Jon's World

There are some words in the English language which traditionally evoke feelings of reverence to anyone who hears them. For those people who are described by these words, there should be a deserved feeling of pride. Words such as “hero”, “mentor”, “veteran”, confidant”,”counsel”, “teacher”, and yes, even “coach” are some examples of the words I am talking about. But, as I thought about it, another such word came to mind that also evokes some similar feelings of respect and should have attached to it, a feeling of pride and accomplishment. That word is, “retired”.

Whenever someone tells me that they have retired, I always ask, “What did you do for a living?” No matter what the answer, I do find it admirable when someone has worked a large portion of their life and, in many cases, became an expert in their field before earning the right to retire.

While some people retire on their savings, a pension, 401k, 403b, Social Security or some combination thereof, all of them have in common that they have worked for their retirement and followed the rules to earn their place in retirement. Sadly, I have come to realize that, over time, we have created a new class of “retired” people in this country who have simply decided to stop working and live off of the government. I am not talking about people who are 65 or older or people with disabilities who legitimately need a hand up. I am talking about a pretty large percentage of the population who are perfectly capable of working but instead they have co-opted the word “retired” so that it has become synonymous with the word “deadbeat”.

In my humble opinion, anyone who claims the title of “retired” and has not earned that title has a dignity deficiency and this is clearly displayed by the fact that they have no problem collecting money that they do not deserve and did not earn. Some of these people attempt to justify their bad behavior by stating that they have “paid taxes” at some point in their life so the money is theirs even though they did not reach the age of retirement or the age of eligibility for Social Security. Others do not even offer an excuse and will just say, “I’m getting mine”. I can unabashedly tell you that I hold all of these people in the greatest contempt.

Recently, I met a man in his 50’s who is collecting several forms of aid from the government even though he makes a pretty significant amount of money buying and selling various types of goods. In other words, he works and he gets paid. (Of course he makes sure to do his business in cash so that he can stay off of the radar screen and not jeopardize his tax payer funded free ride.) To add insult to injury, this deadbeat goes around telling people he is “retired”. Retired from what? Retired from doing what is right? Retired from following the law? Retired from exercising any morals or ethics?

I refuse to do business with this guy or anyone else like him because I find it offensive and disrespectful for anyone to have the audacity to call themselves “retired” when what they are really doing is stealing from every tax paying citizen of this country.

I fear that we are spiraling downward as a country when so many people have little or no shame. We need to restore dignity to this country and creating more wards of the state is just not the way to do this. Dignity does not start at the government level to then trickle down upon everyone. Dignity starts in the homes, hearts and minds and is not something that you can fool yourself into having. I believe that if more people understood the dignity of earning the things they have, then we would elect people to our government who understand the value and power of dignity.

Our founding fathers understood the value and power of dignity when they bravely formed this country. Sadly, time has seemingly eroded and weekend the value of dignity in the minds of many of our citizens. It is dignity which is our most important national treasure and it should be in the hearts and minds of all true Americans.

On July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 56 men got together who shared a common vision for a land where people could be free from tyranny and despotism. These men were so dedicated and passionate about this vision of freedom that they staked everything they owned including their very lives in pursuit of making the country they envisioned become a reality. 

The price of freedom was paid in full with the blood of the people of this new land and for the past 234 years or so, we have been the greatest nation on the face of the earth. Of course we have had our ups and downs but no one can deny the success of this great nation and the reality that we have been and remain the land of opportunity in this world.  

In 1930, when the nation was facing one of it’s toughest times, The Great Depression, we made a huge mistake when we lost our faith and surrendered a piece of our individual freedoms to our Federal government for the sake of some perceived security.  This was the beginning of the entitlement snowball and the welfare state was born. This is also when Liberals figured out that with economic or social upheaval, comes an opportunity to grow the government and infringe upon the rights of individuals through an artificial construct called “social justice”.  Their rallying cry even to this day is, “never waste a crisis.”

Now, those who blame capitalism for the Great Depression somehow manage to sidestep the obvious success of capitalism as evidenced by the aforementioned 234 years, most of which were boom years and established “American Exceptionalism” in dominating the world’s economy.  Now, I have no doubt that our founding fathers would be disappointed in our lack of resilience during the Great Depression when you consider the hardships that they faced at the birth of this nation. If they had given up and opted for the peace and security of being under the heel of the king’s boot, America would not have been born and I believe that there is no doubt that the world would be a much worse place than it is today.

Our founding fathers knew that individual freedom was precious and their writings left no doubt of this.  Consider Thomas Jefferson who said, “A government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have.”   And, even though Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had many disagreements, they were in agreement on this particular issue for it was Hamilton who said, “A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”

Social Security was sold to the American people as “insurance” against poverty for our elderly.  Republicans and Democrats alike agree that, conceptually, this is a necessary step to ensure that our elderly citizens are not destitute when they are no longer able to work.  However, if you research the history of Social Security, you will find that immediately after it was sold to the people of America as “insurance” for our elderly, the government then started calling it a “tax” and “borrowing” money from it to expand the size of the Federal Government.  It has been spiraling out of control ever since and today Social Security has an unfunded liability projection of over $17 trillion dollars.

When you consider the Medicare and Medicaid unfunded liabilities of approximately $89 trillion along with the Social Security $17 trillion dollar problem, one would think that someone, somewhere would be trying to stem the tide.  Instead, as our economy was struggling and there was another crisis at hand, the Liberal Democrats did not waste the crises and they passed another massive entitlement program and called it “health care reform”.  Amazingly, they had the audacity to say that this ‘health care reform” plan would be paid for from the savings they would realize by doing a better job of managing that same Medicare program that is multiple trillions of dollars in debt.

The Liberal Democrat’s tactic of ignoring the problems with programs such as Social Security and Medicare and then charging that any criticism of their failed policies is steeped in bigotry or elitism needs to be recognized and dealt with decisively.  In conjunction with preaching the “gospel of envy”, this is the way that the Liberal Democrats seek to usurp the power of the states and infringe upon the rights of the American people. In doing so, they are destroying this country and I am indeed saddened by how many people have, in the name of security, surrendered freedoms that patriots have died to secure for us in this great nation. 

Patrick Henry was speaking to his contemporaries but his words should echo through the halls of every school and government building in this land when he said,”Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”

The latest and most blatant example of our citizenry surrendering even our most basic rights can been seen each day in airports across America as men, women, and children are accosted by government security employees in the name of “safety”. 

If we were REALLY concerned about safety, every Muslim man between the ages of 18 and 40 would be subject to a higher level of scrutiny before being allowed on a plane and it just makes sense that our chances of preventing an attack would be much greater than randomly strip searching Americans in our airports.  This is just common sense and I am certain that some Ivy League college professor could whip up some statistical probability model to support my position.  So I ask you, should political correctness carry more weight in policy making and security strategy than logic and reason?  If not, then why is it so?

I believe that Samuel Adams best captured the sentiment of true Americans when he said, “If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen”.

Thank you for reading my blog.

When the Tea Party started, it really seemed like no one took them very seriously. Their message was simple, “Stop spending money that we do not have!” While Democrats continued to run up a monumental debt surpassing the total of all previous administrations combined, their message began to resonate across the land and more and more people began to gravitate toward the Tea Party..

If you have been following the Tea Party movement, you will note that there are quite a few conservatives in the party who are Republicans but there are also quite a few conservative Democrats as well as the all important Independent voters. In recent elections it has become clear that the Tea Party has become a force to be reckoned with so, naturally, the Democrats felt that they needed to find a way to neutralize it or destroy it totally.

For quite some time now, the White House and the rest of the Democrats have been trying to find ways to attack the Tea Party but without much success. Even with the help of the liberal mainstream media, they have not been able to slow down the momentum of the Tea Party and as we march toward the mid term elections, panic has set in. What to do? What to do?

Enter the NAACP into the fray accusing the Tea Party of being “racist”. Ah, a tried and true method of quieting the message by discrediting the messenger. The problem as I see it for the NAACP is that the NAACP itself is well known to be a racist organization. Ironically, those who point that out are labeled as racists but I would ask that you notice their name is not the National Association for the Advancement of ALL people. Racism is at the genesis of their organization and, while it has come to be something that is expected, tolerated or accepted by most everyone, let’s not pretend that the racial bias of the NAACP does not exist.

Now the NAACP has been very vocal in the liberal mainstream media in calling the Tea Party a racist organization. If you tune into MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CNN or any of the other liberal media networks, you will find that they give plenty of air time to anyone who wants to accuse the Tea Party of being racist. If you watch any of these media organizations for any sustained period of time, you will most certainly be regaled with stories of racists signs, Tea Party people spitting at minorities, or using racial slurs. I would like to mention that there really has not been a shred of evidence to support these allegations but the media outlets that run with these stories are not encumbered by any type of journalistic integrity so they just go with it since it serves their purpose of helping their party while feeding the bias of their loyal listeners. Make no mistake; this is a concerted effort by the Democrats and the liberal media to weaken the Tea Party. I have to kind of smirk whenever they point to a sign that has President Obama’s name on it and call it a “racist” sign. Since when is using someone’s name racist? When did this happen?

The NAACP seems to want to argue that if there is a person within an organization or even attending a function sponsored by an organization and this person has some racial bias, then it means that the entire organization is racist.  Think about how ridiculous it would be if you held any organization to that standard.  Certainly there are those with racial bias in the Republican and Democrat parties as well so does that make either of those parties ”racist” organizations? 

If someone at a Tea Party is carrying a sign or shouting slogans that someone else might consider to be racist, you need to understand that they are expressing THEIR opinion, not those of the Tea Party.  You see, there is this thing called the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that allows them to do this.  It does not mean that people agree or are forced to agree with them.  You may be appalled or disgusted by what you hear and see but I don’t want to live in a country where we are not allowed to speak freely for fear of being whisked away to some prison camp for re-programming.  Do you?  Despite what the Democrats and the liberal media will tell you, free speech is a “two way” street.  It does not mean that they have a right to silence any dissent but they are certainly trying.

So here we are now after weeks of the constant bombardment of racial accusations by the NAACP, Andrew Breitbart of the Tea Pary posts a video showing people at an NAACP meeting laughing and applauding when Mrs. Shirley Sherrod, a government employee, tells a story of how she treated a white farmer. Initially, Mr. Breitbart posted just the clip of the video as it was sent to him and he claimed that he was only using the clip to show the bias of the crowd at the event.  However, it is important to note that despite the liberal media reporting otherwise, Mr. Breitbart did go back and post the entire video to show what Mrs. Sherrod said. 

As Mr. Brietbart explained,  the issue was NOT what was said by Mrs. Sherrod but rather the reaction of the crowd at the NAACP meeting. Get it?  Mr. Breitbart was showing them to be the hipocrites that they are. Where was the condemnation for the actions of those in attendence who cheered, clapped and laughed at the unfair treatment meted out to a white farmer? 

Specifically, when Mrs. Sherrod was at the part of her story where she was disparaging a white farmer, there was laughter and applauding by the crowd. Go and listen to it again to see what I am talking about. Eventually, when Mrs. Sherrod did finally get to her message where she said that she learned her lesson that it was “not about white and black but rather about rich and poor”, the crowd was not as animated.

So let’s recap…. The NAACP calls the Tea Party a racist organization with the help of a liberal media for several weeks.. The Tea Party then clearly shows racial bias at an NAACP meeting. The White House quickly reacts to try and deflect any blame from themselves for the political climate by forcing their employee, Mrs. Sherrod, to resign. So what does the liberal media do when faced with this obvious inconsistency in the way they are handling this story? Well, they go on the offensive of course.

First, the liberal media refuses to acknowledge what Mr. Breitbart’s video was about which was the racial bias of the NAACP which was clearly shown on the video that he posted. They still are not reporting that to this day. Go and check it out for yourself.

Next, instead of lambasting President Obama and his administration for their rush to judgment in forcing Mrs. Sherrod to resign, our liberal media crew decides that it would make more sense to blame Mr. Breitbart for Mrs. Sherrod losing her job by accusing him of altering the video. After all, this takes the White House off the hook for making an uninformed decision because they were somehow forced to make a quick decision due to Mr. Breitbart’s alleged dishonesty. Wow, you really can’t make this stuff up….unless of course you work for MSNBC or one of those other liberal networks.

I guess what is even more amazing than what the liberal media is doing is how many people are so easily deceived by them. Come on people, get a clue.

You know, I really hope enough people wake up by the mid term elections and, judging by the Tea Party’s growing numbers, I am encouraged to think they will. But hold on to your hats folks and stay tuned for the next salvo from the left. You can bet it is coming but I can’t even imagine what they will try next.

They have already played the “race” card and the gospel of envy continues to be preached everyday from their bully pulpit. Lying has also proven to be an effective tool for them as they have figured out that there are enough people willing to believe whatever they are told by them so they just keep dishing it out. I especially like the whopper they keep telling about all of the jobs they have created as unemployment continues to soar and they keep extending unemployment benefits. So far, up to 99 weeks and counting. Wow!

I could go on an on but just tune in to one of these liberal media stations sometime and you will find no shortage of misinformation. It’s scary and sad.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”  Chinese Proverb

 Cogitate on that for just a second and ask yourself if the United States would be a better place with more “fishermen”? Obviously, I am using the term “fish” as a metaphor for any type of skill or service you can imagine but you get the point. But  of course we would be better off with more “fisherman”.  It’s a no brainer, right?  Who wouldn’t want to do thier own fishing?

Growing up in and around New Orleans, I guess I became a bit cynical of the political machine there.  I remember on Election Day, a stream of busses heading through the lower income areas of town picking up people and taking them to vote.  It seemed to be a pretty festive day and I guess I never really thought much of the concerts, celebrity appearances and food that these seemingly benevolent people were providing for these lower income people while “helping” them get to the polls to cast their vote.

As I got older, it really hit home with me that these “benevolent” people were really no better than the slave owners of the old south.  The only difference was, they had found a way to disguise slavery to look like benevolence and compassion.  You see, in New Orleans, you have a system that has relegated entire family lineages to institutional slavery. This is a system where these lower income voters are dependent on the political machine for food, housing, education, medical care, transportation etc and in exchange, the recipients have become conditioned to pull that Democrat lever on Election Day.  It has been instilled in them that they need entitlements to live and that if they don’t vote for the Democrats, the checks will stop coming and then how will they live?  After all, for generations of families living in the various housing projects and lower income areas, this is “just the way it is” and they know that they need to vote Democrat. Period.

My message to all of the enslaved people in New Orleans and the rest of our country is this:

“Wake up. I and many others believe that you are worth more than your current state of existence and we want to help you achieve your dreams. We believe that your children should have every opportunity to receive an education and grow up to be valued members of society.  We believe that each of you should have an opportunity to gain employment and pursue a career of your choosing. We believe that it is within each of you to be free from relying on the government and the kindness of others and that you should have the opportunity to experience the pride and feeling of liberation by becoming independent and able to provide for yourself.”

Now, a message like this will be called “insensitive” and “racist” by many on the left side of the political spectrum.  Not because they actually believe that such a message is insensitive or racist but rather they see that when people actually understand that they have been duped and subjugated by these “benevolent” people, then those doing the subjugating will lose their political power.  In other words, they don’t want any of these people “fishing”. They want them standing at the polling place with their hand out waiting for a “fish” to be given to them. Get it?

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast of the United States.  Most of the damage that occurred was actually in Mississippi but with the way that it was portrayed in the media; back then and even today you would have sworn that New Orleans was the only place that was hit. So, why do you think this was?

I think this can be best explained by taking a good look at the people who were left behind in New Orleans. You saw them on the news each night.  Who can forget the scenes from the Super Dome?  Do you also remember all of those busses they showed underwater in New Orleans?  Why do you think those busses were not mobilized to evacuate those same citizens that the city has so efficiently transported to the polls for as long as I can remember?  Hmm?

So, let’s see….in the aftermath of the storm,  there were thousands of people, unable to provide for themselves, unable to transport themselves, with nowhere to go while the mayor of the city was in a nice hotel in San Antonio.  A mayor who was elected by these same “abandoned” people and, amazingly, was re-elected in 2006.  Is this not like the biggest example of “Stockholm Syndrome” in the history of civilization?

Now, remember that the mainstream media has proven to be a powerful weapon of the Democrat party.  If you have not come to that realization, you are sleeping, stupid, or just in denial.  So, with this truth firmly in hand, how do you think it would have sounded for Katie Couric, Chis Matthews, Keith Olbermann or someone of that ilk to say, “Wow! The Democrats in Louisiana and in New Orleans in particular really screwed these people and left them behind.” 

Obviously, that would not have gone over well with their chosen party so instead you heard, “George Bush did not get help there fast enough to help all those poor black people.”  Aside from the mainstream media, we then have people like Kanye West on Saturday Night Live saying, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”   There are other examples of this type of “deflecting” blame and race bating but you get the gist. It had all of the elements that the left treasures so much.   Envy, because others were able to leave and they were not.  It bashed Republicans for being inept and last but not least, the race card was played.  The “Democrat trifecta for success” all being played out on your television screen every night.  For those who have already been brainwashed to have those biases, it just fed them even more.  It was simply amazing and frustrating to watch.

You know, I think it is really sad that the enslaved of our country don’t even realize that they have sacrificed their hopes and dreams for just enough money to keep them broke and unable to escape the very system that has victimized them for so long.   Also, I feel sad for them for feeling so helpless that they have no choice but to keep voting for the same people who have enslaved them.  You see the cycle? I vote for you….you give me stuff….I vote for you….on and on an on. 

Here is a project for you, go on Youtube as far back as you can and listen to the campaign speeches of Democrats runing for any office of any kind.  You will clearly see that they preach the “gospel of envy” in every election.  That is to say that they seek to gain votes by appealing to voters as if life is a “zero sum” equation.  Simply put, they convince their voters that the reason they themselves don’t have more, is because someone else does.  I swear if I hear one more Democrat refer to the rich and say, “They need to pay their fair share”, I am going to drive to Washington and hand them a copy of their own IRS Tax reports showing that the top 20 percent of taxpayers pay about 86% of the taxes and ask them to explain exactly what their “fair share” should be.  Should it be 100%?  That just does not seem fair to me, how about you?

Again, you will NEVER see the mainstream media shine a spotlight on this glaring piece of misinformation because it would take a very effective tool, envy, away from the Democrat party which they support.  

In those rare circumstances when someone is actually allowed to challenge them on this, they inevitably counter with, “Yeah, well look how much money those people make” as if that is somehow a crime.  Well, again, it is not a crime but it appeals to the envy of others so it works for them.  Also, they somehow always seem to conveniently overlook the fact that these same 20% of Americans that they are demonizing are the same ones who are providing just about all of the jobs.

So tell me, why do you think that Democrats always tell you how much they are in favor of creating jobs yet they seem to have such great disdain for employers?  Doesn’t this belie their claims?  I would offer to you that maybe it’s not about jobs and it really is just about votes because if they really cared about jobs, then why do we have double digit unemployment while they continue to run off employers with increased taxes and costly government mandates?  How does this make sense?

So, let’s get back to our Chinese Proverb and see what it would look like if it were “revised” by our current ruling party. I think it would read something like this:

“Teach a man to fish, and he doesn’t need you to give him a fish so never do that.  Give a man a fish, and he will give you his vote and keep coming back for more fish.  Subjugate enough people and convince them that the “fishermen” owe them more than they gave them, and you can enslave a nation, preserve your power and improve the chances that all future generations will mindlessly shackle themselves in servitude to you and your party.”

 Thanks for reading my blog.

Being a native Louisianan, I am aghast at the devastation that has befallen my home state with this latest oil spill.   I am also quite perturbed at how this incident has been politicized as I believe all of the “finger pointing” is taking the focus off of some important issues on which we should be focused.  Such as:

1. We need to “plug the damn hole”.
2. We need a mitigation plan to lessen the impact of this disaster.
3. We need to begin an immediate and thorough cleanup.
4. Last but not least, we need to evaluate the operational standards on all existing oil companies to ensure that we are limiting future risk to our environment.

Yeah, I know, I know…..more regulation by “Big Brother”.  But if our government is not going to make the effort to insulate this country from this kind of disaster, then you really need to ask yourself what the EPA’s role is and what was more important for them than preventing this disaster?  Did they not see the potential for this? 

I know it sounds like I am finger pointing but let’s face it, the “Environmental Protection Agency” did a lousy job of protecting our environment.  Come on guys, it says exactly what your job is right there in name of your agency.  You blew it. 

Make no mistake, everyone can see that British Petroleum blew it as well but let’s wait until all of the facts are in and let’s just see what the investigation yields.  If they were criminally negligent, they should go after them. If it turns out to be  just some tragic, freak accident, then we need to learn something from it so that we don’t repeat this in the future. 

I have to say that I find it amusing that President Obama commented that he was not happy about the “cozy relationship” that the inspectors have with the oil companies.  Well, let’s see…..who is ultimately in charge of those inspectors?  These inspectors work to enforce the operational standards for oil companies as set forth by the government.  If you follow the chain of command, we all know where it ends up.  This is not “finger pointing” it is just fact. 

In the wake of this disaster, if I were advising the president, I would have advised that he immediately shut down oil production in the Gulf of Mexico until each platform passed a thorough inspection conducted by an independent company which was experienced in platform drilling and safety.  Yes, it would cost a tidy sum but just wait until you see the tab for cleaning up this current mess.  I am certain that being proactivce would have cost a lot less. 

As a follow up, I would insist that all of the discrepancies noted by this independent inspection company would have to be corrected before the rig could resume drilling operations. I would then compare the results of these current inspections to the inspection records submitted within the last 6 months by the inspectors who, according to our president, have “cozy relationships” with the oil companies.  

If it was found that the government’s inspectors were “pencil whipping” audits and were getting paid to turn a blind eye to safety violations and poor operational standards, I would go after them for being criminally negligent as well. I guarantee you that we would get a more accurate and thorough audit going forward once we made people see that the risk (jail time and fines) would be more commensurate with the alleged rewards (bribes and favors) received by the rig inspectors.  And while no one could guarantee that a disaster could be avoided with this common sense approach, I am pretty certain that we could have reduced the risk quite a bit.  

Astonishingly, there are still many other rigs operating out there just as they did before the disaster.  Nothing has changed for them but for one rig that apparently rolled the dice hoping for the best, 11 men died and the Gulf Coast and the rest of us ended up with “snake eyes”. Very sad.

So, Arizona passes a scaled down, modern day version of the 1994 California Proposition 187 and some people go nuts and start race bating and name calling. Let’s step back in time a bit and look at the showdown that happened in California back in 1994 between Governor Pete Wilson and the Clinton Administration so that we can get some context on where we are now with our illegal alien situation.

Under California Governor Pete Wilson, Proposition 187 was a 1994 ballot initiative in California that the California voters voted into law. It simply stated the following:

1. All law enforcement agents who suspect that a person who has been arrested is in violation of immigration laws must investigate the detainee’s immigration status, and if they find evidence of illegality they must report it to the attorney general of California, and to the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

2. Local governments are prohibited from doing anything to impair the fulfillment of this requirement.

3. The attorney general must keep records on all such cases and make them available to any other government entity that wishes to inspect them.

4. No one may receive public benefits until they have proven their legal right to reside in the country.

5. If government agents suspected anyone applying for benefits of being illegal immigrants, the agents must report their suspicions in writing to the appropriate enforcement authorities.

6. Emergency medical care is exempted, as required by federal law, but all other medical benefits have the requirements stated above.

7. Primary and secondary education is explicitly included.

Subsequently, the vocal minority and the Clinton gang were able to get a Liberal Federal Court Judge to issue an injunction to keep the Prop 187 from being enforced in California. Prop. 187 was then held up in the court system for a few years until 1999 when California Governor Gray Davis put an end to the dispute and killed Prop. 187.

Davis, in trying to assuage the vocal minority, ignored the will of 60% of his constituents and did not have the courage or political will to follow through and ensure that Prop. 187 became the law of the land.  So, since the problem of our Federal Government failing to enforce Federal Immigration Laws was never solved, here we go again.

When I was very young, I was taught that problems don’t go away just because you ignore them. In fact, problems have a way of growing if not addressed. How true this is in the case of illegal immigration where there is now an estimated 20 million illegal aliens here in the United States and that number is growing every year.

Compared to California Proposition 187, Arizona SB 1070 has a much simpler approach. It just states that aliens who do not possess the registration documents as required by federal law, may be arrested if there is probable cause to believe the person is in the country illegally.

To any reasonable person, this makes sense as it just “re-states” the Federal Immigration Law as stated in Section 211. [8 U.S.C. 1181] of the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services Act. .

Due in part to public outcry over some perceived possibility of “racial profiling”, the bill was then amended with HB 2162 which states that police may only investigate immigration status incident to a “lawful stop, detention, or arrest”.

While I don’t think HB 2162 was necessary, I can still go along with it if it achieves the goal of arresting illegal aliens committing crimes and sending them out of this country. Just like in 1994 when Proposition 187 was supported by 60% of the people, so too is SB 1070. So, I ask myself, why is it that 40% of our population is against enforcing our Federal Immigration Laws? Of course, you will never hear it framed like that in the mainstream media but, unless I am missing something, this is EXACTLY what is happening.

For the 60% of us who believe that we should enforce and even strengthen our current immigration laws, why are we allowing ourselves to be “shouted down” by the vocal minority? Why are the politicians who favor enforcing our federal immigration laws allowing themselves to be intimidated into silence?

So what should we do? Maybe this would work.

If you want to show what a great and compassionate person you are by allowing all of the estimated 460,000 illegal aliens stay in Arizona, why don’t you put your money where your heart is?  Let’s have the United States Census Bureau collect the social security numbers from these “compassionate” citizens and fund some accounts for the illegals to cover their housing, food, health care etc and get them off of the federal dole.

These “compassionate” people could pay the taxes for the illegals, be accountable for any crimes they commit and essentially adopt them and help them while they are in our country. So, how many of these “compassionate” people do you think would step up and do it?  I am guessing that it would be about 0% of them and here is why I believe this.

When Mike Huckabee was governor of Arkansas, he faced a liberal state legislature bent on maintaining and implementing entitlement programs in his state.  Huckabee stood his ground but established the “Please Tax Me More Fund” where anyone who felt so compassionate about an entitlement, could put their own money in the account to support it.

Of course, those “compassionate” people who were so adamant about having those entitlements in place decided that they did not want to fund them.  It became apparent to everyone that they were only “passionate” about the entitlements when someone else was going to pay for them. Wow, big surprise.

You know if even half of the 40% of “compassionate” people fighting this law were to participate in a program to pay the bill, I would match the average annual contribution per participant just to show how compassionate I am.  Of course, my money would be safe because, again, these people are really adamant about how they spend your money. They will not put their own money where their mouth is.

So, here we are again listening to the vocal minority throwing stones at 60% of the population who are asking nothing more than for our government to do their job and enforce our immigration laws.  Based on President Obama’s recent remarks about SB 1070 calling it “irresponsible”, I don’t think we are going to see this administration fix the problem.

So, I am left to wonder why 40% of our country, and our president, are unable or unwilling to see how dangerous and “irresponsible” it is to continue to ignore our federal immigration laws. Hey, everyone, maybe they are right and if we just ignore the problem, it will just go away……

Do we have a “Health Care” problem, a “Health Insurance” problem or a problem with our government failing to recognize an economic disaster that has been developing and growing for a very long time? Here is how I see it.

HEALTH “CARE”
I truly believe that we have the finest doctors and medical technology in the world and if you visited our best hospitals across the U.S., you would find the patient rosters, past and present, filled with people from every country on the globe. So, I can only surmise that we do have the type of medical care that people are willing to pay for and travel long distances to get.

With this being said, there is a something about our medical providers that greatly disturbs me every time I have to visit a doctor. My annoyance is with the fact that no one will tell you how much something costs before you go in!

Now, I know that they usually can not tell how much treatment will cost until they examine you and run some tests and determine what the problems are. However, I have found that they will not even tell you how much the exam or tests will be. In fact, I have become convinced that, in some facilities, the amount they charge you is predicated on how much they think they can get you to pay and how much they can get out of your insurance company, assuming you have insurance. I also think they factor in the number of “non paying” recipients of their services when calculating their margin goals for a given period of time. I can’t prove it and, of course, no one will admit that but I am convinced that this is happening.

This is wrong for so many reasons but mainly because it breeds mistrust from the consumer and takes away the consumer’s ability to shop and have “informed consent” when seeking basic medical services.

You see, I would not go into a restaurant and order food when I had no idea how much it costs and I don’t shop for clothes that way or anything else for that matter. Even auto mechanics will at least tell you how much they will charge to diagnose a problem. This just is not so in most medical facilities.

HEALTH “INSURANCE”
The health insurance industry has taken many hits recently in the discussions about health care reform but I am really not so sure they deserve the beatings that they are getting.

First of all, recognize that the health insurance industry is a private business where companies assume risk for their consumers at a price. It should logically follow that healthy people are a lower risk to them then would be someone who is overweight etc.

If the unhealthy people’s medical premiums are not commensurate with their “risk” then this simply means that the people who exercise regularly and watch what they eat will pay the same as the junk food junkies and couch potatoes. To me, it’s kind of like letting everyone pay the same auto insurance despite some drivers having a history of speeding, traffic accidents and a continued propensity for reckless operation of their motor vehicles. It is just not logical to operate a business this way and anyone with even a trace of common sense could figure this out. However, instead of promoting “wellness programs” and telling people to take some personal responsibility for their health, our government, in particularly the democrats, have seized upon this situation to cause turmoil and demonize the insurance companies. Why not? They deserve it right? Haven’t you heard all of the anecdotal evidence of why the insurance companies are evil? Oops, there went your right to choose.

GOVERNMENT
The government has failed us miserably in the area of health care. I believe the government should have the responsibility to ensure that everyone has access to health care and that the quality of health care is monitored to protect the public welfare. That is it. Nothing more, nothing less.

So, for those who are not able to get health insurance because of income or health exclusions, I believe those people should be eligible for some type of Medicare plan but I don’t believe it should be free to them and there should be some sort of wellness plan associated with this. Doesn’t that make sense?

SO, SMART GUY, WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
I believe the “anti-trust” protection should be removed from the insurance industry. Yes, there are regional disparities to consider but all of that would eventually even out in the free market. Some people in the country would be happy and some would be upset but at least there would be a universal baseline for medical services from which companies could compete for consumers.

Independent agencies should continue to ascertain fair market values for basic services and ensure that “we the people” know what those costs should be. At least we would be able to shop accordingly for medical care if we knew this information. These studies are already out there and they are used by the insurance companies to determine how much they will pay to hospitals and doctors.

As it is now, the government mandates that hospitals and doctors must treat anyone showing up at their doorstep but the government has decided that they should not have to bother with figuring out how to pay the bills associated with this unfunded government mandate. In the government’s view, that is a problem for the doctors and hospitals to figure out.

As a result of this government interference in the free market, doctors and hospitals end up treating people who have no means to pay or no intention of paying any of their bills so, what is a hospital or a doctor to do? Well, they came up with something called “cost sharing” which essentially means they try to over bill the insurance companies and over bill paying patients to recoup their losses.

When the insurance companies hold the line and refuse to pay and also act as advocates for their clients, the doctors and hospitals end up raising their prices for all of their services in an effort to maintain their profit margins or, in some cases, for them to be able to keep their doors open.  Just look at the number of hospital closings across the U.S. over the last few years.  It is a significant problem.

So, we have an unfunded government mandate upon doctors and hospitals in the private sector which is driving up the cost of medical care.  As a result,  insurance companies have to ratchet up their “reasonable and customary” index and then, of course, we see medical premiums go up.  Higher medical costs equals higher bills which lead to higher medical insurance premiums? Wow, who knew? This situation has been festering for years and it has been largely ignored by democrats and republicans alike.

I grew up in Louisiana where we had a clinic system where people could go and get health care if they could not afford to have a primary care physician. I remember going there as a child and waiting in long lines to get immunizations for school. I would propose that this system could work on a broader scale in the United States for our citizens.

Let’s be clear about something and stop fooling ourselves into believing the rhetoric espoused by our current ruling party. If someone of means goes to a doctor for a kidney transplant, they are going to get it if they are able to pay for it. They may have to get on a plane and go somewhere else if the democrats are successful in destroying our health care system here, but make no mistake; the rich person will be able to pay to get it done. So, what happened to the “social justice” that you were sold while they were taking away your freedoms and masquerading as advocates for you?

Hopefully, enough people will figure this out in November.

As a musician, I often find myself surrounded by people who, ordinarily, would not be in my “social circle”. The “art” crowd is fraught with Liberals and probably about half of the musicians I meet could be called Liberal Democrats. With that being said, I do enjoy having conversations with these people about most things. On most topics, they seem to be able to reason their way through things and seem to be pretty logical in their thinking. However, when the talk turns to politics, it is like talking to someone who has been programmed by a cult. It’s really crazy.

To be fair, I will disclose that I lean quite a bit to the right but I am an independent voter and I have no apprehension about pulling the lever for whichever candidate I think is best regardless of if they have a “D”, “R”, or “I” next to their name. You know, I just think the U.S.A. would be better off with “non partisan” elections and an effective recall system to fire politicians who say one thing and do another. But that will be the topic of another blog entry at some time in the future. Let’s get back to discussing politics with Liberals.

After watching political discussions over the years and participating in quite a few myself, I have identified a few tactics that Liberals cling to and I wanted to write about these today. Here are some Liberal strategies that I have identified.

1.) The Justification via Revisionist History Approach – This is usually the first thing that comes out in any political conversation with a Liberal Democrat. One good example of this would be “I don’t like the Republicans ever since George Bush lied and took us into an illegal war to avenge his daddy.”

Whenever you hear something nonsensical like this, you need to understand that it does not matter that they are provably wrong; they will continue to believe what they believe no matter what you say to them. They have been programmed by our predominately extreme left wing media and, on political topics, they are unable to rationalize and form their own thoughts. In their minds, the matter is already decided because Keith Olbermann or some other Liberal media mouthpiece said so. Period.

However, if you must probe further and feel the need to present them with the facts, you will inevitably find yourself being whisked away into tactic number 2 which is……..

2.) The Change the Topic With More Misinformation Tactic – If you care enough to attempt to engage one of these people in a rational conversation, you will find that the path of any honest and rational discussion will lead them to the inevitable conclusion that they are wrong and they can not support anything that they are saying with any facts of any kind. When this happens, they will attempt to change the topic by lobbing another “misinformation bomb” for you to diffuse. If you attempt to refute their “opinions” with more “facts”, they will continue to change topics until you become exasperated. They then declare victory and you can be sure you will hear from them again and they will be spouting the same misinformation that they did before. And yes, they will re-state all of their opinions again even on the things you have proven to be false. This brings us to the next tactic…..

3.) The “Fact Eraser” – Presenting facts to Liberals during a discussion will not dissuade them from presenting their “opinions” as “facts”. Even if they do recognize that the facts are against them, they will continue to offer their opinion as if it carries as much weight as a fact. If they sense that this tactic is not working, they will just say something like, “I disagree”. Now this is when it get’s fun because you will be tempted to ask, “What do you disagree with?” Try as you may, you will not pin them down. They will try and change topics again and you will find them to be like Harry Houdini when you try and box them in with the truth. When all else is lost for them, and their backs are against the wall, it’s “fight or flight” time. This leads us to the next tactic they use…..

4.) Yelling, Cursing, Name Calling and/or Withdrawl – I have found that most of them will get angry and begin raising their voice at you and trying to talk over you instead of acknowledging and responding to presented facts which contradict their position. As I said, they have been programmed and you will not change their minds with logic or reason. You can’t save them so don’t waste your time.

I have found that anyone who points to the inevitable consequences of the failed ideas and policies of Liberal Democrats, will be accused of using “scare tactics”. Here is a one example of how this works.

During a recent conversation with a Liberal friend of mine, I asked if he was at all concerned that Iran was now or was about to be a nuclear power? He immediately said, ”That is a scare tactic.”

You see, the question was never answered because the answer is so obvious. Instead, the programmed response was to accuse the person asking the question of “scare tactics.” This was the mantra of the media during the 2004 Presidential election but many people realized that it was not a “scare tactic’ to point out that there are people who want to hurt us.  It was then and still is a reality of the world in which we live.

Along these same lines is the “talking points” deflection. Anything you say to a Liberal to which they can not respond with an intelligent response, they will call it a “talking point” as if that invalidates the content of your question or statement. Watch MSNBC or one of the other “media” outlets sometime and you will hear this tactic used over and over. The White House has perfected this tactic but I think people are waking up to it and it’s effectiveness is waning a bit.

Another staple of the Liberal’s arsenal is their belief that if they can label you as a racist, biggot or homophobe, or something of the like, it will invalidate anything you have to say.  As an example, take a look at the White House and the left wing media and how they are handling the Tea Party people. 

The Tea Party, which is made of of Americans from all races, creeds, and colors, was formed out of a frustration for the government’s willingness to spend large amounts of money that we don’t have and increase taxes on the American people. These people are expressing a concern about the legacy we are leaving for future generations and they just want our government to be fiscally responsible.  Nothing more, nothing less.  However, instead of listening to the message and acknowledging the validity of the concerns of these Americans, the media has decided to label them as racists and radicals and some Liberals have even gone as far as to accuse them of treason.  If seeing how this is being played out does not make your blood boil, you really need to check your pulse.

In conclusion I would offer that the next time you talk to a Liberal and they start a political conversation with something silly, please resist the urge to engage them in debate. They are only anxious to show you how much they don’t know. They are not interested in honest discourse or learning anything. They know what they know even if it isn’t so. Good luck!

Do you ever wonder what our Founding Fathers would think about us if they were here today?  I wonder how they would react to the world that we live in.  While I do have the utmost reverence for these men as they were courageous visionaries dedicated to risking everything for this idea that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people was the right way to build a strong nation, I just can’t help wondering how their values would be shaped by this crazy world we live in today.

Would they be tolerant of this multicultural melting pot and all of the challenges it presents?  Would “political correctness” dull their abilities to practice the logic and reason exemplified in their philosophies and teachings?  Could they have foreseen religious zealots willing to blow themselves up to kill us because we did not share their religious beliefs?  How would they deal with this?

And while the founding fathers did have to face “loyalists” in their own time who were working with England to keep America from becoming it’s own nation, could they have comprehended or tolerated those in this country who deny who we are and whose first reaction to any disaster is to blame America?  How would our founding fathers have dealt with people who refuse to acknowledge facts and evidence while ascribing their own reasons as to why people seek to do us harm rather than listening to the perpetrators who tell us exactly why they did what they did?

Yes, I would love to have Ben Franklin’s perspective of current times. I think most scholars would agree that he was a very wise man with great clarity of thought and a firm grasp of the times in which he lived. 

Today, many people quote Ben Franklin but I would offer to you that some of his quotes would at least require a bit more context when presented today.  Too often I hear Ben Franklin quoted out of context and in broad terms solely for the purpose of supporting illogical positions.  Here are a couple of examples of how this is done using quotes from old Ben Franklin himself.  We will then examine how these quotes are applicable today.

Ben Franklin said:

“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Do you think Ben Franklin could have imagined a world with nuclear weapons accessible to people who have a willingness to kill themselves as well as everyone else who does not agree with their religion or political perspective?  Would he really tell us not to worry or be vigilant to ensure that our nation is not destroyed or severely damaged by attack?  I just don’t think so. Also, I do see that the liberal left likes to use the second quote listed above to justify complaints about perceived infringements on civil liberties.  So let’s be sensitive to that and come up with a solution that would help

Here is what I would suggest to illustrate the absurdity of their position.

If I were to start an airline today and let’s just say I named it “High Security Air”.  I would openly state that everyone and everything that came on the plane would be scrutinized to the highest degree to ensure that the plane was safe.  I would also do some “profiling” and escalate to background checks if it was necessary to keep the plane and passengers safe. Each plane would have marshals on them for every flight and the pilots would be trained in self defense and the cockpits would be tightly secured during flight.  Of course, all of these security precautions would cost quite a bit to implement so I would openly advertise that the fare to fly on my planes was quite a bit more than other airline fares with other carriers.

For those who complain about their “rights” and the inconvenience of going through security checkpoints, let’s respect their position and create another company.  For them we would provide them with a great new airline called “Air Freedom”.  That sounds good right?  After all, it’s “freedom” and who would be against that. 

For this airline, no one would be searched.  No metal detectors, no profiling, no marshals, no security whatsoever.  Everyone is free to do as they wish and no one’s “rights” are infringed upon in any way. 

Tell me, on which airline would you want to fly?  Which plane would you want your family to board when traveling?  You can bet that the same people whining about having to take their shoes off would pony up a few extra bucks to ensure they made it to their destination alive.  Good ole “Air Freedom” would be out of business in no time but don’t worry, the unthinking zombies who have sacrificed logic and reason for their talking points would find another illogical cause to champion.  Of this, you can be sure.

In October 2009 during the last presidential campaign, Tom Brokaw hosted the presidential debate in Tennessee and posed this question to the presidential candidates: “Is health care a privilege, right or responsibility?”

McCain fielded the question first and answered:, “I think it’s a responsibility, in this respect, in that we should have available and affordable health care to every American citizen, to every family member.”

McCain’s response was succinct and I believe it sounded sensible to most people.

When Senator Obama was faced with the same question, he clearly stated that he believed it was a “right”. But he went beyond that and at some point he even said, “….it is absolutely true that I think it is important for government to crack down on insurance companies that are cheating their customers, that don’t give you the fine print, so you end up thinking that you’re paying for something and, when you finally get sick and you need it, you’re not getting it.”

As I was watching this, I wondered how then Senator Obama, whom I believe to be a very intelligent man, could miss the point. I wondered, did he not understand the question?

To me it seemed like Senator Obama, after initially answering the question that was posed to him, which was, “Is HEALTH CARE a privilege, right, or responsibility?” then went on to answer a question that was not asked which was, “Is HEALTH INSURANCE a privilege, right, or responsibility AND should the government regulate insurance companies?”

I wondered, does he really not understand that insurance is an agreement between two private parties where one agrees to pay the other some amount of money to assume risk for them?  How did this become a government issue?

With Senator Obama’s answer in Tennesee in October 2009, we all should have seen the era of big government coming with an Obama victory in the presidential race and a “super majority” of democrats in congress.

I believe what we are seeing right now is a “tug o war” for our liberties between the American people and our Federal Government. It is important that everyone keep an eye on what is going on…..it matters!

We should heed the words of Thomas Jefferson who said, ”
“A government big enough to supply you with everything you need, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have….”

Thanks for reading my blog and stay tuned!