the people affected. Yes, along the way services will be provided by those organizations and insurance companies but in a bureaucratic sense that won't truly impact the people who need it immediately. The Red Cross will help with immediate temporary needs because that is what they do and they do it well. The Red Cross is not going to ensure you have a place to stay over the next three months while the damage to your home is assessed, weighed and evaluated then funds allocated then construction starts. Insurance companies won't pay for the removal of the trees in your yard unless they're directly damaging your house. A friend of mine helped a neighbor cut up a tree that was blocking the door to his house. Until they did that, they were getting in and out through a window. That tree did no damage to his house, but it prevented him from leaving by either door or garage. Therefore, the insurance claim would not cover its removal.

Remember this in November of next year, when you're pulling the lever for those fine folks in office in Boston. Where were they when you needed them? Crying poor from their fine offices in Boston, that's where. I'm not saying vote Republican because they'll solve all our problems, far from it - they'll just create different ones if we're lucky. Other than photo ops, did they help you in any way? Other than gather attention, how were you helped? Did that attention help you? If you can say that they did not help you, then why do they deserve your vote? By all means, vote Democrat if that's what you prefer. All I'm asking is that you vote for a different Democrat than the ones that ignored you when they should have helped.

Osama bin Laden is dead and President Obama missed an opportunity for greatness

Let me start off by saying President Obama made the right decision. Eliminating Osama bin Laden was the right thing to do. I have made no secret my dislike for our President's policies, but he made the right choice this time. All of the events leading up to the decision aside, it fell upon the President to ultimately decide what to do. I would have rather seen him captured than killed, but if that's how it fell out then that's how it fell out. Sometimes you have to accept the decisions of the personnel in the field and stand by them. Monday morning quarterbacking what someone should have thought in the middle of a firefight sometime after midnight a half a world away from your comfortable bed is not how the military should be handled.

That being said, good for you, Mr President.

What he missed out on was his speech. Instead of focusing on how he made the decision and he was right to do so, he could have made strides towards ending the bitter division in our government. He could have said something along these lines:

"This is a victory for the nation. This is a victory for the men and women in uniform who performed their jobs with their usual mix of professionalism and consummate skill. This is a victory for the policies of my predecessor, without which we would not have garnered the intel that brought us to this monumental day. I have learned that good ideas are not the sole property of one political party, so from this day forward I encourage Congress, Democrat and Republican alike, to remove the party affiliation from the proposed idea and take it on its own merits. Good ideas should be put into action, regardless of source. Bad ideas should be eliminated or moderated. From this day forward my administration will lead by example in this area. Our task is not over. Our nation is not secure, but we are safer now. Let us continue the work before us to make our nation secure."

Then do it. Actually do something positive about eliminating the vitriol that has become so commonplace in our governing and legislative process. I keep hearing those on the left screaming about how Bush failed and Obama succeeded. They keep hammering that waterboarding and "black ops" prisons weren't needed to gather the information.

To fully believe this, you would have to assume that nothing Bush did contributed in any way to the intel that was gathered leading to this monumental place and that is not true. We wouldn't have had Kaleed Sheik Mohammad if not for Bush's policies. He did not provide any intel until after he was waterboarded. That intel was confirmed by other sources that were kept in those same "black ops" prisons.

This was truly a victory for the American political process for we had a Republican President start a job that a Democrat President finished. Neither one could have succeeded without the other. Those are the facts, like them or not. Mental gymnastics trying to make the facts conform to preconceived notions helps no one.

I am not saying Bush did not state repeatedly that Osama bin Laden was not his top priority. I am not saying that Obama did not state repeatedly that Osama bin Laden was his top priority. Both of those are facts. I am saying that the goals each had was reinforced and unattainable without what came before. We need to see that, accept it and realize that we are much stronger united than we could ever be divided.

President Obama could have used this moment to unite the nation behind him, guaranteeing him a second term and ushering in an era of co-operation that the Nation desperately wants and needs but he didn't. He still could, but with much less of an impact. That's a missed opportunity that I hope doesn't come back to haunt us.

We are the United States of America. Its about time we started focusing on what Unites us.

Shay's Rebellion and What it Means in 2011

For those of you educated in the public school system, Shay's Rebellion took place in Western Massachusetts during the 1780s after the American Revolution. It became an important event in US history when taken together with other rebellions at the time because the cause was taxes. Daniel Shay was the man behind the rebellion; a veteran of the Continental Army (they fought on our side) who resigned after being wounded and left for home unpaid. Upon arriving at home, he ended up in court for unpayment of debt (likely due to having been unpaid while serving in the Continental Army) and saw many many others in the same situation.

Being a revolutionary sort of person, he mounted a rebellion made up of the folks who were being taken to the cleaners. At one town meeting, a farmer phrased it this way:

"I have been greatly abused, have been obliged to do more than my part in the war, been loaded with class rates, town rates, province rates, Continental rates and all rates...been pulled and hauled by sheriffs, constables and collectors, and had my cattle sold for less than they were worth...The great men are going to get all we have and I think it is time for us to rise and put a stop to it, and have no more courts, nor sheriffs, nor collectors nor lawyers."

Note that when he says "rates" he's referring to what we call taxes. What does he mean by that? Well, let's look at a bit of Massachusetts history, shall we? 1778, the first attempt at a state Constitution was shot down in the vote to ratify. In 1780, a state Constitution is ratified over the objections of many small towns and communities, setting a precedent in state politics that exists to this day. 1781, the state's paper money (money at the time was issued be each state) issued in 1778 drops to 1 fortieth of its issued value. So a state dollar was be worth 2.5 cents. And you thought our inflation was bad!

The courts are filled with people from the wealthy families who predominantly reside in the eastern part of the state and that does nothing to endear these now impoverished farmers who plead their cases and are largely ruled against. Such is the situation that protests are started in Western Massachusetts by Samuel Ely in 1782 against both the court system and state policies. The following year (1783) Job Shattuck from Groton, MA leads a group armed with clubs and staves against the tax collectors. In 1784 the courts are flooded with cases of unpaid debts like our good friend Daniel Shay. In 1785 a man in sentenced to 70 days in prison for unpaid debts.

Daniel Shay blows his top, grabs some men and they charge the courts of Northampton, Great Barrington, Concord, Taunton and Springfield in 1786, disrupting proceedings and shutting them down. The governor of Massachusetts responds with the Riot and Milita Acts; a proclamation declaring Danny and his boys (I couldn't resist) to be traitors. It goes further by stating that any gathering of more than 12 armed people in public is illegal and empowered sheriffs to kill anyone participating in said gathering. That's called elimination of the right to fair trail. Samuel Adams (well after his first brewery failed) declared that any rebellions against the republic should be put to death. The state legislature suspends the right of Habeas Corpus, or release from unlawful detention. Job Shattuck is wounded while resisting arrest, shipped to Boston and imprisoned without trial or bail.

By 1787 Danny's boys, called Regulators, are organized into 6 regiments throughout Hampshire country. A governmental militia is sent west and they fire upon the Regulators at the Springfield Armory. A state of rebellion is declared and by February the fighting is over and the rebellion is quelled.


The fallout: Shays and the Regulators are captured, imprisoned, fined and two are hung for looting. The majority are given conditional pardons in exchange for surrendering their firearms and giving an Oath of Allegiance. By mid 1788, all members of the Regulators including the leaders are pardoned. That same year the US Constitution is ratified by 11 of the 13 states (except Carolina and Rhode Island). The Bill of Rights is signed into law shortly thereafter.

But why tell us all this you ask? Surely I could have spent my time here doing something other than typing all this out. Yes but look at what started the rebellion: excessive taxation, devaluation of money and lack of restitution in court. Sound familiar? How much have your taxes gone up? How much has the dollar frankly tanked? Do you think the courts are on your side?

Lucky, the majority of our population hasn't just participated in an open and armed revolt against one government already. We aren't - and shouldn't be - ready for open warfare in the streets and armed rebellion.

That doesn't mean we can't peacefully rebel. We need to hold our representatives and senators responsible for the votes they cast on our behalf. We need to pay the Bill of Rights and take responsibility for those rights we are guaranteed and not lay claim to those that aren't. Educate yourself on what liberties the government is not empowered to infringe and ensure those you vote for do not try to demean, diminish or delete them. This nation of the people, by the people and for the people needs to be run by the people. Do not let them create a false nobility or ruling class. You do not need a degree to run for office. You don't need millions of dollars (but it helps). Your vote matters. Use it wisely.

Far too many have shed far too much blood for you to demean it with willful ignorance.

Localities and Local issues

The town I live in is one of two currently being courted by Mohegan Sun for the building of a resort casino. We are also facing the possible closing of the middle school.

Who said local politics weren't fun?

On the school front, the superintendent of schools held an informational meeting with the town to illuminate the possible closing of the middle school, which would mean some 400 students would suddenly need to find space in either the already over-crowded high school or the already over-crowded elementary school. There are a number of problems, among which is that the superintendent is stating that they have no control over about 96% of their budget. These are fixed costs like utilities, busing, and Individual Education Plans for student requiring special care (which carries the weight of law in Massachusetts). The remaining 4% is discretionary funding which is books, papers, pens, pencils and other paraphernalia of learning. As a father of four children, I wonder at that number since I know we provide paper, pens and pencils and I've seen the same text books show up with child after child.

He is stating that the schools received a 58% cut in funding in total from the state in various ways. He was asked by the state education board to prepare four budgets: a level budget and budgets with a 5%, 10% and 15% cut in funding. He stated that the administration is not receiving any raises this year in an effort to mitigate the budget.

Good for them - I've gone without a raise for two years running and this year doesn't look good either. Pardon my lack of sympathy, but its about freaking time. Consider that last year the administration had an 8% pay raise if you average it out over all administrators and the year before was 10%. Even if I had gotten a raise I would have been lucky to see 3%. Boo freaking hoo for the administration.

The people of this community have been making do with less for years. I won't get into the national or state politics that caused that because that's not what this post is about. The end result is that since 2008 people in this community on average have not seen an increase in their income but have seen an increase in spending. Gas taxes have gone up. Sales taxes have gone up. The price for oil, gasoline and natural gas has gone up. The price for food has gone up. The price for clothing and other goods has gone up. That's not even talking about the credit card interests. I personally am facing possible foreclosure on my house and I still have a good paying job. That's mostly due to sudden emergency expenditures like an exploding boiler, a leaky roof, failed appliances and plumbing repairs that I did myself. We were unable to secure any loans other than for the boiler. Our credit cards have had the interest rates increased and the credit limits decreased. We are behind in all our debt. I haven't mentioned it because we're not alone, and we're better off than some if not most. I only mention this now because its about time the government in some way starts to feel the pinch.

There was no sympathy at all for what the schools were going through, only outrage. Outrage because we were led to believe that this would be a question and answer session where we would have the opportunity to discuss the issue. Outrage over the wisdom and safety concerns of placing ten and eleven year olds in the same building as seventeen and eighteen year olds within weeks of a report of a twelve year old getting raped by a seventeen year old. Outrage over the sense that no one in the school administration seems to feel anything about it at all; no concern, guilt, anger, humiliation or even frustration. A token attempt was made to place blame on the town government but everyone in the audience has been (or should be) aware that the town has been one step from bankruptcy for years now.

I fail to see how the school administrators can feel closing the school will do anything positive in regards to their budget. The bulk of their budget from their own numbers is spent on IEPs and other fixed costs which will not be affected by closing the school building. This has the feel of a scare tactic meant to panic the public, a public that is already stretched to the breaking point with tension, worry and very real fear. This was a bad move.

Now onto the casino! Free-flowing money, food, drinks and scantily clad beautiful women are what you think of when you hear casino. That's what the advertisers and the movies have drilled into our heads. A pseudo-classy world of fun and excitement and romance that could exist within our town borders. We are led to believe that having a billion dollar resort casino would bring much-needed jobs, traffic to area businesses and relief to the town coffers.

HA!

The area they want to put the casino in is across the street from the entrance to the Massachusetts Turnpike. This is a resort casino - a one-stop shop complete with restaurants, gas stations, stores and hotels so that casino patrons will never have to leave the casino for any reason whatsoever. So much for traffic to area businesses.

Casino jobs require training and experience that you really can't get anywhere else. Do you know all the rules of blackjack, five or seven card stud, 21, pitch and poker? Can you deal cards? Do you know how to run a high-tech security center? Are you familiar with the laws regarding gambling in Massachusetts? (Right now there's only one: its illegal but the current state legislature will change that and no doubt to the benefit of the casino that's lining their pockets) Can you spot someone cheating from across a crowded room or someone underage using a fake ID? Casino jobs involve very unique and particular skills. Jobs may end up coming to our area but not immediately and not high-paying ones. So much for much-needed jobs.

We live in a state that is notorious for raising taxes on businesses. So notorious that we've been hemorrhaging businesses and jobs for years. People have followed the jobs and left this state; we are one of I think five states to have actually seen a population decrease. Why would any business want to come to Massachusetts? Tax breaks. The governor wants to have state-run casinos, but if that were purely the case why would a casino spend the sort of cash that Mohegan Sun has spent courting my area and New Bedford? The answer is that they have to believe very strongly that they're going to get some sort of sweet-heart deal. Chances are that the state is going to give the casinos a bye on their taxes for a few years. The state is betting on making that up in other sources of revenue.

Silly state - don't you know better than to bet against a casino? The house ALWAYS wins in the long run.

Foreign Policy

The days of the US taking a single-minded approach to foreign policy is past. I'm not convinced it was ever a good idea but regardless, its an idea whose time has come and gone. I'm not a fan of President Obama and did not vote for him, so let me just say that right out of the gate. He is doing everything he said he'd do in his campaign and that is to change the face of the US government. I disagree with the direction he's taking but that's why I didn't vote for him. I'm not going to get into his domestic policies in this particular rant: there's enough fodder there for quite a few posts/rants. This particular post is in regards to his rather disastrous thus far foreign policy.

It is popular among certain groups of intelligentsia to malign the United States or previous administrations and that's fine for them to do as private citizens. No nation is perfect and we have plenty of skeletons in our closet, however I do not want to see my President, the leader of the United States going into other countries and apologizing for the previous administration. That's airing dirty laundry that doesn't need to be aired and it's taking a pot-shot at someone who is no longer a threat to your own policies. It has no place on the international stage. If a Democrat wants to stand up in Congress and say they hate all Republicans, fine - I'll applaud their honesty if nothing else. But to have the sitting President go in front of the leaders of other nations and basically say "hey that guy I replaced was an idiot and I'm sorry you had to deal with him" isn't being politically savvy. Its not a way to get other leaders on our side. It doesn't buy political points with anyone. All it does is make it look like you cannot get past the previous administration and are more interested in pointing fingers than getting results. If behind closed doors you say it in the course of negotiations, that's fine. Stating it in a speech is amateurish and childish.

When is someone going to do something positive with South America? Here's a quick catch-up to those who haven't been paying any attention to our fellow Americans south of the isthmus. Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is more than just a petty dictator who hates America and will malign the United States to anyone willing to listen: he has dreams of turning South America into one unified government under his despotic rule.

He came to power in Venezuela after failing in a coup to take over the nation in 1992. He then went to visit his friend and colleague in Cuba, Fidel Castro and came back with a number of Cubans loyal to him. They became citizens of Venezuela and through the use of the Bolivarian Circles voted him into office in 1998 mostly by strong-arming those who weren't going to vote for him, much like ACORN does here in the United States, only more successfully. The same tactics have been used in his "re-elections" that good ole' Jimmy Carter "certified".

The official story however is that he worked hard after being released from prison to earn the trust of the public. He created the Fifth Republic Movement on the ideas of basically dismantling then recreating a new republic. He claimed that the constitution at the time preserved the two parties in control of Venezuela. Basically he took "hope and change" to an extreme and used community organizations organized by people from Cuba get himself into the top spot.

Once in office, his Bolivarian Circles became his grassroots organization: they found his political opponents who he then suppressed and denied services to. They intimidated the politically ambiguous into voting for him and act as a sort of Hitler Youth for his administration. He started making overtures to other governments and created the Union of South American Nations which he rightfully thinks will be the first step to creating a single continent-wide country. He has also been working with FARC to undermine the governments in other South American nations that are not on good terms with him. His allies in Ecuador and Brazil are particularly stringent in their support of their fellow socialist/communist. At one point, Venezuela and Ecuador had their military units stationed along Columbia's border as a threat.

But wait! you say - isn't Columbia pretty much owned and run by the Drug Cartels? Not really, not anymore. Presidente Alvaro Uribe of Columbia has been rather successful in driving them out or lowering their influence, so much so that much of Mexico's problems stem from the fact that Columbia is no longer a safe haven for them run by a puppet government. Columbia is perhaps our staunchest ally south of the border at this point.

So why should we care?

Draw the connections. Venezuela has ties directly and through Cuba to Russia and China and therefore to North Korea. As a member of OPEC, Venezuela also has ties to Iran, Lybia and Saudi Arabia and therefore to Hamas. Hugo Chavez has been very vocal in his support of FARC and has 'demanded' that the US and the UN Human Rights Council removes them off their Terrorist Watch lists. Venezuela also undermines the United States' foreign policy at every opportunity at one point even calling the sitting President of the US the Devil himself.

Good thing President Obama apologized to the world then, isn't it? Never mind that the alliance is forming right under our very noses of a global network of terrorist supporters. Never mind that the very act of apologizing places you in a position of weakness. Never mind that because of the still tunnel-vision aspect of foreign policy North Korea, who has nukes and missiles to put them on, has been relegated to be dealt with by Russia and China who are both supporters of North Korea.

Our enemies are circling and forming alliances. They are approaching foreign policy with a global view and unless and until we do the same and assume a position of strength, we will continue to set ourselves up for failure. If we're lucky in another fifty years, historians will be wondering if President Obama turned a blind eye to what was happening so that we'd have an excuse to enter World War III just like our historians wonder the same about President Truman and World War II.

It's Official!

I hate this administration. When I say "this" I really mean "both the state and the federal administrations that are conspiring to make me bankrupt". They've conspired between the two of them to seize an additional 3.7% of my income. I've lost a noticeable chunk of my take-home pay thanks to these two morons.

That's right - morons. I'm flat out stating it: Deval Patrick and Barak Obama are fiscal morons. JFK that Democrat pipe-dream once said that it is an irony of the economy that lowering taxes increases the state income yet these two have imagined that doing the opposite will increase it even more. Because of that I've lost what is equivalent to my car loan payment to the feds and the state.

Please, someone explain to me how this can possibly help the economy by taking more money out of the people who drive the economy: the paying public? Think of it this way: if you want people to spend more money, should you take money away from them? How will that encourage us to spend money? How will seizing a car company or two as well as controlling the banks help? The last guy that did that when he got in power was considerably shorter and had a goofy moustache. But wait! President Obama is going to make Chrystler and GM make cars that are more eco-friendly and efficient! That'll make people more likely to buy them!

That other guy had a similar idea: he made a government controlled car company make a new division that would sell cars for the common people of his economically devastated nation. They called it the Folks' Car a.k.a. Volkwagon.

Yes, I am comparing the socialist nationalist policies of our President with the socialist nationalist policies of Hitler. Are you going to report me to the American Youth Council? Will you shut me down with the Fairness Doctrine?

Anyone who votes for anyone who is currently in office - regardless of what party - is an idiot. They're all in on it. Every last one and I don't care which parenthetical letter follows their name. They're all guilty of selling out the American Dream and the Constitution they're supposed to defend from all enemies foreign and domestic.

I'm not unhappy - I'm getting pissed off.

We need a return to the Constitution. We've swung far enough to the left it's time to swing back to the right. Enough Progressive nonsense: its time for some Conservative nonsense! They've gone too far. I've been holding my tongue. I really have. With all the international policy disasters, the poorly thought out economic policies, the frankly devastating response to the current financial crisis (which is not truly improving in spite of what the talking heads on the propaganda channels say), the aspirations to nationalize healthcare and all hospitals as well as the frighteningly inept approach to North Korea I think I'm ready to say that in my not very humble opinion that the Obama Administration is a failure that does not deserve a second term. The banks have not started loaning money. Until that happens the economy is not on the recovery trail. I don't care what the stock market says.

An Iranian Mosque was bombed last night.  Surprisingly, the Iranian government is blaming the US.  I wish I could say I was surprised.  I also wish I could say I was sure we didn't pay these jokers to do this.  This is the problem when you have a dictator who hates the US coupled with years and years of media coverage that also hates the US.  

My kingdom for a return to impartial investigative journalism!

State of the World Today - or - Israel Will be a Mushroom Cloud in a Year and its All Your Fault

Alright I had a conversation with one of my best friends today and I've been obsessing about it ever since.

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor - I don't care.  Really, it doesn't matter to me.  Why you may ask?  Simple - there are bigger problems to worry about and the President has the privilege of selecting justices to the Supreme Court.  I think it's a bit hypocritical of the Democrats to be so much behind her considering they filibustered Miguel Estrada who was a Latino nominee from humble background.  She may or may not be a racist or a sexist or an elitist.  But I don't care all that much.

What's the bigger problem?

Kim Jong Il launching a number of missiles into the Sea of Japan over this past weekend.  His withdrawal from the armistice that ended hostilities in the Korean War.  His statement that if South Korea allows or participates in any blocking of ships heading to North Korea that would be a declaration of war.  Most importantly what concerns me is my President's lack of action on it.  Yes, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did expound rather eloquently on how this sort of behavior Won't Be Tolerated and there will be Serious Consequences but there was no teeth behind her remarks.  She said that while the Speaker of the House was in Singapore basically entreating Bejing to take over our foreign policy in regards to North Korea.  

Speaker Pelosi has no authority to entreat on the behalf of the US Government with foreign officials but let's face it - she had to leave the country before she made things even worse for herself.  Besides, someone had to go behind the scenes to suck up to China on behalf of President Obama.  

In a conversation at the Electric Speakeasy some time ago (a year or more) I said that we were witnessing the beginning of World War Three and the axis powers would be China, Iran, Russia, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.  But wait - China's on our side, aren't they?  They're outraged at North Korea's actions.  They said so!  So did Russia.

Suuuure they are.  I heard John Batchelor on the Curtis Sliwa show the other night saying that China and Russia both are very happy with North Korea being the rogue nation and filling that role for them.  

Something to remember and/or realize: China lobbied hard to host the 2008 Olympics.  Why?  Because it was China's way of showcasing itself to the world.  It was a reboot - if I may use geek speak for a minute - of their international image.  Hosting the Olympics was a way to scrub the events at Tienanmen Square ten years ago from the international mind-set.  That's important because China believes that the 21st century belongs to them.  They're more than happy letting us think they're our friends while they underwrite our debts and sell us products that are made and sold on the cheap.

Remember the song 16 Tons?  That's the US relationship with China right now; like coal miners with the coal companies at the turn of the last century.  They cover our debt and sell us things that we're buying from them on the credit they provide.  If that makes no sense to you, then you're starting to think.  It's insane for the US to think that China has no ulterior motive and that they agree with us on what North Korea should or should not be doing.  Remember that it was China who stopped us at the 38th parallel way back in 1953, not North Korea.  

For those of you educated in the public education system: that means that China is North Korea's ally, not ours.

Then China and Russia engaged in joint military maneuvers last year.  Countries don't do that unless they're allies.

John Batchelor stated that it's fairly common knowledge among the international intelligence communities that Iran and North Korea are allies and have constant communication.  Iran and Venezuela are both members of OPEC.  Cuba and Russia are still allies (that hasn't changed in my lifetime), as are Cuba and Venezuela.

To recap - China is allies with North Korea who is allies with Iran who is allies with Venezuela who is allies with Cuba who is allies with Russia who is allies with China.

Did you notice that the US is not listed in there?  Yeah, I did too.

So, North Korea is testing missile technology and basically pissing off half the civilized world in that area while simultaneously pursuing nuclear technology (thank you Mr Clinton) along with their ally; that other rogue nation, Iran.  Make no mistake, once Iran has a nuclear weapon, they will use it on Israel.  

How do I know?  Because they've said they would, and I believe them.

It doesn't even matter who develops nuclear weapons first; Iran or North Korea, because once one has them the other one soon will.  

What bothers me most about all of this is that this is all our fault.  When I say "our" what I really mean is "your".  Yes, you, the average US citizen.  It is your fault that Israel will be blown up by a petty dictator wannabe.  The 'average' US citizen does not vote.  The 'average' voter does so based solely on party affiliation rather than actually paying attention to the issues.  They consider themselves to be educated on the issues because they hear a five minute news headline overview during their commute to and from work.  They're more worked up over American Idol than they are North Korea's aggressive stance.  

We elected a man into the White House who is a socialist by his own admission, who has no leadership experience in any form and we elected him because we were more enamored with the color of his skin than with the substance of his character.  There's a word for that sort of behavior and it was in the avoidance of that word that caused us to act in that fashion - how messed up is that?

Because of that, our President has made gaffes on the international stage of such staggering proportions that it blows my mind.  Our President is so enamored with the idea of achieving some form of "victory" over Iran through 'peaceful' talks that he's literally ignoring the powder keg that's developing in the far east.  North Korea is the lynch pin that may light off a World War the likes of which would make my grandfather's war look like a skirmish.

You think the casualties from Iraq were too much?  We lost more men in one day of fighting in Iwo Jima than we did in the five years we've spent in Iraq.  We failed to learn the real lesson of Vietnam which is when you are involved in a war you declare war and leave politicians out of it.  We hamstring our military and intelligence agencies then decry them any time they do something that might possibly be conceived as being offensive.  We tell them they need to be effective and get the job done but they can't do anything that might actually be effective.

The result of our inaction and our inability to actually exercise our rights with any form of responsibility is that World War Three is sitting on our doorsteps and the enemies have no fear of death, nor do they care about hurting innocent civilians.  When North Korea or Iran attacks with a nuclear weapon, their target won't be a military installation.  Iran's target will be Jerusalem.  North Korea's will be Seoul or Tokyo.  The death toll from such an attack will be in the hundreds of thousands if we're lucky.  Considering Iran's ties to Hammas and possibly other terrorist groups, we'd be lucky if there isn't some sort of dirty bomb attack on US soil.

But no, we're more concerned with what the Chosen One is going to do next.  How is He going to save the economy.  How will the evil Republicans attempt to block the pure as driven snow Sonia Sontomayor's nomination to our highest court.

We're going to ignore the failure of Obama's international policy.  We're going to ignore the fact that one of his first acts as President was to place the Census under the control of the White House and that his domestic economic policy is to seize control of as many industries as possible.  He's already seized control of the banking and automotive industries.  He's making moves towards "Big Business" like Big Oil.  We're going to ignore that the economy is not really on the road to recovery - the decline has slowed down.  Economic experts without a political axe to grind are all saying the same thing: this isn't over yet, the full impact hasn't hit us yet.

I believe in the the Spirit of America.  I truly do.  I believe that the American people can still save our country.  What scares me is that the longer it takes us to resolve our problems using the first amendment, the more likely we'll have to resolve it with the second amendment.

That's not a world I want to raise my children in.

Education System

Why is it that the people in charge of the education of our children can't seem to understand what it is they're doing?  When I say "people in charge" I really mean the policy makers; the Superintendants and Unions and Department of Education types.  The dreaded and much-maligned 'pencil pushers' that no one ever seems to admit to being.

I do not possess a college education in spite of the time I spent in college, I want to make that clear from the get-go.  But it seems to me that the older I get the less that little piece of paper means.  When I was in middle school, a college education was something only few people ever had and it meant a lot.  By the time I got to college age, it was the next expected step and not a big deal if you had one.  Now some decades later it seems that anyone who can chug a beer will get a degree regardless of how much they actually deserve it.

That, to me, is symbolic of what's plaguing our education system: no clear goals.  In my state we have a test that was designed to test the education system so naturally the education administrators have made it the litmus test for graduation.  That's like using a hammer with a screw - yes, it'll work but it's not how it was meant to be used.  

If I Were In Charge 

This is how it would go.  You show up on your little tyke's first day of school.  You meet the teacher and introduce your young one to them.  They had you a packet that has as it's contents:

Emergency Contact information

Pertinent medical information about your child (allergies, known issues that might affect the education environment, pediatrician's name)

Expectations

That section would show what you can expect your child to learn by the end of each grade and what the teacher expects from you the parent.

Every grade would have clearly defined goals and objectives, as would each 'block' (grade school, middle school and high school).  I'm a big one for improvising and making things up as I go along but when it comes to an organization, clear goals and objectives are necessary.  Any organization, be it a military unit, corporate entity, non-profit or government division needs to have a goal to work towards.  Otherwise everyone is just doing day-to-day events that they think applies to their job.

There would be no homework.  Reports and projects are fine, but daily homework is pointless.  What is the purpose of sending a child home with work they should have learned at school?  Especially now that math has apparently changed from the way it was done over the past several centuries; ever do a math triangle?  Have you ever composed a math sentance?  Yeah, me neither.

There would be Reading, Math, Art, Music and Gym in grades 1 and 2.  That's it.  At grade 3 science is added.   At grade 5 US History is added.  At grade 6 social studies and foreign language are added.  At grade 7 civics is added.  

You will notice that there are no computer courses.  The technology industry is changing much to fast for our education system to keep up with.  The computer was designed with a slide rule and so were integrated circuits.  The computers used today look and behave nothing like those that existed ten years ago and our children are in school twelve years.  The IT industry spends billions making computers easier and easier to use - they're in our cars, watches, television sets, radios and even in stoves and refridgerators for crying out loud.  It's called ergonomics; it means that its meant to work intuitively.  Only our education system would think they need to teach someone something that's designed to be intuitive.

Every student would be given a written immigration test in English before graduating high school.  If they fail, they don't graduate.  They will also be expected to balance a checkbook and create a budget.  High school will have as it's goal to teach every student the skills they need to survive in the world.  That means sewing, cooking and cleaning as well as hygene, how to figure simple interest and balance a checkbook, how to read and write with proper grammar and spelling and how and when to vote.

They will not be taught that liberalism is the highest social ideal.  Nor will they be taught that conservatism is the solution to the world's problems.  They will be taught what liberalism is and what conservatism is (preferably by a teacher who is of the opposing viewpoint).  They will be taught above all else that you are responsible for your own actions.  That's something that parents should be teaching and teachers reinforcing.

There will be no "zero tolerance" of anything.  Zero tolerance policies accomplish nothing.  They serve only to encourage the people in charge to ignore whatever issue they're trying to have no tolerance for.  There will be no career counseling.  It is not the job of the school to prepare a child for a job, it is the job of the school to prepare the child for life.  We all start in menial minimum wage jobs and move on from there.  There's no reason to change that.

This may seem harsh to some of you dear readers and if it does then I apologize.  Life is not fair and giving our children too much assistance or protecting them from anything that might bruise their egos is counter productive to what parents should be doing.  Parents should be teaching their children that when you get knocked down you get back up.

Educators are not paid to be day care or substitute parents.