My Very Racist Rant

Perhaps I should have just called this a very Politically Incorrect Rant, but then you likely wouldn’t have come here to read what I have to say. Frankly, this is about race in several definitions of the term, race in the sense of politics and race in the sense of the human condition.

Some time back, I am not sure exactly when… Americans began to be associated with their ethnic heritage and a hyphen… most predominantly the “African-American” and “Hispanic or Latino-American” are used to identify minority populations in the United States. Like window dressing the Italians, Arabs (secularly) and Muslim’s (religiously), the Greeks, Polish, and the very catch all European groups have been tossed into the lexicon mix. It is simply disgraceful to separate and segregate by term who or what someone is… unless of course you are a “Native American” which is a term summarily attached to American Indian, but is a more apt descriptor of anyone whose heritage by birth began their journey here. I am not sure where American Indians came from, some say they traveled up through South and Central America to settle here, others think some tribes were born from those crossing a thin land mass now occupied by the seaway dividing Russia and Alaska. Regardless, they were here for some time because Christopher Columbus so stated in 1492 or there about, but I digress.

The point here is that if you are a legal resident of the United States you can call yourself an American, and if you were born here or spend the time and effort required to become a legal United States Citizen then you can say you’re an American Citizen. The bottom line is neither being born on United States Soil or taking the oath of citizenship requires you to be anything but alive. Having a moniker hung around your net like a Scarlet Letter is nothing more than a tool to divide a society that is more fractured than it needs to be already. So, that’s all pretty “not racist” at this point unless it is considered racist not to call someone by their heritage-hyphenated designation. Who really knows or cares, even the courts have difficulties deciding.

 We are looking as American’s at an election that could well be one of the most significant in generations. Like the elections of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan the time has come for America to do some serious soul searching. The news media was beside itself in 2008 when Barrack Hussein Obama was elected the 44^th President of the United States, the first African-American or Multi-Racial President ever elected. More than a million people filled the streets of Washington, D.C. and the National Mall to bear witness to his Inauguration. Today he would be lucky to gather a crowd of 10 thousand to hear his campaign speeches, and more often than not the huddled masses have more on their mind than listening to political speak from someone whose ideas and ideals only a few years ago made them feel good about the prospects of our country moving in a forward direction. What they got was a man who exhibited in every imaginable way the fact he had never run anything in his life. The President of the United States is after all the chief executive of a budget that is now in excess of 1 trillion (with a t) dollars, more than any company or country in the world. It takes a lot more than platitudes and feels good speeches to manage something as confounding and complex as the beast that’s head is Washington, D.C. Further, the President is responsible for setting the foreign policy of the United States and furthering the agenda of our country and our allies around the world. This is no small task for someone with a lifetime of experience dealing with huge personalities, much less that of countries capable of waging war in a way that could potentially be hugely destructive to the American way of life.

Put simply, the man who is now our President was and sadly still is in way over his head and has nary a clue as to what to do to fix the problems we face, and is unwilling to upset those who he is indebted to for his office. This is not to say he made this journey on his own… No without question he had plenty of help from large majorities in both houses of the Congress, and contrary to the line painted by the President and his party who lost the House of Representatives in the 2010 mid- term election for having displayed arrogance and incompetence in larger than life ways, he could have signed into law literally any bill he asked for or was given by the Congress because the minority party could do nothing to stop legislation from being passed or to override a veto if one had been offered. It was all Democrat (with a big “D”) all the time from January 2009 through December of 2010. What has the President done?

Given that the President who was at the time he ran for the office of President a sitting United States Senator from the State of Illinois and who was fully aware of the fact that a war was still raging in both Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as complete knowledge of the fiscal disaster that was brought about by the collapse of the real estate markets brought on by a complete lack of any discipline in trading insane derivative instruments on Wall Street among other things, persisted in his effort to attain the office and won the election. The former President, George W. Bush quite publicly invited Senator Obama and Senator McCain to the White House to discuss fully the financial condition of the country, where Senator McCain for a brief time suspended his campaign so he could devote his full attention to passing some sort of legislation to help rectify the matter. He received exactly what he knew to be true, not some surprise that only became evident at the time he took the oath of office. It is true that President Obama inherited a mess, but it wasn’t a mess he was not familiar with, nor was it one he was or is prepared to deal with managerially or otherwise. That would require leadership and experience, neither quality President possesses. So, the President and his friends Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Senator Harry Reid the Majority Leader of the United States Senate set out to right the ship of state and all that was wrong with her, but try as they did, they failed miserably because they were not capable of leading either as a team, or following the vision of the President who clearly had none.

They passed a stimulus spending package that was designed to create or save millions of jobs, and it cost nearly 800 billion dollars of borrowed money, but the jobs did not come and the economy sputtered in the face of high gasoline prices that robbed any tax benefits average American’s received through the stimulus. They fashioned a bail out from an ill conceived program called TARP left to them by the Bush Administration that took aim at Wall Street firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and forced them out of business while propping up AIG (the largest insurer of Wall Street inequities) and Goldman Sachs the boardroom home of the former and newly appointed Secretaries of the Treasury. They passed a health care reform bill commonly referred to as Obama Care, but put forth as The Affordable Health Care act, they wrote it largely behind closed and locked doors and passed it on the eve of Christmas very much like the stimulus bill with no votes from the opposing party. The Speaker of the House of Representatives proudly stated that members would have to vote for the bill so the American people could find out what was in it, sadly neither she nor anyone else in her august body had read all or even most of it before voting in the affirmative. The bill came over from the United States Senate as a gutted bill from the House of Representatives turned into what the Supreme Court has now dubbed a tax which is a bill that is supposed to originate in the House of Representatives, the Constitution of the United States, Article I notwithstanding, and found its way to the desk of the President who also had not read all or even part of the bill before he affixed his signature to it and forced it down the throats of the American people. Finally, near the last hour of their party together they realized that the economy could take no more and they extended for two years (until after the next quadrennial election) the tax cuts signed into law in 2001 and 2003 by former President George W. Bush, and by association his namesake to this day.

Now, it seems like I have spent less time or race and more time of politics, but the story had to be told to bring into context what is the main concern of the author and that is pandering to minorities for votes. American Blacks make up something between 12 and 14 percent of the population but something less than that of the voting population for reasons we will not get into here. American’s of Hispanic or Latin decent make up between 20 and 24 percent of the population and again less than that of the voting population. The two together pull in the neighborhood of one third of the vote nationwide. They are not a monolithic voting block and try as they might to maintain ignorance of the truth from them; an awaking has begun to take place. Unfortunately, it may not be fully developed before the November election. The President and his party are quite content to pander shamelessly to these populations, insisting that they cannot possibly get along without significant assistance from the government. In fact the President stated this past Saturday, July 14^th that no one in this country achieved success on their own, regardless of their ingenuity, their stictuitiveness, or their hard work and good sense. If not for the community and the government they would be sputtering aimlessly in a country with no infrastructure and no manner of social substance. What an insult to the generations of Americans who have laid the way through their hard work and the payment of tax dollars used to fund the so called “help” that previous generations have commonly referred to as the American Dream. They left place where the next generation necessarily does better than the current one, not because they built a better government, but because they built a better America. Today that dream is in jeopardy, and seems unreachable for many who have lost so much in the economic downturn.  But the least able to take full advantage are those in the minority who for their entire lives have been kept down by archaic laws that perpetuate and promote a welfare state and dependency where it need never have come to that. Laws that made it profitable for families to split up or never come together in the first place in order for the cars of the benefit train to become filled with booty from Uncle Sam. Now waivers are being issued to reinvigorate the welfare state as we once knew it before the reforms passed by a Democrat President and a Republican Congress while managing to balance a budget on the back of no American.

American Blacks are expected to support a President who has given them nothing, no fair deal, no good deal, just a raw deal. American Hispanics and Latinos expecting immigration reform when it could easily have been achieved in a fully empowered Democrat government were left holding the bag once again, even though comprehensive immigration reform failed in the previous administration by only a very few votes. As a token the President extended a non-deportation order for unlawful entrants into the US who met certain criteria, until they attain the age of 30. These populations are not what reasonable people consider liberal. They are very conservative in their core beliefs about spending and about social matters, but generationally they have been entrapped and corrupted into believing that they could not make it without the hand of the government in their lives. They have been bludgeoned into submission as voters for the Democrat Party when everything they have inside says they want have and live traditional American values unencumbered by the shackles of the government dole. The Democrat Party that holds so dear a “Separation of Church and State” freedom from religion rather than of it, panders in American Black churches at the very pulpits they would ban from a high school graduation. Truly it is Shame, shame, shame on them and a pox on their houses.

Americans get up every day and go to work, they attend a religious service, they believe in an American ethic, and not a hyphenated representation based their skin color. They don’t want their money used to kill babies, and they don’t want their babies to be gunned down on the streets. They don’t want their friends and neighbors to be lead astray by the glamour of crime. They want to be honest Americans who love their country. It is time to stop setting people aside, time to stop ignoring the cause of their problems, and time to stop putting band-aids on the errors of the past that perpetuated the conditions that bring forward nothing but pain and suffering. It is time to let people believe in themselves, in their families, in what they hear coming from their pulpits, and in their country. It is time to stop bickering about benefits and to start implementing solutions based on American values. It is time to give people a chance to become great because they are great and not because they show up. There are winners and losers in America and more often than not the losers eventually become winners because they believe that they have the opportunity to be just that, a winner, an American.

No President has been more divisive than President Obama, nor has any President done more damage to our way of life by trying to fundamentally change who we are. We were not a broken people, we were a broken economy. We were not deprived of healthcare; we were denied the ability to access affordable health care. The President of the United States is a leader and although for some President’s that has taken different paths, some in war, some in peace, some in difficult financial times, until now all of them have tried to make a difference and to lift the American people. Even Jimmy Carter whose economic record was a dismal disgrace tried to lead. This President has done nothing to lead, nothing to rally the American spirit, nothing to give the hope he so boldly spoke of in his campaign in 2008. He let the Congress run rough shot over him and he took credit for their bad choices by putting lipstick on a pig. It’s very sad. Now he claims a banner “Forward” which is quite appropriate since his past is one no American is willing to relive.

The American people may not like Mitt Romney, they may not like the fact he is a Mormon, or that he has achieved his American Dream and become wealthy through hard work. They may not like he is a family man with a large family and that he has evolved more than once on a number of issues near and dear to their heart. This election is not about liking the man, rather believing in him and trusting him to do the right thing. It is about expecting him to use his experience as a leader to truly right our ship of state and bring our economy into calm waters. This election is about a choice between a man who has been exposed to leadership and a man who has lived as a leader. This election is about giving America back to Americans and turning a deaf ear to anyone who disputes that they are not as ready to sacrifice as any generation before them. This election is about continuing to correct a grave mistake which started in 2010 when Americans stopped the free will of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid to experiment with their lives and their livelihoods. It is time for Americans to collect on President Obama’s belief that if he did not turn things around in three years it would be a one term proposition. How prophetic on his part to state what so many envisioned, and now how many now see. Thank you President Obama for nothing and please have a nice comfortable ride on Air Force One back to whence you came, Chicago is your kind of town, and Rahm Emanuel is keeping it ready for you.

Where are your friends????

Throughout our lives we meet people, some are simply just folks we see in passing, a glance, a tip of a hat, or other less friendly gesture, and some become acquaintances who weave themselves in and out of our lives for myriads of reasons, some good, some not, but from time to time much less often than not you meet someone you can call a friend. We all have friends. We have friends from childhood, friends from high school and college, friends from work or professional relationships, and social friends.

When a person becomes your friend or you become theirs as a rule a bond forms that last a lifetime. Of course this bond might simply be an indelible memory of the person, but a bond forms nonetheless, assuming that the friendship was in fact a real friendship, one that was based on mutual respect, trust, admiration, and in many cases love. I’m not ashamed to admit that I have a deep love of my friends. There are times that I don’t particularly like certain friends, or that a friend may fall out of favor for one reason or another, but as a Christian I would like to believe I love them in some meaningful way, and hope they do the same regardless of their momentary status.

When I grew up there were no cellular telephones, no personal computers, no internet, life was pretty simple. I man a met recently that lives down in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia said, if someone wants to get in touch with me, they know where to find me. I have a phone at my house, and if I’m not home someone knows where I am. Wow, did that somehow make a whole lot of sense. That is the way it used to be before technology became our way of life and before the age of instant gratification settled in on all of us. Here and now has to be better right? It makes me wonder sometimes… but I digress. Social Networking works for a reason. It works because it takes the effort out of doing what I just described, staying in touch, or going to find someone. That’s not evil, it is however our reality, and an evil we should be at least somewhat weary of when we lay our heads down at night.

So what’s my point in babbling on about all of this with friendship stuff and old and new. It’s a sad point and one I am not very proud of frankly. I suppose there’s an app for it, but since I don’t have an iPhone along with most of the country, I’ll just come out with it… It sucks to lose someone and not find out about it until months or well several years later. Yes, that’s right people die and people don’t know that they died and it sucks when they find out. There I said it. It sucks more when they realize how bad they feel for themselves that they didn’t do what they should have done to keep in touch, to be a better friend. It’s guilt, its remorse, its sadness, and it’s grief, but it’s also fact. We all have lives that are busy and we all lose track of folks we care about. We don’t stop caring, people grow apart and go their separate ways from time to time; that’s no one’s fault, but it does happen all too often. Then there are people that move away, you might be one of them. I’m one of them. I moved and I left a forwarding address to some, to others I didn’t but I certainly wasn’t unable to be found, “someone knew where I was”.

Now that Facebook, its predecessor MySpace, and the much more thrifty Twitter are available, along with the many Classmate and Reunion websites, it’s possible for most people who want to be found to be found. In some cases it’s impossible not to be found with all the data available online. There are new entries to the market as well Google’s Google Plus with Circle’s is fast growing amongst the more tech savvy crowd, and with those who want a more private environment than Facebook in which to wonder about . I’m on all of them, but I prefer the Twitter arena personally. Google Plus remains largely unexplored however.

Anyway, back to the point, the point being that I’m sad. I’m sad that I sucked as a friend to a couple of people who in some way I could have benefited, I’ll never know. I was too involved in my own life doing unimportant things that didn’t change the world, or even my world, but seemed important at the time, too important to take time to find out what was happening in the lives of those I cared about. Perhaps I am being too hard on myself here, perhaps a little melodramatic. I’m trying to drive home a point, and that is that as Christmas approaches and you send out your “CHRISTMAS CARDS” (Okay I send out some secular cards too) that a once a year remembrance of people just isn’t enough. They might not be there in January, or March, or June. Next year when your Christmas card comes back return to sender you may not have enough money to buy postage to get it to the forwarding address, I hear that Heaven is a long way off, and well paper doesn’t keep well at the “other address”. The bottom line is we all need to do better. We all need to be better, and we should try to find ways to appreciate the friends we have. Of course Social Networking is a great way to keep in touch, but it’s not really the end all be all. If you’re close, you should do some face time.

I stopped reading newspapers some time ago because they were too depressing and well for the most part beyond the front page and the sports section I really didn’t get much out of them. Even when I did buy them I rarely ever looked at the obituaries. Sadly enough to say I did that more often when I was growing up having lost so many friends in those formative years. Perhaps now that should be the one section I should read, certainly it’s one I’ve missed at least twice in the last several years. Forgoing that I will turn to Google e-mail alerts for news, at least then at least I won’t miss an obituary. The holiday season gives us much to reflect upon, but nothing more important to ponder than our relationships with others. They are more precious than any dollars we spend at any store, more valuable than any gift we can give or receive. We only get one life, we only get a few friends, let’s all try not to forget that long past the day the decorations get put back in the boxes after New Years.

FULL MEDIA DISCLOSURE - SHOW US THE MONEY!

As we enter into a new campaign season, why don't we ask our media to do something new and refreshing? Why don't we demand a little transparency on their part for a change? We don't need to require them to disclose their closely held sources, that would jeopardize their journalistic ethics, but we do need to know who is paying their bills. What campaigns or outside interest groups are funneling money to them? Full disclosure to the American people all the time, at the beginning of every broadcast, on the front page of every newspaper, and on the cover of every publication should be a standard the media lives by. We deserve to know how the political money is being spent without having to dig through a mountain of paper over at the FEC. If they can report what's going on in a campaign, they can sure as hell report what they are being paid to run advertisements by campaigns. If it runs on their air or in their publication, we need to know what they received for it and where it came from, period.

Why has no one has demanded this on a Sunday Talk Show in the past. Why this is is so inside politics that it beyond the reach of average American's who truly deserve to know. Who is afraid for this information to become public? Are the advertisers ashamed of their handy work? No one is asking for disclosure from the advertising agencies. This is simply a call for who is paying to put it out there on the air waves and in print. Is the media afraid? Is the media ashamed? Whether the money comes from, Union members, Special Interest PACs, Political Parties, Candidates Campaign Funds, Corporations, or Individuals, media outlets have an obligation to report who is spending what, and no one knows better than they do because they are sending out the bills.

So here is a challenge to all the media… conservative and liberal media alike, are you true patriots or are you afraid a little of the scrutiny you happily dish out? The real campaign is about to begin, can we the American people count on you to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about how much is being paid for what we see on your air and in your publications and from whom you receive payment? Yes we hear and see the FEC disclaimers… this ad is paid for by… but who is that really? Are you really going to share that? America is waiting….

Defending Emily Fields

When Non Profit groups like the Florida Family Foundation pressure advertisers like General Mills to pull their support from quality programming like ABC Family’s show “Pretty Little Liars” we all suffer. First Amendment issues notwithstanding; the real issue here is whether we as a people are prepared to accept reality and deal with situations that at times can make us uncomfortable; in this case two young women kissing. One would have thought that Norman Lear crushed that barrier with his cutting edge 1970’s series “All in the Family” on CBS when America was force fed the reality of bigotry in Prime Time. From that point on it became clear to everyone that the television industry had more than token black and strong dominant participation. A whole host of programming was born and for the better. It did not take long before barriers fell for the homosexual community as well, albeit in predominantly male roles.

Here we find ourselves some four decades after a bigoted Archie Bunker came to the realization that he had to accept the first successful human heart transplant operation was from a black man to a white man, and somehow as a nation we cannot get passed the image of two young women sharing an intimate moment coming into our living rooms. Never mind the fact that the argument to used to get the advertisers to pull their support from the program had very little to do with the mission statement of the organization promoting the action. Pretty Little Liars is not a show about children; it is a show about older adolescent teenagers. Emily Fields the subject of all the Ire is one of four main characters and of many story lines of the program. Emily has come to discover that she is not attracted to young men like her friends (Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, and Aria Montgomery), learning to kiss with her murdered friend Alison DiLaurentis and she begins to experiment with young women, finally realizing her sexuality. Emily also had to deal with the threat of being exposed by a mysterious nemesis “A” a yet undiscovered character causing chaos and mischief for all four of the Pretty Little Liars.

This matter was handled tastefully and in a serious way. It was not extraneous frivolity strewn across the small screen for the delight of perversion. Emily faces serious dilemmas within herself, her closest trusted friends, and finally her parents. Her mother initially rejected her as broken. Emily’s father away in the military and a very conservative man returned home to face a household in disarray and a daughter confused and in distress. At the same time Emily was falling in love with a girl, one who used marijuana, and who was whisked out of her life almost as quickly as she had entered. Emily continues to meet new people into the second season, but still burns a candle for her first love.

This is not about Promoting Traditional Biblical Values or Christianity. This is about wholesale abuse of the First Amendment by radical extremists who claim to represent a Godly view. Any decent self respecting Christian with a cursory knowledge of the four gospels of the New Testament would be able to tell you that Christ did not preach judgment to the masses, nor did he preach disassociation due to differences. He healed the sick including lepers, the blind, the deaf, the crippled and the possessed. He forgave the prostitute and the adulteress woman and sent them on their way to sin no more. He turned the other cheek at his own crucifixion. These are not the values that persecute a little girl who finds herself dealing with her sexuality. These are not the values that demand advertisers run away from a series telling a story that deals with issues which are prevalent in our society and require thoughtful and sincere discourse. These are quite simply displays of bigotry, cowardice, and most importantly ignorance that have no place in a society that prides itself on being open and forthright. Shame on them!

All of the advertisers knew when they signed on to this project exactly what they were getting. The show has never been billed as a Disney style G rated feel good series. The basis of the show is about telling lies and keeping secrets between friends, and all the havoc that goes along with keep that up. All of the girls date and each have seen sexual situations presented in the show, but certainly nothing flamboyant in nature. Of course having a few murders and some great fashion thrown in as a bonus can’t hurt the marketing, and the stars are all attractive. The producers, writers, and cast are committed to delivering outstanding programming. Excellent veteran actors, among them Holly Marie Combs, Laura Leighton, Chad Lowe and Nia Peeples backstop the main cast.

While I do not believe in retaliatory boycotts, mainly because the retailer is the one that suffers, not the advertiser, our voices do need to be heard. Call and Write General Mills, Call, Write the Florida Family Foundation, and let them know how you feel about the show and how they have conducted themselves regarding this miscarriage of justice. Tweet and e-mail your friends, because pressure works both ways.

THE INTERNET IS A HUMAN RIGHT - SO SAYS THE UN

Well, I'll say this... Free speech is a Human Right. There are many ways to exercise free speech and the Internet does not constitute the primary mode folks in the world communicate, that would be necessarily true because most of the world isn't hooked in to the Internet in any meaningful way if at all. In fact, the Internet in terms of free speech is a "Johnny Come Lately". That's not said to diminish its importance, simply to put into perspective thousands of years of communications that have taken place without the Internet. For the UN to declare anything a Human Right at this point is pretty pointless given that the UN channels a great deal of the money it's given to it's own bureaucracy and quite frankly graft. Their real idea of a Human right is not having to pay parking tickets all over Manhattan. The rest of New York has to pony up or get booted. The bottom line here is that until someone from the UN is willing to pay my Internet bill, its not a Human Right at all... It's just a declaration of pompous asses trying to justify their own existence in an ivory tower funded by far too much US taxpayer money. Sorry UN, better luck next time. Oh, you might go for Electricity or Gasoline next, they're really expensive these days...

GAS PRICES ARE CRIPPLING THE ECONOMY! WHAT CAN BE DONE?

It should come as no surprise to you that your wallet or purse is a lot lighter than it used to be, and that your credit or debit card has a lot more wear than it has had of late because of the amount of use it has had at the gas pump. Gasoline prices have taken a big bite out of everyone's budgets and we all have cut back on the other spending we normally do. We have stopped buying extra food items at the grocery store. We have stopped having auto repairs if they can possibly wait. We will wait for a movie to come to DVD or Netflix rather than spend the money to go to the theater. We have even made conscious decisions to make coffee at home instead of stopping at Starbucks.... what's the world coming to... the prices keep going up and up and there isn't a thing as consumers we can do to stop it.

Well, what is causing the constant increases in price. Is there a shortage of gas because of the trouble in the Middle East? No, there is no shortage of crude oil on the market. The is plenty of supply and inventory, that is not the problem. The problem is speculation in the commodities markets and that is not necessarily associated with any specific reality. Those markets are driven by emotions, feelings, and sometimes pure conjecture. People bet on what might happen based on what might be happening months and months from now assuming facts that do not yet exist. Is it ridiculous, yes. Should it be illegal, probably. Is there anything that can be done about it, NO!

We are our own worst enemy here. Our government has created the mess we are in by failing to have an energy policy that included building new modern refineries to increase capacity and provide security to our nations energy reserves. I'll say it again, like many others... We have not built a refinery in this country since the 1970's. Our current refineries are old, they are operating at less than their capacity because they are constantly being rebuilt and refurbished. Many are located in areas that are dangerously close to hurricane prone areas. We are days and hours away from a major energy disaster and no one is lifting a finger to do anything.

That said, the immediate problem is putting money back in your pocket so that you can get to work, and put money back into the economy. They guy at the Quickie Mart needs your money and so does them man at the Quickie Lube and the woman at the Dry Cleaner and all the other people you deal with in your day to day life. Truckers need lower cost fuel to help keep the cost of your groceries lower. How can this be done? The Federal Excise Tax on Gasoline (Gasohol) and Diesel can be suspended and this would drop prices 18 to 20 cents immediately. Congress and the President can work together to temporarily suspend these taxes. Second with the summer driving season comes the boutique blending of gasolines to reduce vehicle emissions. This drives the price of fuel up by at least 10 cents but by as much as 15 cents. The blending is an EPA regulation that can be suspended by the President. Both of these moves would help every American NOW.

You should take time to call your Member of Congress and Senators to demand that they work to suspend the Federal Excise taxes on Motor Fuels and call the White House to demand that the boutique blending on gasolines be suspended until gasoline prices fall as the result of market forces (not due to the suspension of the excise taxes) and not before. Congress and the President must hear from the American People. They must be pressured to take action NOW. They must be made to hear we are all fed up with this nonsense brought on by people playing on the Commodities Exchanges.

You should also demand that Congress legislate changes to allow for permitting of new refineries. We must have new refineries to protect our energy security and to achieve the amount of capacity we need to be able to meet the needs of the American people. We cannot depend on 40 year old facilities that could disappear at any time due to a natural or man made disaster. We have to know that our demands will be met. We have to know that when we pull up to the pump in our neighborhood or on the highway across the country that we are able to purchase low cost high quality fuels. We do not want to be forced to import refined gasoline into the United States.

Come on Congress! Come on Mr. President! You say you want to do something to save America's Energy Future... Put Up or Shut Up. We don't need or want Cap and Trade. We want Security and Low Cost Energy and we want it NOW!

It is time for the Republican Party to Take Charge!

The Republican Party controls the United States House of Representatives which is one half of the Congress of the United States. The Democratic Party controls the United States Senate the other half of the Congress and the Presidency. The President has Veto power and with a super majority in both the House of Representatives and Senate being required to override a Presidential Veto; the upper hand in terms of power in terms of the Government lies with the Democratic Party, or so one would think.

The Constitution provides that the spending and taxing authority begins in the House of Representatives. The government cannot perform it's day to day operations without the funding approved by appropriations from the House of Representatives. The Senate cannot act until it receives legislation from the House. The President cannot sign a bill into law or veto it, until it has been passed by both houses of Congress. So, if a political party is going to have control of one of the two bodies in Congress, the power certainly is in the House of Representatives. That is not to say that the Senate does not have exclusivity, but when it comes to spending money, nothing happens unless it happens in the House.

The Senate is a fickle place with lots of rules. The minority in the Senate has many protections. These have been developed over the years by all parties who have had control of the Senate because they knew at some point they would lose control and would be once again in the minority. The most effective tool in the arsenal of the minority, say of any one Senator is the Filibuster. A single Senator can stop all legislative business for as long as that Senator can hold the floor. There are some fairly significant records when Senators have spoken on and on and on to make their position clear and generally gain some sort of compromise from the Senate. Whether it is a concession for a Senator's state or for a Senator's party this tool can be very effective. However, it is rarely ever used in this manner. What is used in the modern day Senate is an implied Filibuster. The threat of a Filibuster is enough to get the attention of the majority. If the Minority decides not to participate, the Majority cannot move forward without them if the Minority has at least 41 votes. If the Majority has 60 votes or more, then it is impossible for an implied Filibuster to be used.

Currently the Republican Party has 47 seats in the US Senate. This is 6 seats more than is needed to use an implied Filibuster. If all 47 Senators stay together they can effectively stop all Senate business, or they can prevent particular Senate business from being considered. This provides a considerable position for negotiation. The Majority cannot run rough shot over the Minority. In effect The Democratic Party cannot do anything unless at least 7 Republicans go along with them.

With Control of the House of Representatives, and the ability to shut down business in the Senate, the Republican Party has much more power than it has been exercising and much more than they have been putting forth to President Obama. It is time to take off the gloves. It is time to stand up and take charge. The Democrats cannot beat the Republican's into submission with lies about starving children, elderly, and poor. The Republicans can force the President and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to tell the truth. They can force them to come clean about spending and about taxes. They can force the President to lead or get out of the way.

I call upon Speaker Boehner and Senate Minority Leader McConnell to get on with it and pull out all the stops. Stop going along to get along. Make the hard choices and show the American people that THEIR government can function in a way that is responsible and responsive. Stand up to the Media and tell them that business as usual is over and that the days of rhetoric have passed. Give us a government that will deliver to us a future we might not like but that we know our country will be proud of, one that does not rob its citizens of a dime more than is necessary to accomplish that goal, and one that spends not a penny more than is required to do a proper job.

We don't need a political campaign. We need someone to get off their ass and do the job! Thank you!

What Congress Should Not Be!

I've had it with Congress, both Houses, and both Parties. I think it's time for a little REFORM we can all live with and here is a good start!

1. Congress Should Not Be Paid... any body that raises billions to be elected doesn't need millions of taxpayer dollars in salaries to survive for a term in office.

2. Congress Should Not Be the Recipient of a Benefits Package... whether a US Representative or a US Senator one term in office hardly qualifies someone for a healthy benefit package most folks have to earn over a long period of years to achieve and usually have to sacrifice a significant portion of their salary to obtain. No health care, retirement, or other benefits for being a public servant.

3. Congress Should Not Be In DC Longer Than 120 Days Per Year... Get with the program people, you have a job to do, pass the 13 appropriation bills and get the hell out of town. Don't we have enough laws? I mean really? If you need to declare a War, well sure come back for a "Special Session" but otherwise stay the hell in your district where you belong!

4. Congress Should Not Be Receiving Visits From Lobbyist While In Session... Do you get visits from sales people when you are at work, well maybe if you are a doctor, but hey maybe there are some really good drugs out there, and well maybe you will get a good box of pens and sticky notes. If Lobbyist wants to see you they can come to your District Office where your Constituents can see whose knocking at your door, not just wonder whose cozying up with you at the cloak room door where there aren't any cameras, or over at the lobby of the "Willard Hotel".

5. Congress Should Not Be Spending New Money if the Current Budget Is Not Balanced... Doesn't it just make sense that you can't spend more money you don't have if you are already spending money you don't have. Come on, how much deficit do you guys need. I don't know about you but I can't bring myself to push 2 for Spanish now and I sure as hell am not going to push 3 for Chinese...That's right and we don't even owe Mexico, South America, or Spain!

So, there you have it Congress... You Should Not Be Receiving Anything At All or Doing Anything but Your Job because YOU SUCK! YES I said it. Someone had to say it. People everywhere should be saying it. If we say it often enough and loud enough people will begin to believe it. People might even understand it and look to the Constitution for faith, guidance, and hope. At least they read the Constitution out loud in the well of the House, at least members there paid lip service to it. I don't know if the members of the Senate have a copy. Maybe they are still searching for theirs. Let's hope sooner or later the Speaker will send his copy over the Senate as a gesture of Good Will. Maybe then they will be on the same page, since it is really all on one page. Well there are some Amendments, but you get my point. It is not all that much to read. Congress needs to get it's act together and NOT BE A BUNCH OF WIMPS. DO YOUR JOB AND GO HOME!!!!

What Congress Should Not Be!

I've had it with Congress, both Houses, and both Parties. I think it's time for a little REFORM we can all live with and here is a good start!

1. Congress Should Not Be Paid... any body that raises billions to be elected doesn't need millions of taxpayer dollars in salaries to survive for a term in office.

2. Congress Should Not Be the Recipient of a Benefits Package... whether a US Representative or a US Senator one term in office hardly qualifies someone for a healthy benefit package most folks have to earn over a long period of years to achieve and usually have to sacrifice a significant portion of their salary to obtain. No health care, retirement, or other benefits for being a public servant.

3. Congress Should Not Be In DC Longer Than 120 Days Per Year... Get with the program people, you have a job to do, pass the 13 appropriation bills and get the hell out of town. Don't we have enough laws? I mean really? If you need to declare a War, well sure come back for a "Special Session" but otherwise stay the hell in your district where you belong!

4. Congress Should Not Be Receiving Visits From Lobbyist While In Session... Do you get visits from sales people when you are at work, well maybe if you are a doctor, but hey maybe there are some really good drugs out there, and well maybe you will get a good box of pens and sticky notes. If Lobbyist wants to see you they can come to your District Office where your Constituents can see whose knocking at your door, not just wonder whose cozying up with you at the cloak room door where there aren't any cameras, or over at the lobby of the "Willard Hotel".

5. Congress Should Not Be Spending New Money if the Current Budget Is Not Balanced... Doesn't it just make sense that you can't spend more money you don't have if you are already spending money you don't have. Come on, how much deficit do you guys need. I don't know about you but I can't bring myself to push 2 for Spanish now and I sure as hell am not going to push 3 for Chinese...That's right and we don't even owe Mexico, South America, or Spain!

So, there you have it Congress... You Should Not Be Receiving Anything At All or Doing Anything but Your Job because YOU SUCK! YES I said it. Someone had to say it. People everywhere should be saying it. If we say it often enough and loud enough people will begin to believe it. People might even understand it and look to the Constitution for faith, guidance, and hope. At least they read the Constitution out loud in the well of the House, at least members there paid lip service to it. I don't know if the members of the Senate have a copy. Maybe they are still searching for theirs. Let's hope sooner or later the Speaker will send his copy over the Senate as a gesture of Good Will. Maybe then they will be on the same page, since it is really all on one page. Well there are some Amendments, but you get my point. It is not all that much to read. Congress needs to get it's act together and NOT BE A BUNCH OF WIMPS. DO YOUR JOB AND GO HOME!!!!

As the Gavel passes...a new beginning in Washington...

Today the fruit of the vine ripened in Washington, DC despite the winter temperatures and the bitterness just below the surface in the new minority in the United States House of Representatives as John A. Boehner of Ohio accepted the Speaker's Gavel from Nancy Pelosi of California. The first thing on the agenda was a sweeping change in House Rules. No longer will American's have to worry that legislation in their Congress will be passed before they have a chance to have a peek at it online. Members of Congress will also have to cite the authority in the US Constitution used as a basis to draft legislation. Further, the centralized power of the Speaker's office will trickle down to the leadership and committee chairman. While these changes may appear to be over-simplification, they represent a serious change in attitude and a move to a truly transparent government. What began with the Contract with America in 1994 which was followed by the squandering of budget dollars and congressional control ending in 2006, may finally find our Congress doing the job they were sent to Washington, DC to do...

I have high hopes for Speaker Boehner and his leadership team. I believe that even though they will be forced to raise the debt ceiling over 14 trillion dollars sometime in the coming months, that real progress will be made in reigning in the sprawling footprint of the US Government and in facing the grim reality of the debt and deficit, and reforming of the entitlement programs Social Security and Medicare. This will not be an easy job and the new Speaker will have to be constantly vigilant to insure his majority stays together and gets the job done.

While going it alone is a distinct possibility as the Democrats learned in the last Congress, Speaker Boehner has already gone the extra mile to include Democrats in the first legislative effort, reforming the House Rules. He will not however receive much support when HR-2 hits the floor of the House, it is the bill to repeal the Health Care legislation passed last Christmas Eve. While House Democrats may bawk and vote NO, a majority of the American people want the whole thing scrapped and want market based reforms to replace the massive nationalization of up to 1/6th of the US economy. It will be a long two years and compromises certainly lay ahead for the House with the US Senate. Hopefully we will all be proud of what happens under the leadership of the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives.

Mosque or no Mosque???

I've listened pretty intently for about a week now to all sides of the debate concerning the building of a Mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center now often referred to as "Ground Zero". This is a very difficult situation indeed because it raises serious questions about our ability to live up to one of our core principles in the founding of our great nation, religious tolerance.

I firmly believe that if the World Trade Towers were still standing that having a Mosque and Islamic Community Center two blocks away wouldn't cause anyone to take a deep breath or blink more than usual. I also believe that if the World Trade Center was still standing that the purchase of the property for that purpose would not have ever occurred. Putting a Mosque in that location is without question a statement of sorts and the only problem any of us has is determining what exactly that message is, so the most reasoned choice is not to go there. If you do go there you begin to look at everything from completely innocent and socio-economic motives to the building of a victory monument designed to rub it in the face of the infidels. No one really knows, all they know is that it's something they don't understand and don't really see a need for in that neighborhood. So at the risk of being intolerant of New Yorker's feelings, why even go there. There are some things you do not do simply because you can. I mean realistically the US could have nuked every Muslim country to be sure that all of the culprits of the 9/11 conspiracy were punished. Just because it's possible doesn't mean it should be, and while that is an extreme example it is nonetheless accurate.

Today there are noises of cooler heads prevailing and the Governor of New York is to be commended for offering a reasonable solution to the problem. The developer and the Imam will meet with him at some time in the near future and hopefully a deal can be struck to put the Mosque on a plot of land nearby but with a less conspicuous footprint. In that case everyone wins. No one wants to deprive the Muslim face of a place to worship or the developer an opportunity to create something that he can be proud of and profit from. So, the rest of us need to let them work things out and keep our mouths shut, from the Whitehouse on down.

"When Haste Meets Race"

The recent blow-up concerning the firing/resignation and then offer to re-hire USDA's Shirley Sherrod over comments made to a gathering of the NAACP indicates that we are not yet a "Post Racial" society. As a matter of fact, we have become so Politically Correct that hardly anyone can say anything without taking the chance that they might be accused of some sort of malicious intent toward someone. In the words of the great one (radio's Mark Levin) "There I said it". However unfortunate you might feel something is, keep your mouth shut or suffer the consequences. This however was a case where an "African American" woman made comments regarding a White Male farmer (probably a dumb redneck...but I digress) saying she had taken him to one of "his kind" a white attorney where he could get help (help that amounted to nothing as it turned out), less help than she might have otherwise been willing to give him if he had not been white. Now the moral of the story is you have to watch the entire video to understand she had an epiphany and realized she was there to help poor people regardless of the color of their skin. God opened her eyes and this was incredibly revealed to her. Given the audience she was speaking to and the context in which the entire video placed her comments, she should not have been fired because she was trying to make a point that had nothing to do with her previously held position on considering white folks in her capacity as someone from the government that was there to help.

The problem here is that no one watched the entire video, only the excerpts, even though the video in its entirety was available, and apparently a written transcript of the dialogue contained therein. The Secretary of Agriculture did not, people at the White House did not, and certainly a number of news people including commentators and contributors on Fox News did not take the time to do their due diligence in the matter and this woman was shamed out of a job. This follows on the heals of the President (Barack Obama) making a hasty comments regarding his friend Henry Louis “Skip Gates” a professor at Harvard to which he said the Cambridge Massachusetts police had acted “Stupidly” in his arrest admitting at the time he made his remarks in an East Room press conference that he did not have all of the details. This resulted in the now infamous “Beer Summit” with the President, Vice President, Mr. Gates, and Cambridge Police Officer James Crowley where little if nothing was accomplished say for a nice photo op and the potential for another meeting between the Professor and the Cop at a later time. This all begs the question, who is running our country and for God sakes what are they thinking?

The Secretary of Agriculture and the White House and several of the Fox News commentators, and the NAACP have since apologized for making asses of themselves in light of what eventually came to put Ms. Sherrod’s comments into context. Ms. Sherrod made it to NBC’s Today Show and Good Morning America and while she may have extended her proverbial 15 minutes of fame to a half hour, she did herself no favors by embellishing her positions that came off as more perplexing than the out of context commentary given the day before. She certainly harbors some animosity toward power and seemingly when it comes from someone of the Caucasian persuasion. As previously stated Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (D-Iowa) a former agriculture state governor made a maximum mea culpa for his hasty firing, and then extended a job offer to Ms. Sherrod (not the same position) at the time this is being written she graciously accepted the apology but has not decided whether to accept the new position. She has also said that legal proceedings against biggovernment.com founder and Fox News contributor Andrew Breitbart may be in the future.

I think it is clear that some old fashioned hand wringing is necessary. I think that people need to resist political correctness when they hear comments made by anyone and at least try to put things into their proper although possibly offensive context before flying off the handle and making a decision or comment that might later be regretted. I think that everyone needs to count to perhaps 50 before saying anything when there is a hot microphone, or the possibility of a hot microphone nearby. While I generally disagree with everything that comes out of the mouth of the Attorney General Eric Holder I will agree that people have been cowards when it comes to addressing “Race” in this country. If we are going to do it we must do it in a way that is not going to cause what in the 1960’s became riots in Washington, DC and the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. We must face the facts that people are different, and we must look to history to understand why people have different opinions and we must agree that in some cases we will have to disagree. We must also not be afraid to hear words that are offensive during conversations and in that way de-stigmatize them and hopefully by default remove them from our lexicon. We have to be “Grown Up’ for a change and think like “Americans” not White-Americans or African-Americans or Hispanic, Asian, Muslim, or whatever other hyphenated variety of American someone might inevitably lay claim to simply to seemingly protect their heritage.

In the United States of America everyone is from somewhere and they came here because they wanted a new life and opportunity as an American. If they did not want those things, they would have stayed where they were no hyphen required. While it is true that many blacks were brought here in the chains of Slavery, it is also true that no black in America is a slave today and no black slave owner is alive today. To blame people for the sins of the past, many generations past, is the same as blaming them for sins that may occur just because new sins are conceivable. We have to treat each other as equal and we have to make decisions based on character and merit. We have to stop promoting a culture of a perpetual under class dependent on the government and we have to concentrate on lifting everyone up by always telling the truth and taking personal responsibility for our actions. This includes but is not limited to the one core value that has been nearly destroyed, the FAMILY UNIT

Obviously I could go on forever, but the clear point here is that we must be willing to listen and listen to everything, not just to the point that we become offended. We must also be willing to accept the fact that we could be wrong about certain things we have long held as true. We don’t have to get along with everyone, but at least we need to know the facts, not some white washing or spun around set of facts…just the facts, the plain and simple truth. Is that too much to ask for? Are all of us too unwilling to listen?

Don't Blame BP Gas Station Owners....

Independent Small Business people who happen to own BP Franchises and sell Amoco brand Gasoline & Diesel fuel should not be the target of boycotts, protests, or violence. Tonight I spot to a client and friend who owns a local BP Station. His business has dropped terribly since the accident in the Gulf of Mexico that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that was controlled by BP. He went on a trip to his native Lebanon and on the night he returned he found his bullet proof glass shattered by a gunshot. Fortunately no one was injured. BP will not pay to replace his window. He has suffered at the hands of people who do not understand that he does not work for BP.

Hardly anyone in the media bothers to remind people that purchasing BP Products from local independent business people is not the way to express discontent with the company BP. Many politicians including the President himself fail to do the same. All who do not repeat this message are complicit. All who fail to remind us that small business owners are not to blame risk repercussions at the polls when Americans finally wake up.

Boycotting BP Stations because of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico makes as much sense as boycotting The Home Depot or Lowes because the lumber in houses blown down by a hurricane or tornado, or washed away in flooding did not stand up to mother nature.

BP is the responsible party. BP has accepted responsibility and has agreed to clean up the damage and compensate all legitimately damaged parties. BP will make it right, so said their chairman. Small business owners that happen to market BP Products are not responsible and are not liable for any damages to anyone because of their actions with respect to what happened 57 days ago.

Support your local businesses and continue to trade with your local BP dealer if you have been buying BP Products in the past. Do not let anger whipped up by those who know not of which they speak push you into changing your loyalties. Be an independent thinker and a thoughtful person. Wake up!!!

When you get caught between BP & DC

BP doesn’t know what to do about their blown out oil rig that has millions of gallons of crude oil spuing into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico short of drilling a relief well. DC our all powerful and all knowing government can get their act together and has nothing to offer except photo ops, hearings, and a ban of all drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet.

Everyone agrees that this is a disaster, one that certainly could have been prevented say for the negligence of BP and a refusal of the rig owner to stand up to BP when they pushed them to keep working against the advice of on site professionals. Everyone also agrees that more needs to be done to stop more oil from reaching the shores and cleaning up the oil that has found its way into the estuaries and onto beaches.

We have a lack of leadership in Washington, DC. The Obama administration has failed miserably to demonstrate any kind of competence. Of course since January of 2009 when they assumed control of the White House we’ve seen nothing that would give us a reason to expect otherwise, and I digress. Obviously the government does not have the expertise to resolve the problems caused by this tragedy. However, they do possess the resources to mobilize manpower and materials, and they can cut red tape completely to enable the States and Private Industry to do what is necessary to mitigate the damage to the highest degree possible.

Already the major oil companies with drilling operations have joined together to try to solve the problem. Countless American citizens have offered legitimate ideas to help on a number of fronts in the effort. Offers have been made by other countries to assist with our situation and we have made no effort to give them an opportunity to make a difference.

Tonight the President addressed the nation from the Oval Office on day 57 of the Siege on the Gulf Coast. He had lofty words and then used his speech to promote his Cap and Trade legislation now in Congress. We are not looking for legislation, or fact finding missions, or hearings in the US House or Senate. We are looking for leadership and solutions. Why wasn’t this speech given the first week of the disaster and without political gamesmanship as the center. The President has failed to find the right people to advise him and as a result has failed to grasp the true issues involved. He needs to understand that the people of the Gulf Coast region are under siege from the oil floating in the waters; moreover they are being slapped down from Washington DC by his administration standing in the way.

President Obama at this point needs to leave the clean up to the States. He needs to provide a wide birth for them to bring in whoever is needed both domestically and abroad. He needs to provide whatever Federal asserts maybe asked for and most of all he needs to keep as far away from the problem as possible. He has become the problem and not the answer. The moratorium on drilling needs to be lifted immediately so the people of the Gulf Coast can go back to work and so the long term exploration and exploitation of our natural resources can be done in a safe and environmentally sound manner. Politics needs to stay out of it from now on and science needs to take the lead when it comes to making decisions that involve the livelihood of Gulf Coast residents and our National Security.

BP on the other hand needs to get to work. They need to open up any and all records for complete review. BP needs to come clean about what happened and take seriously the offers of all others to help. BP needs to provide the States with the ability to run a claims program and distribute monies to all those who have been legitimately damaged.

The people of the Gulf Coast need not to be trapped between BP and DC for another day. BP and DC need to do what is necessary to make things happen in a constructive and positive manner. BP and DC need to commit themselves to solving the problem with the States.

The New Arizona Immagration Law and Immigration Reform

The State of Arizona has enacted a law to allow local law enforcement officials to enforce United States Immigration Policy. While no person in this country has should be denied Civil or Constitutional Rights if they are in the United States legally, those who are not here legally are subject to all of the laws of the United States and the State of Arizona has the right to enforce their law. The State of Arizona has the right as a sovreign state of the United States to protect their citizens from violent crime. The State of Arizona has the right to protect their own citizens from paying for governement services that illegal aliens have no right to use.

Assimilation is why our society became referred to as a “Melting Pot”. E pluribus unum, Latin for "Out of many, one" is our national motto. Immigrants for hundreds of years have come to our shores seeking their future as part of the “American Dream”. There was never a Hyphenated American Dream (African-American, Hispanic-American, etc.) because when people came here they left behind their circumstances and to become part of something new. Immigrants came here to become Americans. Immigrants knew learning English was key to their success and being functioning part of our society. They knew that future generations would identify less and less with their foreign heritiage, and embrace being uniquely American. This was not easy because there was without question prejudices that led to widespread rejection of certain people. Irish and Chinese were sent off to build the Transcontinental Railroad because they were not considered to be equal to other immigrants. Regardless, decendants from both of those heritages are now integral part of American Society.

We have a border with two countries Canada and Mexico. The borders are poreous and it is relatively easy and simple to get into the US and out of the United States with proper identification. The United States requires its citizens to possess and present a biometric tamper resistant passport to both leave and re-enter the country at all border checkpoints. The same is true for all other countries but previously Canada and Mexico (and a handful of other countries and US Territories) required only a drivers license and a birth certificate as proof of US Citizenship for the purpose of entry to and exit from their country.

We have an embassy in nearly every country of the world. People from most of the countries where we are represented make application for Visa’s to come to the United States of America. They take a legal path to becoming American, and understand all that is required of them, including the ability to read, speak, and write in the English language, as well as an understanding of American History and the United States Constitution.

We are a sovreign country that must have safe, secure, and sustainible borders. We have to maintain a fair and reasonable immigration policy. We cannot tolerate the blatent disregard of our immigration laws, and the associated cost of providing federal, local, and state government services to those who are here illegally. We must respect the laws of other nations and the citizens of other nations must respect our laws. No other country on earth tolerates agregis disregard of borders or their immigration policies. Why should the United States be different.

Immigrants from Mexico and Central and South Ameica. Hispanic-Americans have been against the concept of “Many into One” and to giving up their heritage. They and their advocacy groups are insistant on being embraced as a protected class of immigrants. Politicians have done little to change their attitudes or thinking finding it more politically expidient to give in than to lose votes. As a result much of our governent produces documentation in both English and Spanish, and many businesses looking not to alienate a large block of purchasing power provide a Spanish translation to their customers. When you contact most any company doing business with a diverse customer base you are faced with making a choice between hearing their information in English or pressing two (2) for the Spanish translation. No assimilation is taking place anywhere in terms of immigrants from south of the border.

Persons here in the United States illegally should leave. If they are not able to leave on their own, or demonstrate why they should be allowed to stay in the United States for reasons such as political or religious persecution in their own country should be given immediate assistance to return to their country of origin. Illegals can upon their return apply to come to the United States legally, and given reasonable consideration. However, those who have made application from outside of the United States should be given consideration first.

Each and every person in this country with the exception of Native Americans (Eskimos and Indians) come from a family of immigrants from some other country. Each and every person in this country has their own proud perspective with regard to their heritage and family country of origin. However, we must all be one people, one United States of America, but none of us have a right to demand our country assimilate to our own heritage. The United States Federal Government should take heed and enforce the Federal Laws agressively and protect all of the citizens of the United States from the currently poreous borders.

WHAT A MESS...

We've come a long way in the last 15 months since President Obama took office. He promised that he would transform our country and to that end he has not disappointed. While it is absolutely true that he inherited arguably the worst economy since the Great Depression, it is also true that he and Vice President Biden were prior to taking their current offices members of the world’s most deliberative body and America's most exclusive club, the United States Senate. As Senators the condition of the US economy should not have been lost, or at least not a secret. Candidate Obama was brought into the White House along with his opponent Senator John McCain by former President Bush for a sit down meeting about the very difficult economic issues caused primarily by the failure of housing market and really bad loans made by US banks and mortgage companies. At that time (September 2008) the stock market had found its way into the toilet and Trillions of dollars in US wealth disappeared with the Dow falling from it's more than $14,000 high to less than half it's value.

Since taking office in January 2009 we’ve received the following from the Obama Administration and the Democrat controlled Congress:

1. The Troubled Asset Relief Program of 2009
2. The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009
3. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
4. America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009
5. The Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010

Let’s not forget that the take over of AIG, Chrysler, and General Motors all as a result of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of 2009, and the Cash for Clunkers program from funds made available in The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

To date not one member of either body of Congress has made the claim they have read any of the extremely complex bills that they have passed and the White House has not made it clear that the President has done more than a cursory reading of any of the bills himself.

The President and the Congress are not done either because the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2009, and the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 are pending legislation that the Congress intends to push through for the President’s signature before the mid-term elections in November.

The legislation that has passed and been signed into law has put the United States into perhaps unrecoverable debt. The pending legislation shows no intent of providing any relief from that position; in fact, the evidence is quite to the contrary. It is unconscionable that our government could put our country in this position. It pains me to have to consider what future generations of Americans will have to contend with, especially when I recall the fall of the former Soviet Union who spent themselves into oblivion in the Cold War that ended with the fall of the Berlin wall in the George H.W. Bush Administration.

While the President has repeatedly resolved both as a candidate and since his inauguration in January 2009 not to increase taxes a single dime on individuals with incomes of less than $200,000 and married couples earning up to $250,000 there is talk of a Value Added Tax (VAT) to help get the country out of debt or provide additional revenues for not yet contemplated programs. The VAT would be in addition to the income tax which is slated to increase as tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 under the George W. Bush Administration expire. There is no pending legislation to exempt individuals and married couples under the President’s thresholds from feeling the bite of the sunsetting of the Bush tax cuts.

Our economy is extremely fragile. Unemployment is at higher levels than have been seen since the recession during the Ronald W. Reagan Administration’s first term. Fortunately massive inflation has not become reality just yet, but with the amount of money printed by the Federal Reserve it will be impossible to stave it off forever and maintain the low interest rates needed to insure a robust recovery. The housing market has begun to return in many areas, but the hardest hit places like California, Florida, and Nevada may not return for a decade or more. There is talk of another round of major repossessions in the near future when mortgages not converted from adjustable rates to fixed rates reset from below prime levels. While efforts have been made by the White House to urge lenders to work with home owners there is little hope that the majority of troubled mortgages and homes will be saved.

The Republicans in Congress with rare exception have voted unanimously “NO” on all of the legislation passed to date. Polls consistently show that the favorable ratings of the Congress are below 25% and recently the President’s own job approval rating has fallen below 50%. They show that the American people are angry because of the piles of debt that are continuing to grow, and the arrogance of the politicians voting in direct opposition to their will.

Washington, D.C. has become ground zero in the economic destruction of our country. There is no doubt that the Democrat majorities in Congress will be severely curtailed if not lost completely in the upcoming mid-term elections. Should they lose one or both houses of Congress the President will be powerless to accomplish any of his agenda because there will be a continual gridlock until his term ends in January 2013. Unfortunately the damage has been done, and reversing it may be impossible without the ability of the Congress to override a Presidential veto.

The American people must wake up and smell whatever turns them on, be it their coffee or roses in their gardens. We must learn to understand the reality of the issues and they must strive to stay informed about legislation before their elected officials. We must use whatever legal and peaceful means necessary to return our fiscal house to order, and to mandate that the Constitution be followed. Our country is too important and in our history we have never been quitters or been kept down. The tyrannical actions taken by our elected government can be stopped. We can recapture the constitutionally guaranteed rights given to us by our founding fathers. There cannot be a middle ground, we must persist and we must succeed. I know we can do it and accomplish many of the goals of the American people lost in the bizarre legislation brought to bear of late. We cannot lose faith and we must take action. Find out what you can do and get started today!

 

First Deputy Chief William "Bill" Feehan  

Project 2,996 9/11 - Remembrance 

The new media is a funny place to be, you never know what you’re going to find there, or who it might come from. Twitter is among the newer services and as a relatively new member I’ve been spending quite a lot of time reading and sending tweets. Several days ago I received a message looking for people to participate in Project 2,996 to write a tribute about one of the people lost on September 11, 2001. I thought that it would be something good to do. I hope everyone that reads this agrees.

Wow, William Feehan. This was a man who truly understood public service. He devoted his entire life to it, and on September 11, 2001 just less than three weeks from his 72^nd birthday, and only three months from his planned retirement; he gave his life attempting to save another when the 2nd Tower of the World Trade Center fell. He did not have to be there, he could have been at home watching it on television like most of the citizens of New York, the country, and the world. He could have been long retired and enjoying life without all the worries of a government bureaucracy, but he was there in the thick of things at the one place, the only place he could be ground zero.

Yes, it’s important that he was a decorated veteran of the Korean War, serving your country in the Army in combat certainly earns you some respect and gives you some perspective on life. It’s also important that he served at virtually every position in the FDNY (Fire Department New York) all the way to Commissioner of the Department under Mayor David Dinkins. What is more important is that while he was a brave hero who fought many fires, some of the most significant in the history of New York City, he did all that and came home to a loving wife and four children in Queens. Imagine how big a hero he was to them every day. He certainly set an example for his children that showed them hard work, dedication, and integrity. Every time he left home it could have been the last time they saw him, but he was lucky and so were they, and he was able to set an example for his six grandchildren. There is no doubt in my mind he was their hero too. William Feehan had two daughters, Elizabeth and Tara, and two sons John and William. His Wife of 40 years Elizabeth passed away in 1996.

William Feehan does have a professional story that needs to be told. After completing a degree in education from St. John’s University and Serving in the Army in Korea he began his 42 year career with the FDNY. He started at the bottom in 1959 on October 10^th as a Proby Firefighter, served in Division 3, Ladder 3 and the Bureau of Fire Prevention until 1963, and then was promoted to Lieutenant in 1964. He became Chief of the Department in 1991 and Deputy Fire Commissioner since 1992, though acting as Fire Commissioner in 1993 through 1994. He was First Deputy Commissioner on September 11, 2001 becoming the most senior ranking and oldest member of the department killed in the line of duty. Even though he had achieved the highest rank possible in both the Uniform Force and as a Civilian Bill Feehan never stopped fighting fires. “Any call he got in the middle of the night, he would be there. He always had his gear in the Fire Department car” his daughter Tara said. It is also important to note that Bill was a substitute teacher in the public school system for 10 years while working in the Fire Department.

So what have I learned today? I learned about a man who was selfless and a true hero in every sense of the word. I had no idea who he was before I started. I had no clue what I was going to find out if anything about him. I feel exceptionally honored to have his name to give tribute to on this 8^th Anniversary of September 11, 2001. If you have enjoyed reading this perhaps you will be inspired to participate next year.

See more Project 2996 tributes here: http:\\project2996.wordpress.com

None of us should forget what happened that day. The people who perished in New York City in the World Trade Center, on board the Airliners, and on the ground who were the first to feel the horror of that day. The people in Arlington, VA at the Pentagon and aboard that Airliner and the final flight United Airlines Flight 93 that was forced down by the brave passengers in a field near Shanksville, PA. I work close enough to the Pentagon to have been keenly aware of the events of that day. I did not personally know anyone there who perished, but the loss of any life is precious, particularly when taken in an act of terror. Take care, God Bless, and say a prayer for all those who continue to mourn the loss of their family and friends.

Before a Joint Session of Congress...

The President spoke last night for 45 minutes and outlined his plan for health care reform. What he said could have been drafted on one sheet of paper, and if that was all there was to it, most people would have been able to find common ground on enough of it to get something through congress this year. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details and if the details are all included in the 1,100 page catastrophe known as HR3200 then everything the President had to before the Joint Session of Congress was for naught. No one wants that bill. People have been telling their elected representatives for over a month back in their districts that they do not like the bill. National polling data has shown over and over again (it really doesn’t matter whose poll) that support for the House Bill as delivered was never there and quite frankly there were not enough votes in the Democrat controlled majority to pass the bill out before the public had a chance to take a look at it, and quite possibly now there may be less of a possibility of that happening. HR 3200 was scored (looked over for the purpose of determining the cost) by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office and was found not to be “deficit neutral” in fact it created billions of dollars of deficits in the out years (more than 10 years out) that could not be controlled. In affect the bill could not pay for itself, certainly not with savings from Medicare and taxes on high dollar health care plans of executives. If it is going to be paid for it has to be through higher taxes.

The President is serious about getting a bill through Congress this year. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to bring the Republican votes he is going to need unless there are serious concessions made with regard to the ability of individuals and small businesses to buy insurance coverage across state lines, and allowing small businesses to band together to purchase insurance in larger groups to bring premium cost down. Republicans are also not going to support a “Public Option” plan. The President said that only 5 percent of insured would migrate to a Public Option if it were made available. It should be obvious more now than ever that the President has never run a business, certainly one that had to purchase health care for its employees. Employer’s will dump their policies in droves and send employees running to a Public Option plan and be happy to pay an 8 percent tax on their payroll not to have to deal with Insurance and all of the headaches that go with it. This is especially true for small businesses that are exempt from the President’s plan will flee from their plans. The government does not belong in any Health Care system outside of their own until they fix the one they have, just ask the VA.

I think the President needs to tell his leaders in Congress to scrap what they have and start over with the one page that was in his speech and keep it simple enough that an 8th grader can read it in a few hours. No legislation needs to be that complex. “Thou Shalt Not Kill” has been working pretty well since Moses came down from Mount Sinai. It has been translated into every language and found its way into every law book in the world. You don’t need a book to explain it. Congress doesn’t need to be involved with the number of tongue depressors that can be issued to a clinic or hospital in a single month or year. The Agency that has responsibility can write the details and Congress has oversight and can change anything it does not like. There is only one special interest group that needs to be considered and that is the American People. I would hope that Congress would remember that every time they cast a vote.