A Strange Feeling

Have you ever had a moment of dread when things seemed ominous and you had that creepy feeling that something was wrong or about to be wrong?

I am feeling that way right now and I really have no benchmark to look at and see why I might feel this way but it is there.

The recent devastating earthquakes along with the ongoing one in Iceland along with flooding and other weather systems makes me wonder if the earth is not going through some sort of a change where we are going to be unwilling participants.

One of the leading environmentalist stated that in order for the earth to survive about 20% of its population would have to die…that would be 1.3 (B)illion people. Maybe some sort of a pandemic or natural catastrophe will bring this about in the near future. I do not know but I have a strange feeling…

I Welcome the War

A lot has been written and said the last couple of days regarding tea partiers and Demos getting spit on and called names and whereas I do not condone these acts I can see where the frustration is coming from but I still support ballots not bullets in this situation.

I welcome the coming war of cultural differences in this country because it is a war that is worth fighting and very winnable in my estimation. Why? Because liberals lack the guts to fight, they cower at the very thought of having to act on their words whereas conservatives have no hesitation of “punching you in the face” if they deem it to be necessary. Now is the time to fight.

Liberals have the “can’t we all just get along” mentality and cower in the path of adversity. They think their words are acts enough and they are so naïve that they fail to function when needed. Case in point…The U.S. has for several months under the current administration been touting “tough” sanctions against Iran for their nuclear program but today lo and behold the headlines are that the administration is backing down on the tough sanctions and going along with a milk toast set that will please China and Russia.

Barak Obama in one year has taken us from world power to also-ran and he is destroying the prestige that we once had in the world. We are still looked to for rebuilding countries, i.e., Haiti and Chile but we are no longer seen or respected by Germany, France, England, China, Russia do I need to name more?

The no borders, all illegals welcome, universal healthcare for all, progressive verbal vomit is getting tough to swallow when you look around and see and hear that Bin Laden will kill Americans if we kill KSM. Hell, he masterminded the killing of almost 3,000 Americans in “one” day and we aren’t supposed to put him to death?

Listen my liberal friends and I do have a few; there is no safety in talk and no comfort in a purchased peace. Unfortunately, and if you look at it, wars sometimes do bring about an era of peace but peaceful coexistence with the Bin Ladens and other who subvert our very existence is an act of war and needs to be seen as such. To bad our current administration doesn’t see it that way as they “Mirandize” potential bombers when caught but what do you expect from a bunch of people that have no experience in running anything.

A war will be fought soon in the ballot box and I go on record as saying that the bloodbath of turned out Democrats in November will be the first battle to what I see will be a short war. I expect the war to be over in November 2012, unfortunately, the damage done by four years of appeasement will be with us for many years to come.

A Reckoning

I think I know what bothers me about the whole healthcare thing and it is a little alarming and disarming to me because it makes me have to think and feel about a few certain things that I, quite frankly, take for granted in my life.

I grew up learning from a generation that took responsibility for themselves as well as their family. There was no passing the buck when it came to taking care of your family, especially your children. You went without so your kids were taken care of and you didn’t complain because you would have received no compassion from anyone because they were all doing the same thing for their family.

When Paula and I had 3 kids in braces; we didn’t have lavish vacations and some years none at all. We didn’t have expensive electronics because our kids' needs came first. We had priorities that I don’t see much today in the next generation. They want all the bells and whistles in life and they want what is “entitled” to them namely that other people pay for their children’s care because they need the other things in their life.

A lot has been bantered about in the past few weeks regarding this new “entitlement” and I think that I did not pay close enough attention to the word as it was being used to correlate it to the people that most wanted this to pass. It is the current generation of “entitled” persons.

As I thought about this it became perfectly clear that they do not want health care as much as they want everything served on a silver platter for them to take. Next will come dental care, vision and any other need that they feel that they can’t pay for or don’t want to pay. They fail to understand what it takes to put the product on the platter and the work and sacrifice of others to make it happen for them and they don’t need to because they are “entitled”.

They also fail to honor those that do; so that those who can’t will get what is needed. But when you put your own special needs and concerns before the good of the people then it is easy to be thankful for all the new stuff the government has just rolled out on their rather well used and tax payer paid for silver platter.

I learned early in life that nothing is free but I think the next generation does not believe that but I can tell you that when the I.R.S. starts sharing your tax information across department lines under the new law and starts taking money from your bank account without your permission…well I think you kinda get where I am going with this.

So sip the Kool-aid I am sure it taste good now but you will be paying for it sometime down the road because the government has never had a “free” program.

So Who is to Blame?

Time is dwindling down and Obama is doing what presidents do best in making back room deals to get the votes to push the healthcare agenda into law. I, for one, hate what is going on but I know in my heart of hearts that it is not his fault. Then whose fault is it…the voters, mainly the independent voters that bought the lie and now are drinking the Kool-Aid being dispensed by the liberal side. Hey guys…they lied to you about change at least the change you were looking and hoping for in him!

I have hope because I know that certain provisions of the new law, if enacted, will be found unconstitutional and portions or the entire bill will be thrown out. It is not a hope it is a known fact that the bill is poorly drafted off of Hillary’s 1992 healthcare debacle…remember that one? Thank God for the judiciary that will have to finally figure out a bill that has never been fully published. You think the White House will get away with hiding from the bench? I think not.

Once the entire bill sees the light of day it will collapse in the court system. Chicago doesn’t own the Supreme Court yet.

So let’s see if this actually gets done through bribery; I think it will and wait for the courts and then the electorate to speak loud and clear in November. The tea party is ramping up with a recall of a senator in New Jersey and other state activism that will hopefully change the political landscape back to where it once was.

The pendulum is swinging back and I can tell you it will rattle off the right side of the casing when it hits in November and I fully expect that Mr. Obama will reap the reward of his power grabbing agenda. Ram it through Mr. President and wait for the fire that will burn your presidency later this year.

Reciprocity

I read an interesting blog the other day about how family members do not seems to stay in contact with each other and continue to maintain the bridges that we have in our relationships. The blog was well written and very pointed in the reference of one party’s responsibility to another but it lacked reciprocity. It had the ying but I never read the yang in it.

All relationships require a two way street and if it is only going one way then there is a deficiency in the relationship that needs to be addressed by both sides but it is unfair to expect that one side carry the load while the other side receives the goods only.

There are a lot of issues that can separate a family from one another and distance is one of them. I have been well incorporated in many of my children’s lives because of their close proximity to where I live but distance is a barrier to maintaining “close” relations because unfortunately the human mind and heart is fed by contact. Physical has always been a better means of transference between people than ancillary forms that require the mental processes to enact the contact.

When a kid drops in to say “hi” well that is a lot better than picking up a phone and calling. The Internet had developed ways of communicating but it takes both sides to initiate and not the expectation of one side doing the work.

I am not a proponent that I am the dad therefore I must be served but I do think that if there is a loneliness on the part of one side then they need to look at what they can do to improve it rather than look to the other side for their answer. The other side may not even be aware that there was a question.

Listen, we all have busy lives but I have expectations that if I want to have contact then I have to initiate it. I saw Paula’s dad’s opinion that we all had to come to his house and that didn’t work out to well for him and us either, I guess. When you read comments regarding the busyness of any person’s day then you wonder where you fit in anyway. That does not make non contact right or wrong but it does make it seem less important.

Is it “out of sight out of mind” or is it “absence makes the heart grow fonder”? It could be either but it requires a concerted effort by both sides to make it work. I need to be better at it and I guess the other parties just need to find their level of participation also.

Stop and Smell the Roses

I think that life is a strange thing sometimes in that it challenges us to see ourselves through other people and sometimes I don’t like what I see in me.

I am a man of few wants and that is a good thing but I surround myself with people that think that life is nothing more than a window shopping spree for all emotional and physical things. I rationalize this as some sort of “big empty hole” that they have to fill but it probably isn’t; it is just them being themselves and trying the best they can to get through life with some modicum of self respect and accomplishment. My harshness sometimes allows me to miss the inner workings of a person and that is a loss to me and to them also.

I am a doer; I do things. It was the way I was raised by my mom that you need to be doing things or “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” type of mentality. I like this part of me but unfortunately I am surrounded by the antithesis of me; people that can sit and still feel fulfilled in what they do. People are raised differently and I supposed that if I was surrounded by doers then we would constantly be trying to out do one another and just spending our time busting our asses to outshine the other ass buster.

I have been subjected to many interesting events because of my wife and that is a good thing. We have been on cruises, vacationed in interesting places, and had Japanese exchange students and many other different trips. I would be the first to say that I personally would not have ever done any of these things on my own because I would have been busting my ass doing something else and would have missed the intersections where these opportunities resided. I am glad for those people that walk instead of run and rest instead of work although too much of any one thing still drives me to distraction.

I will continue to putter because it is in my fabric and I probably sense my mother’s calling from the grave that I am lazy; which is definitely not true in any respect. But I do wish I could enjoy life more and the people that are in it for me to enjoy. I am working on it but it is hard for me to assimilate my surroundings and just enjoy the fruits of this life. I always expect that someone wants something which they don’t and that I need to be the one to get it for them which I don’t.

I am trying to alter my inner being in this area but it is hard but I will continue the fight until I can fight no more.

The Nuclear Option...

Those silly Democrats are at it again. I think that most of the polling information in America today doesn’t reach their desks or something because they are about to do something that is done on budgetary matters but not on big policy changes…they are about to go “nuclear” on healthcare, 51 votes instead of the 60 that they needed before.

Anyone viewing the polls today can see that the healthcare bill as it is currently proposed is an albatross to the American voter. It hovers at around 65% disapproval rate and slowly climbs a point or two every several weeks. Now understand that 65% of the people polled in many different polls do not like this bill and the Demos are still going to try to pass it.

I love the balance of power in our government because the “fat and sassy” senators that worry little about reelection don’t care about the polls but the house does. Every two years they haul their butts out into the community to try and get reelected again and with the voter discontent in this voting cycle many are afraid that they will actually have to get a job after the November election and they will if they back this bill.

Power is a sinister bitch sometimes in that it smells good and taste good but it can have a lingering after taste that will make you want to puke your guts out if you guess wrong on how to use it. The build up of bile on this issue is already out there for the Demos to see and hear and I am wondering how many Democratic house members will drink the Pelosi tea when it comes right down to it…hopefully not many but if they do then there is no one to blame but themselves when they get defeated in November.

So go ahead Obama, push the button, I dare you and see what the last two years of your presidency is going to look like with a mixed or Republican congress to deal with. Go ahead push it, I dare you.

What the ????

The above picture says it all for the Obama administration and its handling of the Dalai Lama shown out of the White House by a back door by the garbage. But hey, what do you need more…China’s financial backing or the prestige of a religious leader by showing him the respect that should be accorded to him.

The current administration still does not understand that you cannot play both sides of the street but rather you make a stand in whatever direction and then live by it.

The humility of this man to be degraded by being shown the back door and the garbage only enhances his stature while diminishing the stature of President Obama and our country as a whole.

The Bi-Polarization of Liberal Thinking

I was reading a blog the other night about the political right and how it “hates” President Obama and his policies and as I read it the reality of one of the thought processes of the liberal minded is that they act in a bi-polar manner when discussing political issues.

What does that mean, you ask, well one of the aspects of a bi-polar nature is that there is no gray area in any discussion but rather there is “on” and “off”, “white and black” you get my drift. Now what I am talking about here is not the person writing the blog but rather the thought process that was put out in the article.

It is so easy to use the word “hate” to aid in a person’s rationalization of their position in any given matter because it shuts the door. Once hate is brought into a discussion regarding the disagreement of one position to another then the discussion stops. What the purveyor of this type of thinking is trying to do is stop discussion not maintain it in any manner of understanding. It is a sad position to take in that it hardens the debate process not allowing it to go forward. Maybe that is what the liberals truly want is no discussion only abject submission to the premise that their thinking is correct and all other thinking is wrong headed.

I do not hate Barak Obama as I hope that I hate no one. Hate is a terrible usurper of emotional goodwill in a person and allows for evil and non productive thought processes that drains me of positive feelings about myself and my fellow man.

I can honestly say that I highly disagree with the President’s positions in most matter (I supported the stimulus although it has been poorly managed and has not brought about the results that most Americans would like to see) but I supported it because I think the timing was right for it and it made sense to me. I believe in small government, Obama does not. I believe in an individual’s right to earn a living and to benefit from that work and not be forced to reallocate income to people that have no desire to work but rather live off the government dole. I believe in helping the down trodden and physically challenged in whatever way is possible that makes sense but I am against wealth redistribution to the masses that could care less where it is coming from or what if anything they have to do to earn it, if necessary.

I do not wish to wrap myself in a personal web of self knowledge and worth to the exclusion of those ideas that I need to hear even if I do not like the content or delivery of the words but I understand the importance in hearing the other side. Do I get riled, yes. Do I get challenged, yes but I always come away from it with something to think about and that is a learning process that I need in my life.

I think the word “hate” is over used and misunderstood in the context of politics. While I am sure that there are red necks in all parts of this country that would take a shot at the president, if they could, the masses that disagree are not bent to any type of violence in the settling of differences. Hate empowers bad acts of violence; just look at the local papers to get a fill of it but hate is NOT the fulcrum on which the political seesaw teeters on but rather agreement, disagreement and discernment weighed against the moral make up of the person judging the discussion.

If you like BIG government then you have to love Obama and if you don’t; you don’t have to hate him to disagree with him…you just have to disagree and I say there is nothing wrong with doing that as long as it is in an orderly and respectful manner. The Tea Parties were an example of citizens informing their government of their concerns. I didn’t see or hear of any violence, stores being looted any types of bad behavior during any of these rallies.

Actually, to the historian these were not much different than the colonist protesting King George’s taxes in colonial days but to paint them as “haters” allows the side that likes the current administration an easy way to forego any discussion regarding the motives of the protests.

I think there is middle ground that is no longer an easy place to get to anymore. I think the polarization of our society has gotten us to a place that few can look at the other side and find much agreement but I think we still must try to find that ground and if we do then hold it for all to speak and be heard whatever the issue. But there must be respect for all sides in a discussion and without it we can only expect what we currently have and it a poor substitute. Do I think it is possible, yes, but not probable with the current mindset of the American people. There is a schism that has been forming for years and if allowed to continue it will eventually destroy us. I hope and pray that we do not meet this end.

I'm Excited!!!!

What can I say, I am excited!!!

About what you ask? Well, it just makes me all tingly inside when I read the news everyday and the Demos still are trying to pass the healthcare bill. Go guys; go like lemmings to your certain political deaths. Bye bye Dodd and Reid you better get the boxes ready to pack up your office because the polls back home are not good.

I have lost count on the Demo congressman that just seem to think that retirement is looking good now. And how about the “rogue” democrat in New York that might run against Hillary’s replacement. He is running under the slogan (and I paraphrase here) “If I am elected Reid will not tell me how to vote.” What a creative thought process.

And our President looks like a neutered dog standing on the side of the rode hoping that no one runs over him before someone comes along and rescues him. Notice the gray in his hair lately…think he just might have promised more than he can deliver, ah yeah.

So Demos party on because the tea party affiliates and the independents and yes even a few liberals that I have talked to are ready to “change” course.

“Change”, it’s such an interesting and probably overused word these days but I have to admit it is kind of growing on me.

See ya at the polls in November.