A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that freedom used to make me smile.
And I knew here I had my chance
That I could work to make my life enhance.
And, maybe, I'd pursue "happy" for a while.
But health care bill made me shiver
With all the lies they'd deliver.
Bad news from Ms. Pelosi;
Can't Ameri-ca see?
I can't believe the tactics tried
Smoke and mirrors nearly my brain fried,
But they angered us deep inside
The day that freedom died.
So my, my, this here Obama guy
Wanted this bill crammed through the hill,
Despite the massive outcry.
And the Tea Party boys were protestin' in vain outside
Chantin', "this'll be the day the bill dies!
"We're tired of your political lies!"
Did you pass this bill of fibs
And do you have faith in Robert Gibbs,
If Obama says you must?
Do you ignore all the polls,
Can government save our mortal souls,
And tell me in Progressives we should trust?
Well, I know Pelosi wants it passed
despite her numbers fallin' really fast.
Her and Reid stopped debate.
Man, November'll be too late!
We felt ignored, they passed the buck
Had hope for Scott Brown's pickup truck,
But I knew we were out of luck
The day that freedom died.
I started shoutin',
My, my, this here Obama guy
Wanted this bill crammed through the hill,
Despite the massive outcry.
And the Tea Party boys were protestin' in vain outside
Chantin', "this'll be the day the bill dies!
"We're tired of your political lies!"
Now for ten years it's 'posed to cost less
But to me it seems like a big mess,
But that's not how it used to be.
When the elected answered to you and me,
In a country of the brave and free
And a nation united sea to sea!
Oh, and while Obama was talking down,
Awaiting his expected crown.
The Congress was coerced;
Power 'n greed won first.
And while bribes and deals were done,
On our dollars they had some fun,
And we protested in the sun
The day that freedom died.
We were mourning,
"My, my, this here Obama guy
Wanted this bill crammed through the hill,
Despite the massive outcry.
And the Tea Party boys were protestin' in vain outside
Chantin', "this'll be the day the bill dies!
"We're tired of your political lies!"
Showing posts with label society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label society. Show all posts
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Being A Man
Tonight I was flipping through the channels and came across one of my favorite episodes of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." This episode is not one of the funniest ones, but instead it is one of the greatest commentaries on society and being a man I have ever seen. It is also, in my estimation, some of, if not the, best acting Will Smith has ever put on display.
So, here is the synopsis. Lou Smith, Will's long-lost father, jumps into the picture for the first time in 14 years. Lou is a truck driver and finds Will during a trip to L.A. Suddenly, Will's dream has come true...daddy's home. This causes some painful friction with Uncle Phil as Will wants his Daddy to be what Will missed for a decade and a half. At the end, we see Lou bail on Will again, then Will reacts as most teens would. He got angry, indignant, then let the pain come through in one of the most powerful lines in television history..."How come he don't want me, man?"
I have seen this episode several times, and it still makes me emotional and feel for the millions of kids who live without fathers everyday. Having worked in the childcare industry, I have seen the damage bad parenting, as well as a complete lack of parenting, can cause children. And this episode of "Fresh Prince" just rings home so true.
In life, for a guy, there are a few defining decisions that will determine who you really are. Sometimes those are small decisions, sometimes they are life-changing decisions. However, there is usually only one choice that a true, real man will make.
Some of the big decisions are based on relationships with people in your life. For instance, no MAN has ever hit his wife/girl friend/fiance. Yes, there are males who hit females, but, I say again, no MAN has EVER hit a woman. In my book, you officially lose your right to call yourself a man the second you lay your hand on your woman.
Next, no MAN sits on his rear end and does nothing to better himself and the lives of those he cares about. A male who waits on a free check, or spends all his time drunk or high, or otherwise wastes his life and does not work to provide, he is not a real MAN. Now, let me clarify, if there is a family unit in which the wife has a career and the man is a stay at home daddy, as long as that daddy works to keep the house operating and provides discipline and structure and love for the kids, then that man is providing for his family. However, the drunk/high, loser sitting at home not taking care of what needs done is not, in my book, a man.
Then we get to the point of the show, and that is no MAN ever, ever up-and-abandoned his family. No MAN ever left his child in the rearview mirror to fend for him- or herself in life. Daddy is, in many ways, just as important as mommy in the development of a child. Daddy needs to be there. No MAN ever left that responsibility behind. If you are someone who left his child or children behind, you, sir, are not a man. If you didn't do everything you possible could to be in your child or children's life/lives, you are not a man.
I just needed to get that off my chest. Our society is in a severe shortage of real men. We are in a desperate need for daddies. If you are man enough to have sex, you better be man enough to be there for the kids you create. They need you.
Don't ever be the kind of person who leads a kid to ask, "Why don't he want me, man?"
So, here is the synopsis. Lou Smith, Will's long-lost father, jumps into the picture for the first time in 14 years. Lou is a truck driver and finds Will during a trip to L.A. Suddenly, Will's dream has come true...daddy's home. This causes some painful friction with Uncle Phil as Will wants his Daddy to be what Will missed for a decade and a half. At the end, we see Lou bail on Will again, then Will reacts as most teens would. He got angry, indignant, then let the pain come through in one of the most powerful lines in television history..."How come he don't want me, man?"
I have seen this episode several times, and it still makes me emotional and feel for the millions of kids who live without fathers everyday. Having worked in the childcare industry, I have seen the damage bad parenting, as well as a complete lack of parenting, can cause children. And this episode of "Fresh Prince" just rings home so true.
In life, for a guy, there are a few defining decisions that will determine who you really are. Sometimes those are small decisions, sometimes they are life-changing decisions. However, there is usually only one choice that a true, real man will make.
Some of the big decisions are based on relationships with people in your life. For instance, no MAN has ever hit his wife/girl friend/fiance. Yes, there are males who hit females, but, I say again, no MAN has EVER hit a woman. In my book, you officially lose your right to call yourself a man the second you lay your hand on your woman.
Next, no MAN sits on his rear end and does nothing to better himself and the lives of those he cares about. A male who waits on a free check, or spends all his time drunk or high, or otherwise wastes his life and does not work to provide, he is not a real MAN. Now, let me clarify, if there is a family unit in which the wife has a career and the man is a stay at home daddy, as long as that daddy works to keep the house operating and provides discipline and structure and love for the kids, then that man is providing for his family. However, the drunk/high, loser sitting at home not taking care of what needs done is not, in my book, a man.
Then we get to the point of the show, and that is no MAN ever, ever up-and-abandoned his family. No MAN ever left his child in the rearview mirror to fend for him- or herself in life. Daddy is, in many ways, just as important as mommy in the development of a child. Daddy needs to be there. No MAN ever left that responsibility behind. If you are someone who left his child or children behind, you, sir, are not a man. If you didn't do everything you possible could to be in your child or children's life/lives, you are not a man.
I just needed to get that off my chest. Our society is in a severe shortage of real men. We are in a desperate need for daddies. If you are man enough to have sex, you better be man enough to be there for the kids you create. They need you.
Don't ever be the kind of person who leads a kid to ask, "Why don't he want me, man?"
Sunday, January 3, 2010
2010 Predictions
1) Obama and the Dems will tout their victorious passing of "something" for health care reform. No one outside of talk radio and FNC will dare question what that "something" actually is, but the "something" is a historic "something." It could be good...could be bad...but they actually passed "something." And that "something" will be the landmark success that the media will tout to help build momentum toward the November mid-terms.
2) Cap and Tax will eventually pass. Another "something." It will include the promised tax payer funds for the global warming initiatives Obama agreed to in Copenhagen. Stimulus money will be used to put thousands of illegals to work to build homeless shelters and YMCAs to house the massive influx of homeless due to the high energy costs. Al Gore will fly around with Obama in Gore's private jet to various golf courses, taking breaks between holes to tout the green grass, the clean air, and the new green technology that is coming out in the coming months. The spike in homelessness will be blamed on the careless Bush policies that encouraged the alleged price gouging of big oil.
3) As the health reform bill gets through reconsiliation, and cap and tax builds momentum toward passing, the Obama administration will announce that television services and access to the important messages carried with the Emergency Broadcast System. They will blame Bush and rehash and rewrite the history of Katrina to emphasize the need for everyone to have access to clear, understandable television. A new tax on the viewers of the most successful cable news channel will pay for TV for all. Every person in America will be required to purchase a government approved television service with government approved channels with government approved programming. Finally, Barack will have an answer for Fox News....
4) In conjuction with the Right to Public Broadcast and Emergency Information Act, Chuck Schumer, D-NY, will add an amendment that will ressurrect the Fairness Doctrine. The Fairness Doctrine will garner the support of all Democrats. The justification of the amendment will be explained as follows: if all broadcasts, television, radio and otherwise, are subject to fairness and avoid one-sidedness, more people will be tuned in, therefore will have more readily available access to any important news and information through the Emergency Message System.
5) For anyone with a job, the government will absorb 100% of your check, send your family a box of food each week, all of which is grown on "green" and animal friendly farms, and determine the amount of kilowatthours your family can use in electricity each day. Hit the limit, your power goes off. So, cook dinner in the crockpot FIRST!
6) In late October, as more and more families lose jobs, homes, and cars, crime rates skyrocket, and civil unrest starts to become a trend, Barack Obama makes a heartfelt, sincere announcement in reference to the fear and worry America is feeling. With the support of Congress, Obama, in the interest of safety for the innocent, hard-working, suffering American people, the United States will not expose its citizens to the potential dangers and heightened emotions of an election night. As of November 1, 2010, all state and national elections will be post-poned until such time as joblessness, homelessness, and crime all see drastic declines.
Unlikely?
Yeah. And if I told you in 2006 that by 2009, the US would have a weak puppet for a President who led an immature, unrestrained Congress into taking over General Motors, the banking industry, and the health care industry, you would think I was crazy then, too.
2) Cap and Tax will eventually pass. Another "something." It will include the promised tax payer funds for the global warming initiatives Obama agreed to in Copenhagen. Stimulus money will be used to put thousands of illegals to work to build homeless shelters and YMCAs to house the massive influx of homeless due to the high energy costs. Al Gore will fly around with Obama in Gore's private jet to various golf courses, taking breaks between holes to tout the green grass, the clean air, and the new green technology that is coming out in the coming months. The spike in homelessness will be blamed on the careless Bush policies that encouraged the alleged price gouging of big oil.
3) As the health reform bill gets through reconsiliation, and cap and tax builds momentum toward passing, the Obama administration will announce that television services and access to the important messages carried with the Emergency Broadcast System. They will blame Bush and rehash and rewrite the history of Katrina to emphasize the need for everyone to have access to clear, understandable television. A new tax on the viewers of the most successful cable news channel will pay for TV for all. Every person in America will be required to purchase a government approved television service with government approved channels with government approved programming. Finally, Barack will have an answer for Fox News....
4) In conjuction with the Right to Public Broadcast and Emergency Information Act, Chuck Schumer, D-NY, will add an amendment that will ressurrect the Fairness Doctrine. The Fairness Doctrine will garner the support of all Democrats. The justification of the amendment will be explained as follows: if all broadcasts, television, radio and otherwise, are subject to fairness and avoid one-sidedness, more people will be tuned in, therefore will have more readily available access to any important news and information through the Emergency Message System.
5) For anyone with a job, the government will absorb 100% of your check, send your family a box of food each week, all of which is grown on "green" and animal friendly farms, and determine the amount of kilowatthours your family can use in electricity each day. Hit the limit, your power goes off. So, cook dinner in the crockpot FIRST!
6) In late October, as more and more families lose jobs, homes, and cars, crime rates skyrocket, and civil unrest starts to become a trend, Barack Obama makes a heartfelt, sincere announcement in reference to the fear and worry America is feeling. With the support of Congress, Obama, in the interest of safety for the innocent, hard-working, suffering American people, the United States will not expose its citizens to the potential dangers and heightened emotions of an election night. As of November 1, 2010, all state and national elections will be post-poned until such time as joblessness, homelessness, and crime all see drastic declines.
Unlikely?
Yeah. And if I told you in 2006 that by 2009, the US would have a weak puppet for a President who led an immature, unrestrained Congress into taking over General Motors, the banking industry, and the health care industry, you would think I was crazy then, too.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Imagine...
Imagine...
Going to work and sitting at your desk, upset the boss just passed you up for a promotion. You're gonna have to stay late today and miss your daughter's dance recital. Suddenly, you are thrown five city blocks in the air. You never knew what hit you.
Imagine...
Sitting in your office and you are in complete disbelief. You cannot leave your building. The skyscraper you are in is on fire. The building is shaking. Word you are getting is that the stairs and elevators are all blocked with fired and debris. The heat is building. There is no escape. There will be no rescue. Do you wait to die? Or do you jump. You see others pass your window. You ask God's forgiveness as you take control of the one thing left in your power.
Imagine...
Storming to your cubicle. You had just had a major fight with your husband. You both said some mean, hurtful things. You sit in your ergonomic chair and silently, deep in your mind and soul, you take minor comfort knowing that you guys will be able to kiss and make up at 5:30 tonight at dinner. A flash of light and glass, your life is over.
Imagine...
Running the halls of the Pentagon to an important meeting. Something is developing in New York City that is going to have a drastic impact on National Security. You stumble on the loose corner of a rug, you curse the rug, look up as the wall to your right crushes your body. The last thing you smell is burning wood and scorched concrete.
Imagine...
Waking up, trying to regain your bearings. A second ago, you were at the watercooler talking about the new college football season. You think Florida State is going to make a run at it, but your buddy said his money was on USC. Now, the room is dark. Your buddy isn't anywhere in sight. You realize people are beating you with coats and pillows. You then realize the pain coming from your back and arms. You are covered in flaming jet fuel. You scream in pain before you fall into shock, then die.
Imagine...
Responding to the mass confusion of two planes flying into the World Trade Center. There are no elevators. No word on the conditions of the stairwells. All you want to do is get to the fires and help the people. You grab your 80 pounds of gear and climb the 80 flights of stairs...1 grueling flight per minute. You hear another series of explosions. Has another plane hit?! You never hear the answer as the floor above you lands on your skull.
Imagine...
Trying to organize batallions and companies of firefighters from the ground. These men are your responsibility. You send them up the towering inferno. The first tower collapses, you dive into a stairwell. When the dust starts to clear, a man who is a friend and the chaplain to the entire fire department lies next to you, dead.
Imagine...
Sitting on a flight to the west coast. Suddenly, men have taken over the plane. They have killed one person with a boxcutter. They have taken the cockpit and are now flying the plane to a new destination, or, more appropriately, target. You and others get in contact with people on the ground. This plane, appearantly, is the fourth in a targeted attack on America and innocent civilians. You don't know of the horrors of people burning alive in the Twin Towers...You only know what the inevitable has now become, and what you must do about it. You follow the lead of four men, one of whom yells, "Let's Roll." A short fight occurs in the cockpit. The plane loses control, turns over, and crashes into the ground. You knew going into the cockpit, these murderous scum had already determined that you and everyone else was going to die. So, you and the others aboard determined the how and when and took back some control.
Imagine...
That you had been in the Twin Towers or the Pentagon or Flight 93. That your life was taken by murderous, evil scum of the Earth that took part in killing 3000+ innocent civilians. Imagine that you were taken in an instant, without chance to say sorry for your wrongs, to make up for the mistakes you made with loved ones, or to just meet your life's potential. Imagine, even worse, you suffered and died in the fires and smoke in the aftermath of the plane crashes. You felt your flesh melt under the heat of the jet fuel. Imagine the pain and shock of knowing you were going to die and there was nothing you could do. Imagine the horrors of 9/11/01, and you were destined to become one of the many faces on the memorial walls dedicated to the victims of the attacks.
Imagine...
Now, Imagine...
A large, loud-mouth portion of the country takes your death and uses it for political gain. They accuse the President of knowing and covering up the fact that the US Government knew, and quite possibly took part in, the acts that killed you.
Imagine...
An entire political party wants to give the same people that helped planned the attacks access to US Courts and the US Constitution. From the new President through both houses of Congress, there are those that want to offer full rights and privileges to the same group of people who trained to kill you. That the new President wants to move the terrorist scum from an off-shore military base to on-shore, US federal prisons, with full access to legal representation, full Miranda Rights, and full Constitutional protection.
Imagine...
The new President and his party attacking and distracting the efforts of intelligence agencies on a daily basis. That party uses the newspapers to discredit and attack these intelligence agencies for scaring or causing discomfort to people that have information that could be used to save more people from your fate.
Imagine...
A President and his party requiring US Soldiers to hesitate everytime they arrest or even engage with an enemy. Instead of trying to protect themselves from dying on the battlefield, they have to worry about what a Democratic senator will say about them if they kill an enemy. They have to worry about some politician calling for a full trial if you kill someone who poses a threat. They have to offer Miranda Rights to terrorists they capture on the battlefield.
Imagine...
The new President refusing to call the groups that are responsible for your death "terrorists." And he doesn't call it a "war on terror," but some sort of contingency plan. The new President apologizes to unfriendly nations for how America defended itself.
Imagine...
Eight years after your death, your death is memorialized by the new President as a call to community service. Instead of calling for a restrengthening of our pursuit of Bin Laden and al Qeada and preventing more terrorist attacks on US soil, the President says America should go out and pick up litter on the highway or other such community service. He in effect dismisses your sacrifice and your murder by saying 9-11 is a day of service.
Imagine...
You are looking down on the current administration and the party in power. Are you feeling forgotten? Are you feeling disgraced? Do you think you and the 3000 other men, women, and children who died on 9-11-01 are being memorialized appropriately and with respect?
Going to work and sitting at your desk, upset the boss just passed you up for a promotion. You're gonna have to stay late today and miss your daughter's dance recital. Suddenly, you are thrown five city blocks in the air. You never knew what hit you.
Imagine...
Sitting in your office and you are in complete disbelief. You cannot leave your building. The skyscraper you are in is on fire. The building is shaking. Word you are getting is that the stairs and elevators are all blocked with fired and debris. The heat is building. There is no escape. There will be no rescue. Do you wait to die? Or do you jump. You see others pass your window. You ask God's forgiveness as you take control of the one thing left in your power.
Imagine...
Storming to your cubicle. You had just had a major fight with your husband. You both said some mean, hurtful things. You sit in your ergonomic chair and silently, deep in your mind and soul, you take minor comfort knowing that you guys will be able to kiss and make up at 5:30 tonight at dinner. A flash of light and glass, your life is over.
Imagine...
Running the halls of the Pentagon to an important meeting. Something is developing in New York City that is going to have a drastic impact on National Security. You stumble on the loose corner of a rug, you curse the rug, look up as the wall to your right crushes your body. The last thing you smell is burning wood and scorched concrete.
Imagine...
Waking up, trying to regain your bearings. A second ago, you were at the watercooler talking about the new college football season. You think Florida State is going to make a run at it, but your buddy said his money was on USC. Now, the room is dark. Your buddy isn't anywhere in sight. You realize people are beating you with coats and pillows. You then realize the pain coming from your back and arms. You are covered in flaming jet fuel. You scream in pain before you fall into shock, then die.
Imagine...
Responding to the mass confusion of two planes flying into the World Trade Center. There are no elevators. No word on the conditions of the stairwells. All you want to do is get to the fires and help the people. You grab your 80 pounds of gear and climb the 80 flights of stairs...1 grueling flight per minute. You hear another series of explosions. Has another plane hit?! You never hear the answer as the floor above you lands on your skull.
Imagine...
Trying to organize batallions and companies of firefighters from the ground. These men are your responsibility. You send them up the towering inferno. The first tower collapses, you dive into a stairwell. When the dust starts to clear, a man who is a friend and the chaplain to the entire fire department lies next to you, dead.
Imagine...
Sitting on a flight to the west coast. Suddenly, men have taken over the plane. They have killed one person with a boxcutter. They have taken the cockpit and are now flying the plane to a new destination, or, more appropriately, target. You and others get in contact with people on the ground. This plane, appearantly, is the fourth in a targeted attack on America and innocent civilians. You don't know of the horrors of people burning alive in the Twin Towers...You only know what the inevitable has now become, and what you must do about it. You follow the lead of four men, one of whom yells, "Let's Roll." A short fight occurs in the cockpit. The plane loses control, turns over, and crashes into the ground. You knew going into the cockpit, these murderous scum had already determined that you and everyone else was going to die. So, you and the others aboard determined the how and when and took back some control.
Imagine...
That you had been in the Twin Towers or the Pentagon or Flight 93. That your life was taken by murderous, evil scum of the Earth that took part in killing 3000+ innocent civilians. Imagine that you were taken in an instant, without chance to say sorry for your wrongs, to make up for the mistakes you made with loved ones, or to just meet your life's potential. Imagine, even worse, you suffered and died in the fires and smoke in the aftermath of the plane crashes. You felt your flesh melt under the heat of the jet fuel. Imagine the pain and shock of knowing you were going to die and there was nothing you could do. Imagine the horrors of 9/11/01, and you were destined to become one of the many faces on the memorial walls dedicated to the victims of the attacks.
Imagine...
Now, Imagine...
A large, loud-mouth portion of the country takes your death and uses it for political gain. They accuse the President of knowing and covering up the fact that the US Government knew, and quite possibly took part in, the acts that killed you.
Imagine...
An entire political party wants to give the same people that helped planned the attacks access to US Courts and the US Constitution. From the new President through both houses of Congress, there are those that want to offer full rights and privileges to the same group of people who trained to kill you. That the new President wants to move the terrorist scum from an off-shore military base to on-shore, US federal prisons, with full access to legal representation, full Miranda Rights, and full Constitutional protection.
Imagine...
The new President and his party attacking and distracting the efforts of intelligence agencies on a daily basis. That party uses the newspapers to discredit and attack these intelligence agencies for scaring or causing discomfort to people that have information that could be used to save more people from your fate.
Imagine...
A President and his party requiring US Soldiers to hesitate everytime they arrest or even engage with an enemy. Instead of trying to protect themselves from dying on the battlefield, they have to worry about what a Democratic senator will say about them if they kill an enemy. They have to worry about some politician calling for a full trial if you kill someone who poses a threat. They have to offer Miranda Rights to terrorists they capture on the battlefield.
Imagine...
The new President refusing to call the groups that are responsible for your death "terrorists." And he doesn't call it a "war on terror," but some sort of contingency plan. The new President apologizes to unfriendly nations for how America defended itself.
Imagine...
Eight years after your death, your death is memorialized by the new President as a call to community service. Instead of calling for a restrengthening of our pursuit of Bin Laden and al Qeada and preventing more terrorist attacks on US soil, the President says America should go out and pick up litter on the highway or other such community service. He in effect dismisses your sacrifice and your murder by saying 9-11 is a day of service.
Imagine...
You are looking down on the current administration and the party in power. Are you feeling forgotten? Are you feeling disgraced? Do you think you and the 3000 other men, women, and children who died on 9-11-01 are being memorialized appropriately and with respect?
Remembering 9/11 Eight Years Later...
There are still empty chairs at the breakfast and dinner tables.
There is still a gaping hole in Manhattan, and in so many hearts and souls in America.
We are still healing.
In our healing, we have become divided. We have let the power-hungry manipulate us into buying their snake oils and their magic youth formulas. We have let the government group us into small categories and let the opposing side rip us to shreds for our beliefs.
We are a divided nation. The more divided we become, the more hatred and vitriol we share for our own people, the more the murderous bastards have won. They are winning the psychological battle against America because we let politics and personal agendas take over. We let them win because we refused to tell the people we elected to, "Shut the hell up!," and kick them out of office. We let our own government divide us.
On September 11, 2001, we stood in horror...in anger...in shock. On September 12, 2001, we got down on our knees as a nation and asked God for the strength and wisdom to deliver justice. That same day, we, as a nation, got off our knees, dusted ourselves off, and got to work. We united as a country to do everything we could to prevent this attack from repeating itself. We were the UNITED States of America, a nation determined to right the wrongs of the immoral attacks inflicted on innocent civilians.
For six weeks, Old Glory flew high on every home, on every street, in every city, town, or suburb in America. We weren't straight or gay, black or white, rich or poor, left or right...We were AMERICANS. For six weeks we were the greatest nation on Earth, full of angry, hurt, and fortified Americans. For those six weeks, the terrorists had lost the psychological battle though they had won the physical battle at that point.
Here we are, eight years later. Gaping holes still within the hearts of so many people who lost so much in 100 minutes on a gorgeous September Tuesday morning. The hole in Manhattan is still open, like a nagging injury that still hasn't healed. And there is a gaping hole in the hearts, minds, and souls of Americans.
For six weeks, we were unified, together, and we were brothers with one creed and one loyalty. What happened? Why did we stop caring about the nation and the future? Why did we decide that our needs here and now were most important?
Now, we are 600 million strangers with our own agendas. We let the mouthpieces in Washington divide us on a daily basis. It is a sad way to pay tribute to the people on Flight 93, the men and women in the Twin Towers and The Pentagon, and the brave firefighters and police officers who perished on that terrible morning. We have disgraced them. Their sacrifice has gone in vain...
But it doesn't have to be that way.
If you will take a pledge to read the US Constitution, then read the Declaration of Independence, then read Thomas Paine's Common Sense, and then look with pride at the red, white, and blue American flag, and then look at the people on your left and your right, and look at them as your brothers and sisters in the struggle of being American...if you will do all those things, then remember how you felt on 9/11/01 at around 11am, then we will be better off. If we will remember what it is that makes America great, and remember that despite her faults, America IS a great nation, we can turn it around.
America IS a great nation. If you don't believe that, France is wide open. Buy a one-way ticket. Enjoy the riots. It is time we started remembering that we are in a great nation. We are free people. We need to appreciate the freedoms we have, and, more importantly, remember and thank the people who protect those freedoms and rights. It is time to cut out the petty garbage and grow the hell up. It is time to appreciate what we have.
Today, on 9-11-09, it is time to remember. Remember everything. Remember Todd Beamer. Remember the firemen who ran up the stairwells of the Twin Towers, but never came out. Remember the empty chairs that so many families will witness at dinner tonight. Remember what America stands for and forget the garbage and politics. There is one thing we can do to honor the men and women who suffered and died on 9-11. We must re-unite and become a strong nation. Stop pointing fingers and stop blaming Bush or Obama or whomever. Do your part.
Honor and remember the freedom fighters who died eight years ago today. Let's unite as Americans PERMANENTLY.
There is still a gaping hole in Manhattan, and in so many hearts and souls in America.
We are still healing.
In our healing, we have become divided. We have let the power-hungry manipulate us into buying their snake oils and their magic youth formulas. We have let the government group us into small categories and let the opposing side rip us to shreds for our beliefs.
We are a divided nation. The more divided we become, the more hatred and vitriol we share for our own people, the more the murderous bastards have won. They are winning the psychological battle against America because we let politics and personal agendas take over. We let them win because we refused to tell the people we elected to, "Shut the hell up!," and kick them out of office. We let our own government divide us.
On September 11, 2001, we stood in horror...in anger...in shock. On September 12, 2001, we got down on our knees as a nation and asked God for the strength and wisdom to deliver justice. That same day, we, as a nation, got off our knees, dusted ourselves off, and got to work. We united as a country to do everything we could to prevent this attack from repeating itself. We were the UNITED States of America, a nation determined to right the wrongs of the immoral attacks inflicted on innocent civilians.
For six weeks, Old Glory flew high on every home, on every street, in every city, town, or suburb in America. We weren't straight or gay, black or white, rich or poor, left or right...We were AMERICANS. For six weeks we were the greatest nation on Earth, full of angry, hurt, and fortified Americans. For those six weeks, the terrorists had lost the psychological battle though they had won the physical battle at that point.
Here we are, eight years later. Gaping holes still within the hearts of so many people who lost so much in 100 minutes on a gorgeous September Tuesday morning. The hole in Manhattan is still open, like a nagging injury that still hasn't healed. And there is a gaping hole in the hearts, minds, and souls of Americans.
For six weeks, we were unified, together, and we were brothers with one creed and one loyalty. What happened? Why did we stop caring about the nation and the future? Why did we decide that our needs here and now were most important?
Now, we are 600 million strangers with our own agendas. We let the mouthpieces in Washington divide us on a daily basis. It is a sad way to pay tribute to the people on Flight 93, the men and women in the Twin Towers and The Pentagon, and the brave firefighters and police officers who perished on that terrible morning. We have disgraced them. Their sacrifice has gone in vain...
But it doesn't have to be that way.
If you will take a pledge to read the US Constitution, then read the Declaration of Independence, then read Thomas Paine's Common Sense, and then look with pride at the red, white, and blue American flag, and then look at the people on your left and your right, and look at them as your brothers and sisters in the struggle of being American...if you will do all those things, then remember how you felt on 9/11/01 at around 11am, then we will be better off. If we will remember what it is that makes America great, and remember that despite her faults, America IS a great nation, we can turn it around.
America IS a great nation. If you don't believe that, France is wide open. Buy a one-way ticket. Enjoy the riots. It is time we started remembering that we are in a great nation. We are free people. We need to appreciate the freedoms we have, and, more importantly, remember and thank the people who protect those freedoms and rights. It is time to cut out the petty garbage and grow the hell up. It is time to appreciate what we have.
Today, on 9-11-09, it is time to remember. Remember everything. Remember Todd Beamer. Remember the firemen who ran up the stairwells of the Twin Towers, but never came out. Remember the empty chairs that so many families will witness at dinner tonight. Remember what America stands for and forget the garbage and politics. There is one thing we can do to honor the men and women who suffered and died on 9-11. We must re-unite and become a strong nation. Stop pointing fingers and stop blaming Bush or Obama or whomever. Do your part.
Honor and remember the freedom fighters who died eight years ago today. Let's unite as Americans PERMANENTLY.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Can YOU say it? Moreover...can you MEAN it?
I love America.
I love my country and am proud to be a citizen of this land.
I am proud to be an American.
Now, you say it.
Can you say it? Do you mean it?
Since the 1770's, we have been in a constant struggle to maintain freedom and our Independence. Countless men, women, and children have fought, suffered, and died in the name of freedom.
From the warriors that dug in their heels to push back Cornwallis into the awaiting cannons of the French, to the men and women who gave so much to get our country going in the two World Wars, to the men and women who were attacked and literally spit upon by fellow citizens during the Vietnam conflict, to the men, women and children who died on the battlefields as terrorists took a war ignored for 8 years to an unreal escalation, to the men and women fighting and dying in Afghanistan and Iraq, far too many to name have made sure we can speak freely and not fear a tyrannical government punishing us for our thoughts and beliefs.
American heroes that preserve our freedom are constantly overlooked or, even worse and far more tragic, insulted, berated, spit upon, and called terrorists themselves, sometimes by the same lawmakers that sent them to the conflict for which they are being attacked for going. Then there are these non-Christian groups portraying themselves and God-like Christians, but show no indicative signs of being God-like, who picket, protest, and spew hate and insults towards the men and women lying in flag-draped caskets, as well as their families, saying such 'Christ-like' platitudes like "God hates you!" and "God killed you for a reason!" and "God despises America." (To anyone that knows God, this completely discredits their movement because God, according to what we read and believe in the Bible, does not hate His children, EVER.)
During this extended weekend, in between the fun and the beer and the ribs and burgers; between the cursing the long wait in traffic as you travel this weekend; in between the dodging of certain people you are trying to avoid at your parties; in between the regular rigmarole, take one minute...take just 30 seconds...and say, "I love America. I am proud to be an American."
Try to mean it. Yeah, America is not perfect. Anything created, run and operated by humans will never be perfect. However, America is a truly great nation. Be thankful that you are able to enjoy the freedoms so many have died to ensure for you.
Thank a soldier. Thank a cop. Thank a fire fighter. And, most importantly, thank God.
I love my country and am proud to be a citizen of this land.
I am proud to be an American.
Now, you say it.
Can you say it? Do you mean it?
Since the 1770's, we have been in a constant struggle to maintain freedom and our Independence. Countless men, women, and children have fought, suffered, and died in the name of freedom.
From the warriors that dug in their heels to push back Cornwallis into the awaiting cannons of the French, to the men and women who gave so much to get our country going in the two World Wars, to the men and women who were attacked and literally spit upon by fellow citizens during the Vietnam conflict, to the men, women and children who died on the battlefields as terrorists took a war ignored for 8 years to an unreal escalation, to the men and women fighting and dying in Afghanistan and Iraq, far too many to name have made sure we can speak freely and not fear a tyrannical government punishing us for our thoughts and beliefs.
American heroes that preserve our freedom are constantly overlooked or, even worse and far more tragic, insulted, berated, spit upon, and called terrorists themselves, sometimes by the same lawmakers that sent them to the conflict for which they are being attacked for going. Then there are these non-Christian groups portraying themselves and God-like Christians, but show no indicative signs of being God-like, who picket, protest, and spew hate and insults towards the men and women lying in flag-draped caskets, as well as their families, saying such 'Christ-like' platitudes like "God hates you!" and "God killed you for a reason!" and "God despises America." (To anyone that knows God, this completely discredits their movement because God, according to what we read and believe in the Bible, does not hate His children, EVER.)
During this extended weekend, in between the fun and the beer and the ribs and burgers; between the cursing the long wait in traffic as you travel this weekend; in between the dodging of certain people you are trying to avoid at your parties; in between the regular rigmarole, take one minute...take just 30 seconds...and say, "I love America. I am proud to be an American."
Try to mean it. Yeah, America is not perfect. Anything created, run and operated by humans will never be perfect. However, America is a truly great nation. Be thankful that you are able to enjoy the freedoms so many have died to ensure for you.
Thank a soldier. Thank a cop. Thank a fire fighter. And, most importantly, thank God.
And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA
Friday, June 26, 2009
FIRE THEM ALL! VOTE THEM OUT IN NOVEMBER 2010!!!
They need to be fired. They need to lose their jobs, much like the thousands or, as some higher estimates predict, millions, of American people who will lose their jobs as a result of this bill.
HR 2454. It passed. Eight...8!!!...yellow-belly Republicans, hungry for the slobbering media love fest that Obama has been given since he spoke in at the Democratic National Convention several years back, sold out their party, their constituents, and their nation, along with the 211 Democratic Representatives who drank the kool-aid and toed the line, sucking on the nipple of Obama and his mighty teleprompter and Socialist agenda.
You scoff. You say not here, not in America. You think this, like my last piece, is nothing but extreme right-wing propaganda. The kind of propaganda that is getting me put on Janet Nopalitano's Homeland Security watch-list.
You take for granted your freedom and the beauty of the American way. You think that things will run like they always do. Nothing will change. Hey, it's Washington.
You are wrong. Your complacency is killing America. Your ignorance and apathy toward this Congress and this Socialist Czar, I mean President, is damning our country.
WAKE UP!!!
HR 2454 is a daggar in the eye of the American people. It is one more massive power grab by the Obama regieme. It will cripple the American economy more than you or I can fathom. Thousands upon thousands of calls flooded into the halls of the Capitol today, and those pleas were ignored.
Mitt Romney said it best. Washington is broken.
And so many of this country's people are happy with freedom and strength being stripped from us by the minute. We are stuck with our heads in the sand. We ignore the warning signs because people like Kanye West and Oprah tell us Obama is okay. What credentials do Kanye or Oprah have to tell us how great Obama's plan is? Kanye and Oprah are rich beyond compare. Obama's reckless spending has no effect on them. Or the Keith Olbermann's of the world.
The average, everyday, paycheck-to-paycheck American is getting taken behind the woodshed. And so are the unborn generations to come.
We are being raped by Obama's reckless policies and weakness.
America is being raped, and where is the outrage?
HR 2454 is going to raise taxes and fees to unbelievable heights for any company that expells Carbon Dioxide into the air. So, appearantly the few employees that they can keep won't be allowed to breathe while at work? You know, since we humans give off this naturally occurring gas everytime we exhale. One volcanic eruption gives off more Carbon Dioxide than we have since the advent of the automobile. The explosion of Mount Vesuvius that buried Pompeii gave off more CO2 than humans have in their existance.
And Obama is going to tax that gas. CO2 will be a taxable, fine-able substance.
Well, unless you buy into specialized companies that sell carbon-offsets. Interesting. The same people forcing this legislation on us, as well as ALL the GLOBAL WARMING garbage, are the same ones who own and operate these carbon-offset companies. Doesn't that seem like a conflict of interest? Perhaps a little quid pro quo? A little underhanded, good-ole-boy networking?
Al Gore, the biggest TOOL the liberals use to spread the garbage of global warming, owns several controlling interests in carbon-offset companies. Doesn't that seem odd to you? Doesn't that raise a red flag? Doesn't that bother you?
People still whine over the fact that a long-standing relationship between Haliburton and the Department of Defense continued during the Bush years. Haliburton worked with the DoD for years before Bush ever took the Governorship of Texas. Yet people are still crying foul that that relationship continued while Dick Cheney was VP, because Cheney had some pre-VP relationships with Haliburton.
Yet these same people turn a blind eye when Al Gore and his ilk bilk you and me for BILLIONS of dollars for their own carbon-offset companies. We will be forced to pay extra at the pump, more for our heating, more for our electricity, more for anything we buy that requires any sort of energy to create and deliver to market...we are going to become a collapsed, Russian-bread-line, third-world country if we don't get pissed off and enact change.
The unread stimulus package in January was sold to us as an emergency. Yet, more than half of the money is still over a year away from even being proposed on being spent. The emergency was so bad that NOT passing this unread stimulus bill would cause unemployment to skyrocket to over 9%. It was passed, and we are well on our way to 15-20% by Christmas. Go ahead, think about that. I will wait. .... Yes, we were sold on an unread, imperfect, pork-laden, waste-filled stimulus bill whose passage was told to guarentee less than 9% unemployment. Yet, where are we now?
Obama tells a woman that there will be "rules" to the nationalized health care...rules that might cut short the lives of the elderly because it would be more cost effective. But, the empathetic Obama will "give them a pill for the pain." Empathetic? More like PATHETIC.
Wake up, America. We are losing our country. I will say it again, I do not use this term lightly. I know the meaning of this word for so many people. I abhor the word. I use it because I am hoping to break through the hard-candy shell surrounding so many American brains.
Obama and the Democrats are RAPING America.
Come November 2010 and 2012...
FIRE THEM ALL!!!!!
HERE IS A LINK TO MARK LEVIN'S WEBSITE WHERE HE NAMES THE 8 REPUBLICAN TRAITORS.
HR 2454. It passed. Eight...8!!!...yellow-belly Republicans, hungry for the slobbering media love fest that Obama has been given since he spoke in at the Democratic National Convention several years back, sold out their party, their constituents, and their nation, along with the 211 Democratic Representatives who drank the kool-aid and toed the line, sucking on the nipple of Obama and his mighty teleprompter and Socialist agenda.
You scoff. You say not here, not in America. You think this, like my last piece, is nothing but extreme right-wing propaganda. The kind of propaganda that is getting me put on Janet Nopalitano's Homeland Security watch-list.
You take for granted your freedom and the beauty of the American way. You think that things will run like they always do. Nothing will change. Hey, it's Washington.
You are wrong. Your complacency is killing America. Your ignorance and apathy toward this Congress and this Socialist Czar, I mean President, is damning our country.
WAKE UP!!!
HR 2454 is a daggar in the eye of the American people. It is one more massive power grab by the Obama regieme. It will cripple the American economy more than you or I can fathom. Thousands upon thousands of calls flooded into the halls of the Capitol today, and those pleas were ignored.
Mitt Romney said it best. Washington is broken.
And so many of this country's people are happy with freedom and strength being stripped from us by the minute. We are stuck with our heads in the sand. We ignore the warning signs because people like Kanye West and Oprah tell us Obama is okay. What credentials do Kanye or Oprah have to tell us how great Obama's plan is? Kanye and Oprah are rich beyond compare. Obama's reckless spending has no effect on them. Or the Keith Olbermann's of the world.
The average, everyday, paycheck-to-paycheck American is getting taken behind the woodshed. And so are the unborn generations to come.
We are being raped by Obama's reckless policies and weakness.
America is being raped, and where is the outrage?
HR 2454 is going to raise taxes and fees to unbelievable heights for any company that expells Carbon Dioxide into the air. So, appearantly the few employees that they can keep won't be allowed to breathe while at work? You know, since we humans give off this naturally occurring gas everytime we exhale. One volcanic eruption gives off more Carbon Dioxide than we have since the advent of the automobile. The explosion of Mount Vesuvius that buried Pompeii gave off more CO2 than humans have in their existance.
And Obama is going to tax that gas. CO2 will be a taxable, fine-able substance.
Well, unless you buy into specialized companies that sell carbon-offsets. Interesting. The same people forcing this legislation on us, as well as ALL the GLOBAL WARMING garbage, are the same ones who own and operate these carbon-offset companies. Doesn't that seem like a conflict of interest? Perhaps a little quid pro quo? A little underhanded, good-ole-boy networking?
Al Gore, the biggest TOOL the liberals use to spread the garbage of global warming, owns several controlling interests in carbon-offset companies. Doesn't that seem odd to you? Doesn't that raise a red flag? Doesn't that bother you?
People still whine over the fact that a long-standing relationship between Haliburton and the Department of Defense continued during the Bush years. Haliburton worked with the DoD for years before Bush ever took the Governorship of Texas. Yet people are still crying foul that that relationship continued while Dick Cheney was VP, because Cheney had some pre-VP relationships with Haliburton.
Yet these same people turn a blind eye when Al Gore and his ilk bilk you and me for BILLIONS of dollars for their own carbon-offset companies. We will be forced to pay extra at the pump, more for our heating, more for our electricity, more for anything we buy that requires any sort of energy to create and deliver to market...we are going to become a collapsed, Russian-bread-line, third-world country if we don't get pissed off and enact change.
The unread stimulus package in January was sold to us as an emergency. Yet, more than half of the money is still over a year away from even being proposed on being spent. The emergency was so bad that NOT passing this unread stimulus bill would cause unemployment to skyrocket to over 9%. It was passed, and we are well on our way to 15-20% by Christmas. Go ahead, think about that. I will wait. .... Yes, we were sold on an unread, imperfect, pork-laden, waste-filled stimulus bill whose passage was told to guarentee less than 9% unemployment. Yet, where are we now?
Obama tells a woman that there will be "rules" to the nationalized health care...rules that might cut short the lives of the elderly because it would be more cost effective. But, the empathetic Obama will "give them a pill for the pain." Empathetic? More like PATHETIC.
Wake up, America. We are losing our country. I will say it again, I do not use this term lightly. I know the meaning of this word for so many people. I abhor the word. I use it because I am hoping to break through the hard-candy shell surrounding so many American brains.
Obama and the Democrats are RAPING America.
Come November 2010 and 2012...
FIRE THEM ALL!!!!!
HERE IS A LINK TO MARK LEVIN'S WEBSITE WHERE HE NAMES THE 8 REPUBLICAN TRAITORS.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
I Met a Hero Today.
At the outlet mall today, I met a true hero.
I met a man with the honor, strength, and courage that even the most legendary heroes of lore would pale in comparison.
I met a man with the humility and humbleness of the greatest underdog characters in your favorite stories.
This man stood tall and proud...yet he is currently confined to a wheelchair.
His ailment came courtesy of an enemy attack. The hero rides, son in lap, in a wheelchair decorated in stickers of favorite rock bands and other statements of normalcy. Oh, and let us also notice the patch embroidered the back of his chair. The patch states that this strong, courageous, heroic, yet humble and proud hero has been awarded the Purple Heart.
I met a Purple Heart recipient.
I met and talked with a man who risked his life for me. He, like thousands others, is a parent, sibling, child, cousin, friend, and relative to many people in his life. They all put so much on the line for you and me.
This man, whose name I do not know, put his life on the line for me, a name he does not know.
So many Americans forget these people. They walk past them in a hurried rush as they have to get to the next store or meeting or where ever they are heading. They make a tight passing move round the slow-moving wheelchair, sometimes even with an audible sigh of frustration, making sure the driver of the chair on wheels knows that they have somehow inconvenienced you by simply being.
This man, with his young wife and son, were out at the outlet mall, doing what normal people take for granted. Enjoying a day in decent weather under the blanket of freedom his sacrifice helped knit. Hundreds of faces he may never see again passing by, ignorant of his sacrifice. The nameless masses taking for granted the freedoms his, and so many others', sacrifices have provided since the 1700s.
As I spoke briefly, not wanting to impose on a family day out, but long enough to make sure I let him know I was sincere, he spoke with humility and pride, decency and not a hint of pessimism. He told me he had gotten blown up and that is how his leg came to be in a full-length brace, confining him to his chair. I offered condolences and apologies, which were shrugged off, as if I were offering condolences for a bug-bite. I wished a full-recovery on his leg, to which he responded that he will probably lose the leg from mid-calf. He said it without a twinge of self-pity, fear, or negativity. It was as if he were telling me he was going to have to shave. No big deal. It happens.
Here is a young man, even younger than me, with a family, who risked life and limb, literally, for America. And he will have to pay the price of losing a large portion of his right leg. And he talks about it dismissively, showing that amazing and inspiring combination of courage and humility that can only be found in the American Soldier.
I left feeling uplifted and proud to be an American. I met the REAL soldier. Not the pranksters the media still plasters all over from Abu Garhib. Not the bold-faced lies of people like John Kerry, John Murtha and others, who have called out soldiers "terrorists" and "rapists" and "pillagers" and "murderers."
I met a real hero today. And I thanked him. I hope you will thank one of our heroes when you have the chance.
I met a man with the honor, strength, and courage that even the most legendary heroes of lore would pale in comparison.
I met a man with the humility and humbleness of the greatest underdog characters in your favorite stories.
This man stood tall and proud...yet he is currently confined to a wheelchair.
His ailment came courtesy of an enemy attack. The hero rides, son in lap, in a wheelchair decorated in stickers of favorite rock bands and other statements of normalcy. Oh, and let us also notice the patch embroidered the back of his chair. The patch states that this strong, courageous, heroic, yet humble and proud hero has been awarded the Purple Heart.
I met a Purple Heart recipient.
I met and talked with a man who risked his life for me. He, like thousands others, is a parent, sibling, child, cousin, friend, and relative to many people in his life. They all put so much on the line for you and me.
This man, whose name I do not know, put his life on the line for me, a name he does not know.
So many Americans forget these people. They walk past them in a hurried rush as they have to get to the next store or meeting or where ever they are heading. They make a tight passing move round the slow-moving wheelchair, sometimes even with an audible sigh of frustration, making sure the driver of the chair on wheels knows that they have somehow inconvenienced you by simply being.
This man, with his young wife and son, were out at the outlet mall, doing what normal people take for granted. Enjoying a day in decent weather under the blanket of freedom his sacrifice helped knit. Hundreds of faces he may never see again passing by, ignorant of his sacrifice. The nameless masses taking for granted the freedoms his, and so many others', sacrifices have provided since the 1700s.
As I spoke briefly, not wanting to impose on a family day out, but long enough to make sure I let him know I was sincere, he spoke with humility and pride, decency and not a hint of pessimism. He told me he had gotten blown up and that is how his leg came to be in a full-length brace, confining him to his chair. I offered condolences and apologies, which were shrugged off, as if I were offering condolences for a bug-bite. I wished a full-recovery on his leg, to which he responded that he will probably lose the leg from mid-calf. He said it without a twinge of self-pity, fear, or negativity. It was as if he were telling me he was going to have to shave. No big deal. It happens.
Here is a young man, even younger than me, with a family, who risked life and limb, literally, for America. And he will have to pay the price of losing a large portion of his right leg. And he talks about it dismissively, showing that amazing and inspiring combination of courage and humility that can only be found in the American Soldier.
I left feeling uplifted and proud to be an American. I met the REAL soldier. Not the pranksters the media still plasters all over from Abu Garhib. Not the bold-faced lies of people like John Kerry, John Murtha and others, who have called out soldiers "terrorists" and "rapists" and "pillagers" and "murderers."
I met a real hero today. And I thanked him. I hope you will thank one of our heroes when you have the chance.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Sports and Society
When I was just becoming aware and a real fan of sports, I was about 9 years old. I had always been a fan, but never really got truly interested in sports until my family moved to Virginia.
We moved to Pocahontas, Virginia, from Lemont, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. I was 7 when we moved. For the first 7 years of my life, I lacked a real interest in sports. Thus, I did not realize what I was losing in the move south of the Mason-Dixon line. Moving south, I did not miss the fact that I had never been to Chicago Stadium or Wrigley or Comiskey or Soldier Field.
In between the time I moved south and have returned to the north, so much has changed. Old Comiskey is gone, Comiskey is completely gone, replaced by the name of US Cellular Field, which perplexes the mind. Comiskey is a legendary name. How could it have been replaced? Old Chicago Stadium is long gone, replaced by the marketing mecca United Center, The House that Michael Built. Oh, and Soldier Field was changed from a legendary, mythical, beautiful piece of history and architecture into a UFO.
Tonight, popped in one of the discs from my DVD set from the NBA Dynasty Series, "Chicago Bulls: The 1990's." It educated me on a lot about sports, American society, and the world at large.
This June, when either the Orlando Magic or the Cleveland Cavaliers hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy and are crowned NBA Champions, it will be a full 11 years since the end of an era; the end of the Bulls' Dynasty; the end of truly great TEAMS.
Yes, in the past 11 years there has been some high points, some excitement, and some good teams, but there is nothing close to the magic of what the 1990's brought.
Sports, and the world, has changed so much in the last 11 years. I have been trying to put my finger on the actual reasons, as well as what exactly was in fact different. You watch NBA, NFL, or MLB games today, then you look back 11 years, and there is something different.
It is hard to put a label on what it is exactly, but you see it. You know you are watching terrific athletes and good teams. You get excited, but you still don't feel the same as you did in the 1990s, and earlier.
For me, the difference exists in the persona and passion of the athletes. If you watch the teams of the 90s, there was unbridled passion for the game at hand. Wins and losses determined emotional highs or lows for everyone in the stands, on the sidelines, and in uniform.
The 1994 MLB strike, the 1999 NBA lock-out, and all the outrageous contracts that have been signed in the last 11 years has diminished the games we love. We no longer connect with the athletes we once did. As a result, we don't have that unequivocal sanctuary to immerse ourselves and separate ourselves from the pressures, pains, and stresses of the real world.
Whether it is in coalition with sports, a result of sports, or merely a mirrored coincidence, our society has shifted the last decade plus. We all have become greedier, less passionate about what is important in life.
We are only passionate about our differences. We love to be right. We love to be better. We love for the other guy to fail, to lose, to fall flat on his face.
We had one, brief, day of unity in the aftermath of 9-11, but the vitriol and disdain we Americans have for each other sprouted right back out.
As I watched the DVD and recalled the memories of 1996-1998, when Michael Jordan and the Bulls made history, made the world exciting, I longed for the time when we had that escape. Back then athletes did well financially, but weren't taking home more a year than many European nations. I longed for a time when athletes dressed with class because they had class, and not because David Stern ordered them to have class.
I miss the passion players played with. I miss the passion that we fans could exude onto the players because we were in the battle with them. They wore their uniform with pride and their livelihood depended on our support. We weren't sheep blindly following and feeding their large wallets, but we were almost as important as the ball, nets, and their teammates to their successes.
Now, in sports, and society, we are, in large part, dedicated to only get what is ours. We jump ship at the first signs of trouble. We don't man up and fix issues. We run from them. We create havoc until we get what we want. We whine because we lost a few thousand dollars, but still have food and TV. We call a severe drop in the stock market a depression, not taking time to realize that despite the struggles, we are really okay. We are hurting, but its a deep tissue bruise, not a broken bone or a devastating illness. We are not on the verge of a fatality.
Yet, no one is willing to be a part of the solution. We, as a nation, think that rich people and the Government are the sole source of our security. We have, like so many athletes, gone from being part of the team trying for one goal, to being part of a glob of people with their hands out, waiting for the blank check from on high.
I am 27 years old, and I have lost so much faith in the world, in people, and in the people in charge in the last 11 years. I miss the times when all we had to worry about was the Russians. I miss the hard-working, play-through-the-pain-or-flu athletes and Americans. I miss American Pride.
Will we ever become proud of America and truly love America again? Sadly, that question will not be answered until sometime in late 2012...
We moved to Pocahontas, Virginia, from Lemont, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. I was 7 when we moved. For the first 7 years of my life, I lacked a real interest in sports. Thus, I did not realize what I was losing in the move south of the Mason-Dixon line. Moving south, I did not miss the fact that I had never been to Chicago Stadium or Wrigley or Comiskey or Soldier Field.
In between the time I moved south and have returned to the north, so much has changed. Old Comiskey is gone, Comiskey is completely gone, replaced by the name of US Cellular Field, which perplexes the mind. Comiskey is a legendary name. How could it have been replaced? Old Chicago Stadium is long gone, replaced by the marketing mecca United Center, The House that Michael Built. Oh, and Soldier Field was changed from a legendary, mythical, beautiful piece of history and architecture into a UFO.
Tonight, popped in one of the discs from my DVD set from the NBA Dynasty Series, "Chicago Bulls: The 1990's." It educated me on a lot about sports, American society, and the world at large.
This June, when either the Orlando Magic or the Cleveland Cavaliers hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy and are crowned NBA Champions, it will be a full 11 years since the end of an era; the end of the Bulls' Dynasty; the end of truly great TEAMS.
Yes, in the past 11 years there has been some high points, some excitement, and some good teams, but there is nothing close to the magic of what the 1990's brought.
Sports, and the world, has changed so much in the last 11 years. I have been trying to put my finger on the actual reasons, as well as what exactly was in fact different. You watch NBA, NFL, or MLB games today, then you look back 11 years, and there is something different.
It is hard to put a label on what it is exactly, but you see it. You know you are watching terrific athletes and good teams. You get excited, but you still don't feel the same as you did in the 1990s, and earlier.
For me, the difference exists in the persona and passion of the athletes. If you watch the teams of the 90s, there was unbridled passion for the game at hand. Wins and losses determined emotional highs or lows for everyone in the stands, on the sidelines, and in uniform.
The 1994 MLB strike, the 1999 NBA lock-out, and all the outrageous contracts that have been signed in the last 11 years has diminished the games we love. We no longer connect with the athletes we once did. As a result, we don't have that unequivocal sanctuary to immerse ourselves and separate ourselves from the pressures, pains, and stresses of the real world.
Whether it is in coalition with sports, a result of sports, or merely a mirrored coincidence, our society has shifted the last decade plus. We all have become greedier, less passionate about what is important in life.
We are only passionate about our differences. We love to be right. We love to be better. We love for the other guy to fail, to lose, to fall flat on his face.
We had one, brief, day of unity in the aftermath of 9-11, but the vitriol and disdain we Americans have for each other sprouted right back out.
As I watched the DVD and recalled the memories of 1996-1998, when Michael Jordan and the Bulls made history, made the world exciting, I longed for the time when we had that escape. Back then athletes did well financially, but weren't taking home more a year than many European nations. I longed for a time when athletes dressed with class because they had class, and not because David Stern ordered them to have class.
I miss the passion players played with. I miss the passion that we fans could exude onto the players because we were in the battle with them. They wore their uniform with pride and their livelihood depended on our support. We weren't sheep blindly following and feeding their large wallets, but we were almost as important as the ball, nets, and their teammates to their successes.
Now, in sports, and society, we are, in large part, dedicated to only get what is ours. We jump ship at the first signs of trouble. We don't man up and fix issues. We run from them. We create havoc until we get what we want. We whine because we lost a few thousand dollars, but still have food and TV. We call a severe drop in the stock market a depression, not taking time to realize that despite the struggles, we are really okay. We are hurting, but its a deep tissue bruise, not a broken bone or a devastating illness. We are not on the verge of a fatality.
Yet, no one is willing to be a part of the solution. We, as a nation, think that rich people and the Government are the sole source of our security. We have, like so many athletes, gone from being part of the team trying for one goal, to being part of a glob of people with their hands out, waiting for the blank check from on high.
I am 27 years old, and I have lost so much faith in the world, in people, and in the people in charge in the last 11 years. I miss the times when all we had to worry about was the Russians. I miss the hard-working, play-through-the-pain-or-flu athletes and Americans. I miss American Pride.
Will we ever become proud of America and truly love America again? Sadly, that question will not be answered until sometime in late 2012...
Friday, March 13, 2009
Where is Ronald Reagan? We need him more than ever...
Traversing the expansive volumes of videos uploaded on YouTube.com, I decided to see what the libraries had to offer in regards to a man that, in my opinion, and that of many Conservatives, served his country with more class, nobility, passion, and love of country than any other President in history.
I am talking of one Ronald Wilson Reagan.
The former actor turned Governor of California turned American Icon and President.
Conservatives didn't use slanted media propaganda to elect Reagan. Americans did not turn onto supposed journalists to hear them claim to have "tingly" feelings going up his leg when the name of the man was mentioned. We did not need our President to go and have a Beatle-mania reception in Germany for him to seem just popular enough to elect.
President Ronald Reagan depended only on his desire to serve. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and that heart bled red, white, and blue. Reagan loved his country and his greatest desire, other than spending his life with the only being he loved more than America, and a near tie with God Almighty Himself, Nancy, was to leave America better than he and his generation found it.
Reagan spoke with a pure, unadulterated love; a deep, inspiring love of country. His word were his own, mostly, definitely more than most presidents. He did not use his position and podium to bash, attack, or smear political adversaries. He simply spoke of the American dream, the future of the country, and the betterment of America and Americans.
We don't get that today. We haven't had that for a while. President George W. Bush was a let down in that regard in his lame duck years. He drifted left at the end, seemingly beaten down by political adversaries that attacked relentlessly everything he did for 6 1/2 years. If he sneezed, it was too loud. He coughed, the didn't properly use and dispose of a tissue. He spent less than $10 million on putting together his second inaugural, and he was brutally assaulted for wastine money (although Obama didn't really get much grief for his $150 million bash....hmmm).
President Barack Obama does not speak a positive word in the way Reagan did. Obama, who usually speaks negatively about anything and everything nowadays, does speak of hope and change, but he does not love his country the way Reagan did. President Clinton was the same way. When Democrats speak about America, they do not have the same emotionally-charged, deep-seeded, heart-breaking love and adoration of our country.
Please watch this video that I borrowed from YouTube.com. Listen and watch the eyes of President Reagan, and then ask yourself if you can match that enthusiasm and love for America. Can you?
Did you cry for the people on 9-11? Did you bounce between anger, rage, and uncontrollable sobbing for the people and for the fact that your country...your home...was just sucker-punched? Did you get pissed off that 3,000 of your American brothers and sisters were murdered?
Are you still pissed off about 9-11?
Are you pissed that Russia and Germany not loyally supporting our War on Terror, despite the billions in aide they recieve?
Are you heart-broken over the shape our country has taken?
Are you upset that judicial activism is ursurping the powers of the Executive and Legislative branches? That the Supreme Court has manipulated and successfully destroyed the functionality of the Checks and Balances?
Do you love America? Do you love freedom? Do you believe in the innate goodness of the American spirit and people?
If you have doubts, watch this video. Watch more Reagan YouTube.com videos. See if you are inspired. If you open your mind and heart, I am sure you will.
I am talking of one Ronald Wilson Reagan.
The former actor turned Governor of California turned American Icon and President.
Conservatives didn't use slanted media propaganda to elect Reagan. Americans did not turn onto supposed journalists to hear them claim to have "tingly" feelings going up his leg when the name of the man was mentioned. We did not need our President to go and have a Beatle-mania reception in Germany for him to seem just popular enough to elect.
President Ronald Reagan depended only on his desire to serve. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and that heart bled red, white, and blue. Reagan loved his country and his greatest desire, other than spending his life with the only being he loved more than America, and a near tie with God Almighty Himself, Nancy, was to leave America better than he and his generation found it.
Reagan spoke with a pure, unadulterated love; a deep, inspiring love of country. His word were his own, mostly, definitely more than most presidents. He did not use his position and podium to bash, attack, or smear political adversaries. He simply spoke of the American dream, the future of the country, and the betterment of America and Americans.
We don't get that today. We haven't had that for a while. President George W. Bush was a let down in that regard in his lame duck years. He drifted left at the end, seemingly beaten down by political adversaries that attacked relentlessly everything he did for 6 1/2 years. If he sneezed, it was too loud. He coughed, the didn't properly use and dispose of a tissue. He spent less than $10 million on putting together his second inaugural, and he was brutally assaulted for wastine money (although Obama didn't really get much grief for his $150 million bash....hmmm).
President Barack Obama does not speak a positive word in the way Reagan did. Obama, who usually speaks negatively about anything and everything nowadays, does speak of hope and change, but he does not love his country the way Reagan did. President Clinton was the same way. When Democrats speak about America, they do not have the same emotionally-charged, deep-seeded, heart-breaking love and adoration of our country.
Please watch this video that I borrowed from YouTube.com. Listen and watch the eyes of President Reagan, and then ask yourself if you can match that enthusiasm and love for America. Can you?
Did you cry for the people on 9-11? Did you bounce between anger, rage, and uncontrollable sobbing for the people and for the fact that your country...your home...was just sucker-punched? Did you get pissed off that 3,000 of your American brothers and sisters were murdered?
Are you still pissed off about 9-11?
Are you pissed that Russia and Germany not loyally supporting our War on Terror, despite the billions in aide they recieve?
Are you heart-broken over the shape our country has taken?
Are you upset that judicial activism is ursurping the powers of the Executive and Legislative branches? That the Supreme Court has manipulated and successfully destroyed the functionality of the Checks and Balances?
Do you love America? Do you love freedom? Do you believe in the innate goodness of the American spirit and people?
If you have doubts, watch this video. Watch more Reagan YouTube.com videos. See if you are inspired. If you open your mind and heart, I am sure you will.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Worst Economic Crisis Since the Great Depression...hmmm
First, let me admit and agree with the fact that the economy is in rough shape. Money is sitting still, business is drying up, and the end is no where in sight. It is a tough time with the wars, tough economy, and the devout division within our country. It is bad.
And the Messiah...the Chosen One...the One we have been waiting for...is all too happy to continually remind us how bad the economy is, with all the blame placed squarely on the shoulders of George W. Bush. 100% of the blame, and then some, is served in a heaping pile on the front steps of the White House, until Tuesday at noon, when it will be moved to Crawford, TX. No blame, whatsoever, on the people in charge of the House and Senate, who took power in 2006. Since 2006, when the Democrats won both Houses of Congress, we have seen the hugest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Yet, none of them have any blame to eat, just George W. Bush...and the Republicans...and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Not one Democrat has taken blame for anything. Well, except, Rod Blagojevic, but that is an entirely different, more fishy story.
But, I digress.
In huge economic strife, in a time where Obama promised more fiscal responsibility and to bring CHANGE to Washington, DC, a place he has worked off and on for 4 years with no such change being hinted at, Barack (Now you can call me) Hussein Obama is orchestrating an inauguration of such overindulgence, the whole situation is sickening.
For weeks leading up to and following the January 20, 2005, inauguration of President Bush for his second term, the mass media railed against Bush, Republicans, conservatives, Fox News, and anyone else they could possibly blame for the expense. In 2005, Bush's second inauguration hit around the $40-$50 million price tag. On the eve of Bush's second inauguration, "ABC’s Web site pleaded for tips of “any military funerals for Iraq war casualties scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20.” Sure enough, then-ABC anchor Peter Jennings got his wish to report how “just about the time the president was speaking, there was a funeral for a young Marine reservist: 21-year-old Matthew Holloway was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb.” (Thanks to Rich Noyes of NewsBusters.org and his blog dated January 15, 2009 "Media Reality Check: The Media’s Inauguration Day Double Standards")
There is an undoubted, no-longer-secret double standard with the media's handling of Liberals versus Conservatives. And, sadly, Conservatives are being drowned out because so many "moderate Conservatives" are being used as liberal puppets on TV and radio.
With the power of the media and no one willing to stand up to Obama's ridiculous cult following, Obama is going to get off without a hitch the most expensive, extravagant, lavish inauguration in history.
Bush's second swearing cost was railed against for $40-$50 million. No one will rail against the $150 million being spent on Obama. No one will step in and ask why Bush had to declare a state of emergency to make sure the event could happen as planned. Federal Funds are being used under this state of emergency declaration, and event NEVER BEFORE SEEN.
And no one says a word.
No one on the left bats an eye.
No one on in the media raises and eyebrow.
Conservatives...we must get off our laurels and fix our country!
And the Messiah...the Chosen One...the One we have been waiting for...is all too happy to continually remind us how bad the economy is, with all the blame placed squarely on the shoulders of George W. Bush. 100% of the blame, and then some, is served in a heaping pile on the front steps of the White House, until Tuesday at noon, when it will be moved to Crawford, TX. No blame, whatsoever, on the people in charge of the House and Senate, who took power in 2006. Since 2006, when the Democrats won both Houses of Congress, we have seen the hugest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Yet, none of them have any blame to eat, just George W. Bush...and the Republicans...and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Not one Democrat has taken blame for anything. Well, except, Rod Blagojevic, but that is an entirely different, more fishy story.
But, I digress.
In huge economic strife, in a time where Obama promised more fiscal responsibility and to bring CHANGE to Washington, DC, a place he has worked off and on for 4 years with no such change being hinted at, Barack (Now you can call me) Hussein Obama is orchestrating an inauguration of such overindulgence, the whole situation is sickening.
For weeks leading up to and following the January 20, 2005, inauguration of President Bush for his second term, the mass media railed against Bush, Republicans, conservatives, Fox News, and anyone else they could possibly blame for the expense. In 2005, Bush's second inauguration hit around the $40-$50 million price tag. On the eve of Bush's second inauguration, "ABC’s Web site pleaded for tips of “any military funerals for Iraq war casualties scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20.” Sure enough, then-ABC anchor Peter Jennings got his wish to report how “just about the time the president was speaking, there was a funeral for a young Marine reservist: 21-year-old Matthew Holloway was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb.” (Thanks to Rich Noyes of NewsBusters.org and his blog dated January 15, 2009 "Media Reality Check: The Media’s Inauguration Day Double Standards")
There is an undoubted, no-longer-secret double standard with the media's handling of Liberals versus Conservatives. And, sadly, Conservatives are being drowned out because so many "moderate Conservatives" are being used as liberal puppets on TV and radio.
With the power of the media and no one willing to stand up to Obama's ridiculous cult following, Obama is going to get off without a hitch the most expensive, extravagant, lavish inauguration in history.
Bush's second swearing cost was railed against for $40-$50 million. No one will rail against the $150 million being spent on Obama. No one will step in and ask why Bush had to declare a state of emergency to make sure the event could happen as planned. Federal Funds are being used under this state of emergency declaration, and event NEVER BEFORE SEEN.
And no one says a word.
No one on the left bats an eye.
No one on in the media raises and eyebrow.
Conservatives...we must get off our laurels and fix our country!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas!!
As we enter the final week of a wild 2008, I just wanted to take pause to speak on a few things.
First, and foremost, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope today's events lifted your spirits and gave you reason to once again be thankful for all of your blessings.
In this fast-paced, reaction over response society, we are allowing too much of what is on the news to determine our spiritual, emotional, and relationship well-being. We panic because th Dow keeps going down. We cringe each time another business goes belly-up. We dig our nails into the arms of the chair we are sitting in whenever we hear the words "bail out."
Since the bubble burst in September, the country has become psychologically depressed, which has led to a vicious cycle that is worsening the problem. We let the repetitive news cycle destroy our collective, and individual, psyche. We have let the noise drown out the truth...that we are really, truly, okay.
If you are reading this, be thankful. You have access to electricity, and the luxury...yes, luxury...of internet access. If your stomach is not turning and growling like a caged animal, be thankful. You have access to food. If you tell someone that you agreed with or disagreed with in this, or any other blog, be thankful. You have someone to talk to. If you have to pause while reading this because of a doorbell or phone ringing, be thankful. You have people who want to reach you, and you have a place at which you can be reached. If the kids won't go to bed tonight because they are still excited about what they got this morning, be thankful. You made a child's day and were able to share time with people.
We are not in a Great Depression. We are just depressed.
For the rest of the holiday season, re-ignite your loves...your family, your hobbies, your friendships. Turn on the TV for only the local weather, or better yet, just click over to accuweather.com or theweatherchannel.com and get your weather forecast. Ignore the news for the rest of the year. Then, turn on the TV on the 31st to count down to a new year...a new beginning.
If you end 2008 on that note, regardless of you job situation, your 401K situation, or your investment situation...if you invest yourself into your loves, 2008 will definitely end on a high note for you.
Merry Christmas! God Bless us all this holiday season!
First, and foremost, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope today's events lifted your spirits and gave you reason to once again be thankful for all of your blessings.
In this fast-paced, reaction over response society, we are allowing too much of what is on the news to determine our spiritual, emotional, and relationship well-being. We panic because th Dow keeps going down. We cringe each time another business goes belly-up. We dig our nails into the arms of the chair we are sitting in whenever we hear the words "bail out."
Since the bubble burst in September, the country has become psychologically depressed, which has led to a vicious cycle that is worsening the problem. We let the repetitive news cycle destroy our collective, and individual, psyche. We have let the noise drown out the truth...that we are really, truly, okay.
If you are reading this, be thankful. You have access to electricity, and the luxury...yes, luxury...of internet access. If your stomach is not turning and growling like a caged animal, be thankful. You have access to food. If you tell someone that you agreed with or disagreed with in this, or any other blog, be thankful. You have someone to talk to. If you have to pause while reading this because of a doorbell or phone ringing, be thankful. You have people who want to reach you, and you have a place at which you can be reached. If the kids won't go to bed tonight because they are still excited about what they got this morning, be thankful. You made a child's day and were able to share time with people.
We are not in a Great Depression. We are just depressed.
For the rest of the holiday season, re-ignite your loves...your family, your hobbies, your friendships. Turn on the TV for only the local weather, or better yet, just click over to accuweather.com or theweatherchannel.com and get your weather forecast. Ignore the news for the rest of the year. Then, turn on the TV on the 31st to count down to a new year...a new beginning.
If you end 2008 on that note, regardless of you job situation, your 401K situation, or your investment situation...if you invest yourself into your loves, 2008 will definitely end on a high note for you.
Merry Christmas! God Bless us all this holiday season!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Black Friday Tragedy
On November 28, 2008, in the early morning hours, a seasonal worker at Wal Mart was killed by a herd of stampeding morons. People looking to get a great deal on a TV killed a man, without a second look.
Jdimytai Damour, 34, was trampled to death by a herd of self-centered, senseless, spineless idiots. Damour, up early for work, trying to earn a living, was killed because 500 people refused to utilize any form of self control.
I hope that the police spend months analyzing the tape, and then charge every person on that tape with Manslaughter. Every person who walked in that store and stepped on, or over, Damour, should be charged.
There is no excuse. There is no reason this man should be dead. There is no possible way to excuse oneself for stepping on a man and walking past as if nothing happened. This man died because of greed and selfishness. One family will celebrate Christmas with an empty chair because 500 people couldn't wait 10 more seconds to save $10.
The thing that adds to my anger and frustrations is the fact that many pro-union groups are trying to capitalize on the tragedy. They claim Wal Mart should unionize, because a Union would have had done something to prevent this. Perhaps, but there are still tragedies like this in Unionized businesses. It is just another way that Unions are trying to grab power.
GM, Chrysler, and Ford are all begging for cash from Congress because of out of control Unions. So, in my opinion, Unions are the last thing Wal Mart needs. More Unions are the last thing America needs right now.
The REAL problem is the people. The people who storm upon stores at abnormal hours. The people who FIGHT, literally, over toys and cameras and TVs. The people who stomped a man to death in their greed to save a few dollars.
You can toss some blame on the store for not getting some security in place when they saw the hoard outside. You can blame the store and the police for not keeping order, even after the police were on scene BEFORE the doors opened and the tragedy happened. However, we need to have the film analyzed, re-analyzed, and then all the faces tracked down and charged with Manslaughter. Perhaps the police on Long Island need to make some examples of these people.
Most of the savings that motivate these massive crowds are for presents to be placed under the tree. A lot of people are purchasing items for themselves, also, but the majority is for giving. Sadly, we have lost the beauty and true meaning of the season, and of giving. This loss of the real meanings of the season and of giving was never more prevalent than on Friday, November 28, 2008.
Jdimytai Damour, 34, was trampled to death by a herd of self-centered, senseless, spineless idiots. Damour, up early for work, trying to earn a living, was killed because 500 people refused to utilize any form of self control.
I hope that the police spend months analyzing the tape, and then charge every person on that tape with Manslaughter. Every person who walked in that store and stepped on, or over, Damour, should be charged.
There is no excuse. There is no reason this man should be dead. There is no possible way to excuse oneself for stepping on a man and walking past as if nothing happened. This man died because of greed and selfishness. One family will celebrate Christmas with an empty chair because 500 people couldn't wait 10 more seconds to save $10.
The thing that adds to my anger and frustrations is the fact that many pro-union groups are trying to capitalize on the tragedy. They claim Wal Mart should unionize, because a Union would have had done something to prevent this. Perhaps, but there are still tragedies like this in Unionized businesses. It is just another way that Unions are trying to grab power.
GM, Chrysler, and Ford are all begging for cash from Congress because of out of control Unions. So, in my opinion, Unions are the last thing Wal Mart needs. More Unions are the last thing America needs right now.
The REAL problem is the people. The people who storm upon stores at abnormal hours. The people who FIGHT, literally, over toys and cameras and TVs. The people who stomped a man to death in their greed to save a few dollars.
You can toss some blame on the store for not getting some security in place when they saw the hoard outside. You can blame the store and the police for not keeping order, even after the police were on scene BEFORE the doors opened and the tragedy happened. However, we need to have the film analyzed, re-analyzed, and then all the faces tracked down and charged with Manslaughter. Perhaps the police on Long Island need to make some examples of these people.
Most of the savings that motivate these massive crowds are for presents to be placed under the tree. A lot of people are purchasing items for themselves, also, but the majority is for giving. Sadly, we have lost the beauty and true meaning of the season, and of giving. This loss of the real meanings of the season and of giving was never more prevalent than on Friday, November 28, 2008.
Monday, October 27, 2008
100th POST!!!! Making the Case Against Barack Obama
Today, I will address the current ideals surrounding the state of affairs in the Presidential Election. I think that this election is very important, and I think far too many Americans are taking this very nonchalantly and not truly vetting their choice.
First thing I want to address is the accusation of negativity. Why is it that McCain's negative ads are all people remember? No one remembers that Obama attacks McCain, also, as much as possible. The fact is, there are no radical associations or dangerous decisions that McCain has made that would warrant an attack ad. Instead, people like Barbara Walters and Joy Behar on The View, people on CNN, MSNBC, and hundreds of "I am rich, so listen to my opinion as if it were the Gospel" Hollywood buffoons constantly hint at McCain's age as being a factor. MSNBC allowed an ad to run that attacked McCain's skin cancer scare of a few years ago. Democratic politicians come out and accuse McCain of being racist and comparing him to George Wallace.
Yet, only Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly condemn those attacks. Obama would not even distance himself from the comparisons made between McCain and Wallace. McCain gave Obama the chance at the last debate, but Obama decided, instead, as always, to point the finger at McCain and the right wing. Obama knows McCain is not racist, yet Obama refused to set the record straight. He refuses to go against his party.
Yet, McCain rips the mic away from a supporter for trying to insult Barack Obama and call him a Muslim...he grabbed the mic away and corrected her, on the spot, without pause. But Barack Obama cannot set the record straight on the racism allegations made by his own party's elected officials? And McCain is the negative one?
Now, the left wingers are having a field day with the cost of Sarah Palin's new campaign wardrobe. They scoff at it's estimated $150K price tag. They attack her as being a phony and an elitist. They say she is not in touch with the middle class as she says she is. They attack her for getting a new wardrobe for the campaign trail.
Has there ever been a question about how much Obama's or Biden's, or even McCain's, suits cost? Has there ever been a question about any other candidate's wardrobe costs? No.
This is a sexist attack by the left. Palin did not go shopping and send a bill to the RNC. The RNC bought the wardrobe for her. She is giving the wardrobe to charity once she is done with it.
How is the cost of a wardrobe for the campaign trail a viable issue for the election? If it can be used to smear a Republican, by gosh, its fair game!
As far as the attack ads coming from the Republicans, all McCain and the Right Wing have done is do what the media should...ask questions about Obama's history. If I had no risk of anyone looking into my past and fully vetting me out, I could say anything that people wanted to hear just to get elected.
My biggest problem with Obama are the holes in his history (he is the first modern-day candidate NOT to release his birth certificate...and we know nothing, cannot even find his senior thesis, about his college years other than the fact that he went there..), and the fact that time and time again, he has to distance himself or clarify himself where it relates to important people in his life, past and or present.
The Ayers questions are valid. Ayers' living room was the launch pad for Obama's political career. That is a FACT. Ayers may have been a terrorist when Obama was 8, but he still preaches, under the guise of college professor, much of the same anti-American and anti-government propaganda as he did then. In 2001, Ayers claimed in the New York Times that he and the Weather Underground had done more...eerily, the comments were published on 9-11-01. Obama wrote a blurb for Ayers' book. You don't put your name on someone else's work unless you trust them and know them...or are a complete naive buffoon...and, in either case, as it relates to a man who preaches the outrageous ideals Ayers preaches, it shows a lack of ability and readiness to lead a nation.
As for Reverend Wright, you cannot spend 20 years in the pews of a church with a pastor you do not agree with. You do not let a preacher who spews hatred and racism and anti-Americanism from the pulpit marry you and baptize your children, unless you somewhat agree with him.
Let me ask you this...
If John McCain had spent any significant time in the same room, even if it was a coincidental passing in a hotel lobby, as Tim McVeigh or Ted Kazynski (Una bomber), would he race be close today?
If John McCain had spent just 5 years in a church the featured a preacher who even once made reference to race, or to the fact that America's chickens where coming home to roost in reference to the 9-11 attacks, where would this Presidential race be?
If McCain had similar connections to radical ideals and thoughts like Obama does...would the race be nearly this close?
Next, why is everyone so bent on the idea that Sarah Palin is inexperienced and unqualified? She has executive experience, unlike any of the 3 men on the ballot. She has run a town and a state. She has had to make executive decisions that determine people's future. She has not been part of a decision-making body where your decisions get lost in the shuffle, like Congress. Besides, she is the second on the ticket...not the first.
If you want to talk about her inexperience, why, then is it unfair to question Obama's? I cannot remember whom of my respondents said it, but the idea that questioning what Obama has done and has not done was not constructive. Yet, questioning Palin, who has more experience as a leader than Obama, is fair game.
Obama's political career to the White House includes no major accomplishments, other than speaking well enough to get elected to a new office. He has not had a news-worthy battle for a bill or ideal. He has gone with his party without much resistance. He has only disagreed with George Bush...never has taken a stance against his own party. What has he really done to prove he is ready to lead from day one? He cannot even be a leader in his own party.
Obama does not have the experience or the mettle to lead from day one. Even his running mate said that the world knows that Obama is not ready...they are going to take advantage of Obama's inexperience. There will be a new crisis once Obama takes office...meaning that our enemies know he is not ready.
The question, then, is, who is going to get hurt because of this world-wide perception of Obama's weakness? Can we afford to find out?
First thing I want to address is the accusation of negativity. Why is it that McCain's negative ads are all people remember? No one remembers that Obama attacks McCain, also, as much as possible. The fact is, there are no radical associations or dangerous decisions that McCain has made that would warrant an attack ad. Instead, people like Barbara Walters and Joy Behar on The View, people on CNN, MSNBC, and hundreds of "I am rich, so listen to my opinion as if it were the Gospel" Hollywood buffoons constantly hint at McCain's age as being a factor. MSNBC allowed an ad to run that attacked McCain's skin cancer scare of a few years ago. Democratic politicians come out and accuse McCain of being racist and comparing him to George Wallace.
Yet, only Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly condemn those attacks. Obama would not even distance himself from the comparisons made between McCain and Wallace. McCain gave Obama the chance at the last debate, but Obama decided, instead, as always, to point the finger at McCain and the right wing. Obama knows McCain is not racist, yet Obama refused to set the record straight. He refuses to go against his party.
Yet, McCain rips the mic away from a supporter for trying to insult Barack Obama and call him a Muslim...he grabbed the mic away and corrected her, on the spot, without pause. But Barack Obama cannot set the record straight on the racism allegations made by his own party's elected officials? And McCain is the negative one?
Now, the left wingers are having a field day with the cost of Sarah Palin's new campaign wardrobe. They scoff at it's estimated $150K price tag. They attack her as being a phony and an elitist. They say she is not in touch with the middle class as she says she is. They attack her for getting a new wardrobe for the campaign trail.
Has there ever been a question about how much Obama's or Biden's, or even McCain's, suits cost? Has there ever been a question about any other candidate's wardrobe costs? No.
This is a sexist attack by the left. Palin did not go shopping and send a bill to the RNC. The RNC bought the wardrobe for her. She is giving the wardrobe to charity once she is done with it.
How is the cost of a wardrobe for the campaign trail a viable issue for the election? If it can be used to smear a Republican, by gosh, its fair game!
As far as the attack ads coming from the Republicans, all McCain and the Right Wing have done is do what the media should...ask questions about Obama's history. If I had no risk of anyone looking into my past and fully vetting me out, I could say anything that people wanted to hear just to get elected.
My biggest problem with Obama are the holes in his history (he is the first modern-day candidate NOT to release his birth certificate...and we know nothing, cannot even find his senior thesis, about his college years other than the fact that he went there..), and the fact that time and time again, he has to distance himself or clarify himself where it relates to important people in his life, past and or present.
The Ayers questions are valid. Ayers' living room was the launch pad for Obama's political career. That is a FACT. Ayers may have been a terrorist when Obama was 8, but he still preaches, under the guise of college professor, much of the same anti-American and anti-government propaganda as he did then. In 2001, Ayers claimed in the New York Times that he and the Weather Underground had done more...eerily, the comments were published on 9-11-01. Obama wrote a blurb for Ayers' book. You don't put your name on someone else's work unless you trust them and know them...or are a complete naive buffoon...and, in either case, as it relates to a man who preaches the outrageous ideals Ayers preaches, it shows a lack of ability and readiness to lead a nation.
As for Reverend Wright, you cannot spend 20 years in the pews of a church with a pastor you do not agree with. You do not let a preacher who spews hatred and racism and anti-Americanism from the pulpit marry you and baptize your children, unless you somewhat agree with him.
Let me ask you this...
If John McCain had spent any significant time in the same room, even if it was a coincidental passing in a hotel lobby, as Tim McVeigh or Ted Kazynski (Una bomber), would he race be close today?
If John McCain had spent just 5 years in a church the featured a preacher who even once made reference to race, or to the fact that America's chickens where coming home to roost in reference to the 9-11 attacks, where would this Presidential race be?
If McCain had similar connections to radical ideals and thoughts like Obama does...would the race be nearly this close?
Next, why is everyone so bent on the idea that Sarah Palin is inexperienced and unqualified? She has executive experience, unlike any of the 3 men on the ballot. She has run a town and a state. She has had to make executive decisions that determine people's future. She has not been part of a decision-making body where your decisions get lost in the shuffle, like Congress. Besides, she is the second on the ticket...not the first.
If you want to talk about her inexperience, why, then is it unfair to question Obama's? I cannot remember whom of my respondents said it, but the idea that questioning what Obama has done and has not done was not constructive. Yet, questioning Palin, who has more experience as a leader than Obama, is fair game.
Obama's political career to the White House includes no major accomplishments, other than speaking well enough to get elected to a new office. He has not had a news-worthy battle for a bill or ideal. He has gone with his party without much resistance. He has only disagreed with George Bush...never has taken a stance against his own party. What has he really done to prove he is ready to lead from day one? He cannot even be a leader in his own party.
Obama does not have the experience or the mettle to lead from day one. Even his running mate said that the world knows that Obama is not ready...they are going to take advantage of Obama's inexperience. There will be a new crisis once Obama takes office...meaning that our enemies know he is not ready.
The question, then, is, who is going to get hurt because of this world-wide perception of Obama's weakness? Can we afford to find out?
Sunday, October 26, 2008
What WE have to do...
The fact of the matter is, the nation is divided.
Over the last 6 years, since Democrats stopped being pro-American and being pro-Democrat, the liberals in the media and in elected office have been attacking American unity. They were courteous enough to shut up for a few months post-9/11, but then they saw opportunity.
They saw a chance to seize power by attacking every policy of the Bush anti-terrorism initiative. They attacked out troops. They accused American troops of torture, murdering civilians, pillaging villages, and generally being poor-class and fighting dirty. Our fighting men and women have been attacked, insulted, berated, and accused of unthinkable war crimes....BY OUR OWN CONGRESS AND LEADERS!
It is sad that our enemies have used the words of our own elected officials as recruiting materials and as anti-American propaganda. Our troops are entering greater and greater danger in Afghanistan, as they were in Iraq pre-McCain-supported troop surge, because of the propaganda provided by AMERICAN DEMOCRATS.
Remember, post-Vietnam, NO CONSERVATIVE...NO REPUBLICAN...stood in lines to spit on and attack our troops returning from war. No CONSERVATIVE has ever given anti-American fodder for the recruiting propaganda of terrorist enemies.
So, since early 2002, less than half a year since the worst attack on American soil, DEMOCRATS have been attacking everything in sight to divide the country and fortify that division. The sides are almost irreparably divided; in fact scarily so.
The point being, there is nearly zero chance that we can change the minds of the Obama-maniacs who drank the kool-aid served by the media and Obama himself. We cannot get liberals or Democrats to drop their blind love and devotion to Obama. It is not going to happen.
So, how do we keep the White House and, possibly, reverse the growing liberal power in Congress?
VOTE.
We, the American conservatives, we must VOTE.
VOTE!
Tell people who and why we are voting for.
We must VOTE!
The media is spinning the early voter turnout as a trend for an Obama slaughter of McCain. They are popping champaign in the offices of NBC and CNN, already claiming Democrat victory and a new Super Majority in Washington, DC.
We have to show them how wrong they are. America is an overall conservative nation. We have to get our conservative majority motivated and out to the polls.
Whether we win or lose, we have to go down with a fight. We have to go down swinging, if it is in the cards for ACORN's tactics to win, we cannot sit idly by and guarentee a default victory for Obama.
We need to vote. Make our voices heard! We need to fight until the end of voting.
In the words of the immortal Coach Jim Valvano, "Never give up. Don't ever give up"
If you can get motivated, and motivate more conservative-minded people to show up and vote, at the end of the day, we might just suprise the liberals celebrating Obama's victory already.
Over the last 6 years, since Democrats stopped being pro-American and being pro-Democrat, the liberals in the media and in elected office have been attacking American unity. They were courteous enough to shut up for a few months post-9/11, but then they saw opportunity.
They saw a chance to seize power by attacking every policy of the Bush anti-terrorism initiative. They attacked out troops. They accused American troops of torture, murdering civilians, pillaging villages, and generally being poor-class and fighting dirty. Our fighting men and women have been attacked, insulted, berated, and accused of unthinkable war crimes....BY OUR OWN CONGRESS AND LEADERS!
It is sad that our enemies have used the words of our own elected officials as recruiting materials and as anti-American propaganda. Our troops are entering greater and greater danger in Afghanistan, as they were in Iraq pre-McCain-supported troop surge, because of the propaganda provided by AMERICAN DEMOCRATS.
Remember, post-Vietnam, NO CONSERVATIVE...NO REPUBLICAN...stood in lines to spit on and attack our troops returning from war. No CONSERVATIVE has ever given anti-American fodder for the recruiting propaganda of terrorist enemies.
So, since early 2002, less than half a year since the worst attack on American soil, DEMOCRATS have been attacking everything in sight to divide the country and fortify that division. The sides are almost irreparably divided; in fact scarily so.
The point being, there is nearly zero chance that we can change the minds of the Obama-maniacs who drank the kool-aid served by the media and Obama himself. We cannot get liberals or Democrats to drop their blind love and devotion to Obama. It is not going to happen.
So, how do we keep the White House and, possibly, reverse the growing liberal power in Congress?
VOTE.
We, the American conservatives, we must VOTE.
VOTE!
Tell people who and why we are voting for.
We must VOTE!
The media is spinning the early voter turnout as a trend for an Obama slaughter of McCain. They are popping champaign in the offices of NBC and CNN, already claiming Democrat victory and a new Super Majority in Washington, DC.
We have to show them how wrong they are. America is an overall conservative nation. We have to get our conservative majority motivated and out to the polls.
Whether we win or lose, we have to go down with a fight. We have to go down swinging, if it is in the cards for ACORN's tactics to win, we cannot sit idly by and guarentee a default victory for Obama.
We need to vote. Make our voices heard! We need to fight until the end of voting.
In the words of the immortal Coach Jim Valvano, "Never give up. Don't ever give up"
If you can get motivated, and motivate more conservative-minded people to show up and vote, at the end of the day, we might just suprise the liberals celebrating Obama's victory already.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Voter Disenfranchisement and Intimidation
Every election cycle, the Democrats whine, cry, scream and pout about "Republicans disenfranchising voters." They claim that their loyal, enthusiastic voters are being scared away from polling stations by Republicans.
People are being scared away from the polls because they have to show ID.
Huh?
These same people show their ID when they buy a beer, so why is it so scary for them to do so at a polling place?
The Democrats are screaming murder over an e-mail from the Wisconsin GOP that asked for polling place watchers. In the e-mail, the GOP was asking for people with police or military experience to work in the "more intimidating" polling locations. They were asking that people with leadership and strength of character come and watch the polls, and ensure that every vote was cast legally, and that no foul play ensues.
The Democrats claim that is intimidation.
If your electorate was as excited, confident, and convinced in their votes as you claim they are, they will not be intimidated. They will not be disenfranchised. They will vote with confidence and conviction for their candidates.
However, if the mere presence of law and order and the limiting of fraud will disenfranchise you, perhaps you aren't fully aware and appreciative of your right to vote. Perhaps if the mere presence of law and order in the polling place scares you away, you have something to hide.
Say, perhaps, you are voting for the 76th time that day because you registered to vote with ACORN 80 times? Perhaps you are voting for a dead person who was registered by ACORN? Maybe you are wanting to vote under the name Mickey Mouse? Or vote under the name of a 7 year old?
The fact is, there is no such thing as "voter intimidation" or disenfranchisement" in America. Not when you consider the REAL "voter intimidation" or disenfranchisement" that the Iraqi people and the Afghanistan voters dealt with. No one in America is threatening to bomb your polling station. There are not AK-47's trained on you when you leave the polling place.
I am just tired of the joke claims of "voter intimidation" or disenfranchisement" by the Democrats every election. Yet, no one...and I mean NO ONE...not ONE...Democratic leader has spoken on the record against ACORN. ACORN has blatantly been fraudulently registering people, multiple times over. And many of these fraudulent registrations will slip through the cracks and vote.
Who do you think will benefit from the fraudulent votes?
The dead vote, Disney character vote, multiple vote, and Dallas Cowboy vote go to Obama 100%. Democrats also get the convicted felon vote 100%.
It's such a shame that the Democrats use ACORN to stuff the ballot boxes across the nation, yet still get away with accusing Republicans of "voter intimidation" or disenfranchisement."
People are being scared away from the polls because they have to show ID.
Huh?
These same people show their ID when they buy a beer, so why is it so scary for them to do so at a polling place?
The Democrats are screaming murder over an e-mail from the Wisconsin GOP that asked for polling place watchers. In the e-mail, the GOP was asking for people with police or military experience to work in the "more intimidating" polling locations. They were asking that people with leadership and strength of character come and watch the polls, and ensure that every vote was cast legally, and that no foul play ensues.
The Democrats claim that is intimidation.
If your electorate was as excited, confident, and convinced in their votes as you claim they are, they will not be intimidated. They will not be disenfranchised. They will vote with confidence and conviction for their candidates.
However, if the mere presence of law and order and the limiting of fraud will disenfranchise you, perhaps you aren't fully aware and appreciative of your right to vote. Perhaps if the mere presence of law and order in the polling place scares you away, you have something to hide.
Say, perhaps, you are voting for the 76th time that day because you registered to vote with ACORN 80 times? Perhaps you are voting for a dead person who was registered by ACORN? Maybe you are wanting to vote under the name Mickey Mouse? Or vote under the name of a 7 year old?
The fact is, there is no such thing as "voter intimidation" or disenfranchisement" in America. Not when you consider the REAL "voter intimidation" or disenfranchisement" that the Iraqi people and the Afghanistan voters dealt with. No one in America is threatening to bomb your polling station. There are not AK-47's trained on you when you leave the polling place.
I am just tired of the joke claims of "voter intimidation" or disenfranchisement" by the Democrats every election. Yet, no one...and I mean NO ONE...not ONE...Democratic leader has spoken on the record against ACORN. ACORN has blatantly been fraudulently registering people, multiple times over. And many of these fraudulent registrations will slip through the cracks and vote.
Who do you think will benefit from the fraudulent votes?
The dead vote, Disney character vote, multiple vote, and Dallas Cowboy vote go to Obama 100%. Democrats also get the convicted felon vote 100%.
It's such a shame that the Democrats use ACORN to stuff the ballot boxes across the nation, yet still get away with accusing Republicans of "voter intimidation" or disenfranchisement."
Friday, September 12, 2008
Hurricane Ike
First and foremost, my thoughts go out to the people who's lives will be immeasurably impacted, changed, and lost in the coming weekend. I hope for the best possible outcome for the families who are being displaced by this storm, many of them on a permanent basis.
This storm is shaping up to be one of historic impact. I cannot put into words my fears for the people of Texas. There is no way to say something of encouragement when there is nothing to be done. It is cheesy and almost facetious, but I do sincerely wish everyone the best of luck in the next 72 hours.
The only thing to do is run. Evacuate. Get out. Find a new location to hunker-down until the skies clear and the waters recede. That is the only option for anyone in the path of this monstrous storm.
Sadly, and stupidly, despite the warnings, there are many people who are thumbing their noses at the National Weather Service, their concerned families, and the word of every official with a microphone. They will not get out. In fact, a bar called the "Poop Deck," which is located about 50 feet from the raging waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is full of partiers getting drunk and ignoring the coming storm. I do hope they survive, but their chances are very limited. Sadly, their ignorance may not only affect themselves, but might very well cause harm or death to first responders and emergency personnel who may have to save their stupid selves.
In cases such as these, perhaps it is time to follow the teachings that so many "educational leaders" want to teach in public schools. We should follow the teachings of the "Survival of the Fittest" and "Evolution." Perhaps, these people are the weakest and are not fit for survival. Why should we risk our limited and overworked EMS workers to save them after they put themselves in such danger? If they survive, praise be to God for sparing them, in spite of their ignorance. If they do not make it, they are the ones who took the risk, and got drunk, and stayed in harms way.
I know that is morbid to think, even more morbid to say publicly. However, I think it needs said. We always hear how evolution is the way, and that species move forward in the evolutionary cycle because only the fittest survive. Its time to put the money where their mouths are at.
I do not want any harm to come to anyone in Galveston, TX, or anywhere else for that matter. However, I have no sympathy for idiots who party and ignore warnings as issues by the NWS, who warned that those ignoring the evacuation pleas would face "Certain Death."
My next problem with Hurricane Ike is the gas stations today. Today in my little neck of the woods, we saw price gouging of historic proportions. Gas was hitting $5 and $6 today in anticipation of Ike. As high as gas was already, for them to gouge it so high BEFORE the storm, it is just ridiculous. I drove 1.5 hours round trip today to save $.75 a gallon before the trend swept all the way from Beckley to Wytheville, VA.
All I can say is: "Drill, Baby, Drill!!!"
This storm is shaping up to be one of historic impact. I cannot put into words my fears for the people of Texas. There is no way to say something of encouragement when there is nothing to be done. It is cheesy and almost facetious, but I do sincerely wish everyone the best of luck in the next 72 hours.
The only thing to do is run. Evacuate. Get out. Find a new location to hunker-down until the skies clear and the waters recede. That is the only option for anyone in the path of this monstrous storm.
Sadly, and stupidly, despite the warnings, there are many people who are thumbing their noses at the National Weather Service, their concerned families, and the word of every official with a microphone. They will not get out. In fact, a bar called the "Poop Deck," which is located about 50 feet from the raging waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is full of partiers getting drunk and ignoring the coming storm. I do hope they survive, but their chances are very limited. Sadly, their ignorance may not only affect themselves, but might very well cause harm or death to first responders and emergency personnel who may have to save their stupid selves.
In cases such as these, perhaps it is time to follow the teachings that so many "educational leaders" want to teach in public schools. We should follow the teachings of the "Survival of the Fittest" and "Evolution." Perhaps, these people are the weakest and are not fit for survival. Why should we risk our limited and overworked EMS workers to save them after they put themselves in such danger? If they survive, praise be to God for sparing them, in spite of their ignorance. If they do not make it, they are the ones who took the risk, and got drunk, and stayed in harms way.
I know that is morbid to think, even more morbid to say publicly. However, I think it needs said. We always hear how evolution is the way, and that species move forward in the evolutionary cycle because only the fittest survive. Its time to put the money where their mouths are at.
I do not want any harm to come to anyone in Galveston, TX, or anywhere else for that matter. However, I have no sympathy for idiots who party and ignore warnings as issues by the NWS, who warned that those ignoring the evacuation pleas would face "Certain Death."
My next problem with Hurricane Ike is the gas stations today. Today in my little neck of the woods, we saw price gouging of historic proportions. Gas was hitting $5 and $6 today in anticipation of Ike. As high as gas was already, for them to gouge it so high BEFORE the storm, it is just ridiculous. I drove 1.5 hours round trip today to save $.75 a gallon before the trend swept all the way from Beckley to Wytheville, VA.
All I can say is: "Drill, Baby, Drill!!!"
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Remembering What Today Is...
Each of the past six years, on the anniversary of September 11, 2001, I have posted a blog, either on MySpace, Xanga, or have written a newspaper column. In those columns, I have posted my support of the troops, President George W. Bush, the families and friends of victims of the attacks, and I have taken to pointing out the shortcomings of those that opposed President Bush in fighting the War of Terror.
I sit here, 7 years and 12 hours after the attacks commenced, and wonder. I wonder how different the world would be had the attacks never occurred. Where would we be? Would we be better off? Would we be worse?
We will never know, and there is no way to answer those sorts of questions. All we can do is play the hand we are dealt and hope to be able to guess what the other players are holding, and hope for what is yet to be dealt.
The hand we were dealt included a brutal attack on America and Americans, as well as many others representing nearly 100 other nations. That hand included a few, brief shining months of unity and respect for our own country, only to be followed by more division and vitriol than this country has ever had, including during the time of the civil war.
So, tonight, I only wish that the memories of the fallen might not be tarnished by continued hatred and anger and despisement of each other. I wish we would stop letting the TV tell us how to think. I wish we would continue to work for a better America by doing what is right, and not what sounds good in a 5 second soundbite.
WE cannot do that, though, because we have, overall, forgotten what happened in New York, PEnnsylvania, and Washington, D.C., that day. We have such ADD and a short term memory in this country. We have already blocked out and or forgotten everything this day means.
I ask...no, I plead with you, do not forget this day. Do not let the memories of the fallen go to waste. Remember the day. Remember the freedoms that those creatures tried to take away. Remember the fear they inflicted, and then do what you need to do IN SPITE of the fear and in spite of them.
America is such a wonderful, great country. We should not hurt our nation by forgetting the depth of the attacks on our country on 9-11-01.
In closing, I want to say thank you to the George W. Bush administration for not forgetting what 9-11-01 tried to take away from us, and making sure it did not happen again. I want to thank the men and women of the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement who have worked tirelessly, and sacrificing everything, to keep our country safe from attacks. I want to thank the families and friends who lost so much on 9-11-01 for being strong, and for carrying on their lives, showing that America can be knocked down to one knee, but, by God, we will rise again.
God bless America.
I sit here, 7 years and 12 hours after the attacks commenced, and wonder. I wonder how different the world would be had the attacks never occurred. Where would we be? Would we be better off? Would we be worse?
We will never know, and there is no way to answer those sorts of questions. All we can do is play the hand we are dealt and hope to be able to guess what the other players are holding, and hope for what is yet to be dealt.
The hand we were dealt included a brutal attack on America and Americans, as well as many others representing nearly 100 other nations. That hand included a few, brief shining months of unity and respect for our own country, only to be followed by more division and vitriol than this country has ever had, including during the time of the civil war.
So, tonight, I only wish that the memories of the fallen might not be tarnished by continued hatred and anger and despisement of each other. I wish we would stop letting the TV tell us how to think. I wish we would continue to work for a better America by doing what is right, and not what sounds good in a 5 second soundbite.
WE cannot do that, though, because we have, overall, forgotten what happened in New York, PEnnsylvania, and Washington, D.C., that day. We have such ADD and a short term memory in this country. We have already blocked out and or forgotten everything this day means.
I ask...no, I plead with you, do not forget this day. Do not let the memories of the fallen go to waste. Remember the day. Remember the freedoms that those creatures tried to take away. Remember the fear they inflicted, and then do what you need to do IN SPITE of the fear and in spite of them.
America is such a wonderful, great country. We should not hurt our nation by forgetting the depth of the attacks on our country on 9-11-01.
In closing, I want to say thank you to the George W. Bush administration for not forgetting what 9-11-01 tried to take away from us, and making sure it did not happen again. I want to thank the men and women of the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement who have worked tirelessly, and sacrificing everything, to keep our country safe from attacks. I want to thank the families and friends who lost so much on 9-11-01 for being strong, and for carrying on their lives, showing that America can be knocked down to one knee, but, by God, we will rise again.
God bless America.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Unfair Fight That Should Unify Conservatives, Women, and Mothers
Here is the situation.
On one side, you have the wife of a presidential candidate actively campaigning, speaking at rallies, and regularly sticking her foot in her mouth by making snide remarks about her country. This woman has called America a "mean" country. She said that the fact that her husband's ability to run for and win a party's nomination for president makes her "proud of [her] country" for the first time. She is an active member of the campaign. She is a campaign spokesperson. Yet, she is beyond reproach. Any questions about her are low-brow, below the belt, low class, and just plain wrong.
On the other side, you have a woman who has accepted the nomination to be her party's Vice President. Her family appears with her at times, but they do not speak. They are not involved in the campaign. They are her family, a separate part of her life. Her husband does not take the stump for her. Her children are not speaking at the national convention. Yet, all of the left-wing media, from the 5,000 failing NBC channels to CNN to ABC to MSN.com to Yahoo.com, all of them are attacking her family, the brunt of the attack focused on a teenage girl.
This campaign has gotten out of hand. I can deal with the media being so obviously biased for Barack Obama. I can live with their 10 times more favorable coverage of Hussein Obama. I can live with the rockstar-like coverage of his field trip to the middle east and Europe. I can even deal with the fact non of his left-wing media friends, and he has a lot, questioned his skipping out on meeting with injured troops in Germany. I can live with all the attacks against McCain or Sarah Palin. I can live with being called racist for not liking Obama, even though his ethnicity has no bearing whatsoever on my dislike.
However, I have a serious, serious problem with attacking a seventeen year-old girl. I have a serious issue with attacks against a teenager who has made a mistake that millions of teens have done, a mistake celebrated and encouraged by most people on the same side that are now attacking her. I have a serious problem with these irresponsible media folks attacking an innocent family for something that has zero bearing on the campaign.
It is just another sad example of how Obama is not qualified to be President. At no point in the 2008 election has Obama shown and outlined his qualifications. He cannot and will not run on the issues. He knows it. The democrats know it. The media knows it. So, they have to run attacks and smears like going after a pregnant teenager.
Pre-marital and unprotected sex are not things I endorse. I am sure Sarah Palin and her husband did not endorse nor encourage their 17-year-old to practice those type of things. However, she is a teen. Teens make mistakes. Teens think they know it all and do things they might later regret. It happens. Yet this teen and her family are united. They are supporting the teen who has opted to keep the baby. She plans to wed the father of the baby. There are far greater errors in judgement teens can make.
How low-brow is it to attack a family and embarrass, hurt, and psychologically scar a 17-year-old girl? How is this okay, yet to question Michelle Obama and her slightly anti-American comments a travesty of travesties?
How can you people sleep at night?
I like Sarah Palin. Her resume might be a little on the thin side, yet she has more executive, decision-making experience than Barack Obama. She has stuck her neck out an enabled change in a short time in the Governor's Office in Juneau, Alaska. She has a track record. She has a policy-based platform to run on as Vice President. She offers more qualifications and experience than Obama, who is running to be President. She is strong, smart, of high morals, and will bring change to Washington. She is a no-nonsense person who will fight for what is right, not what is popular.
She also offers the answer to many Hillary supporters. Those voters, especially many of the women voters, are upset that Obama is in and Hillary did not even get considered to be on the ticket as Vice President. Sarah Palin scares the Democrats. She, like McCain, cannot be defeated on issues.
So, what can they do?
Attack her 17-year-old daughter.
Way to go.
On one side, you have the wife of a presidential candidate actively campaigning, speaking at rallies, and regularly sticking her foot in her mouth by making snide remarks about her country. This woman has called America a "mean" country. She said that the fact that her husband's ability to run for and win a party's nomination for president makes her "proud of [her] country" for the first time. She is an active member of the campaign. She is a campaign spokesperson. Yet, she is beyond reproach. Any questions about her are low-brow, below the belt, low class, and just plain wrong.
On the other side, you have a woman who has accepted the nomination to be her party's Vice President. Her family appears with her at times, but they do not speak. They are not involved in the campaign. They are her family, a separate part of her life. Her husband does not take the stump for her. Her children are not speaking at the national convention. Yet, all of the left-wing media, from the 5,000 failing NBC channels to CNN to ABC to MSN.com to Yahoo.com, all of them are attacking her family, the brunt of the attack focused on a teenage girl.
This campaign has gotten out of hand. I can deal with the media being so obviously biased for Barack Obama. I can live with their 10 times more favorable coverage of Hussein Obama. I can live with the rockstar-like coverage of his field trip to the middle east and Europe. I can even deal with the fact non of his left-wing media friends, and he has a lot, questioned his skipping out on meeting with injured troops in Germany. I can live with all the attacks against McCain or Sarah Palin. I can live with being called racist for not liking Obama, even though his ethnicity has no bearing whatsoever on my dislike.
However, I have a serious, serious problem with attacking a seventeen year-old girl. I have a serious issue with attacks against a teenager who has made a mistake that millions of teens have done, a mistake celebrated and encouraged by most people on the same side that are now attacking her. I have a serious problem with these irresponsible media folks attacking an innocent family for something that has zero bearing on the campaign.
It is just another sad example of how Obama is not qualified to be President. At no point in the 2008 election has Obama shown and outlined his qualifications. He cannot and will not run on the issues. He knows it. The democrats know it. The media knows it. So, they have to run attacks and smears like going after a pregnant teenager.
Pre-marital and unprotected sex are not things I endorse. I am sure Sarah Palin and her husband did not endorse nor encourage their 17-year-old to practice those type of things. However, she is a teen. Teens make mistakes. Teens think they know it all and do things they might later regret. It happens. Yet this teen and her family are united. They are supporting the teen who has opted to keep the baby. She plans to wed the father of the baby. There are far greater errors in judgement teens can make.
How low-brow is it to attack a family and embarrass, hurt, and psychologically scar a 17-year-old girl? How is this okay, yet to question Michelle Obama and her slightly anti-American comments a travesty of travesties?
How can you people sleep at night?
I like Sarah Palin. Her resume might be a little on the thin side, yet she has more executive, decision-making experience than Barack Obama. She has stuck her neck out an enabled change in a short time in the Governor's Office in Juneau, Alaska. She has a track record. She has a policy-based platform to run on as Vice President. She offers more qualifications and experience than Obama, who is running to be President. She is strong, smart, of high morals, and will bring change to Washington. She is a no-nonsense person who will fight for what is right, not what is popular.
She also offers the answer to many Hillary supporters. Those voters, especially many of the women voters, are upset that Obama is in and Hillary did not even get considered to be on the ticket as Vice President. Sarah Palin scares the Democrats. She, like McCain, cannot be defeated on issues.
So, what can they do?
Attack her 17-year-old daughter.
Way to go.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Difference Between Liberal and Conservative and The Slant of the AP
Within a 30-day span, America got to see the truth about Liberals and how drastically different Liberalism is from Conservatism.
On June 13, 2008, Tim Russert, a good, well-respected, hard-working, popular JOURNALIST died suddenly. It sent shockwaves throughout the world. Everyone who even remotely follows current events knew who Russert was, and, most likely, respected, if not liked, this JOURNALIST. (Journalist capitalized because Russert was one of the very few members of the NBC News bureau that was truly a Journalist and not a liberally-biased hack).
Russert's death was reported with humility, respect, and reverence. His memory and his legacy were upheld without equivocation. His life, work, family, and career were all celebrated and commended.
All of the mourning and celebration of Russert's life were well founded and appropriate. Russert did not let his political views determine his reporting. He reported down the middle and told the truth as best he could, in my opinion. He was truly one of the greats.
Fast-forward one month. Tony Snow, a likeable, hard-working, decent, honest man and JOURNALIST dies after a 4+ year battle with cancer. While Snow was not of the legendary status of Russert, Snow was a very accomplished journalist. He reported the news while in the media. As White House Press Secretary, he did not let the media bullies of the White House Press Corps intimidate him.
He was a fun, intelligent, strong man who did not take attacks as a journalist or Press Secretary to heart. He had a thick skin and a warm heart. He also had the will and backbone of legend. He fought to the end.
Yet, the AP uses their obituary to take pot-shots at Tony Snow. Instead of paying respects to the man, they question his integrity, intelligence, honesty, and ability to understand and report facts.
In the obituary, the 5th and 6th paragraphs come across as very snide and disrespectful to the man.
Cancer claims ex-Bush press secretary Tony Snow
by Douglass K. Daniel (AP Writer)
Playing to the cameras? He didn't have "a command of the facts?" The man is not yet buried and the AP uses their power as another way to cut down someone who has Conservative tendancies.
This truly defines Liberalism. They SAY they are compassionate. They SAY they care about people. They SAY they are the truely good people, while the mean, money-hungry conservatives are the jerks putting them out of work. They SAY they are for freedom and equality and freedom of speech, yet they cut down and attack everyone that has a different opinion or outlook.
The LA Times is just as bad. While their writers did not attack or question Snow, they certainly allowed their MODERATED comments board to fill with smut and trash and the type of vileness that has come to define the Democratic party.
Here is a link to Patterico's Pontifications a website that shows the types of comments allowed by the moderators, who pre-approve all posted comments. In addition, I have borrowed a couple below.
It is sad. Not one person said an ill word about Russert, and rightfully so. Yet, because he worked for Fox News and President Bush and was a conservative, Tony Snow is insulted and his memory and legacy attacked by hate-mongers.
On June 13, 2008, Tim Russert, a good, well-respected, hard-working, popular JOURNALIST died suddenly. It sent shockwaves throughout the world. Everyone who even remotely follows current events knew who Russert was, and, most likely, respected, if not liked, this JOURNALIST. (Journalist capitalized because Russert was one of the very few members of the NBC News bureau that was truly a Journalist and not a liberally-biased hack).
Russert's death was reported with humility, respect, and reverence. His memory and his legacy were upheld without equivocation. His life, work, family, and career were all celebrated and commended.
All of the mourning and celebration of Russert's life were well founded and appropriate. Russert did not let his political views determine his reporting. He reported down the middle and told the truth as best he could, in my opinion. He was truly one of the greats.
Fast-forward one month. Tony Snow, a likeable, hard-working, decent, honest man and JOURNALIST dies after a 4+ year battle with cancer. While Snow was not of the legendary status of Russert, Snow was a very accomplished journalist. He reported the news while in the media. As White House Press Secretary, he did not let the media bullies of the White House Press Corps intimidate him.
He was a fun, intelligent, strong man who did not take attacks as a journalist or Press Secretary to heart. He had a thick skin and a warm heart. He also had the will and backbone of legend. He fought to the end.
Yet, the AP uses their obituary to take pot-shots at Tony Snow. Instead of paying respects to the man, they question his integrity, intelligence, honesty, and ability to understand and report facts.
In the obituary, the 5th and 6th paragraphs come across as very snide and disrespectful to the man.
Snow was working for Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio when he replaced Scott McClellan as press secretary in May 2006 during a White House shake-up. Unlike McClellan, who came to define caution and bland delivery from the White House podium, Snow was never shy about playing to the cameras.
With a quick-from-the-lip repartee, broadcaster's good looks and a relentlessly bright outlook - if not always a command of the facts - he became a popular figure around the country to the delight of his White House bosses.
Cancer claims ex-Bush press secretary Tony Snow
by Douglass K. Daniel (AP Writer)
Playing to the cameras? He didn't have "a command of the facts?" The man is not yet buried and the AP uses their power as another way to cut down someone who has Conservative tendancies.
This truly defines Liberalism. They SAY they are compassionate. They SAY they care about people. They SAY they are the truely good people, while the mean, money-hungry conservatives are the jerks putting them out of work. They SAY they are for freedom and equality and freedom of speech, yet they cut down and attack everyone that has a different opinion or outlook.
The LA Times is just as bad. While their writers did not attack or question Snow, they certainly allowed their MODERATED comments board to fill with smut and trash and the type of vileness that has come to define the Democratic party.
Here is a link to Patterico's Pontifications a website that shows the types of comments allowed by the moderators, who pre-approve all posted comments. In addition, I have borrowed a couple below.
I hope the rest of these criminals die too. Good riddance to a person who contributed to making this world a worse place.
Posted by: Max | July 12, 2008 at 05:58 AM
Its unfortunate he won’t be able to see the damage he helped inflict on this country and the world. I wonder how he likes hell.
Posted by: tedson | July 12, 2008 at 06:27 AM
There is special place in hell for Mr. Snow. As a co-conspirator of the Bush administration, I have no special sympathy for him. I only wish his suffering were more prolonged.
Posted by: Efrain Rojas | July 12, 2008 at 09:05 AM
guess now we know that lying causes cancer.
Posted by: Star Mingus | July 12, 2008 at 09:35 AM
The question begs to be asked, is it possible to die when you don’t have a soul.
Posted by: Chad | July 12, 2008 at 09:38 AM
good riddance
Posted by: gundumma | July 12, 2008 at 01:35 PM
the world is now a slightly better place
Posted by: gundumma | July 12, 2008 at 01:37 PM
I prefer to give tribute to the many fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers of the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians that were killed all because Mr. Snow continued to perpetuate the lies of the Bush Administration. May THEY rest in peace.
The worst lies are indeed the ones we tell ourselves. May Tony Snow get the eternity he truly deserves….
Posted by: Jan Friedman | July 12, 2008 at 03:07 PM
It is sad. Not one person said an ill word about Russert, and rightfully so. Yet, because he worked for Fox News and President Bush and was a conservative, Tony Snow is insulted and his memory and legacy attacked by hate-mongers.
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