A time to grieve

Those who know me, will know my stance on gun control. In light of the recent massacre I won't debate that issue. I don't feel now is the time for politics. There will be plenty of time for that in the days an weeks to come.
Everyone is looking for answers in this madness, a motive, a logical explanation. The sad fact is that rational minds cannot comprehend the evil twist that happens in the minds of people that do such things. Soon we will be privy to every bit of information about the shooter. I will not add to his fame by mentioning his name. I feel that this will only honor a evil madman. I have seen a Facebook post allegedly by Morgan Freeman 

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations  sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem."

I'm not sure if these are actually his words but, I agree with them. We need stop publicizing every detail and making these people famous. We need to be more involved in our children's lives. We need to get away from saturating these kids with images of violence, blood guts, gore and mayhem. Let them be children! 

They have a whole lifetime of horrific events ahead of them. Turn of the TV, turn of the video violent games and be a parent. Everyone wants the quick fix, the easy answer. There are no easy answers, you can't pass enough laws to prevent these events from happening. Connecticut has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. Yet these laws didn't stop evil from visiting. 

I understand that anger is one of the stages of grieving and there is a lot to be angry about. But what we don't need now is knee jerk reactions and political posturing. What we need is time to grieve, heel and take a good look at ourselves and society and determine how these horrors can be prevented.   

  

To my fellow Republican's

Since Tuesday night I have read and listened to Republicans whine, snivel and gripe about Obama's re-election. It's done, it's over, there is little we can do at this point but prepare for the worst. So, stand up get involved and hold our government accountable for their actions.

 We didn't lose the election because Obama had a better base, because the evil media beat up Romney. We beat ourselves! We can't keep taking the next guy in line and run him and hope it works. Romney couldn't get the nomination in 2008, what the Hell made anyone think he really had a chance this time? 

Laura Ingraham made this comment; 

 "If you can't beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party. Shut it down, start new, with new people. Because this is a gimme election, or at least it should be, Election after election, we hire people who have lost previous campaigns, who have run campaigns that have failed, who have messaged campaigns where the message fell flat, and they keep getting re-hired." 

I agree, it's time to get rid of the "go along to get along"and the same old tired leadership. I can't tell you how sick I got of hearing Karl Rove say "321, 321" and try to B.S. his way through the election night. They call him the "architect", I'll tell you, I wouldn't use a cardboard box he designed. Dick Morris is another one "I study polls for a living and I promise you Romney will win by a landslide". Really Dick? Did you really believe this or is this what you knew would get you a paycheck from FOX? I'm no expert, I don't have a degree in politics, statistics or polling, but I knew it would come down to voter turn out and we had over 3 million Republicans that didn't turn out. 

It's time to get rid of the people that are in this to line their pockets and clean house. How many of your heard John Boehner say Tuesday "President Obama's rel-election is not an open mandate for new taxes"? Then on Wednesday that spineless waste of flesh agreed to $800 million tax increase. He said that they are "ready to be led". This, from the man who is the most powerful Republican in the country. This, from the man who is the "leader" of the Republican party. Really Mr. Boehner you need to be led?  You are the speaker of the house!! You should be leading not waiting to be led!! 

Everyone has bitched and complained about the mainstream media and how they pandered to Obama. People, I got news for you, Ronald Reagan never got a break from the media and he won by a landslide not once, but twice!! I don't blame the media, they have been bought and paid for. I blame the Republican party for betraying it's ideals and principles. Every election they "rich old white guys" try to refit a candidate that they can mold the party around. How about we try a candidate that fits the principles of the party? How many more decades are we going to run Bob Dole?

We now have a turd sandwich and we're all going to take a bite!! I am preparing for the worst, I expect sometime in the next 6-8 years for the economy to crash through the floor and cause a depression that will make the last look one like an ice cream social. 

There are no more Wyatt Earps

It's been a while since I've blogged, but over the last couple of days I've heard a lot of people talking out their ass!! Since the news broke about the terrible shooting in Colorado, I have heard one person or another say "if someone else had a gun in there, they could have stopped him". I want to go on record as saying BULLSHIT!!
While I am a proponent of the right to carry and feel that every law abiding citizen should be allowed to carry. Believing that even a well trained civilian, engaging in a pitched fire fight with a heavily armed and armored madman would have changed the outcome is naive at best. James Holmes went into that theater intent on killing as many people as possible. Having said that look at the preparations he made.

• Armament - when he was arrested he had a;

                  AR-15 rifle with a 100 round drum 
                  Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun with an 8 round magazine
                  2 Glock .40 cal. pistols

• Body armor - when he was arrested he was wearing-

              Tactical ballistic helmet capable of stopping or deflecting most handgun and some small rifle bullets
              Tactical ballistic vest, depending on what kind of protection plates these are capable of taking a hit
               from all hand guns and most rifles.
              Throat, crotch and shin protectors, although not bullet proof they can deflect shrapnel and blows
               from objects and people.
               Military grade gas mask

Essentially he was geared up the same as a S.W.A.T. officer. As I said earlier a heavily armed and armored madman. He was physically impervious to most handguns unless they could get a face shot. 

So, here you are in a dark theater, your trusty Glock, H&K, Sig , whatever your weapon of choice on your hip. Suddenly, something goes bang and there's smoke clouding the the theater you can't see, your chest is tightening and it's getting hard to breath.You're coughing and gagging from the smoke/tear gas. A second or 2 later some guy has made the entire auditorium a free fire zone. You decide to stop him. Adrenalin has doubled or tripled your pulse, you can't see because of the smoke/tear gas, you're sweating profusely and your hands are shaking like a leaf. People are screaming, some are trying to escape, some are trying to hide. There are muzzle flashes from his gun that destroy what little night vision you have. But, you're going to be a hero, so you grab your gun and try to acquire a target, through the smoke, your shaking hands and your own terror. You touch of the first round, maybe you missed him, maybe it hit his body armor, either way he doesn't stop shooting. You fire again, same result, again, nothing, now you have his attention and you are now in a fire fight with this madman and you're losing!! Because you are out gunned, out armored and your sidearm is having no effect. Mean while the entire auditorium is in pandemonium, you're now fighting to stay alive and to Hell with anyone who happens to be in either of your line of fire.

The NRA and several other groups are using this tragedy as an opportunity to rally people to the right to carry. "Because one armed citizen could have saved everyone". The scenario I describe is more accurate than movie versions of the good guy bad guy fire fight. So again to anyone who believes having someone in there with a gun returning fire would have saved lives I say again BULLSHIT!!     
                 

You are the 99% of what?

Those of you who know me know that I am no fan of Occupy Wall st. or any other of their little off shoots. At first I thought great another grass roots movement against the fat cats that were "too big" to fail. All to soon I realize they are backed by Moveon.org and fat cat tycoon George Soros aka "the man that broke the bank of England" who made the removal of Republicans in office the main focus of his life. He and the A.C.L.U. have promised bail and legal services for any of the protesters arrested. their message has been at best unclear. As seen in a interview with a Occupy Sacramento organizer Some 'Occupy Sacramento' Protesters Hostile To Media « CBS Sacramento.
I have also review the "We Are the 99%" website" and while some of these stories are truly sad the majority of them are 20-30 somethings that are whining because they compiled huge student loans, sometimes in fields that have no marketability or think that everyone owes them a living.
Here is how they chose to "define" who is of the 99%  (taken from occupywallst.org)

We need to retake the freedom that has been stolen from the people, altogether.

1. If you agree that freedom is the right to communicate, to live, to be, to go, to love, to do what you will without the impositions of others, then you might be one of us. (That"s the 1st amendment. However your words and actions sometimes have consequences. That's life)
2. If you agree that a person is entitled to the sweat of their brows, that being talented at management should not entitle others to act like overseers and overlords, that all workers should have the right to engage in decisions, democratically, then you might be one of us.(So we no one is in charge of anything and we all just do what we want. Seems I've heard this before, flower power or Lord of the Flies maybe?)
3. If you agree that freedom for some is not the same as freedom for all, and that freedom for all is the only true freedom, then you might be one of us. (Freedom comes with a price and everyone has to contribute)
4. If you agree that power is not right, that life trumps property, then you might be one of us. (but yet your symbol is the up raised power to the people fist? Life trumps property? Really, so if I try to take your property you won't defend it with every fiber of your being?)
5. If you agree that state and corporation are merely two sides of the same oppressive power structure,(but George Soros spending 23.5 million dollars to defeat G.W. Bush ok?) if you realize how media distorts things to preserve it,(You mean like when they bash the Hell out of any conservative but glorify any Democrat) how it pits the people against the people to remain in power, then you might be one of us.(I kept expect Jeff Foxworthy to pop in with a punch line, but no such luck.)

And so we call on people to act

1. We call for protests to remain active in the cities. Those already there, to grow, to organize, to raise consciousnesses, for those cities where there are no protests, for protests to organize and disrupt the system.(since you have nothing else to do go out and become a nuisance) 
2. We call for workers to not only strike, but seize their workplaces collectively, and to organize them democratically. We call for students and teachers to act together, to teach democracy, not merely the teachers to the students, but the students to the teachers. To seize the classrooms and free minds together. (Who else remembers the 60's? sound familiar?)
3. We call for the unemployed to volunteer, to learn, to teach, to use what skills they have to support themselves as part of the revolting people as a community.(Whoever thought that to refer to themselves as the "revolting people" was a good idea, really needs to ask for the money they spent on college back)
4. We call for the organization of people's assemblies in every city, every public square, every township.(Again, since you have nothing else to do, go out and become a nuisance) 
5. We call for the seizure and use of abandoned buildings, of abandoned land, of every property seized and abandoned by speculators, for the people, for every group that will organize them.(Go squat on land and property that isn't yours, just take it over)

We call for a revolution of the mind as well as the body politic. (because as things are we can't get what we want)

So they want everyone to tear down the system, destroy corporate America and replace it with some grand Utopia. Where everyone has everything they want. No one has to pay for anything, no one has to suffer or strive and everything is handed to you. Anyone else see any problem?

1.  Human greed, everyone one always wants more, it's human nature.
2. If no one makes any money who pays for all of this?
3. Without rewards there is no incentive to improve or advance. (The main reason most of the people with huge student loans are in that situation)
4. "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of someone else' money".

A number of the people that have been interviewed have described themselves as "Socialist, Marxists, Communists". Is it just me or didn't we spend the last half of the last century pouring trillions into defeating these types of governments and parties?
I know that I am part of the 53% that pays all the taxes. I am not, part of the 1% and if I have to take a side I will side with the 1%. Why? Because I work for a living I am not expecting the government to molly caudal and wet nurse me in exchange for drinking their Koolaide.
If you are in debt up to your eyeballs take a good in the mirror. NO ONE forced you to sign those loan documents. Maybe if the 99% worked at fixing the problems with government instead of looking to the government to fix itself  and take care of everyone. We wouldn't have to hear about the redistribution of wealth. But, that would require more effort that camping in city park, making a cardboard sign and whining about how bad your life is. Grow up stop sniveling and contribute to society!!

Simple math

Our illustrious President is once again using his bully pulpit to preach for tax increases. He says that he will veto any bill sent to him that includes spending cuts without a tax increase. Once again a spoiled child stomping his foot and throwing a temper tantrum. Here is some simple math that should help even the most simple minded understand that we cannot tax our way out of the hole we are in.

Our current debt is  $14,750,000,000,000 (14.75 trillion dollars)
Our current Federal tax revenue is $2,275,000,000,000 (2.28 trillion dollars)
Now even the most uneducated can see the difference. These numbers came from http://www.usdebtclock.org/ (careful, clicking this link will scare the crap out of you)
If we, every person living in the U.S. donated 1 dollar everyday it would take 64 years to pay off the debt. To pay off all the unfunded liabilities it would take another 500 years.
Or every person living in the U.S. owes $42000
I'm not a genius mathematician, but here's what I know. There are one thousand billions in a trillion, so for the sake of argument let's say that we confiscated the all the money from the 15 richest people in the U.S.
That would come to $343.1 billion dollars "just a drop in the bucket". Do the math yourself , here's the list of U.S. billionaires

#	Name	Net worth (USD)	Sources of wealth
1	Bill Gates	$54 billion	Microsoft, Cascade Investments LLC
2	Warren Buffett	$45 billion	Berkshire Hathaway
3	Larry Ellison	$27 billion	Oracle Corporation
4	Christy Walton	$23.4 billion	Wal-Mart, inherited
5	Charles Koch	$21.5 billion	Koch Industries, inherited
6	David Koch	$21.5 billion	Koch Industries, inherited
7	Jim Walton	$20.1 billion	Wal-Mart, inherited
8	Alice Walton	$20 billion	Wal-Mart, inherited
9	S. Robson Walton	$19.7 billion	Wal-Mart, inherited
10	Michael Bloomberg	$18 billion	Bloomberg L.P.
11	Larry Page	$15 billion	Google
12	Sergey Brin	$15 billion	Google
13	Sheldon Adelson	$14.7 billion	Las Vegas Sands
14	George Soros	$14.2 billion	Hedge Funds
15	Michael Dell	$14 billion	Dell Inc.

Most people can't comprehend 14 trillion, it's a number most of us would never have to calculate. So, here are a few examples of what 14 trillion would be in the real world.

• Days- 14 trillion days ago the Universe didn't even exist yet...It would still be another 24 billion years before the Big Bang.
• People - 14 TRILLION people would fully populate another 2,332 Earth sized planets!
• Inches - 1,647,360,000 inches will circle the planet at the equator. We would circle the planet 8,500 times if we moved 14 Trillion inches.
• Square inches - About the size of a postage stamp, more or less.14 Trillion square inches would completely cover Yellowstone National Park.
• Land - The entire land surface of the planet is only 58 million square miles. It would take 244,290 earth type planets to equal 14 trillion

So tell me again how taxing a few people to death is going to solve the problem? I agree that there are many areas that the U.S. government is the best entity to manage. However I also believe that money anyone earns is their's, not the U.S. government's. Without HUGE spending cuts there is now way to tax our way out of this mess. That of course would mean that some government agencies would have to go and some bureaucrats might actually have to go out and get a real job. But then there is that nasty 12% unemployment rate. Because, we've already made any manufacturers criminals thanks to government bureaucracies so they went overseas. 


Here's some ideas;

• Secure the borders, the billions we save on schooling, medical, welfare etc. will pay for that.
• Pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, billions saved there,
• Eliminate do nothing agencies like the Dept. of Energy, they were established during the Carter administration to decrease our dependence on foreign fuels. They've done a marvelous job don't you think?
• Make the U.S. manufacturer friendly again and impose tariffs on any country that we don't share even trade with. Same taxes and tariffs go for companies based here and used foreign labor.
• Reform the Tort codes so that, stupid people can't sue because of their stupidity. Think about it, every warning label you see is because of some idiot doing exactly what that label says no to do.
• Reform Social Security, it was never intended to be a retirement account. It was meant to be a safety net. Let's take a look at the way the money is spent there. For example, I know a man who gets disability through Social Security and so do his 5 kids because he isn't able to work.They have a 3500sq. ft. home with a pool, 3 of his kids have brand new cars, as do he and his wife. Now I don't think that they should live in abject poverty but, if he can spend 3 days a week launching his boat and fishing the delta. I think there is some work he can do somewhere. How about if you not legal you get no money? No other country will pay you if you don't have a work visa, why do we?

I'm just a simple guy, I don't have an MBA nor doctorate and I will never be President. But if I can see these problems and some solutions, why can't our politicians? 

Post turtles and Obama

Wish I could take credit for this but my father-in-law sent it to me;

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, who's hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Obama being our president.
The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle''.
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was.
The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'. 


The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. 'You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just wonder what kind of idiot put him up there to begin with".



I have received emails and Facebook posts about how great Obama is and if those mean old Republicans would get out of his way he could really get  stuff done. They seem to forget that for the first 2 years the Democrats ran both the House and the Senate. So I compiled a short 
list of his failures; 

1. Vowing to VETO any bill that contained a balanced budget amendment
2. Using the Gulf Oil Spill to promote Green Energy - instead of cleaning it up.
3.  Passing a Socialized Health Care Bill even though 85% of the country didn't want it.
4. Thinking the Tea Party is a passing fad - or that they are racists
5. Saying that the United States is not a Christian country no more...
6. Pulling out of Iraq with no clear victory over insurgent forces and saying it was his victory...
7. Trying to re-write history through speeches - with inaccurate information (i.e. Statue of Liberty)
8.  Getting a Nobel Prize for being the most ineffective President in the history of the United States, though some say it was for his pigment. 
9. Putting all legislation on the Internet for five days before it comes to a vote.
10.  Returning the bust of Churchill to the Brits.
11.  Giving a collection of improperly formatted DVDs of his speeches to the British PM.
12.  Denying the notion of American Exceptionalism.
13. Promising to close Gitmo (and not knowing if his “special order” had established a process for moving Gitmo detainees... talk about being clueless) — failing to do so.
14. Securing the Olympics for Chicago in 2016.
15. Naming numerous Communists/Socialists/Progressives to his various Czar positions and then watching them scurry for cover when they get called out, forcing them to resign.
16.  Government races for NJ, VA and the Senate Seat in Mass.(long time Democratic strong holds)
17. Prediction that stimulus would ensure that unemployment doesn’t exceed 8%.
18. Bowing and apologizing for the U.S. to just about everybody.
19. Proposing a Bill to where the Federal Govt can step in and take over a “private” business if they deem it important to national interests...
20. Proposing amnesty for illegal aliens to increase the population of voters for Demoncrat elections
21. Obama (Federal Funds) is now funding abortions...
22. The Stark Treaty (The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons)
23. Firing the CEO of a company
24. Refusing to prosecute the radical hate group; the Black Panthers for violations of others voting rights as well as hate crimes and inciting violence.
25. Obama’s lies about the budget and constant blaming of Bush rather than taking any responsibility at all for his hand in the budget deficit and terrible economy:
    For Fiscal Year 2009, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets. And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009.
    
    If the Obama & the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the Fiscal Year 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
26. Obama and Attorney General Holder suing the Sate of Arizona over bill that only enforces US Federal Law (US code #1304; c, d, & f
27. Operation "Fast and Furious" selling guns to known Mexican drug cartel members to track them back to Mexico. Actually tracking them back to several murders including a U.S. Border Agent
28. Extreme political correctness and inability to call Islamic Extremists and the tenants of Islam which they follow terrorists. But allowing members of the Tea Party Republicans to be called terrorists
29. Tax cheats in his administration; Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner
30. Association with ACORN

I'm waiting to see which of the Republicans are going to make it through the primary process. I like Ron Paul and Rick Perry, but I'd settle for Romney. Hell, I'd vote for a jackass over Obama, but I digress.