My dad was a plainspoken man. He wasn’t what I’d call an intellectual but when it came to ethics Dad had a Reagan-like philosophy: just do what’s right. From late adolescence on, this Alabama boy worked in the oil fields of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. When he married my mom, an Arkansas farm girl, he sent his paychecks home to take care of her and what would become his family.
Dad also didn’t care much for politicians. He didn’t trust ‘em and I think he would be outraged over what’s going on in Washington today. In his own way he’d say there’s no such thing as free money. You can’t spend your way out of debt. Recessions aren’t over until there are jobs and people are back at work.
People aren’t back at work today. Joblessness is increasing and the politicians know it. Money is tight and banks won’t even loan money to each other, let alone little guys trying to make a living. All this blather about healthcare, money for insurance companies and bailouts for car companies? That's a costly (and largely ineffective) diversion meant to distract attention from the economy until after next year’s election.
My dad would say this is a recipe for disaster. If the government is telling us to go out and spend dollars that are getting cheaper and cheaper, we’d better save up instead because there’s a bigger recession coming. He’d also say don’t go in debt at all and if you’re already in debt, pay it off as soon as you can.
Dad also believed people should learn a trade, something they could swap for things other people might need. He'd say it wouldn’t matter how much money people had in the bank if there was nothing to buy or if money was worthless. It’s what's on hand that counts, and what people can do for themselves and others if there is a deep recession.
If you think our politicians really care about this situation you have another think coming. They talk a good game but talk is cheap; our job is to look at what politicians are doing: instead of paying off debt, the ones in Washington are putting this country deeper in a financial hole. All they're doing is postponing the inevitable. They’re kicking the can down the road just long enough to ensure their own re-election.
It doesn’t matter which party’s in office – they all behave the same way when it comes to giving up power. That’s why across-the-board federal term limits are in order. But if we leave it up to politicians they will never impose term limits on themselves. We already have term limits – it's called the ballot box. Even without codified term limits, we can vote ‘em out of office if they don’t do the right thing.
Voters may not realize it but the people back home are still in charge. All we have to do is stay involved. The thing politicians fear most is an informed public and the brought light of day shining on what they do. The best way for us to stay informed is to listen to the party out of power; it will pounce if there’s something wrong going on.
But if we grow more complacent than we already are we’ve had it as a nation. We’ve already elected a president who doesn’t appreciate this country’s greatness. Out of deserved disgust with President Bush and Republican corruption, voters put an untested Chicago politician in the White House and things have been going downhill ever since.
If this isn’t a clarion call to turn out the vote next year, I don’t know what is. The next move is ours. Obama and his presidential czars are working hard to solidify their power by working through organizations like ACORN. It’s being done behind the scenes and the White House has thrown transparency out the window. Listen to the news broadcasts if you want, but FOX NEWS aside, we can't depend on what is being reported.
What should we do? Do as my dad would do. Think for yourself and do the right thing when you go to the polls next year. Ignore what the politicians tell you and vote the scoundrels out of office. You might even say it's important this time around.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Bret Stephens’ opinion article in today’s Wall Street Journal didn't go far enough when he said Iraq is President Barack Obama's "Mideast pillar." It’s true that as an Arab democracy, Iraq is a model for what we would like the rest of the Arab world to become. Curiously, though, Mr. Stephens doesn’t mention how this "pillar" became a reality.
George W. Bush’s administration gets credit for turning Iraq into at least the semblance of a democracy. Bush ordered the troop surge that was so magnificently carried out by Brig. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the multi-national force in that country. Yet, just weeks ago President Bush was being pilloried by the press and Democrats for ordering the surge. Now pundits are saying Iraq is Obama’s pillar. If the new president was a statesman he would give his predecessor credit for handing him a reasonably stable country in the Arab region.
The next thing that should have been mentioned in Stephens’ article is the need for an exit strategy on foreign aid. We do not want to turn Iraq into a welfare state. We’re already underwriting Israel. We give tons of economic and military aid to other countries. We are a wealthy nation by comparison to many of these countries but we shouldn't expect American taxpayers to support half the world. After all, we have our own problems.
What I'm really saying is how quickly the press -- even the Wall Street Journal -- can turn a "millstone" around one president’s neck into another president's "pillar." President Bush had his faults but hanging in there on Iraq -- especially after the WMD debacle -- wasn't one of them.
George W. Bush’s administration gets credit for turning Iraq into at least the semblance of a democracy. Bush ordered the troop surge that was so magnificently carried out by Brig. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the multi-national force in that country. Yet, just weeks ago President Bush was being pilloried by the press and Democrats for ordering the surge. Now pundits are saying Iraq is Obama’s pillar. If the new president was a statesman he would give his predecessor credit for handing him a reasonably stable country in the Arab region.
The next thing that should have been mentioned in Stephens’ article is the need for an exit strategy on foreign aid. We do not want to turn Iraq into a welfare state. We’re already underwriting Israel. We give tons of economic and military aid to other countries. We are a wealthy nation by comparison to many of these countries but we shouldn't expect American taxpayers to support half the world. After all, we have our own problems.
What I'm really saying is how quickly the press -- even the Wall Street Journal -- can turn a "millstone" around one president’s neck into another president's "pillar." President Bush had his faults but hanging in there on Iraq -- especially after the WMD debacle -- wasn't one of them.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Media bias against Israel a scandal
I am appalled by the news organizations condemning Israel for its attacks on the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas operating in Gaza. Have these folks been asleep the last few years? Where were they when rockets smuggled into Gaza from Egypt were launched into Israeli neighborhoods?
Have they read the Hamas charter that binds every Muslim to jihad, which is defined as an endless state of war against Israel so long as one Jew remains alive?
Don’t they know that radical militants, who don’t stand a chance against the Israeli military, are simply using them to inflame world opinion against Israel, a nation that wants only to be left alone in the homeland granted to them by the UN in 1948?
Let me add one more ghastly piece of legislation recently enacted by Hamas that has nothing to do with Israel, and everything to do with its own people:
"Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza, having decided that stoning young girls to death is not brutal enough, enacted a law recently adding crucifixion to its list of punishments that already include hand amputation and whipping. Public decapitation for gays and rape victims (that’s right – victims) wasn't bad enough. Now they can look forward to being nailed to a cross and left hanging in agony until they suffocate to death." (This description and legislation appeared on the Al Arabiya web site http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/12/24/62699.html.)
The legislation goes on to authorize “Koranic punishments, including hand amputation, corporal punishment and (other forms of) execution. Drinking, owning or producing wine is punished by 40 lashes, while drinking in public adds three months imprisonment. Several laws are directed against Hamas' Palestinian rivals, including a law intended to inhibit non-Hamas negotiators, by sentencing to death anyone who is 'appointed to negotiate with a foreign government on a Palestinian issue and negotiated against Palestinian interests.'”
There's a word for Hamas and Hamas-type organizations -- uncivilized. They are living in the 5th century when infidels -- non-Muslims -- and Muslim apostates were routinely killed. Think about this the next time you read the New York Times or any other newspaper or television commentator wailing about Israel defending its homeland.
The media don’t tell you that Israel goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. Israel's military could wipe Gaza off the map with little danger to its own soldiers; it chooses to warn Palestinian civilians they are coming after Hamas and that they should leave.
For their part, Hamas militants have hidden in civilian neighborhoods. They shoot rockets from Palestinian schoolyards in an effort to entice Israeli soldiers to respond. Hamas knows that dead or maimed children make excellent footage for TV camera crews looking for a story. Renegade soldiers who crucify girls or chop hands off children could care less about civilian casualties.
I don’t know about you, but I’m weary of the anti-Jewish bias in the American press. I can’t prove it but I think the media know Israel is supported militarily and economically by the United States, and that anything Israel does to advance its own interests advances American interests too
Could it be the media oppose what’s best for this country nationally and throughout the world? Careful readers of the news can form their own opinion. The only conflict is between Israelis and the thoroughly uncivilized and brutal Hamas terrorists.
Truth be known, the media could save thousands of lives by simply reporting news and leaving advocacy to others. But they do not, and that's a shame. It's also why media as we know it today will disappear one newspaper at a time until all that's left is the Internet, and that's a shame too.
Have they read the Hamas charter that binds every Muslim to jihad, which is defined as an endless state of war against Israel so long as one Jew remains alive?
Don’t they know that radical militants, who don’t stand a chance against the Israeli military, are simply using them to inflame world opinion against Israel, a nation that wants only to be left alone in the homeland granted to them by the UN in 1948?
Let me add one more ghastly piece of legislation recently enacted by Hamas that has nothing to do with Israel, and everything to do with its own people:
"Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza, having decided that stoning young girls to death is not brutal enough, enacted a law recently adding crucifixion to its list of punishments that already include hand amputation and whipping. Public decapitation for gays and rape victims (that’s right – victims) wasn't bad enough. Now they can look forward to being nailed to a cross and left hanging in agony until they suffocate to death." (This description and legislation appeared on the Al Arabiya web site http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/12/24/62699.html.)
The legislation goes on to authorize “Koranic punishments, including hand amputation, corporal punishment and (other forms of) execution. Drinking, owning or producing wine is punished by 40 lashes, while drinking in public adds three months imprisonment. Several laws are directed against Hamas' Palestinian rivals, including a law intended to inhibit non-Hamas negotiators, by sentencing to death anyone who is 'appointed to negotiate with a foreign government on a Palestinian issue and negotiated against Palestinian interests.'”
There's a word for Hamas and Hamas-type organizations -- uncivilized. They are living in the 5th century when infidels -- non-Muslims -- and Muslim apostates were routinely killed. Think about this the next time you read the New York Times or any other newspaper or television commentator wailing about Israel defending its homeland.
The media don’t tell you that Israel goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. Israel's military could wipe Gaza off the map with little danger to its own soldiers; it chooses to warn Palestinian civilians they are coming after Hamas and that they should leave.
For their part, Hamas militants have hidden in civilian neighborhoods. They shoot rockets from Palestinian schoolyards in an effort to entice Israeli soldiers to respond. Hamas knows that dead or maimed children make excellent footage for TV camera crews looking for a story. Renegade soldiers who crucify girls or chop hands off children could care less about civilian casualties.
I don’t know about you, but I’m weary of the anti-Jewish bias in the American press. I can’t prove it but I think the media know Israel is supported militarily and economically by the United States, and that anything Israel does to advance its own interests advances American interests too
Could it be the media oppose what’s best for this country nationally and throughout the world? Careful readers of the news can form their own opinion. The only conflict is between Israelis and the thoroughly uncivilized and brutal Hamas terrorists.
Truth be known, the media could save thousands of lives by simply reporting news and leaving advocacy to others. But they do not, and that's a shame. It's also why media as we know it today will disappear one newspaper at a time until all that's left is the Internet, and that's a shame too.
Weather, wives and liberal politics
Bloggers sometimes wonder about whether people read their stuff. For me, the question was resolved the other night when a friend I’d not seen in months asked why I’d not written anything since August. While I was honored by his observation, his question reminded me that I should be posting more often.
The first thing I’d like to talk about this morning is my politician wife. It’s 7 a.m. and this lady is on her way out the door to go to work. It’s snowing outside and there will be 19 miles of rural roads to travel before she arrives at her Cripple Creek office. That’s 38 miles a day, five days a week, for the last 18 years, in all kinds of weather. Not bad for someone her age.
Connie promised to do her best when she was elected almost 20 years ago. She ran for the right reason -- she felt taxpayers deserved more from their elected officials; she also thought she could do a better job than her predecessor. She will leave office two years from now secure in the knowledge that she’s served with competency and integrity.
That’s more than can be said about the Rev. Donald Armstrong, rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs, where I worshipped for 15 years before becoming a Roman Catholic. A vestry chaired by a Springs banker hired Armstrong some 22 years ago. Today, personnel resignations, a split in the congregation, and allegations of financial impropriety will tarnish whatever reputation Armstrong had when he arrived here.
Media reports say Armstrong and the vestry voted to join an Anglican diocese based in Nigeria because the American church had become “too liberal and gay-friendly.” The vote came as a surprise to parishioners who knew nothing about the plans. They also didn’t know the diocese was investigating Armstrong for what it called the "misappropriation" of thousands of dollars from dedicated church funds, and that the rector had used parishioner money to support a non-church institute which he headed.
The congregation essentially split down the middle, with half the people, one priest and most of the choir leaving to worship elsewhere. However, this group remained loyal to the Episcopal faith and has filed suit to reclaim the venerable church building they say belongs to the diocese.
Being Catholic and without a vested interest in what happened, I stayed out of the line of fire. Prior to the split, however, and as a long-time member of the church’s Taylor Choir, Armstrong asked me to serve on a search committee to hire a replacement for an organist/choirmaster who resigned suddenly taking his retirement funds with him.
The committee recommended, and Armstrong approved, hiring Gordon Stewart, a concert organist from the UK, to rebuild what Armstrong called the church's "choral magnificence.” It didn’t take Stewart long to discover there was no money for music. He also found out about the diocesan investigation, which, until then, only the vestry and office insiders knew about.
Stewart resigned and went back to England. His assistant remained and helped choir members move music and new robes (previously bought by a choir member) to a new location. From the musicians' standpoint, an era of musical excellence going back to the 1940s had ended.
But time moves on and so do we. Barack Obama will soon to become the country's Dear Leader. Whatever change he brings had better leave this country as safe as when he found it. The terrorists are still around and he knows it. One 9/11-type attack and BHO will be toast. The media will still fawn over him, but people won’t.
That’s what makes this country great. We grew tired of George Bush, corrupt Republicans and outrageous Congressional spending programs. We figured if Republicans were going to act like Democrats we might as well vote for Democrats. And we did.
But we’ll vote Republican the next time around if Democrats don’t (as Bush might say) do what’s right. Voters instinctively know what’s right already and they’ll hold Obama’s feet to the fire if he goes too far astray. I can promise that if Democrats dink around with free enterprise they’ll be on the outside looking in four years from now.
My bet is Obama’s campaign rhetoric was just that – rhetoric. Now that security professionals are telling him what he needs to know, he’s singing a different tune. He’s backing off on closing Gitmo immediately and also on his pledge to end the Iraq war before the country is ready to be turned over to Iraqis.
But Obama is a liberal and there will be new social programs and higher taxes to support them. The government will print more money to pay for his recovery programs, and that will leave the country deeper in debt than we could have imagined. These chickens will come home to roost in 2010 and 2012 and, depending on how quickly the economy recovers, it might be a good time to be Republican again.
That concludes my catching up for now. I thank my friend James for pointing out how lax I’ve been in posting regularly. I’ll try to do better in the future.
The first thing I’d like to talk about this morning is my politician wife. It’s 7 a.m. and this lady is on her way out the door to go to work. It’s snowing outside and there will be 19 miles of rural roads to travel before she arrives at her Cripple Creek office. That’s 38 miles a day, five days a week, for the last 18 years, in all kinds of weather. Not bad for someone her age.
Connie promised to do her best when she was elected almost 20 years ago. She ran for the right reason -- she felt taxpayers deserved more from their elected officials; she also thought she could do a better job than her predecessor. She will leave office two years from now secure in the knowledge that she’s served with competency and integrity.
That’s more than can be said about the Rev. Donald Armstrong, rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs, where I worshipped for 15 years before becoming a Roman Catholic. A vestry chaired by a Springs banker hired Armstrong some 22 years ago. Today, personnel resignations, a split in the congregation, and allegations of financial impropriety will tarnish whatever reputation Armstrong had when he arrived here.
Media reports say Armstrong and the vestry voted to join an Anglican diocese based in Nigeria because the American church had become “too liberal and gay-friendly.” The vote came as a surprise to parishioners who knew nothing about the plans. They also didn’t know the diocese was investigating Armstrong for what it called the "misappropriation" of thousands of dollars from dedicated church funds, and that the rector had used parishioner money to support a non-church institute which he headed.
The congregation essentially split down the middle, with half the people, one priest and most of the choir leaving to worship elsewhere. However, this group remained loyal to the Episcopal faith and has filed suit to reclaim the venerable church building they say belongs to the diocese.
Being Catholic and without a vested interest in what happened, I stayed out of the line of fire. Prior to the split, however, and as a long-time member of the church’s Taylor Choir, Armstrong asked me to serve on a search committee to hire a replacement for an organist/choirmaster who resigned suddenly taking his retirement funds with him.
The committee recommended, and Armstrong approved, hiring Gordon Stewart, a concert organist from the UK, to rebuild what Armstrong called the church's "choral magnificence.” It didn’t take Stewart long to discover there was no money for music. He also found out about the diocesan investigation, which, until then, only the vestry and office insiders knew about.
Stewart resigned and went back to England. His assistant remained and helped choir members move music and new robes (previously bought by a choir member) to a new location. From the musicians' standpoint, an era of musical excellence going back to the 1940s had ended.
But time moves on and so do we. Barack Obama will soon to become the country's Dear Leader. Whatever change he brings had better leave this country as safe as when he found it. The terrorists are still around and he knows it. One 9/11-type attack and BHO will be toast. The media will still fawn over him, but people won’t.
That’s what makes this country great. We grew tired of George Bush, corrupt Republicans and outrageous Congressional spending programs. We figured if Republicans were going to act like Democrats we might as well vote for Democrats. And we did.
But we’ll vote Republican the next time around if Democrats don’t (as Bush might say) do what’s right. Voters instinctively know what’s right already and they’ll hold Obama’s feet to the fire if he goes too far astray. I can promise that if Democrats dink around with free enterprise they’ll be on the outside looking in four years from now.
My bet is Obama’s campaign rhetoric was just that – rhetoric. Now that security professionals are telling him what he needs to know, he’s singing a different tune. He’s backing off on closing Gitmo immediately and also on his pledge to end the Iraq war before the country is ready to be turned over to Iraqis.
But Obama is a liberal and there will be new social programs and higher taxes to support them. The government will print more money to pay for his recovery programs, and that will leave the country deeper in debt than we could have imagined. These chickens will come home to roost in 2010 and 2012 and, depending on how quickly the economy recovers, it might be a good time to be Republican again.
That concludes my catching up for now. I thank my friend James for pointing out how lax I’ve been in posting regularly. I’ll try to do better in the future.
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