From the Right of Center

Maybe the Only Truly Romantic Thing Left in American Sports: The Green Bay Packers

2011-08-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

(This article was in The Desert News, the Salt Lake City newspaper.)

Seriously, America, what's not to like about the Green Bay Packers? What's not to like about a small-town team that is not only surviving, but thriving in the billion-dollar business of professional football?

There is nothing like them in professional sports. Think about what an oddity they are. Teams have come and gone in the NFL in a continuous game of musical chairs--the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis, the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, the Oakland Raiders to L.A. and back to Oakland, the Cardinals from Chicago to St. Louis to Phoenix, the Los Angeles Rams to St. Louis ...

But the Packers have stayed in tiny Green Bay, Wisconsin, since their birth in 1919. America 's second biggest city, Los Angeles, with a population of 4 million, doesn't even have a franchise, but Green Bay , with a population of 101,000, does. It's like plunking down a team in the middle of Sandy , Utah . They are the smallest market in pro sports. Green Bay 's metro area--if you stretch the definition of "metro"--is 283,000. Buffalo, the next smallest in sports, has 1.1 million. New York City has 8.5 million in the city limits alone, 19 million in the metro area.

What's not to like about a team that was dreamed up during a street-corner conversation one day? Curly Lambeau, a former Green Bay prep star and Notre Dame football player, hatched the idea and convinced his employer, the Indian Packing Company, to buy uniforms and provide a practice field. In turn, the team called itself the Packers. Lambeau was the team's first star player (for 11 years) and its first coach (for 30 years) and--you've got to like this--he pioneered the forward pass in the NFL.

What's not to like about the last small-town survivor of the National Football League? In the early '20s, the fledgling NFL consisted almost entirely of small-town teams like Green Bay--the Decatur Staleys, Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Muncie Flyers, Rochester Jeffersons, Rock Island Independents. But as the league turned fully to professionalism, those teams either folded or moved to big cities for bigger profits. Green Bay found a way to keep the Packers--the community bought them.

What's not to like about a team that is owned by its fans? The Packers are the only publicly owned team in professional sports... There's no Jerry Jones, George Steinbrenner, or Daniel Snyder in Green Bay . The other teams have one very rich, often reviled, owner; the Packers have 112,000 shareholders--or 112,000 Monday-morning quarterbacks who are legally entitled to kibbutz. They've rescued the team from financial hardship four times--in 1923, '35, '50 and '97. Without them, the team simply would not exist.

What's not to like about this team? Apparently, not much. Despite their small-town roots--or perhaps because of it--they have courted a world-wide following. According to a 2010 Harris poll, the Packers are still the third most popular team in the country, 40 years after their glory years. Someone once asked the late, former, NFL commissioner, Pete Rozelle, to name the best football city in America ... "Green Bay," he replied. "A small town. People owning their own football team. Rabid supporters."

The Packers have one of the longest waiting lists for season tickets in pro sports, some 80,000 deep (Lambeau Field seats only 78,000). The average wait for season tickets is estimated to be 30 years, but if you added your name to the list now you probably wouldn't get tickets in your lifetime. Packer fans are known to leave season tickets in their wills or to place newborn babies on the waiting list. Packer games have been sold out since 1960

"I'm a 'green and gold' season ticket holder and have some voting stock in the team," explains Walt Mehr, a Utah resident who grew up in Eagle River, WI, just north of Green Bay. "It took me 23 years to get season tickets. We have a big shareholders meeting in July and vote. We were involved with remodeling of the stadium. As season-ticket holders, we had to put up money for that - $5,000. My tickets are in my will."

It's every fan's dream--they get to help run the team... You've got to like that.

What's not to like about a team that has been an almost mythical force since joining the NFL in 1921? They've won 13 championships--nine NFL titles in the pre-Super Bowl era, and four Super Bowls--and no one else is close to matching them. They won the first two Super Bowls. They won five championships in seven years during the '60s. They're the only team that's ever won three in a row. The city's nickname is "Titletown." Their coach's name is on the Super Bowl Trophy. They have 21 Hall of Famers, second only to the Chicago Bears. They are a team of legends--Starr, Nitschke, Taylor, Lombardi, Davis, Hornung, Kramer, Gregg, Hutson, Lambeau, Favre.

What's not to like about a team that is so entrenched in the community in such a personal way? It's big-time football in a small-town way that has been lost as the NFL has grown. This is the town that spawned the Lambeau Leap--players leaping into the arms of fans behind the end zone after a touchdown, a routine that has since been adopted throughout the league. It symbolizes the close connection between the team and the fans, like so many other things. Green Bay's stadium is bordered by the back yards of middle-class neighborhoods. The players live in regular neighborhoods, with the fans.

"Unlike the other NFL cities, where players can live in mansions away from the masses, Green Bay has no real 'affluent' suburbs," says Vai Sikahema, a former Packer and BYU player. "And because of the frigid weather, everyone had second homes in warmer places. So, the players lived in modest homes in regular neighborhoods.

"Playing for the Packers and living in Green Bay is generally the way it was in the '60's when Vince Lombardi lived there. The house we rented was rented by a host of former Packers, dating back to the great running back Jim Taylor. Another player rented a home once lived in by Bart Starr. That creates this extra unique bond with the fan base. On Tuesdays, our day off, we'd walk our children to the bus stop and all the dads would go in late so they could walk their own kids and talk football with us at the bus stop. My wife had play dates with regular moms on our street, as opposed to the closed, elitist 'wives club' on other teams."

There is a tradition in Green Bay that has received considerable publicity over the years. Kids wait for Packer players outside the locker room and often use their bikes to ride to the practice field. The kids hold the players' helmets and jog alongside the players as they ride the kids' bikes to practice. Who couldn't like that? "I was one of those kids who ran next to a player while he rode my bike to the practice field from the locker room," says Mark Stimpson, a Salt Lake resident who grew up in Green Bay . "We did it every day during the summer. I had a metallic green stingray bike. I'd wait by the locker room. The player would hand me his helmet. The players wouldn't pedal the bikes. They were too big. They'd just stick their legs out and coast because it's a down-hill walk to the field. We'd talk to them while we walked beside them. Then, during practice, we'd watch the guy who rode our bike. It was a fun time. The players were great to us."

Sikahema remembers the bike routine, as well. "The bikes are one of those unique things in Green Bay that allow fans, especially kids, to get to know the players in a personal way," he says. "I stayed in touch with the kid whose bike I used through his college years and his wedding. He's now in his mid-30s. His name is Aaron Smet. When I was there, a bunch of poor kids didn't have bikes to lend to the players and (teammate) Sterling Sharpe had Wal-Mart deliver to the complex a tractor trailer full of bikes that he gave away to less fortunate kids."

Stimpson recalls seeing Willie Wood, Ray Nitschke, Elijah Pitts, and Bart Starr around town when he was a kid. The Packers were one of them. His sister, Mary Nelson, babysat for reserve quarterback Zeke Bratkowski. "Zeke lived around the corner from us," says Nelson. "After the games some of the players would come over to Zeke's house. I got to meet Bart Starr, Jerry Kramer and Max McGee and their wives. Every time I babysat Zeke's kids he would walk me home."

What's not to like about a town that is all about its team? Green Bay businesses are Packer themed. The streets are named after Packers--Lombardi, Ray Nitschke, Brett Favre, Mike Holmgren, Don Hutson, Reggie White, Bart Starr, Tony Canadeo. Even the official Green Bay website is all about the local football team.

The town shuts down during games; churches schedule around the Packers, then open their parking lots for Packer fans. "The streets are empty during the games," says Stimpson. "When I was a boy I could ride my bike down the middle of the street because there was no traffic."

What's not to like about a team that won the Ice Bowl, one of the greatest games ever played? It was the 1967 NFL Championship game in Green Bay , and the temperature was minus 13 degrees, with a wind chill hovering around 50 below. Rick Delacenserie, who grew up in the Green Bay area and now lives in Park City, watched the Packer practices as a boy and witnessed the Ice Bowl from the same end zone where Starr scored the game-winning touchdown.

"I spent most of the third quarter in the bathroom," he recalls. "It was packed in there. Everyone was trying to get warm. Someone brought a hacksaw and cut up the goal posts. All I got was some of the foam they wrapped around the post." You've got to love a team that inspires fans to brave sub-zero weather.

After the Super Bowl victory that followed the Ice Bowl, the Packers went into decline for 25 years until the Favre years arrived in the early '90s, but the Packers still inspired fierce loyalty and love.

"The only thing you can see on the horizon is Lambeau Field," says Mehr, who pauses to choke back tears before continuing. "I get chills when I see it. On a beautiful, clear day, omigosh."

For his part, Stimpson left home decades ago to attend BYU and settle in Utah . He doesn't follow sports as he once did and the game has changed and yet he still says this: "The Packers are so much a part of you. The Packers still have a certain pull. They always will."

Steve Wynn and Obama's Fiscal Policies

2011-07-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Steve Wynn, who calls himself a "Harry Reid Democrat", did not mince words this week, talking about Obama's fiscal policies. Wynn is a Las Vegas mogul, and head of Wynn Resorts, so he knows of which he speaks. He spent the last week on conference calls with investment analysts, and when the subject of expansion came up, Wynn was clear about why expansion in this economy is not happening.

William Lerner, of Deutsche Bank Securities, asked Wynn about adding more room and conference space in Las Vegas given the fact that there are times of the year that Vegas runs out of space. Steve Wynn answered:

Well, here's our problem. There are a host of opportunities for expansion in Las Vegas, a host of opportunities to create tens of thousands of jobs in Las Vegas. I know that I could do 10,000 more myself and according to the Chamber of Commerce and the Visitors Convention Bureau, if we hired 10,000 employees, it would create another 20,000 additional jobs for a grand total of 30,000. I believe in Las Vegas. I think its best days are ahead of it. But I'm afraid to do anything in the current political environment in the United States. You watch television and see what's going on, on this debt ceiling issue. And what I consider to be a total lack of leadership from the President and nothing's going to get fixed until the President himself steps up and wrangles both parties in Congress. But everybody is so political, so focused on holding their job for the next year that the discussion in Washington is nauseating. And I'm saying it bluntly, that this administration is the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime. And I can prove it and I could spend the next 3 hours giving you examples of all of us in this market place that are frightened to death about all the new regulations, our healthcare costs escalate, regulations coming from left and right. A President that seems -- that keeps using that word redistribution. Well, my customers and the companies that provide the vitality for the hospitality and restaurant industry, in the United States of America, they are frightened of this administration. And it makes you slow down and not invest your money. Everybody complains about how much money is on the side in America. You bet. And until we change the tempo and the conversation from Washington, it's not going to change. And those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President. And a lot of people don't want to say that. They'll say, "Oh God, don't be attacking Obama." Well, this is Obama's deal, and it's Obama that's responsible for this fear in America. The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution, and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest or holding too much money. We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody's afraid of the government, and there's no need soft peddling it, it's the truth. It is the truth. (Emphasis mine) And that's true of Democratic businessmen and Republican businessmen, and I am a Democratic businessman and I support Harry Reid. I support Democrats and Republicans. And I'm telling you that the business community in this country is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he's gone, everybody's going to be sitting on their thumbs.

It doesn't get much clearer than that. And it supports what we see as a country, namely there are no jobs and there is no recovery from the Great Recession.

Nice to have the other side finally figure it out.

Fourth Amendment Null and Void in Indiana

2011-05-16T05:44:00.000-07:00

The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled that people cannot resist illegal police home invasions. Their reasoning is that safety trumps the right to privacy given in the Fourth Amendment. The Amendment reads:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The Justices claim in a 3-2 Majority Opinion, that the safety of the home residents and the police is more important than the right of residents to protect their home against illegal invasion. The majority believes the place to contest illegal invasion by authorities is the court system. I agree with that part, I just don't agree that people have to let the police in whenever they want to get in.

"We believe ... a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence," David said. "We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest."

I'm pretty sure the Founding Fathers did not believe this was an argument that held any water when held up to the Fourth Amendment. Remember, this was written because the English were forcing their soldiers into private homes. They understood what we take for granted; a person's home should be inviolate. Period. No matter what behavior the resident of the home is engaged in, police cannot enter without permission of some sort; an invitation or a warrant. And warrants aren't easy to get due to the Fourth Amendment.

Now, stick with me here. The Fourth Amendment was used as rationale for legalizing abortion, and is frequently used as a defense of abortion. It's the reason minors can get abortions without their parents' knowledge. So, privacy protects people who murder unborn infants, but doesn't allow you to refuse the police entrance into your home. Privacy allows your 13 year-old daughter to go and get an abortion without telling significant adults in her life, but doesn't allow you to keep that same child safe in your home.

I'm sure this ruling will be appealed, and I hope the Supreme Court is still sensible enough to reverse this decision. Re-read that sentence. Because if the Supreme Court doesn't overturn the incredibly wrong ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court, that ruling will soon become the law of the land. I'm not willing to abide by it. Will you?

I have long said I will protect my home with deadly force if I need to. I have that right. I have also said I am willing to join a new revolution. In fact, I already have by being active in Tea Party rallies, working for political candidates I believe in, and working within the system to effect change. The system, however, is swiftly becoming something that true patriots will not be able to work within. I believe our government, from federal to local, is no longer working for the people, but panders exclusively to the groups with money.

It has to change. We need to get rid of activist judges who believe they know better than the Founding Fathers what they meant when the Constitution was drafted. We need to get rid of politicians who do not pay attention to the people of our country, state, and city. We need to understand the fight never ends, and that it is a true fight.

We may lose battles along the way, but the war isn't over by a long shot. We must win the war.

2011-04-28T11:52:00.005-07:00

n and sober and turn her life around. Please, Lord.

2011-04-28T11:52:00.003-07:00

ther 5. This is a pretty surreal experience. One I never thought I'd find myself in. We, as a family, however, believe this is her last, best chance to get clea

2011-04-28T11:52:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting in a courtroom, waiting for my sister's plea hearing. She has apparently agreed to a deal which puts her in prison for a year, and probation for ano

Own It, Shut Up, and Go to Hell

2011-04-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't written for a while, but I have been compiling stories for this post. The things people do never ceases to amaze me.

Since Wisconsin, smartly, elected Scott Walker in November, my political activism has been on the rise. I actually worked the phones for Walker and Johnson before the election, and enjoyed it so much, I got myself more active. Which means, because I live in the belly of the beast; Dane County, Wisconsin; I have also opened myself up to the amazing rudeness of the lefties.

When the 14 Democrat Senators left the state on 2/17/11, I couldn't believe it. I figured they would be back in a day or two, after all here is where their presence was needed. When it became obvious by the next day they weren't coming back any time soon, I started thinking about what action was available to me as a constituent of the ring leader, Mark Miller. Recall. Perfect. I looked on line and found out what was needed, talked to a helpful individual in the Government Accountability Board office, and thought some more. I knew this was a task beyond just myself, so I reached out to a fellow I had made phone calls with, and he introduced me to the people I needed to be in touch with. I have been working hard since then collecting signatures for the recall effort. I have stories to share.

My favorite is the old hippie who drove past me squeezing a rubber chicken and flipping me off. Do you think he carries that chicken around? Did he have to go home and get it, then drive past me with it? There were too many people to count that flipped me off. Most were content with just drive by with the bird flying. Others were compelled to slow down, make sure I was looking, then whip it out. There were those who honked and flipped it out, and there were those who had to add obscenities to the bird. The most shocking were the little old ladies flipping me off. Do they cook for their grandbabies with that finger?

About a month ago, the local daily newspaper and one of the local news stations interviewed me about the recall effort I am putting time in for, so, for a lot of the unionistas, I became the face of the movement. That also made me a flash point for a while. I was told to get a job before I told other people what to do.??? I was told I am a pawn for the corporations, the rich, the Republicans, ... I had a postal employee tell me I couldn't have a sign on my vehicle because it was in their PUBLIC parking lot. I told her she was trampling my civil rights, and she was. I had a large man park, get out of his car and tell me I had to leave the PUBLIC sidewalk I was set up on in front of the Post Office. He told me he had called the authorities but wouldn't give his name. I'm pretty sure he called the local Police Department, because I was visited by an officer not 20 minutes later. Of course, I was within my rights and completely legal. Another man told me I couldn't have my temporary recall signs pounded in to the grass between the sidewalk and the street. He told me someone from city hall would be visiting. None did.

My signs had two sides: Side 1 said Recall Mark Miller, Side 2 said This is What Democracy Looks Like. A woman, who thought she was signing a recall petition for Scott Walker, told me my signs were misleading. (I didn't find out until after the reporter for the paper talked to her that she didn't know what she signed. She didn't know until the reporter told her.) I guess her reading vocabulary is limited to : "This is what democracy looks like." I had more people than I can count ask who Mark Miller is. OK, I get that he's just a state senator, but if you're going to sign something, shouldn't you have a clue? Especially since he's the Senate Minority Leader. It made national news. Hello.

On election day, we were allowed to collect signatures at polling places within the 100 foot "safe zone" because none of the people being recalled were on the ballot. Some old union guy yelled at me from the time he walked out of the polling place, all the way to his truck and then as he drove past me. One woman went ballistic. I had no idea what she was yelling about, but I'm pretty sure she had been off her meds for a while. Two other women told me I was too close to the door, and they would call the police to make sure I wasn't breaking any laws. The polling place I was working was inside a building that houses police offices.

Stupid, rude, insulting, close-minded, and intimidating was what I saw of the left during my 60 day adventure to collect signatures. What I saw at the Capitol during that time was more of the same, but when they gather all their finer points (stupidity...) increase exponentially. In contrast, I never swore, I never flew the bird, I wasn't insulting and I didn't intimidate anyone. i can be a little closed minded, but no one was going to change my mind about this action.

So, lefties, unionistas, Democrats, socialists: Own it, shut up, and go to hell.

Lessons I Need to Learn

2011-01-12T13:25:00.000-08:00

When I look at my post from 1/9/11, I blush in embarrassment; not because what I wrote embarrasses me, but because a scant 3 days later I have to admit I totally forgot my own advice.

Let me start from the beginning: Right Kid No1 is getting married in March, and, like all weddings, as it gets closer, the stress level rises. I come from a family of six children, all of whom are very important to me and my children. So last night when I got a call from Right Kid No2, saying her older sister had just called in tears because my brother; her Godfather; was not coming to the wedding, I became angry. Right Kid No2 made me promise not to call my brother, that she would call later in the week when she wasn't so angry.

I didn't call. Instead I posted on my sister-in-laws Facebook wall. Be assured, it was a post designed to embarrass them and let them know I was not happy. A few minutes later, the post was gone, and I reposted that I wasn't going away, and that I was angry.

My brother called me, very upset, well within his rights to be, and instead of listening and caring about this man who is very dear to me, I got into a huge shouting match and said things designed to hurt him and his family. I am not proud of my actions, I am less proud of my words, and I am truly ashamed I didn't email or call to get the facts; especially since my information was at least 4th hand.

This post is an open apology to my brother, his wife and their children. I am sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me.

Violence and Politics and Life

2011-01-09T05:33:00.000-08:00

The shooting yesterday in Arizona was certainly a tragedy, and I join in prayer for the victims and the victims' families. The 22 year-old man who perpetrated the violence is certainly disturbed, angry, and frustrated. I believe this is an aberration rather than the norm. That being said, I also believe violence is more prevalent than it should be.

Last night six people were shot in Baltimore and two died, including a police officer trying to do his job. Fourteen headless bodies showed up in Acapulco just half of the 27 who were killed overnight. Home invasions, car-jackings, domestic abuse, animal abuse, drive-by shootings; these have all become fairly commonplace in our society. Let's not forget school shootings, a phenomenon that didn't exist 30 years ago.

Now, the blame game starts. The Left, predictably, is blaming the Right. The Right is, predictably, defending itself and pointing out the biased coverage of the Mainstream Media. Neither the Right nor the Left is culpable for this act of violence. The person responsible is Jared Loughner. Period. It's not his mother's fault, it's not his father's fault, and it's not Karl Marx's fault.

The "inflammatory rhetoric" and the "use of violent terms" that people are citing should not be scapegoats. We have had "inflammatory rhetoric" in politics since politics began. The "use of violent terms" have been a part of the American vocabulary long before Loughner decided to go on a shooting rampage. Instead of trying to blame language, politics, or ideology; let's find the real reasons. I don't know what they are, but Loughner has certainly left clues on the internet. We may never know exactly what precipitated this act of violence, which is hard to accept because we are a people who want answers for everything. Loughner, himself, may not know exactly why he did what he did.

Today, instead of playing the blame game, let's hold our families a little closer, let's appreciate our lives a little more, let's pray for peace, understanding, and justice. Let's look at our lives and attempt to rid them of as much violence as we can. Peace and justice start at home. This may be an overused phrase, but it's true, nonetheless.

Be safe, be healthy, and be thankful.

Evidence Shows Ruling of AZ Judge Illegal

2010-11-29T07:50:00.000-08:00

This may be old news to some of the more astute readers, but here it's all together in one article.

July 31, 10:07 AM Anthony G. Martin

In a stunning development that could potentially send the nation into a Constitutional crisis, an astute attorney who is well-versed in Constitutional law states that the ruling against the state of Arizona by Judge Susan Bolton concerning its new immigration law is illegal.

The attorney in question submitted her assertion in a special article in the Canada Free Press. Her argument states in part,"Does anyone read the U.S. Constitution these days? American lawyers don't read it. Federal Judge Susan R. Bolton apparently has never read it. Same goes for our illustrious Attorney General Eric Holder. But this lawyer has read it and she is going to show you something in Our Constitution which is as plain as the nose on your face.

Article III, Sec. 2, clause 2 of our Constitution says:

"In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction."

In other words, the Judge in the Arizona case has absolutely no Constitutional jurisdiction over the matter upon which she ruled. As the Constitution makes abundantly clear, only the U.S. Supreme Court can issue rulings that involve a state.

This means that neither Judge Bolton nor the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco , to which the case is being appealed, have any legal standing whatsoever to rule on the issue.

Thus, U.S. Attorney-General Eric Holder filed the federal government's lawsuit against the state of Arizona in a court that has no authority to hear the case.
The attorney whose heads-up thinking concerning the Constitution provides the legal remedy for dealing with this blatant disregard for Constitutional law in the article at Canada Free Press.

In a related development, another explosive discovery was made by those who actually take the Constitution seriously. The Constitution specifically allows an individual state to wage war against a neighboring country in the event of an invasion, should there be a dangerous delay or inaction on the part of the federal government. This information was cited by United Patriots of America.

From Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, we find these words:

"No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay."

No one who is actually familiar with the crisis at the southern border can deny that Arizona is endangered by the relentless assault of lawless Mexican invaders who ignore our laws, inundate our schools and medical facilities with unpaid bills, and even endanger the very lives of citizens with criminal drug cartels that engage in kidnapping, murder, 115 bodies recovered in AZ entry routes, human trafficking, and other mayhem, including aiming missile and grenade launchers directly at U.S. border cities from just across the Mexican border.

This is as much of an invasion as the nation of Iran sending in a fleet of warships to the Port of Charleston.

The Constitution that forms the basis of the rule of law in this country says that Arizona has legal right to protect itself in the case of inaction or delay on the part of the federal government, including waging war in its self-defense.

This, when coupled with the clear Constitutional mandate that only the Supreme Court hear cases involving the states, should be ample legal basis for attorneys representing Arizona to go after the federal government with a vengeance.

Governor Jan Brewer and the stalwart members of the Arizona legislature have ample legal reason to stand firm against the illegal bullying of an arrogant, lawless federal government.

Now, Who is Really to Blame?

2010-11-29T07:42:00.000-08:00

Here's an opinion piece by Chuck Green who writes "Greener Pastures" for the Denver Post Aurora Sentinel...one of the more liberal papers in the country. Additionally, Mr. Green is a life long Democrat...so this is rather a stunning piece...

Obama is Victim of Bush's Failed Promises
Greener Pastures Column -- 5/ 15/10

Barack Obama is setting a record-setting number of records during his first year in office.

Largest budget ever. Largest deficit ever. Largest number of broken promises ever. Most self-serving speeches ever. Largest number of agenda-setting failures ever. Fastest dive in popularity ever.

Wow! Talk about change.

Just one year ago, fresh from his inauguration celebrations, President Obama was flying high. After one of the nation's most inspiring political campaigns, the election of America 's first black president had captured the hopes and dreams of millions. To his devout followers, it was inconceivable that a year later his administration would be gripped in self-imposed crisis.

Of course, they don't see it as self-imposed. It's all George Bush's fault.

George Bush, who doesn't have a vote in congress and who no longer occupies the White House, is to blame for it all.

He broke Obama's promise to put all bills on the White House web site for five days before signing them.

He broke Obama's promise to have the congressional health care negotiations broadcast live on C-SPAN.

He broke Obama's promise to end earmarks.

He broke Obama's promise to keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent.

He broke Obama's promise to close the detention center at Guantanamo in the first year.

He broke Obama's promise to make peace with direct, no precondition talks with America 's most hate-filled enemies during his first year in office, ushering in a new era of global cooperation.

He broke Obama's promise to end the hiring of former lobbyists into high White House jobs.

He broke Obama's promise to end no-compete contracts with the government.

He broke Obama's promise to disclose the names of all attendees at closed White House meetings.

He broke Obama's promise for a new era of bipartisan cooperation in all matters.

He broke Obama's promise to have chosen a home church to attend Sunday services with his family by Easter of last year.

Yes, it's all George Bush's fault. President Obama is nothing more than a puppet in the never-ending failed Bush administration. If only George Bush wasn't still in charge, all of President Obama's problems would be solved. His promises would have been kept, the economy would be back on track, Iran would have stopped its work on developing a nuclear bomb and would be negotiating a peace treaty with Israel. North Korea would have ended its tyrannical regime, and integrity would have been restored to the federal government.

Oh, and did I mention what it would be like if the Democrats, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, didn't have the heavy yoke of George Bush around their necks? There would be no ear marks, no closed-door drafting of bills, no increase in deficit spending, no special-interest influence (unions), no vote buying (Nebraska, Louisiana).

If only George Bush wasn't still in charge, we'd have real change by now.

All the broken promises, all the failed legislation and delay (health care reform, immigration reform) is not President Obama's fault or the fault of the Democrat-controlled Congress. It's all George Bush's fault.

Take for example the decision of Eric Holder, the president's attorney general, to hold terrorists' trials in New York City. Or his decision to try the Christmas Day underpants bomber as a civilian. Two disastrous decisions. Certainly those were bad judgments based on poor advice from George Bush.

Need more proof?

You might recall that when Scott Brown won the election to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, capturing "the Ted Kennedy seat", President Obama said that Brown's victory was the result of the same voter anger that propelled Obama into office in 2008. People were still angry about George Bush and the policies of the past 10 years. And they wanted change.

Yes, according to the president, the voter rebellion in Massachusetts was George Bush's fault. Therefore, in retaliation, they elected a Republican to the Ted Kennedy seat, ending a half-century of domination by Democrats. It is all George Bush's fault. Will the failed administration of George Bush ever end and the time for hope and change ever arrive?

Will President Obama ever accept responsibility for something... - anything?

(Chuck Green is a veteran Colorado journalist
and former editor-in-chief of The Denver Post.)

Alaskan Fisherman's Review of Sarah Palin's Leadership

2010-11-29T07:04:00.000-08:00

By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman

The last 45 of my 66 years I've spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here's the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It's not about persona, style, rhetoric, it's about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I'm about to mention here.

1. Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor's office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican's "Corrupt Bastards Club" (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, "la la la la" (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.

2. Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called "ACES." Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them, "don't let the door hit you in the stern on your way out." They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3. The other thing she did when she walked into the governor's office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as "pork." She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the "when-hell-freezes-over" stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we'll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor's jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor's cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning - I imagine - that she's packing heat herself). I'm still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4. Now, even with her much-ridiculed "gosh and golly" mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn't impress you, then you're trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.

5. For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn't start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. Then, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

6. President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewables by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that's just a cover-up. I'm still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won't be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn't let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better.

You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the Democratic Party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents' wives.

So "You go, Girl." I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals. I rest my case. Only FOOLS listen to the biased media.

If you've read this far:

First Lady Michelle Obama's Servant List and Pay Scale
First Lady Requires More Than Twenty Attendants

1. $172,200 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)
2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)
3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary)
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)
5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa E.. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
6. $90,000 - Medina , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)
8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)
9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)
10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
11. $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)
13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)
14. $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)
15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary to The First Lady)
16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide to The First Lady)
17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)
18. $43,000 - Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)
19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)
21. $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)
22. $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady

(This is community organizing at its finest.)

There has NEVER been anyone in the White House at any time who has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life. One wonders why she needs so much help, at taxpayer expense, when even Hillary, only had three; Jackie Kennedy one; Laura Bush one; and prior to Mamie Eisenhower social help came from the President's own pocket.

Note: This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to Europe

FRIENDS.....THESE SALARIES ADD UP TO SIX MILLION, THREE HUNDRED, SIXTY FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS ($6,364,000) FOR THE 4 YEARS OF OFFICE?????

AND WE ARE IN A RECESSION????? WELL....MOST OF US ARE. I GUESS IT'S OK TO SPEND WILDLY WHEN IT'S NOT YOUR OWN MONEY?????

Copyright 2009 CanadaFreePress.Com

Yes, I know, The Canadian Free Press has to publish this because the USA media is too scared they might be considered racist. Sorry USA!

The True Cost of Illegal Aliens

2010-11-29T05:29:00.000-08:00

About the Author

Steven A. Camarota is Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C. He holds a master's degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the University of Virginia. Dr. Camarota often testifies before Congress and has published widely on the political and economic effects of immigration on the United States. His articles on the impact of immigration have appeared in both academic publications and the popular press including Social Science Quarterly, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Campaigns and Elections, and The Public Interest.

His most recent work published by the Center for Immigration Studies includes: Immigration in a Time of Recession: An Examination of Trends Since 2000; Where Immigrants Live: An Examination of State Residency of the Foreign-Born; Back Where We Started: An Examination of Trends in Immigrant Welfare Use Since Welfare Reform; and The Open Door: How Militant Islamic Terrorists Entered and Remained in the United States, 1993-2001

Sobering information below.

It's easy to dismiss individual programs that benefit non-citizens until they're put together and this picture emerges. Someone did a lot of research to put together all of this data. Often these programs are buried within other programs making them difficult to find.

The following 10 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I also have included the URL's for verification of all the following facts...

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.

Verify at: www.fairus.org

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC,and free school lunches for illegal aliens.

Verify at: www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.

Verify at: www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!

Verify at: transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.

Verify at transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.

Verify at: transcripts.cnn.com/%20TRANscriptS/0604/01/

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.

Verify at: transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and social services by the American taxpayers.

Verify at: premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/

9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.

Verify at: transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC%20RI%20PTS/0604/01/

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US .

Verify at: transcripts.cnn..com/TRANscriptS/0606/12/

The total cost is a whopping $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR AND IF YOU'RE LIKE ME, HAVING TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY; IT IS $338,300,000,000.00 WHICH WOULD BE ENOUGH TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY FOR THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY.

Are we THAT stupid?

Starting New Myself

2010-11-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

As my followers (who I am blessed to have) know, I have been noticeably absent from my blog and from Twitter since May of this year. Well, I'm back, and making a fresh start.

As we all do, I have some unresolved stuff from my childhood, and have been in therapy for about a year and a half, trying to reduce the impact that baggage has been increasingly having on my life. In truth, I started having some real anger issues after my Dad died; it will be 2 years this Christmas. In July, after being really stuck and not getting much out of my sessions, I came clean about being addicted to marijuana. I know one cannot really be physically addicted to marijuana, but I was seriously psychologically addicted. My day consisted of passing time between the times I could puff on my pipe and alter my consciousness. It was keeping me from really looking at my past and changing how it affects my life.

This is difficult to admit, even after reaching 90 days of being clean, because I don't want my readers to think ill of me. But I have to be honest, or I might as well stop writing all together.

The issues I'm dealing with are difficult; sexual and physical abuse, feelings of inferiority, having a dangerous, explosive temper--anger has always been my default emotion and a great way to keep people at arm's length. I almost lost my marriage and family because of all of this. Thankfully, I haven't, and I think I'm easier to live with these days. I'm not perfect, and I still have a long way to go, but I am on the right road and taking steps down it.

Why bare myself to my readers like this? Because I'm not alone, and maybe this will give someone else the courage and desire to change their life for the better. Because my sister never could face this garbage in her life, and is now addicted to things like Oxycontin, Valium, zanax, and is facing 13 felony counts with 7 having the modifier of being perpetrated on a juvenile. Because it can be better if fear doesn't drive your life.

If anyone who reads this wants to break an addiction or work on issues left from childhood, I am willing to give whatever help and support I can without risking my own recovery. You can email me at katetheright@rocketmail.com, and I promise I will respond.

If this helps just one person, the difficulty of writing this will have been worth it.

With love, gratitude, and a new lease on life, I am, and always will be Kate the Right

Am I The Only One?

2010-05-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

I've been avoiding Twitter, Facebook and FOX News recently. Make no mistake, I know what's going on, I just can't grasp the reality of it.

It starts with the Prez. This country elected him, and we're paying for it-in Foreign Relations, Homeland Security, the Economy... My mantra in the past has always been we get what we deserve; and that was true with WJClinton GWBush, JECarter, et al. The United States of America do not deserve BHObama. I'm not a birther, but I do find it curious he won't release any records, including an authentic Hawaiian birth certificate. Those are side issues, however, compared to the socialization of GM and Chrysler, AIG and other big insurance companies, health care, banks that are going under or near to it. BHO wants to socialize the financial industry, and I believe he will use the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster to socialize the oil companies. As for employment numbers, the US Government employs more people than the US Private Sector. Take a minute and think about that.

Now all the bad news. Swine Flu: the outbreak that wasn't for the second time around. Major earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. Billions to Haiti no talk about Chile. And, really, was Haiti's infrastructure worth billions of dollars before the earthquake? The economic collapse of several European countries, Greece being the latest. Why does the US Taxpayer have to bail out Greece? The BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The Christmas Day and Times Square bombers, who were thwarted by US Citizens, not Homeland Security (or as I like to call it lately: Homeland Insecurity.) And these are just the highlights (lowlights?).

Politics is unbelievable. I have never in my life seen politicians ignore their constituencies with such a dismissive attitude. Now, the WH wants to "regulate" the internet. I'm sure it will be a huge step toward socialization, then the USA's internet will look like China's or Iran's. I'm soooo looking forward to that.

I can't stop feeling I'm living in a fictional book. I suppose some of it has to do with coping mechanisms, but I really find it hard to believe what's happened to the country I loved so much. I have been a political activist since high school. I graduated in 1980, and turned 18 in May of that year, so I got to vote in the Presidential election that year. I was also very privileged to meet Pres. and Mrs. Reagan. There was a time in my 20's, a brief time, that I flirted with liberalism, but I was never able to get past the Right to Life and liberal disdain for it. I want to make it clear, right now, I am not a Republican, I am Conservative. I was angry with GWBush for starting this whole slide toward Socialism with TARP and bailout legislation.

So, am I the only one who sees this? Am I the only one who finds the news surrealistic? Am I the only one who believes that to save the USA I grew up in and loved, the Right to Life has to come first? Am I the only one who wants to yell at cars with Obama/Biden stickers on them? Am I the only one who is coming out of the Conservative Closet in an overwhelmingly Liberal area? (If you want proof, check out my Rep: Tammy Baldwin.) Am I the only one who thinks November is a long way off, and the bad stuff is happening too fast?

Arizona and Apartheid

2010-05-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

I was watching Greta VanSustren's On the Record Tuesday night. Greta was interviewing former State Senator Alfredo Gutierrez from Arizona about the new illegal immigration law. Gutierrez was calling for a boycott of his own state, because the illegal immigration law creates apartheid in Arizona. In fact, the AZ law does nothing more than empower state and local law enforcement to be able to enforce CURRENT FEDERAL LAW.

Merriam-Webster defines apartheid as: "racial segregation specifically: a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of South Africa". Arizona is not targeting hispanics, blacks, asians, etc. who are here LEGALLY, the AZ law is for people who are in the US ILLEGALLY. Apartheid, on the other hand, was a group of white Europeans who TOOK OVER South Africa, then treated the native population terribly. Natives who were in South Africa LEGALLY because, of course, it's their country.

While I believe Mr Gutierrez believes what he said, he obviously doesn't understand what apartheid is/was. Gutierrez was saying hispanics who are here ILLEGALLY can be compared to Mr Nelson Mandella. Really?

So, name me the illegal immigrant in prison in the United States of America who is being held as a POLITICAL PRISONER and being TORTURED by the government. (Actually, the government tortures ME rather than illegals.) Can anyone come up with a name? NO!

To follow the allegory even further, name me immigration laws that discriminate against LEGAL IMMIGRANTS or AMERICAN CITIZENS. We have a RIGHT and a DUTY to protect our borders. We have a reasonable expectation of our government to protect our national borders, and the FEDERAL government isn't doing the job. AZ is a border state with Mexico and has borne a huge cost due to illegal immigration, and the state finally got fed up enough to enforce CURRENT FEDERAL LAW.

By the way, kudos to The Vanderbilt University professor on Hannity on 5/6 who correctly, and for the first time I've heard during this ridiculous debate, stated that the AZ law merely parrots federal immigration law.

My official position is that we support Arizona. I'm gonna spend some money at AZ owned businesses. I hope I'm not the only one.

What do Cows, the Constitution and the Ten Commandments Have in Common?

2010-04-30T06:19:00.000-07:00

What do Cows, the Constitution and the Ten Commandments Have in Common?

Think about this:

1.Cows

2.The Constitution

3.The Ten Commandments

1.COWS

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington?

And, they tracked her calves to their stalls But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow..

2.THE CONSTITUTION

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

3.THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse or Congress is this--you cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of Lawyers, Judges and Politicians; it creates a hostile work environment.

Also, think about this: if you don't want to forward this url for fear of offending someone--YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM! It is time for America to speak up!

Yep, I posted it.

The Democrat Health Care Take-Over By The Numbers

2010-03-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

Top Line Numbers:
- Gross Total Spending: $1.2 Trillion
- Medicare Cuts: $523.5 Billion
- $202 Billion from Medicare Advantage
- At least 4.8 million fewer seniors will receive Medicare Advantage benefits
- Tax Hikes: $569.2 Billion

10 Years of Taxes, Six Years of Spending:
- The bill raises $60 billion in taxes before any of the major benefits go into effect.

Budget Gimmicks:
- Democrats are promising to pass a doc fix bill that could cost at least $371 billion, after they pass this bill.
- Democrats rely on new Social Security revenue and new Medicare taxes and cuts to achieve the appearance of deficit reduction, but these funds are meant to pay Social Security & Medicare benefits, not fund a new entitlement. If you remove the Medicare double counting, the bill increases the deficit by $260 billion.

Massive Tax Increases on Job Creators & Investors:
- 20% Income Tax Hike: Currently, the top marginal Federal tax rate on earned income is 37.9% (35% income tax + 2.9% Medicare tax). After the health care bill is implemented and Congress lets the tax cuts expire, the top Federal tax rate on earned income will be 45.4% (39.6% income tax + 3.8% Medicare tax + 2% exemption phase-out).
- 37% Investment Tax Hike: Currently, the top rate on Capital Gains and Dividends is 15%. After the health care bill is implemented and if Congress adopts the President's Budget, the top rate on Capital Gains and Dividends will be 23.8%. (Note: If current law expires as scheduled, the top rate on dividends will be 43.4% or a 289% increase.)
- Hits Small Businesses: 50% of those in the top tax bracket (all of whom will pay these higher taxes) earn at least 25% of their income from small businesses.
- Triples the employer mandate tax from $750 to $2,000 per employee.

Too Familiar to Too Many

2009-10-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

I was watching Glenn Beck the other day, talking to the FOX Business guy (I have forgotten his name, sorry) about that High School student who was beaten to death. This was a boy who, in the midst of terrible circumstances, was making the most of his opportunity to learn and grow. The video is horrific, but another tragedy hidden from the camera is the sheer number of children who are exposed to the violence every day.

I grew up in very rural Wisconsin, my hometown has fewer than 1000 people and always has. On top of that, my family were farmers, and the nearest neighbor was 1/2 mile away. Here's a blast from the past: Our home phone was on a party line we shared with 3 other homes. For you youngsters, that means we couldn't just pick up the phone and call someone, we had to make sure the line was free. My family did not fit in to the prevailing environment, and my schoolmates made it very clear they did not like the difference. My mother and father were very smart, very moral, and very Catholic

My classmates, as well as older kids, would always pick on my sister, brother and I. I am the oldest, so it was my responsibility to protect them, and I tried. I remember several fights I got into and lost. A few on the bus, a few at school. Here I need to point out that the only weapons were hands and feet and no one was killed, although I would have liked to kill some of them. Once we even got into a feud at a campground with another "gang" of kids. This type of violence is and was not restricted to large urban areas.

Yes, the violence is worse and more widespread today than back in the day, but violence is violence. And it has a lasting effect on those who have lived through it.

That's the real tragedy for children in this country.

The Left-Wingnut Media

2009-09-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

All this talk about the media ignoring, downplaying and belittling the Tea Party and 912 movements has gotten me thinking. The Left-Wingnut media has been fairly irrelevant for years. Let me explain.

Back in the day-the early 90s-when my family and I and thousands of others were involved in the pro-life patriots and sit-ins, we witnessed first-hand the apathy of the media. When Operation Rescue launched the "Summer of Life" rescues in Wichita, KS, against George Tiller, the Left-Wingnut Media was almost there. Their slant on the sit-ins was about how unreasonable the protesters were. Then the coverage completely disappeared.

Do you know that the brutality the police (to protect and serve) unleashed against the pro-lifers was never reported? Peaceful, non-violent protesters suffered broken bones, numerous soft-tissue injuries from bruises to nerve damage, dislocated joints (usually shoulder) and more. Pregnant women were hit and kicked in the stomach, and at least one woman suffered a miscarriage as a result.

What about the annual March for Life in Washington DC? This event routinely brings tens of thousands of protesters to DC, yet almost nothing is said about it, even by FOX News.

So, what's my point? Twofold, I think: 1) The Left-Wingnut Media has been irrelevant since before the advent of 24 hour news outlets. The difference today is that the print media has decided to go the way the video media went long ago. 2) We no longer, if we ever did, need the Left-Wingnut Media. The internet and other alternative information outlets have worked very well this year, and will continue to serve as a way to get the word out.

TED KENNEDY......THE MAN

2009-08-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Last of The Kennedy Dynasty

As soon as his cancer was detected, and certainly since his death, I noticed the attempt at the "canonization" of old Teddy Kennedy by the mainstream media.

They are saying what a "great American" he is. I say, let's get a couple things clear & not twist the facts to change the real history.

1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.

2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two.

Oops! The man can't count to four! His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea, where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush received).

3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!

4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark.. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!

5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed. Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?

6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.

7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew - that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car. The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of- state to her family before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the Distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS. Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills.... a "token of friendship"?

8. Kennedy held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors, and is widely held as the "standard-bearer” for liberalism". In his very first Senate roll he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.

9. Since that time, he was the prime instigator and author of every expansion of an increase in immigration up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he were the standard bearer for the nation in matters of what’s right. What a pompous ass!

10. Kennedy was known around Washington as a public drunk; loud, boisterous, and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American". "A blonde in every pond" was his motto. Let's not allow the spin doctors to make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is.

Maybe Seen on Craig's List

2009-08-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

To the Guy Who Tried to Mug Me in Downtown Savannah night before last.

Date: 2009-05-27, 1:43 A M EST.

I was the guy wearing the black Burberry jacket that you demanded I hand over shortly after you pulled the knife on me and my girlfriend, threatening our lives. You also asked for my girlfriend's purse and earrings. I can only hope that you somehow come across this rather important message.

First, I'd like to apologize for your embarrassment, I didn't expect you to actually crap in your pants when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket. The evening was not that cold, and I was wearing the jacket for a reason. My girlfriend had just bought me that Kimber Model 1911 .45 A CP pistol for my birthday, and we had picked up a shoulder holster for it that very evening. Obviously you agree that it is a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head ... isn't it! I know it probably wasn't fun walking back to wherever you'd come from with that brown sludge in your pants. I'm sure it was even worse walking bare footed since I made you leave your your shoes, cellphone, and wallet with me. [That prevented you from calling or running to your buddies to come help mug us again].

After I called your mother, or "Momma" as you had her listed in your cell, I explained the entire episode of what you'd done. Then I went and filled up my gas tank as well as four other people's in the gas station on your credit card. The guy with the big motor home took 150 gallons and was extremely grateful! I gave your shoes to a homeless guy outside Vinnie Van Go Go's, along with all the cash in your wallet. [That made his day!] I then threw your wallet into the big pink "pimp mobile" that was parked at the curb ... after I broke the windshield and side window and keyed the entire driver's side of the car.

Later, I called a bunch of phone sex numbers from your cell phone. Ma Bell just now shut down the line, although I only used the phone for a little over a day now, so what's going on with that? Earlier, I managed to get in two threatening phone calls to the DA's office and one to the FBI, while mentioning President Obama as my possible target. The FBI guy seemed really intense and we had a nice long chat (I guess while he traced your number etc.). In a way, perhaps I should apologize for not killing you ... but I feel this type of retribution is a far more appropriate punishment for your threatened crime. I wish you well as you try to sort through some of these rather immediate pressing issues, and can only hope that you have the opportunity to reflect upon, and perhaps reconsider the career path you've chosen to pursue in life.

Remember, next time you might not be so lucky. Have a good day!

Thoughtfully yours,
Bill

Distressed and At War

2009-07-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

I’ve cussed-out people for hanging the US flag above the Canadian (or any other national) flag. It’s an outrageous insult saved for your enemies in wartime. Flying the US flag upside down means you are in distress, I guess we are, but are we at war with Mexico? These Mexicans seem to think they’re at war with us!

Montebello High School in California

You will not read this heart-stopping article on the front page of the NY Times, nor on the lead story of the major news networks. The protestors at Montebello High School took the American flag off the school's flag pole and hung it upside down while putting up the Mexican flag over it.

I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in Washington .. The image of the American flag subsumed to another and turned upside down on American soil is already spreading on Internet forums and via e-mail.

If you choose to remain uninvolved, do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation to call your own nor anything you have worked for left since it will be 'redistributed' to the activists while you are so peacefully staying out of the 'fray'. Check history, it is full of nations/empires that disappeared when its citizens no longer held their core beliefs and values. One person CAN make a difference.

One plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one........ ..

The battle for our secure borders and immigration laws that actually mean something, however, hasn't even begun.

And Then What Happened? How Our Founding Fathers Fared

2009-07-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

A Real American Hero

2009-06-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Have you seen "We Were Soldiers"? If so, you will recognize this man. If not, you need to know what he did in VietNam.

Ed W. Freeman

You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own battalion commander has ordered the Med-Evac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is 12,000 miles away and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear the sound of a helicopter, and you look up to see an unarmed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Med-Evac markings are on it. Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Med-Evac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Med-Evacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway.

He drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the doctors and nurses. He keeps coming back... 13 more times... and takes about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise, ID . . . May God rest his soul!

I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we sure were told a whole bunch about some Hip-Hop coward beating the crap out of his "girlfriend.”

Medal of Honor Recipient

Ed W. (Too Tall) Freeman
Captain, U.S. Army, Co A, 229th Assault Helicopter Bn, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

What do We Purposfully Forget Next?

2009-06-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

Gen. Eisenhower's warning...

It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.

He did this because he said in words to this effect:

“Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history someone will get up and say that this never happened.”

This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This is in memory of the, 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on, and humiliated' while the German people looked the other way!

Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth', it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.

How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Centre...NEVER HAPPENED'…
...because it offends some Muslim in the U.S.???

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

2009-06-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

This was emailed to me by SSquirrel, and I felt it deserved a public post rather than just an email circulation.

By Lou Pritchett

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal, and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides

the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Reillys, and Becks

who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter

in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

Note: Lou Pritchett is a former vice president of Procter & Gamble whose career at that company spanned 36 years before his retirement in 1989, and he is the author of the 1995 business book, Stop Paddling & Start Rocking the Boat.

Mr. Pritchett confirmed that he was indeed the author of the much-circulated "open letter." “I did write the 'you scare me' letter. I sent it to the NY Times, but they never acknowledged or published it. However, it hit the internet and according to the ‘experts’ has had over 500,000 hits.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/youscareme.asp

Why Welfare Doesn't Work (Literally and Figuratively)

2009-06-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

So. I'm now working at a convenience store, pretty much full-time, and I've been seeing things that need to be talked about.

Last night a woman walked in, talking on her smart phone a mile a minute, and proceeded to pick out soda, chips, dip, and candy bars. She came up to the counter with her hands full of basically junk, still talking on her cell, and "paid" for everything with the "Quest" Card. This is WI food stamps. It is in the form of a "credit card" so the food stamp users don't have to be "stigmatized" for using my money to buy junk. She then proceeds to walk out, still on the phone, and gets into a newer, nicer vehicle than either my husband or I drive and leaves.

Excuse me?!?

This is someone buying junk on my dollar, and because I pay for her food, she has a better car than I do. This is outrageous! This is the stuff that makes the Right Troll emerge from under her bridge! And here she comes.

Lazy, good-for nothing, think I owe you a living because you're black, white, hispanic, latino, korean, mung, American Indian, whatever, get up off your lazy butt and do something. I am part of the American public who is no longer willing to pay people to do nothing. This includes "shovel ready" projects across the nation. Puhleeeze! I've been seeing some of them at work, painting fire hydrants, painting light posts, very important things like that.

We are merely creating another, larger generation who will ultimitely believe anything that's any good comes from the government. This insidious creep of totalitarianism started with FDR and the First Great Depression. LBJ, who was probably the biggest benefactor from JFK's death, managed to cram "The Great Society" stuff through in the 60's. (LBJ, riding on the coattails of the Dallas assassination, passed much more then JFK had been able to.) The slope is so much steeper now, thanks to the afore-mentioned presidents, that the descent has become rather dizzying.

Is anyone left clinging tenaciously to the side?

A Nightmare Bedtime Story

2009-05-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

It came to pass, in the Age of Insanity, that the people of the land called America, having lost their morals, their initiative, and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that person known as The One. He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you. My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evil doers are of no consequence; for I shall save you with Hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who preceded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed."

And the people rejoiced. For even though they knew not what The One would do, He had promised that it was good; and they believed. And The One said "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah! Change is good!"

Then He said, "We are going to tax rich fat cats,"----

And the people said "Sock it to them!"

Then He said "---- and redistribute their wealth."

And the people said, "Show us the money!"

And then He said, "Redistribution of wealth is good for everybody."

And Joe the plumber asked, "Are you kidding me? You're going to steal my money and give it to the deadbeats??"

And The One ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe's personal records were hacked and publicized. One lone reporter asked, "Isn't that Marxist policy?" And she was banished from the kingdom!

Then a citizen asked, "With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with radical terrorists?"

And The One said, "Simple. I shall sit with them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah!! We are safe at last and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!"

Then The One said, "I shall give 95% of you lower taxes."

And one, lone voice said, "But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes."

So The One said, "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!"

And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Show us the money!"

Then The One said, "I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!" And the people yawned and the slumping housing market collapsed. And He said, "I shall mandate employer-funded health care for EVERY worker and raise the minimum wage. And I shall give every person unlimited healthcare and medicine and transportation to the clinics."

And the people said, "Gim'me some of that!"

Then he said, "I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas."

And the people said, "Where's my rebate check?"

Then The One said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!"

And the people said, "Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don't care for that part about higher electric rates."

So The One said, "Not to worry. If your rebate isn't enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over!" Then He said, "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs, and guaranteed housing..."

And the people said, "Hallelujah!!" And they made him King!

And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff. The banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.

Then The One said, "I am the One - The Messiah - and I'm here to save you! We shall just print more money so everyone will have enough!"

But our foreign trading partners said unto Him, "Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have to pay more..."

And the people said, "Wait a minute. That is unfair!!"

And the world said, "Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!"

And the people cried out, "Alas, alas!! What have we done?" But yea verily, it was too late. The people set upon The One and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung. And the once mighty nation was no more and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope. And the Change The One had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed them and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built.

And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish, "Give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!!" But it was too late and their homeland was no more.

You may think this is a fairy tale, but it's not.

It's happening RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!

Aussie Justice

2009-05-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

One thing about blokes from Australia is that their hearts and humor are always in the right place!

T. B. Bechtel, a City Councilor from Newcastle, Australia, was asked on a local live radio talk show, just what he thought about the allegations of torture of suspected terrorists.

His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.

HIS STATEMENT: 'If hooking up one raghead terrorist prisoner's testicles to a car battery, to get the truth out of the lying little camel shagger, will save just one Australian life, then I have only three things to say, Red is positive, Black is negative, and make sure his nuts are wet.'

Who I am & Why I do What I Do

2009-04-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

"I am a fat, forty-something housewife and mother, in suburbia Wisconsin, trying to make ends meet and save my country." That's the short of it, the long of it follows.

I was raised in rural Wisconsin, the oldest of the six children my parents gave life to. I was not a good kid. My temper is legendary in my family, and when I was younger, I didn't control it. On a fairly routine basis, I beat up my little brothers and sisters. Until my baby brother was born when I was 12. He was the sibling I shared my room with, who "civilized" me according to my parents. He was also the only sibling I never hit in anger. He and I still share a special bond today. My temper is no less fierce today than it was as a child, but I have learned to control it better.

I am one of the lucky people who walk among you, undetected. I survived four very close calls with death, which means I am here for a reason, and I never have to doubt that.

Five days before my 13th birthday, May 16, 1975, I was riding my bicycle home from school. I had to make a special stop to drop off a birthday party invitation at the house of a friend. Now, I grew up on a farm, and the only way to get to my house was on one of two highways. This friend's house was on my way home, but it was the long way around. I dropped the invitation off and continued on my way home. I had to make a left turn across the highway, at the bottom of a hill. Remember riding a bike downhill after toiling up it? You feel as though you're going a hundred miles an hour; wind roaring in your ears, your hair flying back (no bicycle helmets in those days), drying the sweat built up by the long climb. As I came up on the corner, I signaled for a left-hand turn, saw no one in front of me, heard no one behind me, and turned. And got hit by a semi.

People will say I'm lucky, and I'm not inclined to argue. A year later, on the same highway, at a different corner, a schoolmate was killed by a semi while turning across the road. I am lucky, but more importantly, God isn't done with me yet. Thirteen is almost too young to understand the import of what happened, I did, however, get that I am here for a reason.

The accident didn't change my life significantly, I still ran riot over most of my siblings. I stole from my parents, smoked and experimented with cigarettes and marijuana--although I didn't use drugs until college. I got pregnant twice by two different men, and gave two precious babies up for adoption. Now I say I may be a grandmother and not know it. The best result for me has been that those two babies have grown up and not seeked me out. This makes me believe that their families were right, and my decision was right.

I married, too young, a man who believed he could control me through violence and fear, and did for almost five years. It was during this time I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. That still brings a smile to my face. I'm not perfect, far from it, but I am saved. Two children and a divorce later, I was a twenty-something single mother with two pre-school girls.

Not too surprisingly, I swore off men. I also threw myself into making a life for us and accepting the limitations that naturally come with being a single parent. I worked at being a good parent and a good provider, and got on with my life. In my early 30's I was offered a job with the state for, what was then, good money and I took it. It was there that I met my husband.

We were getting ready to get married, when I was struck down with a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in my lung). The doctors in the ER told Rod (my hubby) if we had waited half an hour longer, I wouldn't be alive. Three years later, during the delivery of my last child, my uterus partially ruptured and I bled out half my blood volume. My latest brush with death came in March of 08, when I was hospitalized with double pneumonia, which was also in my blood stream.

What have I learned from this? I am where I am supposed to be. Live each day as though it were your last, for it might be. Live your life in the center of God's will. It doesn't mean life will be easy, it means you will never be alone in the struggle.

Following the Founding Fathers

2009-04-14T08:24:00.000-07:00

I'll start by saying I have the utmost respect for my country and her citizens. The United States of America has, for over 200 years, been a shining beacon of hope for the rest of the world. The citizens, Americans, are a breed apart. We may have started as German, English, Irish, African, Indian, but when we became Americans, we changed. We became a race of people dedicated to protecting the rights of individuals, a race of people who invite hard work, take risks and reap the rewards. We lead the rest of the world in innovation, industry and income. The "poor" in America are richer by far than the poor elsewhere, and sometimes richer than the middle class in other countries.

The Founding Fathers realized this new breed of Americans needed to be independent. They were wise enough to make the governmental framework loose, giving us the choice of more or less government. They were wise enough lay out the Bill of Rights, the 10 Constitutional Amendments specifying rights under this new government for her citizens. They were wise enough to know that the future would bring changes, and allowed for changes to be made through the Constitution by amendment. They even knew that liberty was not free, and put their trust in the citizenry to protect that liberty.

Today we stand at a crossroads. Will we, the people, continue to follow the corrupt government like sheep, or will we follow the Founding Fathers and protect our liberty. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We have already given up the right to life for a huge portion of our citizens. On a daily basis we slaughter 4,000 of our pre-born citizens. We allow "assisted suicide", which is an oxymoron almost as ridiculous as homophobia. Homophobia, translated correctly, means fear of oneself. Suicide is, by definition, a singular act designed to end one's life. "Assisted suicide" is nothing less than euthanasia, murder. As our corrupt government takes more and more control over America's health care, we will be evaluated as to our usefulness economically, and then we might get a part of the socialist health care we pay for through our sweat, time and energy.

Our liberty has been taken away slowly in the guise of many things. Gun control-registering your legally owned, Constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms. Not "your right to bear arms if the government says it's OK". We have allowed the government to tell legally owned private businesses they cannot allow legal activities in those businesses. Does "smoking ban" mean anything to anyone? Worse, we have stood passively by as the current government takes over the car companies, the banks and insurance companies. Are we as free as we were even 30 years ago? No. We allow laws to usurp our freedoms, and are fearful of opposing them because we will be seen as "intolerant", "racist" and "insensitive". Count me as intolerant and insensitive.

I am intolerant of women who believe the precious gift of a baby is "a blob of tissue" to be discarded at will. I am intolerant of people who believe others who are not "normal" should be put to death through euthanasia. I am intolerant of people who think they know what is in my best interests. I am intolerant of people who believe a loud, rude minority should tell everyone else what should and shouldn't be. I am insensitive about saying what is true and real; I say those things. I am insensitive to fringe groups that believe the mainstream should kowtow to them. I am insensitive to political correctness. I believe being eternally correct is more important.

Of all of out Founding Fathers, John Adams is my favorite. He struggled his entire life with feelings of frustration. He saw so clearly what was and what needed to be done, and was frustrated with his inability to effect change. He was known for his fractiousness, his unpopularity with his peers, and his bluntness. John Adams was not a man to mince words and he followed his mind and heart to the end of his life.

I, too, am very frustrated at this historical juncture. I see very clearly what needs to be done, and I don't care who I offend by saying so. I don't try to make my speech flowery. I don't care who I call out as traitors to the cause. Abortion is Murder. The best size for government is tiny, close to minuscule. I say we need to throw them all out, by force, if needed. I want to see the euthanasiasts try to take a member of my family. It will not be pretty. I want to see the government official who tries to enter my home against my will. It will not be pretty. I want to see someone try to make me do something I believe is wrong. They may kill me, but they won't be able to make me do it.

Freedom is more than a word or concept. It is a way to live. We, the people, have forgotten what true freedom is, because we have all been willing to trade our freedom for security, or equal rights, or political correctness, or whatever.

Join me in living free. Do not allow anyone to take away your freedom. I may be put to death, but it will be as a free person.

. . . a Christian Nation

2009-04-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

First, I want to wish all a Happy Easter. I'm a Christian, so my holy day this time of year is Easter. If I were Jewish, it would be Passover, and I would wish everyone a good Passover. I'm not sure what the Muslim holy day is this time of year, or even if they have one. For the Earth/Sun worshippers and/or Druids, the holy day is the vernal equinox, I believe. My point?

"When I was a kid. . ." But yes (see previous), winter break was Christmas vacation, spring break was Easter vacation. On Good Friday, everything in town was closed from 1-3 PM, and nary a soul was to be found outside of church-Catholic and Lutheran. The grocery store in town closed at noon on Sundays, and was closed completely on holidays like Christmas, Easter, July 4th, Memorial and Labor Days, Thanksgiving and New Years. Granted, I grew up in a dinky little town, but we spent Christmas in Chicago more than once, and nothing was open. Everybody, American or not; these are American holy days; was given the day off to spend with family and friends. I vaguely knew about Rosh Hoshanna, Yom Kippur, Hannuka, and Passover, but my childhood was steeped in the Christian traditions of my beloved country.

The American holidays are no longer days on which everyone, American or not, is given a day off to spend with family and friends. Why not? In the quest for the almighty dollar, greed has stripped us of our national holy days. Have you ever gone to the local convenience store on a holiday? Did you commiserate with the clerk about having to work? Did it ever occur to you that by patronizing a business on an American holiday, you encourage that business to be open on those days? Why? Not the Freedom From Religion Foundation or the ACLU, but greed. Make more money, make more money, makemoremoney, makmoremoney, makmormoney, makmormony, mkmormony, mkmrmony, mkmrmny.....

My place of employment is a small neighborhood Cafe and the most consistently busy day of any week is Sunday morning. We close only for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and two of the owners are Catholic. There is no choice but to stay open for American holy days like Easter in order to stay in business. Today, on Good Friday, was one of the better Fridays I've had recently.

My point is that the Christian traditions of my beloved country have been passing away for a long time. The prevailing god of America is money, the quest for money has turned our eyes away from the Judeo-Christian ethics and holy days. Is it any wonder Mr Madoff was able to run his scheme? His investors wanted to believe in the fantasy Mr Madoff said they could have. Their eyes were on money. This allowed literally thousands of people to end up losing everything.

President Obama knows that the god of the USA is money. (I'll say it now, follow the money. See Dick Morris regarding the G20 agreement on a world bank.) That is why the President is allowed to fire corporate executives and set the wages of others--pretty much any others he wishes. When he says "We aren't a nation of Christians, .." he knows he is correct, because the outrage is always over the money.

Why We Need to Encourage Smoking

2009-04-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

I'll start off by saying: this is tongue-in-cheek and in no way reflects the thoughts, actions, or beliefs of the blogger.

So... Cigarette smokers are the social equivalent of mass murderers, but cigarette smokers bear the responsibility of balancing budgets, paying for health care for our children, and the hopes and dreams of a nation. -- Wait! -- Not that last part, but the other two certainly. So, we need to take special care of the cigarette smokers left in the USA.

Instead of all these ridiculous PSA's telling smokers how they can get help quitting, we need to come out with better, newer PSA's telling smokers how they can prolong their life while continuing to smoke. We have to encourage our last, few remaining smokers to exercise and eat right. They should be able to get great health care, since they're paying for it--thank you smokers, our lives depend on you.

Instead of these inane laws restricting smoking in public places, we should be encouraging businesses and the government to create very special places for smokers to go. And I don't mean out the back door to suffer in the cold, snow, wind, rain, or scorching heat. Smokers now rate the best accomadations we can provide. No more second-class citizen treatment, smokers are the ones saving the USA.

Businesses need to be required to put in plush, comfortable smoking areas. Restaurants and bars should have large smoking sections, with the best seats in the house. I know this sounds crazy, but we need to remember the burden we are placing on our smokers. The least we non-smokers can do is treat smokers with the respect and deference due them. They are paying for health care for the rest of us.

Smoking sections, while primarily the domain of smokers, should welcome non-smokers as well. In fact, smoke-filled air is becoming scarce, it's a precious commodity and needs to be treated as such. Therefore, non-smokers who wish to sit in the rarified atmosphere of the smoking section will have to pay a surcharge. All the surcharge money will be put into a giant slush fund to aid smokers with the skyrocketing cost of cigarettes. After all, if smokers cannot afford cigarettes, they can't balance state's budgets nor pay for our health care. Non-smokers need to help out as much as possible, after all, the smoking population is declining all the time.

I am not advocating that we encourage more people to take up smoking, although that might have to happen in the future as smokers die and we lose that revenue. I am saying we need to treat our smokers better. Smokers are very special people who need extra special care. Smokers are responsible for the financial health of most of the states in the union and our nationalized health care.

Why I Tweet

2009-04-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

I've been on twitter for a month now, and I'm loving it. I love connecting with people who agree with me, and aren't afraid to voice their opinions. With the way my beloved country is moving, it's a comfort to me to hear other Conservative voices raised in outrage.

I hear people say that the country is at a boiling point--both on and off Twitter--and I agree. There is a palpable anger in this country that's been held in check for years, and is now being let out to rage freely. When the GOP held the White House, people were angry at the polarization of my beloved country, but trusted the inhabitants of the White House, and kept the anger in check. However, with the Dems having control of both Congress and the White House, the rage is surfacing. People voted for a change, not really caring what that change might be, and now we have it. Unfortunately, my beloved country is getting what it asked for. I personally think it sucks.

Twitter is an outlet for my rage at the Government--all Government. I can rant and rave, and not hurt any one's feelings. I can laugh at the zingers my friends get off, and I can foment revolution. In fact, a lot of my friends on Twitter agree. Government is too big, Socialism doesn't work, terrorists are our worldwide enemies, and it's not "Overseas Contingency Operations" it's "The War on Terror". People on Twitter say what's on their mind, and that honesty is refreshing. There is no political correctness on Twitter. It is what it is, and calling it another name doesn't change what it is. "A rose by any other name..."

The really mean, below the belt stuff generally comes from the left-leaners, and as much as the Left would like you to think so, if you look at things through the prism of reality, you have to be conservative. Liberals cannot carry a rational argument of their position, so they generally denigrate into name-calling, swearing, and false accusations. Another sign that the conservative world view is the true world view, not some tie-dyed, rose-colored fantasy that the Left wants us to believe.

Personal responsibility and accountability are dead in my beloved country, and until/unless we can resurrect them, my beloved country will fail. The greatest experiment in recorded history, democracy on a grand scale, is always changing and growing, as the Founding Fathers intended. What they didn't intend was that the government would become our nanny. The Libs want just that. And they are getting their way. This is not the country I want to pass on to my children.

,,, and I did Nothing

2009-04-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

They came and took away the right of the Preborn to life, and I did nothing for I was not Preborn. They took away the right of Fathers to the preborn, saying it was a Woman's Right to Choose, and I did nothing for I was not a Father. Then they came for the babies born with "Abnormalities", and I did nothing for I was "Normal". Then they came for the Handicapped; physically and mentally; and I did nothing for I was not Handicapped. Then they came for the Owners of Guns, and I did nothing for I did not Own a Gun. Then they came for the Wealthy, and I did nothing, for I was not Wealthy. Then they came for the Owners of Businesses, and I did nothing for I was not a Business Owner. Then they told Property Owners they could not engage in leagl activities on their property, and I did nothing for I did not Own Property. Then they came for the Indigent and Poor, and I did nothing for I was not Poor or Indigent. Then they came for Me, and there was No One left to do Anything.