A Concerned Citizen

A Truth about Being Gay

2012-02-11T16:22:00.002-06:00

Disclaimer: This blog, while not vulgar, is not appropriate for children.

After the 120-comment discussion on my FB wall, I came to the realization that I cannot write my opinion on this from a religious perspective without reducing the Bible to specious rhetoric. Therefore, I will stick to the more personal aspect.

A few years ago, I learned that two of my male friends (who do not know each other) were gay. When I asked them to tell me their stories, I did not know it was improper to do so, as the “coming out story” is a heavily veiled area of any gay person’s psyche. Knowing I was on a quest for Truth, they both trusted me enough to pull back the curtain. To get an unbiased answer, I did not tell them my ultimate question: Are you born that way, or is it a choice?

My informal questionnaire went something like this:

· When did you first think something was different about you?

· When did you know?

· Tell me about your first homosexual experience or relationship.

The first friend told me he had known something was different since junior high. He was attracted to girls, too, which made things all the more confusing. You couldn’t like guys if you liked girls, right? In high school, he was often accused of being gay, but he wasn’t. I knew he wasn’t because I dated him. Shows what I knew.

Sometime in college, a man (we’ll call the Date) asked my friend out, and it threw him for a loop. He confided to a straight friend who offered, “What do you not like about him?” Taking gender out of the equation, the Date was exactly what you would look for in a mate. He was funny and confident, didn’t drink too much, provided interesting conversation. For the first time, my friend allowed himself to wonder, “Why wouldn’t I go out with him?” The Date turned out to be a great kisser.

Five years ago, knowing my feelings about homosexuality and fearful that he would lose my respect or friendship, my friend had been terrified to tell me his secret. I’m thankful he took the risk. Both of us crying and physically shaking with emotion, with two words, “I’m gay,” he changed my entire worldview.

My second gay friend never told me about his first experience, but it was probably much the same story as how you met someone you dated once. He told me instead about how the boys on the playground laughed at him when he asked whether it was ok to kiss a boy when you had a girlfriend.

He was five when that happened. Five. His parents are straight, and he had probably never even heard the word ‘gay’ at that age thirty years ago. My friend just knew that both girls and boys were cute. I know he thought girls were cute because I dated him, too.

A person who has apparently never had a homosexual thought once told me, “Everyone has thoughts they aren’t supposed to. If you don’t entertain them and feed them, they don’t grow.” Such a primal desire cannot be wished away or shut off just because you do not like it, any more than you can wish away or shut off your metabolism.

No person in their right mind would choose to be gay in today’s society, and certainly not a five year old child in the early 80s. Both my friends chose to live a straight lifestyle for years after recognizing their attraction to the same sex, but rather than “choice,” they would probably call it “survival in a Texas hick-town.”

My friends are brave men who were found the strength to stand in front of society and show their faces without the masks. Over and over, they are emotionally attacked by their families, rejected by church-goers, betrayed by friends, and scorned by strangers in the grocery store, yet the masks stay off.

I love both of these gentlemen because of who they are, and I could not care less who they sleep with. I want them to be satisfied in their relationships, I want them treated well, and I want to know they are loved – all the same things I want for you.

To those who disagree with what I have said here, I say this: Before you condemn a life you have never lived, try looking into the eyes of someone who has, for they are the window to the soul. That is where you find the Truth.

For the Artists

2012-02-04T14:12:00.000-06:00

The Hubs is not a musician by any means, and he’ll be the first to tell you that, but he has something greater than talent for music. He has appreciation for it.

There exists many a grownup student of childhood piano lessons who learned they are talented enough to play at weddings and church specials and performance recitals, but it’s not art to them. It’s more like typing a flawless 80 words a minute - Yeah, a lot of people can do it, and some are much faster, but it’s really just something a person is good at. It doesn’t speak to anyone.

The Hubs has taught me a couple of chords over the years, usually the same two over and over because I forget them between lessons. I do know how to hold the guitar and move the capo, but I still can’t operate the tuner and my fingers hurt in less than a minute. He admits ‘guitar instructor’ was not his calling.

One does not have to be a teacher to teach. Even without the grace of Chet Atkins, the power of Eddie Van Halen, or the innate skill of either, the Hubs has taught me more about music than Ken and Geannie Griffin could have ever hoped to, and I didn’t think that was possible. (My school music teachers from third grade to high school, for those who don’t go back with me that far.)

Somewhere, I was taught that even words that moved the soul were not to be shouted. Therefore, music like Led Zeppelin that was designed to be played just shy of loud enough to bust your speakers was somehow wrong. Today I see that beneath his foul reputation, Jimmy Page is a damn good guitarist.

The lesson also came, I think through the misnomer called Language Arts Class, that art must speak to me; even that lesson was veiled in the obligation to fill in bubbles with a #2 pencil. If I did not understand that in “Sonnet 45,” Shakespeare is torn by what he wants and what he knows is right and it’s killing him, I had somehow failed. If Mona Lisa was just another (not very) pretty woman on canvas, I was not smart enough to comprehend da Vinci’s majesty.

What I did not learn is that when an artist creates, he shows you his soul, gives you a piece of himself.

If anyone has ever written a poem for you, sung you a song, drawn you a picture, played a role opposite you, danced with you, built you something, or taught you anything with purpose, be grateful, for they have invited you into their universe.

I still don’t particularly care for the sounds of Metallica, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or much of anything by Willie Nelson; and I will probably never understand Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, or Marilyn Manson. But I no longer judge them. All art speaks, but not all of it speaks to me.

To both those who create art and those who perceive it, thank you, for without an audience, we are nothing.

Trevor Cole Band

2012-01-29T14:56:00.002-06:00

Watching a live band in a bar is always a crapshoot, and last night at The Barn in Mission Valley, I won big! I have never written so much as a paragraph about a piece of music or the people who produce it, but the Trevor Cole Band in south Texas has me singing a different tune.

Trevor Cole was the classic lead. Sporting the newly iconic embroidered black western shirt, air conditioned jeans, and tennis shoes, his easy style matched his comfortable stage presence. He made the right jokes, picked on the right audience members, and handled the drunken attention hogs with grace.

The only other member whose name I caught was Garrett Johnston, a masculine version of Kenny Chesney with a deeper voice. Owning the base and harmony vocals, Garrett was the only straw hat in the bunch, which seems strange since most of their set was Texas Country.

Two other guitars seemed to be a bit much on a couple of songs, but all was forgiven when they rocked the house with Sweet Home Alabama with a little Kid Rock smoking funny cigarettes All Summer Long in the middle.

I believe that if you’re going to do the classics, you have to do them well, and they DID! Pat Green, Merle Haggard, The Highwaymen, and the Man in Black himself. Even Taylor Swift’s Mean, played for the groupies in the middle of the room while the rest of us rolled our eyes was entertaining. They should keep that one and step it up with the All-American Rejects’ version, blended with Gives you Hell; they could pull it off in their sleep.

The group played a few originals, and had I not known every other song they played, I would have assumed the originals were already making someone else millions on the radio, and I just hadn’t heard them yet.

In the middle of their second break, the Hubs requested Stevie Ray Vaughn, telling Garrett, “You have the guitar for it.” He thought half a second and said, “Be right back.” Fifteen minutes later, they “changed things up a bit” and put the drummer on an electric and the long-haired harmony on drums.

Wow. That’s all I can say – Wow. I cannot recollect anywhere in my cranial cobwebs when I have seen a guitar played like that! If there had been any question about whether the Trevor Cole Band commanded the energy of the place, it was answered with the opening riff of Pride and Joy.

Strong voices, high energy, and the kind of personal and musical harmony that come together only occasionally in smoky barrooms made our trip to the sticks worth every mile. Their first CD is currently in production, and I’ll definitely be buying one from the “merch booth” next time I see them. I’m already sporting a t-shirt.

People who know me know I don’t know music, but I sure know excellence when I hear it, and the Trevor Cole Band IS excellence.

Joe Pa

2012-01-24T19:08:00.000-06:00

You probably think I judge too harshly when I say Joe Paterno’s death could not have come any sooner, but that’s what I believe. People say he was a good person who made a mistake. What, being a good football coach automatically makes you a good person? Fine. But doesn’t that particular mistake tell you something about his character?
So what if he had “never dealt with anything like that before?” Most adults haven’t, but that doesn’t excuse them from taking action. Every adult with knowledge of the abuse of a child has a moral obligation to do almost anything except look the other way. What kind of grown man who works with kids for a living and for a passion yet does not ensure that Sandusky never set foot in a locker room again?!
If one complaint to the administration doesn’t work, you make more. You report it to law enforcement yourself. You confront the attacker. You tell the kid’s parents. You scream until your lungs bleed to anyone who will listen. That’s what you do when you care about children.
When you love winning the game more than you love the children playing it, you do what Paterno did.

Open Letter to Victoria ISD

2012-01-04T12:37:00.000-06:00

From literally Day One, the ridiculousness behind some of the rules at Victoria ISD has been a problem for parents. I have serious concerns about not only what my children are learning there besides academics, but what they’re doing is clearly not working.

With a Texas Education Agency rating of Academically Unacceptable, Victoria West High School’s primary concern should be the four core subjects, but that does not seem to be the case. Instead they spend an inordinate amount of time on things like frayed jeans and what kind of container students bring water in.

Because of our morning schedules, my oldest sits in the cafeteria in the morning for a full forty-five minutes before going to class. She is allowed to bring her breakfast from home, but drinks may not be brought on campus – not even sealed, store-bought water bottles. Therefore, she is forced to purchase something from the school or have nothing at all. When she asked why she had to throw away the coffee from the store across the street that she had just gotten out of my car with, the “security guard” told her, “I don’t know why. You just have to do it.”

On the second day of school, my child and several dozen others were sent home for frayed jeans. By ‘frayed,’ I do not mean a hole the size of your palm with half a cheek showing. I’m talking about a pinto-bean sized FRAY. No hole; no skin showing. These angry parents called the local news, and we haven’t heard that particular argument since then. Mine also haven’t worn frayed jeans.

Another dress code issue was with my younger daughter at Cade Middle School. A school official demanded that she remove her out-of-dress-code hoodies right in the hallway in front of everyone. The fact that she had an appropriate shirt on underneath is irrelevant. NO ONE can tell your child to remove their clothes without your express permission, and you damn sure don’t do it to a 13-year-old girl in the hallway with fifty other students around. If she’s out of code (she wasn’t), fine; have her remove it privately and give her the opportunity to call a parent first. This was not offered at all, although the principal told me it was “policy” to do so.

I’ve been told things can’t be delivered to my kids, they cannot come outside the building after school even though I’m in the parking lot, or come back to my car in the morning before the bell has rung. Kudos to the clerk who pointed out that while she couldn’t technically do such-and-such, no one could stop me from asking to see my child and pulled her out of class for me.

Topics discussed in class are far beyond what is expected for even rigorous classroom conversation. One story students were required to read and discuss for three days prompted me to contact the department head when the teacher claimed no responsibility for content. The story was inappropriate, and the lesson could easily be taught with literally any story – even this one.

I have taught public school, and I do not think I am alone in saying I would refuse to teach something that went against my gut instinct or what I held as Truth, and I certainly wouldn’t demand that anyone else do it, yet it seems the entire school follows whatever the Headmaster says. (The child was excused from subsequent classes, but the damage was done with the first one.)

My biggest complaint is the blind manner in which all these rules are expected to be followed. I understand that when you are dealing with children, you must demand a certain level of compliance without argument. However, I am a well-educated and fairly enlightened adult, so unless I am incarcerated or enlisted, I will never follow an order without a reason – not even from the very unprofessional Assistant Principal flailing her arms and shouting at me in the parking lot today to “Go PARK!”

When a friend had some items stolen from his vehicle at a school event, he stopped to notify the two chatting officers standing by the gate. He was asked how they got in (he wasn’t sure) and, “Do you wanna file a report, or what?” He didn’t, and clearly, it would have been futile on multiple fronts.

This is how our schools treat the adults in our community? Do we not have a right to be concerned about the environment in which our children spend half their waking hours? Do we not have a right to question rules that seem to have no logical foundation at all and fail to contribute to the goals of education?

If we are going to teach our kids to be productive citizens… Oh, wait. I just found the problem.

Victoria ISD does not pledge to raise citizens of any kind. Their mission statement says they will “provide relevant… instruction designed to graduate college and career ready students.” Ohhh, I see. They just want students to go to liberal-minded universities or become worker bees. No independent thinking or betterment of society allowed.

Perhaps, School Boards and Administrators nationwide, if we’d told our children for the last forty years that stupid rules were expensive and unnecessary, and taught our posterity common sense instead, Congress wouldn’t be what it is today, and neither would be the people who elected them.

My Resolutions

2012-01-02T16:12:00.002-06:00

This year, I’m going to:

1. Become a writer.

2. Define what that means.

3. Be nicer to stupid people.

4. Give my kids more positive attention.

5. Play more board games.

6. Look at a screen less.

7. Spend the time I do spend on screens more productively.

8. Decorate my bathroom.

9. Buy a dining table.

10. Use it.

11. For eating.

12. Healthy meals.

13. As a family.

14. Otherwise, there should be placemats on it.

15. Make those kitchen curtains I’ve been planning in my head.

16. And hang them up with all the others I need.

17. Wear earrings twice a week.

18. Maintain my vehicle.

19. Keep it clean on the inside.

20. And repair the damn trim on the outside.

21. Wait for questions before I give answers.

22. Listen better.

23. Smile when telemarketers call. They have a job to do, too.

24. Buy things I want.

25. Stop feeling guilty for wanting things.

26. Build up in-person relationships.

27. Eliminate unhealthy attachments.

28. Honor the relationships that matter; forget the ones that don’t.

29. Remember my voice, and learn its new tone.

30. Continue seeking retribution.

31. Learn not to pet an animal then rub my eyes.

32. Get on top of laundry at least once a week.

33. Put pictures in frames and hang them up.

34. Spend time outside.

35. Attend a mass.

36. Increase my vocabulary.

37. Hone my intuition.

38. Polish my writing.

39. Expand my corral.

40. Define what I believe about a higher power.

Handling Holiday Stress

2011-12-22T18:45:00.000-06:00

The following article, written by me, appeared in the December 2011/January 2012 issue of The Northeast Texan, in print an online at http://www.northeasttexan.com/.

The holidays are a time of great stress for anyone, regardless of which holidays they celebrate. Even those who celebrate no holiday at all must suffer the crowds and traffic to perform daily activities like grocery shopping or dropping off laundry at the cleaners, and of course that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Most of us do some degree of cooking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, mailing, emailing, dressing up, traveling, hugging, and kissing under the mistletoe. Ok, that last one might not be a cause of stress, but you have to work some affection in there sometime.

What most people do not understand is what actually causes stress. We tend to think it’s too many obligations, too many deadlines, too many places to be at once. Most sources provide a variation of this definition of stress: tension or pressure exerted on an object. I supposed when I’m stressed I feel like an object…

Medical definitions are more along the lines of “an organism’s total response to environmental demands or pressures.” An organism’s response may be anything from rapid heartbeat and sweating, to heart attack, to old fashioned grouchiness. During the holiday season, environmental stimuli include not only tangible obstacles like your dwindling bank account, but emotional factors like how Christmas just won’t be the same this year without your mother here.

The trick to dealing with all kinds of stresses is two-fold.

First, keep things in perspective. If the turkey is ready half an hour late or the cranberry sauce you made from scratch doesn’t gel, nothing terrible happens! Maybe Aunt June’s only conversation topic is her latest ailment, but that’s ok. We all know it, and we all know to nod sympathetically for a bit, then ignore her. No big deal.

You have heard, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Take reasonable precautions against reasonable concerns, and put all the “small stuff” out of your mind. You don’t have room for the clutter right now. And avoid the “What ifs,” which are a perfectly useless waste of time. Use that energy on planning well instead.

The second is to understand that you have more control over your stress level than you realize. Remember that stress is an organism’s reaction to pressures, not the pressures themselves. Who says you’re required to respond to external stimuli? You’ve ignored a kid whining in the grocery store before, right? Avoided grimacing at someone with foul breath? You have more control than you think. But how do you use it?

Above all else, when things get testy, keep your head. The moment of crisis when things are going wrong is not the time for finger pointing, crying, anger, or anything else. It doesn’t matter who dropped the gravy boat right now – the question is what to do about it?

Take appropriate action! “Susan and Marsha, clean this up. Amy, get towels; Bobby get another trash bag. Donna, come help me cut veggies and find that other can of broth.” Then everyone move in a calm, directed fashion! When things are feeling back on track, then find out where they got off and handle it.

Was the bowl too hot? Use a pot holder this time. Were your hands wet? Get out another roll of paper towels. Was the cat underfoot? Put him in a bedroom. …Reasonable precautions against reasonable concerns.

Assess the situation without the emotional backdrop of wondering what anyone else will think. Other people’s judgments should not concern you, especially if they have the luxury of being anywhere besides the kitchen or many more years’ experience.

Try to avoid making judgments, yourself. The turkey not being done on time isn’t a ‘bad’ thing; it’s just a thing that didn’t go as planned, and you should deal with it on that level. There is no need to involve emotion.

Think about this. If I called you crying at 11:59am in a panic on Christmas Day, crying about solvable problems, what would you tell me? You wouldn’t say, “My goodness! I don’t know. Just sit down and cry about it, I guess. Have you yelled at anyone for it?”

Of course not. You would give me practical advice like turning up the oven and applying foil, sending someone to the MiniMart for plastic forks, and putting the rolls on the freezer to rise. Why would you give yourself anything different?

Finally, I am a firm believer in Mark Twain’s statement that “Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” Christmas and the holidays should be a time of giving and laugher, and what better time to laugh than when you don’t feel like laughing?

Merry Christmas, America! May you be filled with joy this holiday season.

My Christmas Present

2011-12-14T12:45:00.000-06:00

I don’t know what you’re getting for Christmas, but it’s not as good as what I got.

On Monday I got a phone call from an old friend from high school. We’ve talked occasionally on Facebook, but we were never what you’d call close. She’s on her twentieth year in the Air Force with two teenage sons, and I have great respect for her. She was sending me something and wanted me to understand what I was receiving.

“This time last year, at Christmas, I was in Afghanistan.” It sounds so corny, but the tiny crack in her voice brought a tear to my eye, and I didn’t even know where she was going. Putting it back together, she continued that I had posted something on FB that she saw from the desert.

I remembered.

My status had read, “It’s time for a new flag. Mine is tattered and worn… But that’s ok. My country knows how she feels.” She had emailed me that day to ask if I would like a flag flown on a Drone, as if she didn’t know the answer. Tea Party leader? Political loudmouth? Marine wife? I would be honored. We haven’t really spoken of it since then.

“I had the opportunity to tour the Predators,” she continued on the phone. These are the unmanned vehicles that “fly around looking for bad guys and bad stuff going on over there.” She had the opportunity to meet the people who operate them and see inside. Each Predator flies with a US flag in a deep inner compartment, and she had asked for one.

When the kids and I finally freed it from a mile of fat bubble wrap, the beautiful triangle wooden box was the most beautiful gift I’d ever seen. Four inches deep and with black velvet on the bottom, it holds the symbol of our country that Francis Scott Key beheld when he penned our National Anthem. The glass cover protects her from harm of the world, keeping her pristine.

For the first time in my life, I understood why men refer to certain things as women: their trucks, their guns, their boats. They see a woman as not only perfect, but feminine and delicate, something desired from within, something you want to make yours, a part of you. Something to be revered and protected and held close.

In truth, I held in my hands nothing more than a piece of dyed fabric, a chunk of wood, and some glass, but I held her with the utmost reverence, knowing what my having her meant. People die every day doing what they do over there, and although my flag flew on an unmanned mission, so many flags come down in flames and covered with blood.

My friend chose to honor me with this incredible gift because she said I made a difference. I encouraged her while she was there, and she appreciated the work I do here for our country.

Tammy Valentine Lafferty, you will never know how much this means to me. You said you do what you do for ME…. It is for YOU that I do what I do. No amount of stickers on my car, flags in my yard, or statuses on my Facebook page are going to say Thank You enough.

The certificate reads:

To all who read this:

Let it be known that this flag of The United States of America was flown on a combat mission over the skies of Iraq on the 25th Day of December, 2010 aboard an M2-1 Predator Aircraft #162 in support of

OPERATION NEW DAWN

In finding and destroying all those who threaten our very way of life

With great appreciation for your support we present this representation of all that is free to

Brent and Stephanie Nalls

“The best way to honor those that died and were injured on September 11, is to go where our nation sends us in the War Against Terrorism, and bring to justice those responsible for the attacks.”

The American people can be assured the members of the

46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron

are committed to doing just that.

Signed by:
Joseph Ruotolo, 1Lt, USAF
46the ERS Det 1, Pilot

Justin Heal, A1C, USAF
46the ERS Det 1, Sensor Operator

Atheist in a Christian Nation

2011-12-11T11:58:00.001-06:00

Every time I write the words I am about to write, they become a little more viscous. For friends and family who grew up with me, these words are often difficult to hear. I have yet to say them so openly and in this forum.

--
By the Christian definition, I am an Atheist. Simply put and to clarify, I do not believe in the God of the Bible or the Apostle's Creed.

A friend recently noticed me “not sounding like myself” in a political exchange, with me having said, “Hell, I would’ve killed him for it, too.” I was referring to JFK and the entire wealth of the Federal Reserve, and she knew it was in jest, but it wasn’t “me.”

You probably didn't expect either of those things from this former Tea Party leader, either, but it's true. I wasn’t pretending to be a Christian as TP leader; I really was a Christian then – albeit a doubting one. Toward the end, leading the group in prayer was very difficult for me. Today, I will not lead prayer but I'll participate, both out of respect for those around me.

I received an unrelated email from that same friend today, reminding us, her mailing list, that America is a Christian nation. Whether we are worthy of that title today is obviously up for discussion, but whether we were designed as such is NOT.

I LIKED that email. I don't much believe in whining, either, but I know it's real. Our founding history does not change just because my opinion of THEIR opinion does. One thing I've learned in my skim-study of religions in the past year is that the Truths (capital T) are all the same. Rule of Law and everything that goes with it is a Universal Truth, whether it comes from the Holy Bible, the teachings of the Buddha, or the ramblings of a genius.

Speaking of Ben Franklin, this was the first time I'd seen his list of Fundamentals for a Sound Religion since leaving the Christian faith, where it obviously fit like a lock to a key. (They are listed at the bottom.) Except for the word "worship," I agree with every word, and to be honest, I’ll probably even come around to that at some point.

Even apart from Christianity, I believe in everything Franklin believed in; I just call it different things.

--
All that was background for telling you this:

These people going after Athens and Henderson County are just STUPID. Being an atheist doesn't make me any more intolerant than being pro-military makes me blood-thirsty. As it always was, Freedom is my hot button, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation is definitely out of bounds here.

I know the Supreme Court ruled in Allegheny v. ACLU of Pittsburgh (1989) that a nativity scene cannot be the primary holiday display on government property, but without researching I ask, Should the case have gotten that far?

Part of the Rule of Law indicates that people be governed at the lowest possible level – City issues at the City level, County at the County level, and so on. Based on media coverage and my personal email volume alone, one can easily determine the ‘feel’ of area on this matter. Overwhelmingly, the people of Athens, who see the setup every day, strongly support its display.

People keep saying it’s a shame that Christians can’t have freedom of expression on the Courthouse lawn, but the real shame is that it’s an issue at all.

In my walk away from Christianity, I’ve met few people who really care. Most of them hurt for me, fearing my eternal fate and wondering where I get my morals now, but few are bothered by my beliefs. I don’t care whether I’m wished a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Merry Yule. And when a Christian identifies himself to me as one, I say, “Cool.” The end.

So why are we talking about this nativity scene?

This FFRF group is merely another example of bad apples and extremists; they just happen to have a name. I have no idea why they’ve chosen a small redneck town like Athens, Texas to be their target-of-the-moment, and we should all find it just plain funny that it has backfired with a full-on rally of Christian support (Saturday at noon at the Courthouse, if you’re interested).

But don’t tell me they didn’t know that was going to happen. It just keeps coming to my mind over and over that this is the tail wagging the dog. I don't have it figured out, but people are looking at Athens as a distraction.

--
Ben Franklin described the five fundamentals of all “sound” religion:

1. Belief in one God, the creator of the universe, and mankind should recognize and worship Him.

2. The Creator has revealed a moral code which distinguishes right from wrong.

3. The Creator holds mankind responsible for the way mankind treats one another.

4. There is an afterlife for all mankind.

5. In the next life, mankind will be judged for his conduct in this life.

I don’t care for the word ‘judge,’ either, but I can live with it.

Zak and Vivi

2011-11-08T08:27:00.000-06:00

I make a habit of regularly spot checking my kids’ phones. Most of what I find there is very benign – some foul language or a joke I would rather them not have laughed at – but sometimes, I wonder what things might have happened if I didn’t check.

The text conversation between my 13-year-old daughter he knew as Vivi and the 17-year-old boy she knew as Zak seemed silly but harmless. She is a bit immature and spends a lot of time in a fantasy world, making up stories with friends and just being creative. This boy played his fiddle right to her beat, and my daughter could have easily become a statistic.

She didn’t know him personally, and he has a Maryland phone number. These two factors alone are cause for alarm, but distant area codes aren’t so uncommon around here; even Vivi’s is from seven hours away. I wrote this one off.

Flipping through the texts, I caught on quickly to the game that she was his Auntie; Vivi calls Jessica her sister, so she was probably who he referred to as Mommy. Zak was a two-year-old.

A two-year-old.

Serious Alarm #1: What normal, self-respecting 17-year-old acts like a 2-year-old?

Most of the conversation was just plain silly – him wanting to go for a ride in the car or go see Mommy. Vivi told him at one point, “We can talk later, but can you act your real age?” Even SHE was getting bored with the act. So he stepped up the game.

In the story, he was tugging on her clothes, wanting to be picked up, so she picked him up. He says something about being glad she’s holding him and grabbing her “boobie.” Generally speaking, teenage boys don’t say boobies; they say “tits” or “boobs.” This and a couple of other oddities, like correctly spelled words and the use of punctuation were keys to his real age. Serious Alarm #2: Language that does not match the age the person claims to be.

I found all this quite by accident and immediately took possession of the phone. He texted her a couple of times before I finally responded AS VIVI, using texting shorthand and teen lingo, to see where he would steer the conversation. I asked his real age, which he said was 17, but when I asked whether he was in Maryland, he said, “Vivi, I confused.” I never got a straight answer.

Several hours later, after talking to Jessica’s mother to make sure he wasn’t a mentally disabled cousin or something truly harmless, I texted him again from her phone: This is Vivi’s real mother. Other than a reply that you received this text, DO NOT contact her or her friend you call Mommy again.

He asked if this was a joke, to which I simply replied, “No.” The jerk then had the nerve to sit there telling me he was sorry if he did anything wrong and could he “please” keep talking to them! These texts went on every thirty minutes or so without me answering them for several hours.

I finally told him very colorfully that he had no business contacting anyone younger than high school and that I thought he was much older than 17. I demanded that contact stop immediately or he would be reported to the authorities. He wrote back to say he WAS 17, born May 1994. Well, good for him. He can subtract 17 from 2,011. The texts stopped.

…Until he wished her good morning on the phone he KNEW I had. At this point, I took action, rallying several of my trusted friends to simply scare the crap out of him by bombarding him with texts demanding he stick to women his own age for an hour one day. This was my last-ditch effort to get his attention before contacting law enforcement.

Let me be clear that in the entire conversation of probably a hundred texts back and forth, the “boobie” comment in two different places was the only remark that could have been considered sexual, and even it wasn’t overtly so. In today’s world, it’s barely considered inappropriate!

He never sent or asked for nude pictures, discussed meeting or even talking on the phone with her. There was nothing to report; it was an empty threat, and he probably knew it. I assure you, predators know the rules better than you do.

I’d like to tell you we made an impression and the texting stopped, but I don’t know. As fate would have it, for the first time in my entire life, I lost a cell phone. HERS. She’ll be getting another very soon, and it will have a different phone number. Jessica and her mother tell me he is no longer contacting Jessica, and I hope both girls have learned from this almost-experience.

I told my daughter not to feel stupid about being duped. She’s 13 and should not know the subtle ways a man works to get a female. She should still be innocent and trusting; she’s too young and thankfully still too naïve to protect herself from people like him. That’s MY job.

Texas Power Struggle

2011-10-17T08:35:00.000-05:00

The following article was published in the October issue of the Northeast Texan.

The problem with the EPA is that like most other federal alphabet soup organizations, they don’t have any common sense. They make up rules to apply on a whim without much forethought to the unintended consequences. In light off all the news with this particular arm of the government right here in east Texas, I did a little research.

Ten minutes into my research on the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent attack on Texas, I realized they do not intend for anyone with less than a PhD in Chemical Engineering to understand anything about it, so before we do that, let’s answer some questions.

What is the EPA?
Created by Executive Order in 1970 by President Nixon, the Environmental Protection Agency combined parts of at least 14 other agencies. The EPA employs more than 17,000 people in 37 locations around the country; another thousand employees are apparently unaccounted for. Texas and its five neighboring states are part make up Region 6.

The EPA is currently overseen by Director Lisa Jackson, an actual chemical engineer who worked for the EPA and its New Jersey counterpart for 22 years, mostly in Compliance and Enforcement. A stickler for rules, she was appointed by President-elect Obama in December 2008. Ms. Jackson says the control of toxic substances is “close to her heart.”

What does the EPA do?
Many manufacturers would tell you they harass businesses, reduce profit margins, and raise costs for the consumers. While that may be true, their assigned functions are to conduct environmental assessment, research, and educate. The EPA also maintains and enforces national environmental standards in consultation with State and other local governments.

It also delegates the majority of the permitting, monitoring, and enforcement responsibilities to States and other Departments. When groups or companies are not in compliance, the EPA may impose fines, sanctions, and other measures, including shutting down the business.

The agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of “voluntary” pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts.

Why are they necessary?
According to the EPA, the Agency was established to “consolidate in one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection.”

Some of the more notable changes you can thank the EPA for include various inspection requirements on your car, elimination of mercury thermometers, and banning of the very pesticides that will stop the bed bug outbreak.

How do they do their job?
Until now, I have always been confused about why several organizations join together to form one new agency – Don’t those other agencies already have responsibilities of their own? Now I understand.

Little environmental enforcement is carried out at the federal level; instead, States oversee their own compliance with federal regulations under the direction and guidance of the EPA. One overseeing department at the State level delegates responsibilities to other State agencies, according to their areas.

For example, Texas Dept. of Motor Vehicles would have no reason, means, or authority to regulate auto emissions without standards set by the EPA. They tell the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, “Here are the standards. Here is what must be done to meet them. Make that happen.”

TCEQ juggles some numbers then relays specific requirements to the DMV, who not only causes you and me a lot of headache with crap like clicking gas caps and variable gasoline formulas, but manages to charge us a fee for it, too.

What else is wrong?
Many argue that the EPA’s existence is unconstitutional on its face. Having been created by Executive Order, it is technically allowed under the Constitution, but it falls outside the system of checks and balances. They are subject to federal court decisions but answer only to the President, and we know what that’s worth. The founding fathers never intended for ANY organization, agency, commission, or otherwise titled group or person to have so much unchecked power.

Quotes from experts claiming the EPA’s research and conclusions are faulty, wrong, and misleading are plentiful; however, supportive statistical data is at best indecipherable and at worst, virtually unavailable. I have yet to be convinced that the amount of Texas pollution that reaches Florida is scientifically measurable anyway.

The Agency is also “prohibited” from considering cost as a factor when examining air pollution issues. This worthless “check” is intended to protect the integrity of the scientific research by eliminating corporate leverage in environmental lawmaking.

How does this affect me?
We have felt the effect of the EPA most recently in east Texas when Luminant announced in June they would be eliminating an estimated 500 jobs within the next couple of years, having buckled under the weight of 2012 EPA demands.

Luminant is the largest power provider in the state and operates throughout east Texas as a coal producer with at least three mines in the region that will be forced to close. In the last six months, the Agency has made numerous decisions drastically affecting Texas big business, including adding us to the Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule in May and the Cross-State Pollution Rule in June, even though we had not been involved in the drafting process (again, as required). Top EPA officials argue that Texas was given ample opportunity to comment.

Multiple Texas companies have filed suits against the EPA, arguing in addition to lack of opportunity to provide input, the Agency’s decision was based on faulty information, no peer review was performed, and the Rules put undue burdens on energy companies in Texas. Luminant’s CEO David Campbell brought these to light in his address to the Texas House Affairs Committee.

The last week of September proved no less eventful with the US House passing a bill to delay or even abolish the requirements set by the CSAPR, silently acknowledging EPA Dir. Jackson’s outright refusal to follow protocol.

Top Senate Democrats and the White House have vowed not to allow the passage of this bill, saying such drastic measures to protect the public and individual health are needed immediately. This seems to contrast EPA officials’ rebuttal to Luminant that the largest polluters have until March 2013 to make changes rather than January 2012.

For now, stopping the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule it is a waiting game, but don’t hold your breath.

My TV Family

2011-10-06T00:25:00.000-05:00

I think of my family as a mixture of Home Improvement, The Cosby Show, and that show with Helen Hunt and Paul Riser that only lasted a couple of years.

I had to look it up, the but show with Paul and Helen was Mad About You. They were a married couple living in New York or somewhere; I don’t remember much else about the premise of the show, but their banter was hilarious. They constantly poked fun at each other and were incredibly witty. Of course their scripts were prewritten; ours are off the cuff.

We feel like the Huxtables occasionally. They had more kids than we do, and we definitely don’t make doctor and lawyer money, but it sure seems like five kids and way too many schedules sometimes. The Cosby Show dealt with real problems the way our family seems to in real life: With good humor and a light heart. Around here, we know you have to laugh at yourself because face it. Other people are going to.

Until a few minutes ago, I had decided our family was most like the Taylors on Home Improvement. The Hubs is pretty handy and can work a little Southern Engineering on practically anything. He knows all about cars and tools, and his mistakes have been pretty public. I stay in a constant state of learning, always practicing my new knowledge on my built-in captive test subjects. The kids are a talented, good-looking, funny bunch, too.

Then my ideal little image of the Nalls family changed when someone said, “I don’t know your family, but I picture you guys as the family on Roseanne.”

Oh, my word! No truer words have been spoken! At first it was just funny, but then I really started thinking about it, and oh, my gosh!! We’re both overweight, although not grossly so, and we have two girls and a boy. I just quoted Roseanne’s character this week when I told my unplanned children they weren’t mistakes; they were surprises. A mistake is something you wouldn’t do again.

The Pretty Child (oldest) is a walking attitude with opinions that make the Hubs and me cock our head sideways like confused dogs. She is quite passionate in her beliefs and occasionally says things like, “It’s ok because I’m pretty.” That’s the original Becky; not the one from Scrubs.

Saluki (middle child, daughter – look it up) sees the world differently with the rest of us, with more color, I think. She’s into the semi-gothic thing but loves being our little country girl. She asks practical questions we have no answers for, like, “If weed grows naturally, and alcohol is so much worse for you, why isn’t it legal?” Can’t you just hear Darlene saying that?

Then there’s the Kid. He is the stereotypical annoying little brother - cute as a bug and all the girls love him. He’s a video game nut, but he’s a sports nut, too. He’s even got DJ’s freckles and mopes when he’s bored.

We don’t have a crazy sister like Jackie, but we do have some crazy relatives a little further removed. We’re content to watch TV all evening or piddle in the garage like Dan. Even as a stay-at-home mom, I don’t cook as often as Roseanne probably did, but I think I’m better at it. We also spent years living paycheck-to-paycheck, and we didn’t win the lottery in the end, but we’re ok now.

Like the Connors, none of us take any crap from anyone. The Hubs and I will defend our kids to the death if they’re in the right, and we all speak our minds, especially in our own home where there is no judgment. We believe in carrying guns, driving trucks, and kicking some butt when it’s called for, even if only with a sharp tongue.

We really are a lot like the TV family from Roseanne, and that’s ok with me. You looked at that family and thought they were a bunch of misfits, but they were perfect for each other. Roseanne ran things until Dan had to step in, and when he did, that was it. The kids were dealt with honestly, and they were punished for getting out of line. They were compassionate people, getting involved when no one else would.

I guess Roseanne isn’t such a bad comparison. At least we’re not the Housewives from somewhere.

Gilligan's Island - American Remake

2011-10-03T09:21:00.000-05:00

Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of freedom’s stint
That started from across the pond
With Columbus sailing ships.
He was a paid Italian man
His people were brave and sure
The emigrants set sail that day,
To discover a new world.
To discover a new world.

They got here and things were tough
Many lives were lost
If not for the courage of the fearless few
America would be lost!
America would be lost!

But their hearts were true and their motives pure
When Revolution came
For religion, and freedom, too!
They gave their all,
Even their lives
They were proud,
And they stood their ground against the Crown
That’s why we’re here today!

(Ending verse)

But this old story of our days
Written in this rhyme
May only be our history
If we don’t toe the line.

Obama and Joe Biden, too
Have done their very best
To make our country mis’rable
From their eagle’s nest.

No hope, no change, no promises
Not a single promise kept
They elected Socialists
And they did it while we slept

So join us in the fight my friends
Defend this land we love
Stand up against tyranny
And save America!

GILLIGAN'S ACTUAL THEME SONG
Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
The Skipper brave and sure,
Five passengers set sail that day,
For a three hour tour
A three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Minnow would be lost.
The Minnow would be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore
Of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan, The Skipper too.
The millionaire
And his wife,
The movie star,
The professor and Mary Ann,
Here on Gilligan's Isle.

(Ending verse)

So this is the tale of our castaways,
They're here for a long long time.
They'll have to make the best of things,
It's an uphill climb.

The first mate and his Skipper too
Will do their very best,
To make the others comf'terble
In their tropic island nest.

No phone, no lights, no motor car,
Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Crusoe
It's primitive as can be.

So join us here each week my friends,
You're sure to get a smile,
From seven stranded castaways
Here on Gilligan's Isle

Compliments to TSA

2011-09-14T09:21:00.000-05:00

The following open letter is in response to this article, headlined today on AOL.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/13/shoshana-hebshi-passenger_n_961369.html?ncid=webmail8`

Dear Mrs. Hebshi,

As someone who has been falsely accused, I sympathize with your plight. I do not fly because I approve of neither the technique nor the method currently employed by the federal government and its TSA branch to keep our airlines secure.

From where I sit, TSA seems to use workers who follow orders with little allowance for common sense. They pat down diapers of the elderly and infants, not to mention the children old enough to be frightened and adults who feel downright violated by a “security” procedure. This is all done at random – probably the least effective way to search for something.

Ideally, we would take a closer look at people who have similar characteristics to those who have done harm to us in the past. I’m sorry if it offends you, Mrs. Hebshi, but the fact is that nearly all terrorism in this country is contributed to people who LOOK much like yourself. Add that to the fact that two men beside you, who also LOOK much like yourself, were behaving suspiciously on the plane, where our greatest acts of terrorism have occurred, and you have reached a pretty good definition of probable cause.

I feel violated when I go to the gynecologist, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong to touch me. You WERE treated with as much dignity and respect as possible in the situation, and the government (for once) seems to have done everything correctly, going so far as to apologize for your inconvenience. They responded appropriately to a legitimate concern.

Mrs. Hebshi, I am sorry you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and feel violated. But what warrants this is that in September 2001, three thousand other Americans were in the wrong place at the wrong time, too. I’m sure they are much less concerned with your civil rights than I am.

Thank you for your graciousness in this, and I truly hope you never have to go through it again, but I cannot apologize when the people who are supposed to protect me actually DO IT.

What a Difference a Decade Makes

2011-09-12T11:04:00.002-05:00

I guess I’ve become a little jaded in ten years. I watched hours of 9/11 coverage yesterday and didn’t shed a tear. My thoughts today are a million miles from what they were as I watched live in 2001 as the second tower was hit and the buildings fell. Not only was the landscape of New York changed forever, but so was I.

I was changed again a year or so ago when I heard for the first time that what they told us might not really be what happened. I don’t plan to get into the whole discussion today, but know that I don’t believe a bunch of crazy Muslims found each other and worked together alone. You would have to have way too much inside help.

Rest assured that whatever you believe about how 9/11 occurred, you are wrong. You will never know the true story because whoEVER orchestrated the event did not intend for you to. But I digress.

Yesterday, on that horrible anniversary, we heard of a “specific and credible” threat to NYC and Washington, DC. It seems to me that a “specific and credible” threat would not result in searching vehicles on the street and rummaging through women’s purses as they walked into buildings. I’m calling BS on that.

In watching the memorial coverage, I saw Donald Rumsfeld explain why he chose not to close the Pentagon after it was hit that day. “The purpose of terrorism is not to kill people. It’s to alter behavior. It’s to terrorize people sufficiently that they do things the terrorists want them to do.” Add this to Ben Franklin’s comment that those who would trade freedom for safety deserve neither, and I think we have an epidemic.

9/11 was a horrific event, and the tragic loss of life is beyond words, but keep it in perspective. Don’t let the emotion of the 9/12 movement overshadow what has happened since then. Our government has caused us to live in fear instead of the courage and solidarity that formed this nation. We are manipulated by colors and news reports meant to dictate our level of panic, and it works. Piece by piece, we are allowing the constitution to be dismantled right before our eyes, and we’re just letting it happen.

Exactly how much are we supposed to take before we take up arms?

Cyber Parenting

2011-09-04T22:08:00.000-05:00

The following article appeared in the September 2011 issue of Northeast Texan.

If you have ever seen teenagers rally around each other when a tragedy occurs, you know the bond that exists between them can be more powerful than words. When a player goes down on a high school football field, other players and cheerleaders take a knee, the band stops, the crowd quiets. Here in the Bible belt, you see young heads drop simultaneously in prayer and hands grasp the ones beside them in solidarity.

A group of today’s adolescents are almost like a bee hive. Everyone plays a role, and they do it well. There is usually some kind of leader, and they all hang out together, eat together, share many of the same activities, and spend time together outside of school.

I don’t have to tell you that today’s teenagers are little electronic gurus. Hand them something with batteries and buttons, and they’ll have it connected to the internet before you and I can even get the package open! They know iStuff, Smart Stuff, e-Stuff, Social Stuff…. Ahh, the Social Stuff. This is where problems begin.

We have all heard the Public Service Announcements encouraging us to warn our kids to be safe online, and many of these are directed toward teens themselves. Our kids know not to give out personal information, hang out in chat rooms, or send nude pictures. They know to come to you if they encounter anything online that makes them uncomfortable.

But that bond I mentioned… It can be used for evil as well. The newest form of attack seems to by Cyber Bullying. This is loosely defined as the “use of communication technologies to harm others.” The attack may come from one person as in a cell phone or texting conversation, or from an entire group, such as on someone’s wall on Facebook.

As mature, rational adults, most of us think, “They’re just words. How bad can it be?” But in a teen’s world, social life is everything; becoming an outcast is the social equivalent of death. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to real death as kids even commit suicide over “just words” posted on the web for the entire world to see.

No parent wants to think their child is the one being a bully, but be realistic. The bully’s parent probably doesn’t think it’s his kid, either. Sadly, we must not only warn our high school students of being victims, but of being perpetrators.

Being nameless and faceless on the internet enables us to be things we would not normally be in person. Without forethought, teens say horrible things online they would never say to someone’s face, seemingly forgetting there is a crowd of hundreds to hear the conversation!

Get your kids’ passwords and check their social sites. Check their phones and their i-Stuff. Remind your children to be the people you are raising and check up on them, even online.

For more information, check out www.StopCyberBullying.org.

Near Death Experience

2011-08-17T15:49:00.000-05:00

The Hubs and I were preparing to turn in last night, locking doors and putting the house to bed, when I asked where Sheba was. The old blue heeler is normally on the floor at my bedside, but not last night. When I realized she hadn’t asked for a snack all evening, I knew she must be outside.

She didn’t answer our calls, but her hearing isn’t what it used to be. Still, this was the first little twinge of “something’s not right.” Back inside, she wasn’t in the girls’ room or locked in any bathroom or closet; the Kid didn’t have her.

Ok, something was wrong. Sheba is always around. She does not leave the yard, and she’s usually with me. This isn’t right. Quick! When was the last time anyone saw her? Did you give her a snack this evening? Has she been in your room tonight? Did she go on a walk with you earlier?

Oh, no.

She was in the car.

It was the only place left. And she’d been there, what? –Two hours? No. Oh, God, NO!!! A thousand thoughts raced through my mind. Why is she out there? Who didn’t get her out? Where did we go last? When was it? It’s HOT!!!

There wasn’t time to say anything coherent as we scrambled for the front door. The Hubs stayed on the porch as I rushed out to the car in my nightgown. I couldn’t cover ground fast enough, oblivious to rocks and critters that would normally slow me down.

Finally standing at the back driver’s side door, I paused and closed my eyes long enough to take a quick, deep breath, preparing mentally for whatever I was going to find when I lifted that handle.

Pulling the door open with a jerk, I found the last thing I expected to find in the back seat. Nothing. She wasn’t there. But she HAD to be there. Front seat. Leaning in slightly, I could see the blue merle fur in the front passenger seat – her seat. I had to look; no time for another breath. I leaned forward another few inches and finally saw her face.

Those beautiful brown eyes looked up at me so sheepishly, as if to ask, “Did I do something wrong?” I yanked the front door open as she raised her probably aching self off the seat and made her way to me. She jumped out, her whole body dancing with the relief of finally being out of the car.

We loved on her for a good ten minutes, gave her mega-awesome leftovers, and assured her she would not be forgotten again. Now, time to figure out what happened.

Hubs and I had run an errand earlier and taken her with us; I drove. Once home, we both got out of the car. He opens the back door on his side and says, “Come on, Sheba.” Thinking he had her, I went on inside. But he DIDN’T have her. She had come to my side instead of his, so he shut the door and he went to play ball with the Kid, not realizing I was walking the other direction. He should have told me he didn’t have her, and I should have made sure she was out before going inside. We were both to blame.

Fortunately, I make a habit of keeping all four windows a couple inches down at night, so in spite of 90-degree heat, the car was somewhat ventilated. We had also arrived home just before dusk, so most of the time she was locked inside my black car in the shade, it was dark outside. Had this happened at noon, she would not have lasted ten minutes, much less a couple hours.

It would have taken the two of us no more than two seconds to say, “Hey, did you get the Blue Kid?” But it’s so easy to get sidetracked. If you have dogs or little people who ride in the back seat of your vehicle, PLEASE BE CAREFUL. Find a trick that works for you to remind you to get your passengers out before you go inside.

We were very lucky yesterday, but it was a real wake-up call for me. Please share this with anyone you know with small children or animals that ride along.

Form ATF 4473

2011-08-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

Published in Northeast Texan, August 2011.
I became the official registered owner of a firearm a month or so ago, according to the State of Texas and Big Sis. Don’t get me wrong – this isn’t my first gun. It’s just the first one I personally have owned on paper.

You know it annoys me that you are expected to register your weapon at all. The Second Amendment says my right to bear arms shall not be infringed upon. “Them” keeping records and inconveniencing me in order to exercise that right are the very definition of infringement, in my opinion. But that’s another conversation, so let’s talk about the form I had to fill out to get my new home protection system. You can see it here.

When the guy behind the counter saw me write ATF 4473 on my forearm (to remember it), he probably checked #12f very closely to see whether I have ever been declared mentally unstable, which I haven’t... likely because I’ve never been evaluated.

Not having a choice, I began checking boxes down the page. NO, I am not a felon (12c) or waiting to be named one by a jury (12b). YES, I’m a fugitive from justice (12d), which is why I need a gun in the first place. This is related to the fact that I have multiple restraining orders against me (12h) for domestic violence (12i) stemming from my drug use (12e).

In spite of all this, I just gave you my address and every number that could possibly identify me. Seriously!? If you answer yes to any of these questions, you are not intelligent enough to own a gun.

The last three were the worst: Are you here illegally? (k) Have you ever denounced your US citizenship? (j) I doubt people who wish to remain under the radar or have no regard for the US Government at all bother filling out federal registration forms for weapons.

Finally, Are you a non-immigrant alien? (l) --A what?? An alien is a foreigner who is here; an immigrant is a foreigner who is here permanently. This makes the question, Do you live here, or are you just visiting? What difference does it make?! Our rights and freedoms are guaranteed to US Citizens; it is THE perk of being a US Citizen.

As it turns out, the disclaimer at the bottom informs the applicant and anyone who answers yes to any of the questions in section 12 is prohibited from purchasing or receiving a firearm anyway. Are there actually crazy, criminal people on the lam who come in, choose a gun, honestly fill out the negative information on the form, and then turn it in thinking they’re actually going to get a gun? NO! They call up an old army or hunting buddy, open the want ads, or go buy a gun off the street.

Ultimately, most of the Certificate of Transferee questions were perfectly useless. People who should rightfully answer YES to those questions are the very ones who are going to lie about it. Then the government is going to check the criminal history and such anyway, so why ask?

Think about that. Why DO they ask all these questions when they already have all the information about you they need? You are not going to tell the ATF anything on that form that it does not already have ready access to. –Wait-- You do tell them one thing they didn’t know by filling out the form in the first place.

You tell them you are a gun owner.

My Grandmother

2011-07-18T08:42:00.000-05:00

The most wonderful woman I ever knew was born today in 1924. She’s been gone from this earth for several years now, but part of her remains with me.

My grandmother is the vehicle for an entire collection of my childhood memories. My mother worked when I was young, and I spent many days of summer break at HER mother’s house across from Chandler Elementary. Before I was old enough for even Kindergarten, I could hear the school bells across the street and tell Grandmother I was going to school there next year so I could walk to her house “when the bell rang.” The facts that we lived in another district – and I knew that AND knew what it meant – were all irrelevant.

We used to tell each other, “I love you a bushel, and a peck, and a hug around the neck.” She would twist it around, loving me “a peck, and a bushel, and a neck around the hug!” I thought that was just the greatest tongue twister I’d ever heard, and I’d laugh until she said I had my gigglebox turned over.

Once when I was in high school, we watched an episode of some talk show where a woman was complaining about her husband sitting on the couch after work and expecting her to bring him a beer like she was his servant or something. My grandmother said, “Well, it wouldn’t hurt her to go get him a cold beer out of the fridge. He’s been working all day.”

That one simple statement made such an impact on me that even today when I don’t feel like doing some little something for the love of my life, I remember that “It won’t hurt me any” to do that for him. She told me the summer after graduation when the Boyfriend (Hubs now) and I had broken up again to never let a man make me hang my head. I named our first daughter after her.

She told me I was beautiful and smart and had all the talent a girl could hope for. She praised my strengths and encouraged me through my weaknesses. She was my best grownup friend for years, understanding how friends can hurt you and difficult my mother could be, dropping little bits of wisdom in my path through it all. To my knowledge, I only disappointed her once, and it still breaks my heart.

Grandmother silently taught me how to live my best life, long before Oprah coined the phrase. Do your job and do it well, then lend yourself to the aid of others. Love fiercely, especially where family are involved, and protect beyond what is required. Make no apologies for doing what you believe is right, and forgive even when it doesn’t make sense.

Allow for tears and sentiment, laugh wholeheartedly, and write letters by hand. Send Thank You notes, and bring a hostess gift when you are a guest in someone’s home. Learn to drink coffee black, rinse your milk glass before it dries in the bottom, and add a little vanilla when you make cocoa to cut the bitterness.

In the weeks before she left this world, I had a vision of my grandmother in Heaven. She was healthy (which she never was) and smiling (which she often was). She was reunited with the soul mate with whom she had walked this life, and running to the arms of her Savior.

I would never wish her back here, but I long to talk to her sometimes. I hope she knows how much I learned from her, and how much I admired her heart. I think she would be proud of the woman, wife, and mother I’ve become, and I hope she knows what a part of that she was.

Grandmother, I don’t know if you can see this from where you are, but if you can, smile down on me. I can still feel it.

Privacy Issues

2011-07-12T00:48:00.001-05:00

Most of us probably feel fairly safe online. We enter our credit card numbers and other identifying personal data on a whim these days. We use secure servers and a few good passwords, and we think we’re safe, but according to Helen Keller, safety is mostly superstition.

Have you ever thought about how much of your personal information can be found on the internet by anyone with a need and means to know? Let’s look at what any baby born in the last couple of weeks could easily have available online:

• Full Name
• Date of Birth
• City or Place of Birth
• Pictures
• Names of Parents
• Names of Siblings
• Possibly Finger/Foot Prints

And that stuff is just on social sites or an emailed birth announcement!

Beyond the intentionally provided information, the parents have probably applied for a birth certificate and social security number online, applications for both of which contain more detailed information, including the mother’s maiden name and similar pertinent info.

Thanks to the Healthcare Bill, all the baby’s health records are available electronically. Medical records will inevitably include personal contact information, the family’s social security numbers, dates of birth, insurance relationships, and of course medical history.

You might think a lot of this would not exist out there in Cyberspace if the baby had been born at home rather than in a government-infested private hospital. Wrong. My niece was born at home less than three weeks ago, and she is not exempt from the grid, either.

This gets more disturbing when you consider that I have only been referring to an infant’s online record. Imagine what more is accessible about you. Anyone with a mind to could find who your friends are, your interest, your hangouts, where you work, when you’re there, what events you attend, your kids’ activities, and almost any other thing they wanted. Heck, you can probably get all that from Facebook!

Your education level, employment history, land ownership, and political donations could be found online, not to mention banking and credit information. If there exists a criminal history, that is public knowledge as well.

Have you ever Googled yourself? Do it and go to one of those sites that says they’ll find everything about someone for a fee. Enter your own basic information, and see how much it gives you back on yourself.

Doing this, I learned my husband’s name, his military record, and every town we’ve lived in back to our first apartment! And I hadn’t even paid for anything yet – that is only the teaser report designed to show me what they’re capable of! I’m not sure I even want to know.

The fact is, our everyday lives have become way too intertwined with digital media. Any piece of data stored on a server is accessible to a hacker. Every purchase you have ever made online, inquiries you’ve made, vehicles you own, everything about your home, your family history, movies you watch, topics that interest you… I could go on for pages. Literally everything about you is stored on a chip somewhere.

People used to fear a giant computer that had all our records on it called the Echelon. Boy, that thing rather pales in comparison to the World Wide Web, doesn’t it? The question now is, How do you get out of it?

TSA Revisited

2011-07-01T13:28:00.001-05:00

This whole TSA thing is really beginning to get under my skin again. The Hubs and I were invited to accompany another couple on a most-expenses-paid dream vacation to the Caymans, and we had to decline. As long as TSA is molesting people at the airports, we refuse to fly.

I read the story yesterday of the 95-year-old woman whose adult diaper had to be removed when the agents found “a wad” they couldn’t identify. The article didn’t go into detail, but you’ve got enough of a brain to figure out the general idea, and you weren’t even there. How is it that we have allowed this to happen?

Have you ever watched a cat catch a bird? They don’t normally go from halfway across the yard to pouncing in one instant. Instead, they creep a little at a time until they’re spotted. When the prey notices the hunter, the cat becomes nonchalant, as if he doesn’t even know his stupid little lunch is sitting there.

The bird is easily deluded into believing there is no threat, although it would have been little more than a minor inconvenience to move away from the danger. While the bird goes back about his business, the cat creeps closer, never taking his eyes off the target.

Should he be noticed, the cat looks innocent again. He might even lie down in the grass to feign aloofness. But make no mistake – his mind is keen, preparing for the first sign of the bird having forgotten he was there.

When the factors are perfectly aligned and with fascinating precision, stalker becomes killer, viciously attacking the weaker animal. The little victim’s last thoughts probably include something along the lines of how he should have paid more attention, acted when there was still time, and wondered how the cat got so close.

Has our government not done the same thing to us? They have made radical changes to the laws (aka ‘taken our freedoms’) by creeping up on us, without us really even noticing the danger. When we DO sit up and take notice, they back off. Some weeks ago, TSA said, “Fine! We’ll stop feeling up little kids,” yet the frailest among us on the other end of the age spectrum are still victimized.

These agents are surely being told horror stories about what happens if they miss something, scaring them into erring grossly on the side of caution. At what point does the government work the common sense out of its employees? What they’re doing should be a reportable offense – not part of their job descriptions!

The government clearly doesn’t care or have a pulse on what we want in this area, so maybe we’re applying pressure in the wrong place, huh?

ShebaTweet

2011-06-28T08:59:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, my oldest daughter came into my room to tell me she had been crawling around on the floor, sniffing around our new Glade Plug-Ins that didn’t seem to be working. She had looked to the side and saw our cat Boo a few feet away, looking at her curiously. She said (and I quote), “He was like, what are you doing down HERE?”

Minutes later, I’m sitting at my laptop, still discussing how our animals think (because we KNOW, right?). I had just begun Tweeting again, so I guess it was on my brain when I said, “I think Sheba should Tweet. Do you think people would follow that?”

She didn’t say anything, or even have much of an expression, so I continued. “We could call it ShebaTweet!!” It would work like a day-in-the-life kind of thing. I was all excited and maybe a bit proud of the cute little name that rolls off your tongue just right…

Well, what the hell was I thinking? When the judge of all things COOL finally found some words, the ones she chose were, “You’re such a CREEPER!!”

Wait, WHAT?? Weren’t we just talking about our animals’ thoughts? Didn’t SHE start that conversation? From her incredulity, I could only assume I had crossed the line between funny and creepy with this, but I had no idea where.

She looked at me like she couldn’t believe I didn’t get it, then found some more sweet words before starting to leave. “You are so weird.”

“What? Why? Why is that weird?”

“Are you for real, Mom??” What on earth was I missing here? That question must’ve been pretty evident on my face because she answered in her best mom-mimicking voice, “Do you think people would follow that?” “I don’t know, Mom. What IS wrong with that?!”

Terribly amused at the teenage mind, I pointed out that WE get a kick out of doing our pets’ voiceovers, and we’re a reasonably funny bunch, so maybe others would get a kick out of it, too. She just stared at me for a few seconds, then words: “I can’t believe you really even said that out loud.”

As it turns out, I’ve decided NOT to ShebaTweet. Not because it would be creepy, but Sheba’s in her 80s now, and you know how the older generation is about these social networking things. She doesn’t really the whole world knowing her business anyway.

The Blue Kid

2011-06-14T16:20:00.000-05:00

I’m not one of those people who thinks animals talk to them, and I’m not any kind of whisperer or anything. I just know MY dog really, really well. Sheba is my very intelligent and expressive blue heeler. We call her the Blue Kid when we don’t want her to know we’re talking about her, and we even spell words like truck, outside, and cookie.

She knows that at a certain time every night, she gets her evening snack. A couple of nights ago, she came barreling into my room, quite out of character for her. Thinking something might be wrong, I paid immediate attention. After only seconds of her prancing and pawing at my bed, I realized I had missed snack time. I played along anyway, to entertain myself, more than anything.

Putting away the laptop, I stood up. “Ok, girl. Let’s go! Where we going?” (Mind you, when I talk to the Blue Kid, I use a high little voice like I’m talking to a two-year-old.) She heads to the door like she’s leading the way to show me whatever it is she wants. We get out my door into the hallway, where I pause. “Where to, girl? Let’s go. Come on!”

She leads me on into the living room – adjacent to the room she WANTS to be in – and all of a sudden, she’s out of bright ideas! Suddenly I’M supposed to figure out what she wanted and where to find it. Her ears lay back a bit, and she drops her head ever so slightly, giving her a humble look. I guess it’s rude to just come right out and ask for something.

I found myself compelled to continue the game another minute, so I stepped toward the door. Fighting giggles and even turning my back to her so she wouldn’t SEE me laughing about this (I know, right?!?), I finally managed to ask another intentionally wrong question. “Do you need to go potty,Sheba? Wanna go outside?”

At this point she finally got frustrated with my nonsense and sat down and looked at me disapprovingly. She knew I was messing with her, and I could just hear her sounding like my kids. “Ok, Mom. Whenever you’re ready to quit goofing off…”

We finally get to the kitchen, where I normally head to the fridge for a slice of cheese or lunchmeat. Tonight, she’s lucky – we have leftovers. In fact, we have a dilemma. There were TWO pots of yummy stuff still sitting on the counter. Goulash was on the stove waiting to be put in the fridge, and chicken enchiladas were on the counter waiting to be dumped in the trash. She had sampled the enchiladas earlier, so I thought she probably wanted that, but she knew there was beef in the goulash. I don’t know… chicken vs. beef? Tough call. Maybe I should let Sheba decide.

I looked at her while I tried to form the question in my head in a way she could understand. She probably knows the word chicken, but beef? No, I did not consider at the time exactly how silly it was to be fretting over that, but I did notice her looking back and forth from one pot to the other. AHA! But wait, this could be fun.

Standing right between the two choices, I asked, “What do you want, girl? You wanna snack?” My kitchen exploded into lots of blue tail wagging, whimpering, and prancing. “Which one? Which one, Sheba?” I know she was wondering what kind of stupid question that was. What did I want her to do? POINT? Bless her heart, she just looked desperate! What if I really WAS too stupid to figure it out?

Giving the poor elderly dog a rest, I asked her the questions I knew she really would understand and answer. Touching the pot of goulash, I said, “Sheba, you want this? Is this it?” Yeah, she looked excited about that, but she reeeaaaally wanted the chicken enchiladas. She kept glancing back over at them.

Touching the enchilada pan, I asked if she wanted this one, and she danced until she nearly got all four feet off the floor at once. I couldn’t empty that pan into her food bowl fast enough.

If there’s such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as a dog. Not just any dog, but MY dog. ‘Cause I sure love that kid.

I Got This

2011-06-12T13:49:00.000-05:00

NOTE: Some information has been slightly altered to avoid the wrath of my parents.

Here lately I’ve started including my kids a little more in my Facebook life. Today I changed my profile picture to something I thought my son would like. He’s a basketball and Dallas Mavericks fanatic and they’re kicking some serious butt in the playoffs, so I stole a pic of Dirk Nowitzki from a friend. It was a headshot of him in plain clothes. He looked good, not all sweaty and basketballish. The caption says, “Everyone chill out. I GOT THIS.”

I called the eleven-year-old Kid in to see it. He studies the image briefly then says in all seriousness, “Yeah, but that’s not true!!”

What? Where’s my, “Aw, that’s cool!”?

I’m rather proud of myself for actually knowing who this professional basketball player is, that he plays for the Mavericks, and that he scored like 29 of the points in the last playoff game. I mean, YOU’re impressed that I know that, right? I thought he would at least be excited to know I’ve listened to enough of this basketball rambling to actually learn something, but NOOOO.

The Kid proceeds to tell me how Dirk is a good shooter and everything, and it’s cool that he played with the flu and all, but when we really need him, “his follow-through and power on the ball are all messed up and he starts missing every shot. And every time we miss it, Tyson Chandler has to get up there and get loose ball fouled.” I’ve never even HEARD of a loose ball foul! I think he made that up.

Usually, the Kid gets a kick out of me knowing hip characters, and I get a kick out of knowing old things he thinks are new, but I guess basketball is no joking matter. Not at playoff time, anyway. The Mavericks are serious business to him – he has been to TWO games, after all, and the Kid really does know his stuff.

He rattled some other statistics and about what “Jet” Terry needs to do to improve his game and how Brian Cardinal needs to plant his feet better so he’ll stop getting blocking fouls…

“Blocking fouls?”

The Kid gave up. He walked away with a dismissal of his hand and shake of his head that said I am simply imPOSSible to deal with.

“Hey! What did I do? Can I leave the picture or what?” He paused mid-exit, turned with a bit of a scowl and said, “Yeah, that’s fine. But ask me before you post something like that again.”

It was all I could do not to laugh when I promised him I would, and I said I’d take it down whenever he thought it best. That seemed to satisfy him, but he stared a moment longer while I searched the conversation log in my head to figure out what I’d done wrong.

“Mom, you’ve got your politics thing. Just leave basketball alone, ok? I got this.”

Best Prank Ever

2011-05-24T13:34:00.000-05:00

The boss doesn’t call me Trouble for nothing – I earned it! Today was my last day at a job I’ve been at almost two years. In that time, I’ve been the mastermind or at least intimately involved with several pranks in our office, so it was imperative that I go out with a bang.

About a month ago, the Brit and the Queen hired from within my most excellent replacement, now known as the New Girl. The day before he left for Africa a couple weeks ago, I had her email the Brit and tell him she couldn’t take my job after all. It didn’t go quite as planned, and instead of calling HER about it, he forwarded the email to the head of HR! Whoops!

He was also livid! Her replacement had already been hired, too, and he was leaving tomorrow! I would be gone when he got back. The New Girl finally called him and placed the blame squarely on me, as planned. Point for Trouble!!

Moments later, I shyly poked my head around the doorframe into his office and grinned. “You know I had to get you one last time before you left.” I underestimated him like you wouldn’t believe when he countered, “That’s ok, Steph. I can get you from across the pond.”

Fast forward about a week. Since he left, I had completely cleared off his desk, putting everything that is normally ON his desk INSIDE it. While I was doing that, or maybe I was around the building showing the New Girl some things she needed to know, someone was on my Facebook. I didn’t realize anything had happened until my daughter commented, asking, “Why do you keep changing your status every five seconds?”

Huh? I hadn’t changed my status in hours, but sure enough, right there in plain English were the words, “I sure miss my British boss.” What tha--?? And the next one was worse! It was the words to God Save the Queen! Can you imagine how violated I felt? The final blow was “my” confession that I’ve always wanted to be a Brit!! And I hadn’t posted any of them! What was going on here?!

Of course I deduced immediately that someone had been on my computer while I was out, and it had to be one of the men in the office. None of the women would have done such a thing. The Engineer wasn’t even in the office that day, so it wasn’t him. It wasn’t the Kid because I don’t think he could’ve lied to me when I questioned him; of course, he doesn’t talk much. The Mom among us whispered over my shoulder that maybe it was the Marine in the next department. He and I didn’t have a rivalry, but he would definitely help the Brit prank me.

Marching into the Marine’s office, I accused, “You’re guilty.” He looked blankly at me and gave a confused, “What?” I walked away with a pretty good hunch he was in on it. That afternoon, friends from work and elsewhere commented their confusion or ignorance about my obvious hacking incident.

The Brit finally posted as himself, feigning horrible offense at being accused of any involvement in this. He was, after all, 7,000 miles away. But when a picture was posted by “me” while I was sitting at home on Facebook myself, I about flipped! HOW DID HE DO THAT??? I was absolutely floored. It was a picture of his desk that I had cleared off, and it looked remarkably like it was taken from a hidden camera.

Right after I commented that I hadn’t posted the picture, the Brit also posted, AS ME: Greetings from Africa! So it WAS him!? WTH was going on here?? An entire conversation ensued wherein I again accused the Brit of being behind this and he again denied it, but we were both logged in as ME. The average reader probably thought I was having a conversation with myself – I had finally lost it. Point for the Brit (and major kudos).

I finally emailed him a white flag. I told him to tell me how he did it because I was annoyed that I couldn’t figure it out, and I really wanted to do it to someone else because this was GOOOOOD!! He didn’t write back.

Nothing happened on my Facebook on Friday, my last day. Of course it didn’t – the Brit was over the Pacific Ocean, and I was at my desk all day, so who could have done it? Correction: Nothing happened until I got home.

Here I sat, thinking of my emotional day at work, saying goodbye to my adored and trusted friends, touched by how much they loved me and were going to miss me… sniff, sniff… when I received the little popup saying I had been tagged in a photo. I clicked the link thinking, “Aww, the Queen or the sweet Flower Child has already posted the pictures we took today on my last day.”

But OHHH, NO! Not even CLOSE! It was a picture of my entire department, minus the Engineer, plus the Marine, with the Brit pasted in, posted by the Mom. What? What were they all doing here? Where was this taken? Incredibly, it was taken in the Brit’s office, from almost the exact same angle as the photo of his desk, and here they all sat, giving me a smile and a “thumbs up” sign.

They all would’ve given anything to have seen my face when I realized how badly I’d been had. The realizations came one at a time, beginning with the caption that mocked me for giving the Brit so much credit; it had taken all the Procurement Village to pull this off. Someone from the office was clearly working with him, but I never imagined EVERYONE was. I still can’t believe I never suspected ANY of them. Aaarrrghh – I should’ve known!

And I had been telling the Mom everything! She had probably been the lookout or stalled me while someone else was on the computer jacking with my status. The New Girl had the duty of telling someone when I had left my Facebook open.

I haven’t quite figured out the Flower Child’s role, and they say the Engineer’s only involvement was to take the pictures. He chastised the lot of them, saying they should be ashamed of themselves but still took the picture. He was probably just mad that no one involved him sooner.

The Mom promises to tell me the entire story after a margarita sometime this week. I can only surmise that she needs me a little more placid than usual before spilling allll the secrets. Frankly, I can’t wait to hear it. I take some comfort in knowing it took ALL of them to get me, but I take more in knowing they are going to remember me as fondly as I will remember them.

In the Eye of the Storm

2011-05-14T22:18:00.001-05:00

This article was published in the May 2011 issue of the Northeast Texan.

After the few seconds of golf ball size hail that landed only on the east side of my yard on April 26, I called my parents to tell them about it. Standing on my back porch as I talked to Mom, I watched the storm roll in dramatically from the west. Walking off the porch to get a better view of the horizon convinced me it was time to do something.

My mobile home would be little match for a tornado like those every Tyler station was warning about. I told the kids to put on shoes and get in the car. My plan was to watch the sky from there; if things got ugly, we’d head for shelter.

Seconds later I was speeding out of my driveway, down the street, and into the small parking lot of Friendly Center Baptist Church. Disregarding the sidewalk, I parked under some trees, hoping for protection from any more hail. With one eye on the sky, I ushered the kids inside the unlocked church, directing them and our blue heeler to the baptistery. A couple other families piled in moments later. All told, I think there were 13 of us, plus six dogs.

I stayed on the small porch with the men for several minutes watching the sky literally rotate above us. The gray and white darkness seemed close enough to touch, and the air felt different now. Something had changed.

When the sky began to whistle like someone blowing over the mouth of a bottle, I went inside and joined the others. I have no real idea of how long we waited for the men to finally get inside, but I’d guess five or six minutes. I never did hear the train people describe, but seconds before impact, my ears felt the pressure change like when descending in an airplane.

Instinctively knowing the tornado was dropping down on us, I finally huddled over my children, covered them with my own body, and said, “This is it.” No sooner were the words out of my mouth than the windows in the church began blowing in, one after another. Boom! Boom! Boom! We later found the glass at the opposite ends of the pews.

A child was crying, someone suggested praying, and another person did so. My own words told the kids to keep their heads down like tornado drills at school, and everything was going to be ok. Venturing a split-second peek over the side, I saw things I couldn’t identify flying past the frosted windows outside and around the room.

The noise was awful. Winds at 100 mph, trees falling, shingles and boards flying off the roof, glass crashing – but you can’t really identify any of it. My son Dakota, 11, remembers hearing “Wind, stuff breaking, and your voice.” My daughters Cheyenne, 14, and Sheridan, 13, also heard the dogs barking in our laps.

When the wind and noise calmed a bit, someone went to check the condition of things outside the door. Barely getting the door open, he slammed it, shouting to us that it wasn’t over. “Stay down!” he ordered. The second round didn’t last as long as the first, which was probably no more than a minute but seemed like several.

We heard reports that two other tornados were coming, but they never materialized. I realize now that the second hit probably was one of those other expected twisters. Surveying the area next few days, one can clearly see multiple paths of destruction.

Outside, we found significant damage to the church and immediate area. Trees of every size and shape were down, having fallen in all directions. My jaw dropped when I saw the three I had parked under had tipped over like rotted fence posts, away from our vehicles.

The small metal storage building beside the church was now propped on the pipe fence behind it. Power lines were down, and the church had significant roof and window damage. Although every street was blocked by trees and debris for a half mile or more, we all made our way back to our homes to survey the damage minutes later.

From behind the house where my carport used to be, I could see the metal missing from my roof and patio, but there was no real structural damage. My neighbor’s house to the west had sustained damage from parts of my house being speared into his.

I looked across the pasture behind us and saw what was left of his son’s house. I couldn’t even tell what I was looking at from this distance. All but the central walls of their home had been obliterated as they huddled in a cramped underground safe room.

The duplex to the east where I had considered seeking shelter with a friend was also destroyed. The entire backside of the roof had been ripped off like a table cloth, and the front had been sucked out of place, leaving a 4-foot gap over the porch. The sheetrock ceilings inside were still intact, but that would not last long under the rain. The next day, they showed me collapsed ceilings in every room. Daylight shines in.

We all returned to the church, sharing stories of the damage we each sustained, and it didn’t seem odd at the time. Our cell phones still worked, and we all looked like teenagers, talking and texting as fast as we could to get the news to friends and family. As the evening progressed in fast forward, fire departments and local law enforcement made their way to us, going house-to-house to verify everyone’s safety.

I expected neighbors to run to each other in a little community like mine in the immediate aftermath, but I was surprised at how many reached out from elsewhere over the next two days. A team of adults and students from Martins Mill High School helped cut down limbs in my yard, and numerous Van students were seen in the area dragging sheet metal into manageable piles and clearing roads. Robert Fitzgerald led his team of ALERT Cadets in chopping trees on nearby streets.

The church served as headquarters for recovery efforts. Local volunteers grilled and served hamburgers and hot dogs the following day to those who were busy cleaning their yards and rebuilding their homes. Water and sports drinks were provided as well. The Red Cross was on hand, as were several roofing companies and at least six TV stations, including two from Dallas.

The National Weather Service rated our tornadoes EF-1, the lowest on the scale; at least three had been identified within a half mile of my house and the church. Many drove down my street that week, gawking in horror and amazement at the damage Mother Nature can do when she gets wound up.

Overall, my family suffered very little compared to some around me and across the South. I had a lot to be thankful for that Tuesday night. How sad that we sometimes need such a catastrophe to remind us what’s important.

Anchors Aweigh!

2011-04-16T11:26:00.000-05:00

Many times, I’ve said, “I AM the strongest woman you know,” and my children admire me for that strength. My girls have told me they hope to be like me, and I doubt there is any higher praise than that. But even I have been humbled as I looked into their young eyes, brave, and stronger than mine.

If you’re reading this, you probably already know my oldest daughter has gone through a traumatic experience. It shook our entire family to its core, but none as much as her.

She understands now why I always loved my strength but hated how I got it. She said, “That’s going to be me, Mamma,” and in a heartbreaking instant, I knew she was right.

Normally, we would never approve of inking someone her age, but she was permanently changed from this experience. Any symbol of recovery from it warranted equal permanence. The anchor is obviously a symbol of strength to us, solid and unchanging, keeping us steady when storms rage.

My daughter and I were close before, but the bond we have now is different, and a tattoo is how she wanted to commemorate it. The Hubs and I both have tattoos and obviously have no problem with the concept of using the human body as a canvas, so that is a non-issue with us. We believe all tattoos should be special and have deep-seated meaning. If my daughter’s situation does not epitomize the reason for getting a tattoo, I don’t know what does.

I suppose the bottom line is this:

If you don’t approve, we don’t care. When you’ve walked a mile in our shoes, then you tell us what’s acceptable and what isn’t. Until then, know that we have done something special to us, and that’s what matters.

Tying Up Loose Ends

2011-04-10T11:29:00.000-05:00

When I was in high school, my mother and I would argue occasionally, just like any other mom and teenage daughter. She would come to my room later, acting like everything was fine, and it drove me NUTS! How can she come in here all normal and say, “Supper’s ready!” when I’m still mad at her!?

Now a mother of a couple of hormonal teenage girls myself, I understand that was Mom’s way of saying she wasn’t mad at me and that whatever we fought over really wasn’t that big of a deal. Knowing this makes her actions more excusable, and I wish I’d known it then, but it doesn’t change my need to have closure.

I don’t care much for the word closure for myself. It’s appropriate for arguments or situations like one I had a couple of weeks ago that ended with me saying, “I’m sorry, too. I thought you were my friend.” But generally, I don’t like the idea of closing; I prefer to say I like everything tied in a pretty little bow in the end – no loose ends, held tightly together, and looking nice and finished.

Everyone feels this way to some degree. Think about when someone dies unexpectedly. Friends and family are often left with the feeling that they should have said something, or done something, even if just one more time. Obviously, the way to combat this is to live in such a way that you say and do the things that need to be said and done before it’s too late, but we don’t all do that.

I said good-bye to a friend this week. It was terribly emotional – tears, hugs, jokes, and the whole nine yards. She was moving what seems to be a planet away where I’ll never see her again EVER! Ok, not really, but that’s how it felt. I knew I couldn’t leave myself (or her) with that horrible ache, so I made a point of saying what I needed to. I told her the reasons I loved her and thanked her for being who she was to me without reservation. She did the same.

Because we had this conversation the day before she left, I was able to see her the next day, give hugs, and literally say, “Bye,” without tears, and we walked away smiling. It felt temporary, as if I’d see her again tomorrow, just like always. I’m excited for her new life and harbor not even the slightest resentment at her leaving me. And heaven forbid something had gone wrong and she never arrived on her new planet, I would have no regrets for things left unsaid.
We all have little mantras like, “No regrets” or “Never look back,” but how often do we really live those adages? If we don’t live them, what’s the point in having them?

Perfecting the Union

2011-03-20T07:28:00.000-05:00

This article was posted in the Northeast Texan in February 2011. My first publication!

A friend who doesn’t quite agree with my political views recently asked me rather haughtily what my idea of a perfect government and perfect President were. I rattled off a couple of paragraphs of what I thought was important, but it really got me thinking. What DOES a perfect government look like?

Of course there isn’t one. Throughout history, governments have risen and fallen by their own hand, their own greed, and their own pride, and without a serious change of direction, our own government will be no different. The story our posterity will learn a hundred years from now will be one of defeat and the inevitable progression of all other super powers in history. We will be a country that was once great, rather than a powerful nation of People that overcame the tendency to destroy itself from within.

The truth is, I don't much care who the President is because they all work for the same people - the corporations, banks, and various entire industries. Obama is being built up now, but in the end, he will be a scapegoat for all that's wrong with the country, and the next guy will be the new hero. Sound familiar? I want the holding of the puppet strings to stop.

I want a government made up of honest people who don't line their pockets with lobbyists' money and ignore their constituents. I want my borders closed, REAL criminals punished, fair taxes simplified, dozens of unconstitutional government organizations eliminated, and thousands of unnecessary laws and regulations revoked. I want to help people who need it and give the boot to those who don't.

I don't want to fight and fund wars that don't make sense, and I want American soldiers to stop dying fighting a vague enemy called 'terrorism' with no clear goal. I want to feel free to speak my mind, search the web, talk on the phone, choose my own affordable health care, OWN my land, raise my kids, grow a garden, run for office as an average person, get a job, pray, refuse vaccinations, and carry a gun on my person without the State having to know about it.

I want to stop all this ridiculous spending, pay off our debt, halt the furtherance of a police state, demand excellence from those who serve, and have them serve US. I want to stop compromising all our leverage in the world, making up facts to promote agendas, indoctrinating our kids, and duping society with false claims and false flags.

I want the States to stand up against the Federal government when it gets out of line and have the three separate branches function as such. I want to permanently cripple the long arm of all levels of government that far overreaches the limits set forth by the founding fathers. I want our government to cater to the interests of no one but We the People. I want to return to a Constitutional republic.

Many argue (and rightly so) that the Constitution was not perfect in its original form. It allowed for slavery, and women were not allowed to vote; for such extreme circumstances, it allows itself to be amended.

Our Constitution was written by the People, maintained by the People, and is now here to defend the People against its destruction. Without it, there never would have been a near perfect Union.

If we don't stand up to those who seek to destroy it, there never will be again.

Cussing Kids

2011-03-17T12:16:00.000-05:00

I don’t really think swearing is a big deal. Seems like I was about eight years old when I had a great epiphany, realizing that curse words were about like any other word except that someone says they’re bad. I still don’t quite understand what makes a particular word “bad,” but the intended logic apparently stuck because I still have a potty mouth.

Unlike some rednecks, I know when to use it and when not to. I have a general sense about who will be offended and who won’t. I don’t swear in front of little old ladies or other people’s kids, but around like-minded adults, I’m fairly uncensored. Why is that a bad thing?

About thirty years ago, I was having homemade ice cream out on the deck with my grandparents and some extended family when I heard a donkey. I was probably all wide-eyed and mouth gaping when I asked to no one in particular, “WHAT was THAT??” My very salt-of-the-earth grandpa smiled and said, “THAT (pregnant pause) is a jackass.” I laughed hysterically.

Yeah, I know it’s simply an old word for donkey, and I knew it then, but in my young mind, he had cussed, and it was hilarious! Had he said, “A donkey,” I wouldn’t have this memory to tell you. There is definitely an appropriate time to use a more colorful, if not vulgar, word.

Remember the scene in Back to the Future where Marty (Michael J. Fox) tells his young dad how to “save” the girl from Marty having his way with her? Dad is supposed to come out the hero, earning the girl’s respect, sod Marty instructs him to say, “Get your damn hands off her.” Dad fidgets a little and says, “Do I have to swear?” Marty answers, “Yes, dammit, you have to swear!” Weenie little guy that he was, Dad needed that little extra umpf to be believable. If you remember, he ended up really having to save her, and the swearing is what got the guy’s attention.

But that scene was in the Fifties. This is 2011. Anyone in tune with kids today knows it really ISN’T the same for them as it was for us. Times really have changed. My kids know things today that I had never even heard of until years later. Movies and TV are different today. Music is different. Life is different. Language is different. What you and I might find offensive today is vernacular for most high schools.

I’m not saying kids cussing is a good thing, and I’d rather mine not do it, but I’m realistic enough to know they do. It doesn’t make me a bad parent, weak, or lacking in morals. I teach my children to be kind and compassionate and to always do what’s right, even when it isn’t popular. I teach them to search for the truth and be sure you have it before making accusations. I teach them to respect and be respectable.

Cussing simply doesn’t make my top ten list of concerns for raising children because real life is so much harsher than mere words. I teach them what matters.

Making Old Friends New

2011-03-06T01:32:00.001-06:00

An old friend looked me up last week, out of the blue. I last spoke to him twenty-one years ago when I got out of his pickup after he broke up with me. Like always, he waited for me to get in the house, then, for the last time, I watched his tail lights shrink into the distance.

I got over that broken heart and several others before getting along with my life, but the saying is true: You never forget your first love. The feelings fade into simply pleasant memories, and you remember the love fondly, no matter how horrible it felt when it ended.

He found me so he could apologize for hurting me back then. He didn’t know I had forgiven him years ago. Something he did when we were just kids had nagged at him for decades, and I was over it. But in a strange way, a short conversation cleared the air that I had not even realized needed clearing. It’s nice to know you made enough of an impression on someone to be remembered so many years later.

But there was more than that. I was reminded that there are other good people in the world, others who care how they affect people’s lives. I guess I just felt better knowing I’m not the only person who has regrets about things they said or did a lifetime ago, when they were another person.

Who's In Charge Here?

2011-01-11T20:55:00.001-06:00

I wrote most of the following blog last night after learning that about 70% of the caucus voted for Straus for Speaker; today that was confirmed by an official vote in the House. I received a report that fifteen Representatives voted against Straus, but The Austin Chronicle reported only 5 nays. (By their count, only 132 of the 150 were present, which is rather disturbing.) The list I initially received said that most local Reps who were expected to vote for Paxton faithfully voted against Straus - Dan Flynn, Leo Berman, David Simpson, Erwin Cain. Bryan Hughes is notably absent from this list, and Lance Gooden was apparently never convinced. A huge THANK YOU goes out to those who DID stand up against him.

In case you haven't heard already, KEN PAXTON WITHDREW FROM THE RACE before voting started. I am LIVID about that! We need to know who would've voted for Straus in the race because 1) we will target them at election time and 2) Charges supposed to be brought today for those who took money then pledged to vote for Straus? It's called buying votes, and it's illegal. However, without an opponent, most probably felt they had no choice BUT to vote for Straus, eliminating the proof needed to make the charges (filed by Berman, who demanded the official vote) stick - no vote, no bribery. WHAT WAS HE THINKING?

I asked someone who was at Paxton's press conference to ask him why he dropped out instead of accepting the defeat, but I have not heard back from him yet. I intend to send a personal, hand-written letter to Paxton asking him that very question. When I receive the expected computer-generated response, I'll forward it along.

It may be worth noting that Paxton said he had not spoken to anyone from Straus's camp, and he claims to have made the decision to protect people from getting the shaft on Committee assignments. The fact is, the Representatives who voted against Straus are 'shafted' anyway, regardless of whether there was an opponent. Mr. Flynn, Mr. Berman, Mr. Cain, and Mr. Simpson, you probably signed your political death warrants today, and we love you for making that sacrifice. You are truly men of great character.

Here is the blog:

WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE?

My mother tells me I need to quit spending so much of my energy on politics on account of my high blood pressure. Truth is, I don't get angry about politics much. Since becoming involved with the Tea Party, I've realized that disagreements aren't personal. In fact, most Tea Partiers realize that. We realize that people and issues are not the same thing. We are willing and able to disagree on issues without hating each other. It's the issues themselves that we are passionate about.

Then there are days like today when I'm FUMING! I'd love to get my hands on one of those Republican Representatives in Austin who voted for Straus today. I'd body slam him, plop down on his chest, wag my finger in his face, and tell him exactly who's in charge around here.

Unfortunately, that would be a bunch of baloney because the People are NOT in charge. We have all but lost our voice. From the results of the November elections, you might assume that what we say matters, but it clearly doesn't. Doc Collins from Edom was one of hundreds walking the halls in Austin today, speaking to Representatives about the caucus, which basically determines the Speaker of the House. His report tonight said the vast majority of those people supported Ken Paxton, and every Representative knew it. If that's true, why in the world did 70% of them vote for Joe Straus anyway?

A Texas Legislator's job earns him $49,200 annually, including per diem. That isn't much, but it comes with perks like twice as many holidays as most of us get, all the vacation they want, travel, conveniences, power, prestige, honor, their names in history books, fame and somehow, fortune. We the People give them those jobs! So it kinda makes you wonder, if we gave them all that, what on earth did the other guy offer that keeps them from doing the job WE THE PEOPLE pay them for (representation)?

Better yet, who IS the other guy?

Decriminalization

2011-01-05T19:47:00.001-06:00

I don't even know where to start. This thought brought 89 comments on my Facebook page yesterday:

"Stop wasting jail space on prostitutes, drug users and other victimless criminals. Even if we find it morally acceptable to imprison these people for choices they make regarding their bodies, we must realize that we simply cannot afford to continue clogging the court system and the prison system with these harmless criminals." -- Edward B. Wagner

The first point of contention seemed to be on whether there is such a thing as a "victimless" crime at all. I mean, a crime has a victim by definition, right? Actually, no. According to several sources, a crime is merely an act punishable by law, meaning that if a law were passed that I could be fined for wearing jeans, then wearing jeans would be a crime. Consensual acts between legal adults is rarely considered a crime because there is no victim; who is the victim if I wear jeans? Under the law, it would still be a crime.

Naturally, the next point was whether the acts mentioned - prostitution and drug use - are victimless. For the record and for simplicity, we will stick to "ideal" prostitution involving two consenting adults, one of which pays money to the other for sexual favors of any kind. Some argued that legalizing prostitution would increase human trafficking of both children and adults; I disagree. Forced prostitution generally follows kidnapping and trafficking; not the other way around.

I doubt there is much black market prostitution in parts of Nevada where it's legal. Simple supply and demand; the supply is there, so people don't need to use violence to meet their demands. There is also little sexually transmitted disease (including HIV and AIDS) among prostitutes there, compared with those in cities where it is a crime. There is no question that prostitution can be the final straw that leads to divorce and other problems, but face it - If you're visiting a prostitute, purchasing sex is not the heart of your problem.

The same can be said of drug use. When alcohol was banned from 1920-1933, a whole new crime called bootlegging was invented, and it was completely under the control of organized crime (like drug cartels). Some argued, as on my FB page, that stiffer penalties and stronger enforcement are the answer; this ended up costing more in the long run than it saved, and 'real' crimes increased. Alcohol was never stopped (Wikepedia entry Repeal of Prohibition). Many bad things happen when people use alcohol irresponsibly, but they would still happen if alcohol were again banned. People who "need" a substance will find one - legal or not. Alcohol and marijuana themselves are NOT the problem.

Our discussion centered around marijuana because even the more liberal participants do not believe the "hard drugs" should be legal. The most basic Google search will return proof that use of hard drugs like meth or crack is a factor in the commission of many violent crimes and theft, but how many crimes do you find committed by those smoking pot? How many domestic disturbances, car accidents, rapes, burglaries, and deaths result from marijuana usage? Virtually none.

Granted, if a woman smokes weed all day and doesn't take care of her family, her family will suffer and may be considered victims (if you stretch that definition), but the same would be said if she sat around eating carrots and watching TV. Again, smoking pot would not be the root of the problem.

Legalizing prostitution or marijuana would not solve all the problems related to those activities, but it would do three things.

1) MANY non-violent offenders would be released from prison, greatly reducing the overcrowding problem and reduce expenses. As much as 58% of drug prisoners are non-violent and their only criminal history is also drug-related.

2) Violence on the border would decrease immediately then again some months after decriminalization because the demand would be reduced by people growing their own. Continue to run down those who import or sell illegally.

3) Society could benefit by having more productive citizens who were living regular lives instead of sitting in jail for smoking pot in their own living rooms like you probably drink beer.

Looking Forward

2011-01-02T18:47:00.001-06:00

I find it hard to look forward to the new year without looking back on the old one. 2010 came in with a whisper rather than a bang as Tea Parties quietly strengthened our roots by grooming conservative candidates for the March primaries. Three weeks after those promising elections, I wore black to work, mourning the death of my country at the hands of Obamacare, yet another blow to us who believe in fiscal responsibility and limited government.

If the primaries weren't enough, Tea Party meetings all over the nation on Tax Day brought us back to the forefront, reminding our elected servants what we are all about. Unfortunately, they still didn't get the point and instead passed financial reform legislation in August, full of earmarks, governmental control, and everything else we oppose.

On the heels of Elena Kagan's ridiculous confirmation to the Supreme Court by the Senate in August, millions attended Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally on the National Mall in Washington that was horribly misrepresented by mainstream media. Only a month later, a massive PR campaign initially assisted by our own John Cornyn resulted in Alaska's Lisa Murkowski putting herself in the Senate race (and was subsequently victorious) in spite of having been voted down in primaries. Washington had heard our voice and blatantly ignored it, so we quietly continued building our arsenal.

As fall rolled in, the Republicans seemed to be getting nervous and responded with the "Pledge to America" in hopes of maintaining their coveted seats in Congress, but the People are no longer fooled by lip service and petty declarations. We demand action now, and we took our own on November 2nd, handing the Democrats a "shellacking" in both Texas and Washington. Our goals were finally being realized, but the work was not done.

In the lame duck session, we saw our servants still talking out of both sides of their mouths, extending Bush tax cuts, but not without $8 billion in earmarks and increased taxes on small businesses. The START treaty is nothing more than pandering to the rest of the world by reducing our ultimate leverage.

Only days from now, those Senators and Representatives we elected in November will take office, and our work will continue. We are not clockmakers, having created a small masterpiece then standing back to allow it to function properly without our interference. Rather, we are monitors of an old machine, constantly watching and repairing, making adjustments and downright overhauling the parts that need it.

In 2010, we finally began to see the changes we so desperately want and need, but it is still "only the beginning." In 2011, I encourage you to become an expert in two areas you are passionate about, and dedicate time every day to those to causes. Keep yourself informed and inform others, don't be afraid to speak your mind, especially when it goes against the standard way of thinking. What good is being passionate if you don't start a grassfire with it?

Do You Donate?

2010-12-07T09:51:00.002-06:00

I accidentally found a website that threw me for a loop. Go to http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com to find out who has donated how much to whom, when. If you've ever donated a dime to any candidate, search your own name on this site. Besides those bits of data I just mentioned, you can also see your address, occupation, employer, and a map to your house. Would you have donated if you had known anyone with a computer could see this information?

Stock Tip

2010-11-20T22:51:00.002-06:00

I've got some questions about this whole TSA business. Something's not adding up.

The supposed reason behind the stripping of our rights is the 'underwear bomber' from Christmas Day 2009. His weapon easily escaped the metal detector, so it was determined that something more thorough should be used to examine passengers.

There were 40 scanners in 19 airports on that Christmas Day 2009, so how is that the reason for putting them there? Let's look at some facts.

* A simple interview would have prevented him from flying that day under guidelines already in place and provided reasonable grounds for a search.
* The company that makes the naked body scanners is Rapiscan.
Rapiscan is owned by OSI Systems in California, who develops and markets security and inspection systems. It is one of two companies trying to corner the market on this type of equipment. The market they want to corner is an estimated 300 billion dollars.
* Rapiscan/OSI employed the services of the Chertoff Group, a private security consulting firm. That firm is owned by Michael Chertoff.
* Michael Chertoff coauthored the Patriot Act; George Bush appointed him Secretary of Homeland Security in 2005. The first purchase of 5 naked scanners was made by DHS under Chertoff. Intimate knowledge of how DHS expected to handle security is probably a pretty valuable asset for someone who owns a private security consulting firm and has a client that owns government contracts.
* TSA bought the scanners with "stimulus money" that Barack Obama authorized in February 2009, a month after Chertoff left office and started his security firm, in spite of the fact that OSI's stock was soaring. The government bought the scanners with our money, and now they're using them to invade our privacy. Did you authorize that?

I wonder how long it takes to manufacture machines to accommodate the 70 airports that are stocked with the scanners today. A year or so? Their stock closed today at more than twice its value 1 year ago ($38 vs. $18). It rose by half on 12/30/09, five days after the underwear bomber incident. Three days later on January 2nd, the Boston Globe reported an "expected" increase in sales. It had already happened. Who would've known to buy that stock? I don't know, but that day was also OSI's highest volume of trading in 5 years by millions!

Rapiscan also makes similar machines for inspecting cargo. Remember the incident shortly before Election Day where explosives were smuggled in on FedEx cargo planes?

Unless the People speak up and put a stop to this absurd violation by the Transportation Security Administration of our right to "be secure in our persons," it's probably a good time to buy stock in OSI Systems.

References:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/01/02/group_slams_chertoff_on_scanner_promotion/
http://chertoffgroup.com/cgroup/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/charts/charts.asp?ticker=OSIS:US

PERRY vs. WHITE

2010-10-18T08:14:00.003-05:00

I think Rick Perry is an arrogant, condescending, pretty-boy, career politician with great love of Texas but little regard for doing right by Texans. I mean, he planned to take bazillions of acres from people to build the trans-Texas corridor on private investor money and STILL would have required other income to pay off the debt to all his buddies' companies who contracted the work, both here and abroad. Shouldn't the general public have at least been allowed to invest in such a great idea?

Besides, don't we already HAVE a trans-Tx corridor? We have several: Interstates 10, 20, and 35. I suppose if we take all those other vehicles off the road, we can stop working on them all the time, right? No. In fact, when they scrapped the futuristic rail idea, they decided to pump the money into our road system.

All this happened because he was able to use eminent domain on his whim. He overstepped his bounds, there, and that's only one glaring example. Another is the requirement for girls to have the HPV vaccine Gardasil, which he created by executive order. ONE MAN told me I have to inject my child with something. He has too much power.

This isn't a hot button for me yet, so I haven't researched it much, but he has apparently done pretty well with the budget until this past year, and I'm sure the economy in general is partly to blame. However, what is the biggest chunk of revenue in Texas? ENERGY. Everyone knows that. Regardless of what bad he's done, Rick Perry supports our resources, and he has proven to be a decent money manager. These are the generally accepted arguments for voting for him - Energy and Money, which are essentially one in the same here.

Do we have a lot of work to do on Rick Perry? Absolutely, and that begins on November 3. His power needs to be reigned in considerably, and he needs to be reminded that HE serves US, not the other way around. But we can't focus on that right now; right now we have to focus on getting him re-elected because electing Bill White would be going backward, and there just might not be any coming back from that.

Bill White left the 4th largest city in the country near bankruptcy by making bleeding-heart choices instead of business ones. He spent money to beautify parks, and instead of cleaning up the lower side as promised, he made them all Sec.8 houses, so the federal government pays for it (that's you and me). He supports abortion, Cap and Trade, amnesty, Obamacare, and some level of infringement of our Second Amendment rights. For me, that's enough.

I really don't like Rick Perry, but there's no way I can vote for Bill White.

Honor Thy Father

2010-10-12T11:18:00.002-05:00

HONOR THY FATHER

I saw a commercial yesterday featuring Adam Rodriguez, who plays Eric Delko on CSI: Miami. He talked about Sonya Sotomayor and how she is the first Hispanic-American woman to be appointed to the US Supreme Court, which was seated this week for the upcoming session. The gist of the commercial was to encourage other Hispanic-Americans to remember and honor their heritage.

My first problem with this stems from the hyphenated identification. Lapping out of our Socialist president's hand like a dog and being rewarded a black robe for it is in no way related to her ethnicity.

Elena Kagan was also recently appointed - that's two women were named to the Court in recent months. It doesn't take much digging to find that women worked pretty hard for their freedoms, too. Women are only allowed to sit on the Supreme Court today because of other women who granted them the right to have a voice at all, much less authority. They were imprisoned, beaten, and even killed for demanding their voices be heard in the voting booth. Why wasn't there a commercial encouraging women to remember their heritage? I don't specifically recall a Hispanic suffrage movement, so in this context, what are Mexican-Americans supposed to be honoring, exactly?

Don't get me wrong - I'm just as proud of my heritage as the next guy. The only part of my Heinz-57 pedigree that sticks out is American Indian, reflected by my maiden name. My married name is Scottish; my husband's family was royalty there a mere century ago. They still own the castle, have green eyes, and recognize their tartan, but they're not Scottish-Americans. They're just Americans. Like you and me.

If you want to honor your heritage, honor your parents. Be a person of high morals, good character, and work for what you want. Be someone that others aspire to be like because of who you are - not what title is bestowed upon you. Be reliable, trustworthy, and honest. Respect is not given because of those who came before you; it is given because of what you give to those who will follow.

If you want to honor your heritage, you don't have to hyphenate your name. You just have to make your name one your children will be proud of.

Van UMC

2010-10-07T09:44:00.001-05:00

I want to be clear that I am NOT writing this as Tea Party Chairman - I am writing this as a private citizen, and my opinions here do not necessarily reflect those of the Van Tea Party. While I'm giving you the legalese, I should also remind you that VTP does not endorse any candidate, political party, or elected official. This will become more relevant shortly. Occasionally the Tea Party participates in non-political community events where we refrain from what I call "political witnessing." We are simply there as members of the community without an agenda. Tuesday night's National Night Out was one of those events.

Today I asked some trusted and highly opinionated friends what makes people jerks. Answers included selfishness, ignorance, and entitlement, but the word that came up most often was arrogance. Princeton WordNetWeb defines arrogance as having or showing feelings of unwarranted importance out of overbearing pride. This is not the same as a healthy sense of pride that drives us to do what's right, go every day to a job we hate to feed our families, or just get up in the morning. It is what makes you unlikable, rude, and small-minded (Webster's definition of 'jerk').

I am keenly aware of what is and is not acceptable speech according the government, including the right of a church to maintain its 501(c)3 status as a charity and still discuss politics from the pulpit. (This remains a fact whether you agree with it or not.) There is no such thing as separation of Church and State in the ultimate law of the land - the Constitution. Only liberal perversion of the Constutitution and our Founding Fathers' intentions have led to this argument.

So you can imagine my surprise when the pastor of a local church marched up to our National Night Out booth and informed us that by distributing politcal endorsement literature (which we were NOT), we were jeopardizing his 501(c)3 status. He didn't yell, but his voice was significantly raised and unnecessarily harsh as he told us we were NOT to do that on his property before storming off like a child. Two patriots, after allowing him a few moments to calm down, went to discuss the issue with him. My friend "Glenda" has worked in politics and ministry simultaniously for at least a couple of decades; no one I know is more informed about the relationship between the two than she is. She spoke to him the following day when we felt all ill feelings had dissipated.

In both cases, he adamantly and rudely refused to hear any evidence that would show we were not endangering his church's charity status. Those who spoke with him were prepared to provide proof in the form of historical fact, personal conviction as Christians, Biblical admonitions, and case law. (No case brought against a church regarding its tax exempt status has EVER been won by the accuser.) Instead of considering that he might not be as informed about this situation as he thought, he told the Patriots that the Tea Party would never set foot on his property again.

I find it particularly amusing that the thought of day on church's website today is "Apologize to someone you have offended," and the message "from the pastor" speaks of love, grace, and hope. I would deliver a copy of this blog personally, but patriotic Christians like me are clearly unwelcome in that particular house of God, so I am speaking to you here, Mr. Deaton, and I hope it finds its way to you.

Sir, you are no man in my eyes, and certainly no gentleman. Jesus treated whores with more respect than you treated us. You are completely lacking in humility and teachability, which are key elements of leadership. Your ignorance and arrogance are so palpable as to have left a bad taste in my mouth for your church, and if I didn't know better, your God. You may hold a Doctorate and get to run the church on Main Street in the great big town of Van, but you are still a jerk.

If my husband had been there when you spoke to me as you would a dog digging in your trash, I would have told you all this to your face after you came to. But your real concern should be this: If you are the only picture of Christ that I ever see, I'm not interested in being a Christian.

Offensive Tyler Radio Station

2010-07-21T21:43:00.003-05:00

UPDATE: If you are looking for Matthew Williams, he is not in radio at this time, but he still has a successful business in Longview. You can reach The Sign Man at 903.295.SIGN (7446). If he gets back in radio, I'll be the first to let you know. On a completely unrelated note, I no longer care if you support his old station KZTK. Let's just say I learned some things.
~Stephanie, 10/27/11

Ok, Patriots, now I’m TICKED.

If you’ve read any of my blogs (www.stephanienalls.blogspot.com, and these do NOT necessarily reflect the views of the Tea Party), you know that you don’t mess with the Mama Bear, and KZTK 99.3’s Matt Williams has come dangerously close to doing exactly that on Mornings with Matt Williams!

Last week I sent you an e-mail about the filth that passes for morning-show entertainment on KZTK. I was able to contact the Station Manager Genni Causey, and she was very receptive to my complaints. She agreed to review the show tapes against my comments and address them as needed. At 6:05 the following morning, my brother texted me to say they were “referencing” my letter on the show. He said he had been accused of selling dead air as a commercial but failed to mention he ridiculed the sponsor during that time. It didn’t dawn on me until later that her concern was not us but the sponsor! (Geez, I’m losing IQ points by listening to him!) I’ve also heard him be complimentary of the Tyler paper and syndicated Conservative talk show hosts aired by his station.

Such a case was yesterday when he spoke in admitted ignorance about the Tea Party. My job as Chairman includes helping people understand the movement and increasing membership; you know I take great care to make sure the information you have about the news is accurate. So I called him. I gave my name and town then said, “I’m a Tea Party leader and want to talk to the Sign Man.” He put me on. Matt and I talked pleasantly for 4-5 minutes LIVE ON THE AIR about the movement.
We discussed the real racists who make the rest of us look bad; we talked about our purpose and goals and the fact that we are disorganized on purpose. You can’t look to a particular leader, whether it be a racist, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, or me and say, ‘THAT’s what the Tea Party stands for. That is the ‘typical’ participant in this movement.” It was a nice conversation, and frankly, I was impressed with his openness… until we hung up. As he hung up he said, “Stephanie sounds sexy.” That might have been a compliment, but he went on to say that if they sound sexy, they’re usually ugly. Hmph.

Inappropriate, regardless. But that’s minor compared to this:

He blew that little inch I gave him out of the water at 7:43 this morning when he started talking about the high school lesbian who wanted to attend the prom with her girlfriend with one of them wearing a tux. (www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-10-noprom_N.htm) His opinion and stating it in the press are his rights, and I don’t really care that he sees no problem with that scenario. I DO care that as he talked about it, his decency diminished to nothing.

Every time Matt Williams said “lesbian,” he used it to correct a vulgar term. Warning – this is about to become offensive.) He referred to them as “muff-munchers,” “dikes,” and “munch buddies,” to name the ones I remember. If you don’t know these words, ask a teenager. Their reactions will be priceless – it’s that vulgar. He went on to talk about how all those firm, hot-bodied teenagers “grinding” on each other is “hot.” The moron who called in to agree with him was just as bad. Of course he mentioned “boobs” and the fact that “there are no lesbians. There is just ‘pretty.’” Whatever that means. About half-way through, he did qualify all this by saying “18-year-old,” but the damage was done.

That could by MY beautiful 14-year-old daughter he’s talking about!!! If this is what he says aloud for all the world to hear, what does he censor!? It’s scary, if nothing else. Did I mention that I only listen for 20 minutes day on my ride to work? They play three hours of this mess!

I’ve had enough. I gave him and KZTK the opportunity to clean up the act, and they chose not to. Free speech is one thing, but public decency is another. Many of you told me you were disgusted from what I told you about him, so now I am calling on you to TAKE ACTION. HELP ME GET THIS MAN OFF THE AIR. He claims to be an expert on almost every job in the world and has a business, so take no pity for making him unemployed. This man has no place representing the “talk of East Texas.”

Of course I could turn the station, but I have two purposes in taking this on. First, such trash simply shouldn’t be on the air. If he was merely unentertaining, I would listen to something else, but if there were morning porn on your local TV station, would you ONLY change the channel? Second, I cannot stress how much I LOVE the rest of the station’s format. They are getting the word out on OUR behalf!! They are our allies. I do NOT want to see the reputation of KZTK tarnished because of one idiot who probably bought his way onto the air in the first place.

Yes, we might hurt the station in the short-term, but by November, even they will have benefitted.

They were given the opportunity to prevent this. Now I’m calling for a boycott and some MAJOR word-spreading. Here are your tasks:
• What affects a show’s longevity more than anything is ratings (said a former local TV station employee to me today). I continued listening after I wrote the letter because he deserved the chance to make it right. Now I’m finished. You should be, too.
• He didn’t say so, but money is a close second. The show pays for itself with sponsored ads. Write a letter to every sponsor of Mornings with Matt Williams. Address it to the person in charge of Advertising. Call them, fax them, send e-mails. Be polite but firm and to-the-point. Feel free to cut and paste anything you like from my e-mails to you. I will be writing and sending my own in the next couple of days. I will forward you those as well.
• If you know of other sponsors, send me their names.
• It will take time for me to gather all the sponsors and accurate contact information, so if you find the go-to person for these sponsors, please pass the information to me. It would reduce my workload greatly.
• The local sponsors I know of are listed below. If you have listened to the show and know of others, please send them to me as well.
• With my mailing list and our membership in the East Texas Constitutional Alliance, I will potentially reach 3,000 Conservatives in the greater East Texas area. If you forward this e-mail and the one I sent previously, which stated 15 points of contention, to even ONE person, you will have doubled that number. Ask them to do the same. This is a time to show our strength, folks. Show the media we matter.

SPONSORS I KNOW OF
Sign Man, which Matt Williams owns
Ben Maines Heating and Air
Lenox Air Conditioning
Lively Olds Cadillac
Spring Hill State Bank
Crown Kia
Healthy Figures Weight Loss
Discount Tire
White Oak Boat and Motor

HERE IS THE FIRST E-MAIL:

Dear Mr. Williams,

I thought it was time to let you know that the “talk of east Texas” is about how disgusted we are with your program. I have listened for a few minutes most days since you began. I continued so long to give you a legitimate chance to change my first impression of you; instead, you have proven that impression right over and over.

I want to see your show and commercials removed from KZTK program lineup. Here are a few reasons why.

Last week alone, you:
• Said the words “Look at Mineola. You can screw children there, and no one cares!” I heard the entire set, and contrary to your producer’s claim when I called, there is absolutely NO context in which those words are acceptable.
• Said the words “You’re in Gladewater. [Incest is] ok there.”
• Encouraged a clearly disturbed man to “Shnook ‘em” when he asked whether his fatherly feelings for a couple of waitresses were normal (which they are not. You apparently did not notice). He told you the women were married, and you still encouraged him to “Shnook ‘em.”
• Described what a woman should be like for an old fat man like you – “bounce a quarter off her.”
• Described modern teenagers as having “tits out to here.” Again, unacceptable.
• Insinuated that gas station attendants are easy. Your friend agreed, saying, “If you can’t sleep with a gas station clerk, you ain’t trying.” You completed the sentence differently: “You’re gay.”
• Made jokes about your utter inability to be decent by swearing repeatedly at 7:30 in the morning. If you were a midnight show, I would not find this to be a problem.

Previously, you have:

• Proclaimed you don’t even own a TV (but you are the talk of east Texas?)
• Said you “need to sleep with a woman” to relieve some stress. You went on to discuss how laying next to her body is calming, etc. I’m sure the women in east Texas are glad to know of this little service they provide to “men” like you.
• Continued the above conversation to discuss sleeping with a man. You said, “I can get past doing the deed. I just can’t imagine sleeping with a man.” Amid the unsavory description of a fat and hairy man sweating beside you, you explained that a woman’s body should have no hair “except a couple of places.”
• Thought it was interesting that all the singles in your wallet had probably “been in a stripper’s cleavage.” Did you grow up in a culture where such references are appropriate on open air?
• Said someone “deserved to die,” referring to a man who had killed a cop during a robbery. Is that cop’s life worth more than a teacher’s, a doctor’s, or your own mother’s?
• Criticized (repeatedly) the Tyler Morning Telegraph, which most of us are pretty pleased with. We don’t need you discouraging readership. They are our primary source of what’s going on in east Texas, since we aren’t getting anything we care about from your program.
• Insulted your sponsors. Granted, thirty seconds of dead air seems counter-productive to promoting a business, but you were just plain disrespectful.
• Bashed Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and other conservative talkers, similar to those on your own station. Perhaps you should actually listen to them. We do.

You may have heard some of the other shows on your station. They include Laura Ingraham, Fred Thompson, Mark Levin, and others – all conservatives. Did it not occur to you when you started this program that east Texas is a rather conservative area? We listen to KZTK because we want to hear about conservative issues – not your sexual desires.

As Chairman of the Van Tea Party and member of the East Texas Constitutional Alliance, I forwarded this letter to over 3,000 Conservatives in your listening area and asked them for suggestions. I suspect there will be talk of boycotting local sponsors as long as their commercials air during your show. If so, I will forward the letter to those sponsors, as well. It will also be posted on our website.
When you are no longer on the air or clean up your act considerably, I will gladly promote the station and your sponsors again to the same 3,000 east Texas Conservatives.

Sorry, no apologies if I have offended you. This is just me thinking out loud.

DISCLOSE Act

2010-07-04T07:21:00.003-05:00

Since writing this on June 21, I have learned of many other measures included in the bill that are unabashedly designed to restrict the media and protect incumbents. It reduces the privacy level of all donors (including individuals) by making their donations public, likely reducing the total donations that will be given to candidates supported by grassroots who haven't yet learned to work the Washington system and therefore do not have unlimited money coming in under the table.

I knew there was a catch. You do NOT want this law. Check it out yourself at www.DownsizeDC.org.

DISCLOSE ACT

I received an e-mail about the DISCLOSE Act. Nothing in the e-mail made sense to me because I didn’t know what it was. Was I for it or against it? Since it’s a proposed federal law that would give the government more authority over something, I assumed I was against it, but I began my research anyway.

Introduced on April 29, the bill basically does this:
• Federal candidates and major donors have to appear on camera to “approve this message”
• Practically no government contractors can contribute to an election campaign
• Corporations that received a bailout cannot contribute to campaigns as long as they still owe the money
• Closes the loophole that allows foreign-held entities to contribute; they currently DO have this right
• Unions and corporations could not run ads for a period of time before elections
• If you run an ad on behalf of a candidate, that is not a contribution to him unless he controls the ad
• The cost of the ad IS part of YOUR maximum allowed contribution
• Candidates and large (corporate or union) campaign donors all have to tell us how much they gave to or got from whom and where they got the money. It’s all going to be transparent.
• Everyone has a certain period of time in which to accurately report everything to the government and the People

The language used to explain the reasoning for this bill includes catch phrases like, “we need to make sure the public can follow the money,” “I wish Congress didn’t have to take action,” and “[States’] elections should be controlled by the [the States’ residents].”

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? It calls for full disclosure of campaign funds, which is something conservatives want. We don’t want any foreign interest influencing our sacred elections, and closing the loophole is a good thing. Under DISCLOSE Act legislation, unions and corporations like Goldman Sachs would have less financial power in getting their pawn elected. So what’s the problem?

I’m not sure, but there has to be one. This bill was announced by Democrats Charles Shumner (NY), Russ Feingold (WI), Ron Wyden (OR), Evan Bayh (IN), and Al Franken (MN). It was developed with the Whitehouse. This is an abbreviated version of the Whitehouse statement on the DISCLOSE Act:

“Powerful special interests and their lobbyists should not be able to drown out the voices of the American people. The legislation would establish the toughest-ever disclosure requirements for election-related spending by big special interests, so the American people can follow the money. I have long believed that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and this legislation will shine an unprecedented light on corporate spending in political campaigns. Passing the legislation is a critical step in restoring our government to its rightful owners: the American people.”

I laughed out loud when I read that part about shining an unprecedented light, but it’s taken from the name of the bill: “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections” or DISCLOSE Act.

Frankly, I’m not sure what’s wrong with this bill. It seems to speak directly to conservatives, but why are there no Republican sponsors? I haven’t been doing this government thing very long, but my Daddy taught me that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

In the past, when I’ve said I didn’t see the problem with something, people always show me what was right in front of my face. Am I missing something obvious here? I welcome your comments on this.

BP vs. Obama

2010-07-04T07:19:00.000-05:00

* Written June 9, 2010

According to Friday’s ABC evening news, BP spent fifty million dollars on a network commercial to regain our faith in the oil business – their company, specifically. They showed a clip of the commercial, followed by the clip of Obama strongly criticizing the idea. He is mad at them for spending time and money on it when there are much more pressing issues. I thought the same could be said of him, so I wondered – what was he really mad about, exactly? I made it my duty to find out what.

Knowing he has to do something to regain the favor of the People, Obama is taking full advantage of this dire situation. His first move was to claim it was under control. He told us not to worry because he was sending people down there to investigate. We haven’t heard anything about them since then, but didn’t you feel better about it at the time? One point for POTUS.

The next move was to blame BP (rightly or wrongly) and proclaim with authority he doesn’t have that he will make sure BP takes full responsibility for the damage. In the commercial, they do fully accept responsibility, as they have all along. CEO Tony Hayworth sincerely apologizes to those who have been harmed by the catastrophe and expresses genuine sorrow about the environmental damage. BP scores and makes it even.

He then stopped all drilling off the coast to prevent another disaster, in spite of the fact that only one well out of probably thousands in history has had such an accident. With that, people lost their jobs and all that goes with it, and this is in addition to the damage already being done to the shoreline. Everything I just named is going to end up dependent on the government. I call foul on this one because no one benefitted from that play. No point.

BP is trying one thing after another with practically no lag time in between. This has never happened before, so the engineers have no data to refer to. They’re going at this blindly and doing the best they can. Point for BP. Bonus point for hiring out-of-work fishermen to help with cleanup. Score is 3 to 1.

Obama finally fired someone who needed firing – Mineral Management Service Director Elizabeth Birnbaum. No one ever confirmed the circumstances of her leaving, but read between the lines. We all know MMS was not doing its job. Don’t you feel safer knowing a corrupt leader is out? Point for POTUS, catching up.

Now he thinks we don’t like BP, so he doesn’t like BP. Look, he’s on our side. See? That’s a point to tie up the score, and the POTUS team wins again! (Sorry – that was the liberal media reporting on the game.)

The fact is this. Obama is appealing to our sensitivities to improve his ratings. With these actions, he reaches environmentalists, the green industry, liberals who want the government involved, and all their lobbyists. The lobbyists lean on Congress to pass the laws they want passed. The new laws benefit whatever industry lobbied, the lobbyists, and the representatives who voted for it – all in a vicious cycle. (It looks a bit like a toilet flushing.)

While all those people are playing Pass the Buck, the American oil industry and especially Texas will falter. More and more people will become dependent on government programs and more laws with which to control our lives with be created. All this increases the power of the government.

Ahhh, there it is. That’s what he’s mad about. One way or another, Obama wants to come out a winner in this little game, but if BP plays its cards right, they will survive this. That doesn’t fit into Obama’s game plan, does it?

General McChrystal

2010-07-04T07:16:00.001-05:00

* This was written the night before McChrystal resigned.

It looks like General McChrystal is being called into the principal’s office for talking ugly about the administration. As long as he’s been doing this, then General knows how to do his job. No, we’re not winning this war, but that’s the fault of legislators, who guide (but do not write) the Rules of Engagement. Let me tell you a story.

My boss gave me the task a while back of creating a pretty document that reflected some ideas we had been discussing. He admits he isn’t good at that stuff (his version didn’t even have bullets!). That’s exactly why he hired me - I love that junk!! I was taught in college how to make attractive and effective displays, and I have a bit of an eye for it. This was my forte, and he had complete confidence in my ability.

He gave me the basic requirements. It had to include particular topics, specific title, a certain number of points, etc. Since it was the department version of a company project, he recommended I use the format of the example we had used. “But whatever,” he said. I e-mailed the person who created the original slide and asked for a copy. Our guidelines were different from theirs, so I altered it appropriately and finished the job.

When I finished, I took it back to the boss for approval. We discussed general and specific changes, made those, then sent it to HIS boss. His recommended improvements (which might as well be law) filtered back to me, and I made the changes. The boss did not micromanage me or tell me every move to make. When I took it to coworkers for their opinion, he didn’t mind. He respected my own opinion; he accepted some ideas and rejected others. That’s fine – he’s my boss.

Notice there was no mistake in the chain of command: It was MY TASK. The bulk of it was MY responsibility. He trusted ME to do the job I was assigned to do. He corrected MY work, which I mostly did on MY own. He only gave his approval because he was held accountable to someone.

Obama needs to figure out who’s in charge of all these wars he inherited, and it ISN’T him. Yes, I know he’s the Commander-in-Chief (according to most), but that makes him the boss – not the guy in charge of ground operations. Did my boss’s boss come nitpick my work? No, he has a man to do that job. General McChrystal is the President’s man for the job, and he is a battle expert.

The only reason he gives a flip about the true but negative comments McChrystal made in Rolling Stone is because it is a liberal magazine. If this article would have been in a more conservative publication, his majesty would not have looked twice, much less “summoned” McChrystal to the Whitehouse. Does anyone still even read Rolling Stone anymore? And if they do, are they reading about war? Not likely, but they will be now, and that’s bad for the Administration.

We can’t have the liberals seeing the light, too, now can we?

Some Gave All

2010-05-31T18:18:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the most off-the-wall things strike you in the most unusual ways?

I was watching Boston Legal a night or two ago and heard an interesting line. On the show, Denny Crain is a very wealthy, arrogant, womanizing (yet completely irresistible) attorney played to a “T” by William Shatner. I had missed most of the story but caught this line he spoke to his colleague and best friend who is probably 40. “At my age, having grown up in the 40s, knowing Hitler had the desire and power to actually DO IT, I remember going to sleep at night afraid that America wouldn’t be here tomorrow. Your generation doesn’t understand that. You’ve always known America would be here tomorrow.”

That stopped me dead in my tracks. Has it really only been sixty years since Hilter’s attempted takeover of all of Europe? Yet here we are now watching it happen again, almost play by play, but this time from within. Oh, how quickly we forget.

My grandfather dropped out of the eighth grade in 1933 to work on his family’s farm. Some years later he joined the Army and was barely a man, still unable to vote, when he went overseas in World War II. I don’t know all the details, but he was basically a body counter – How much damage did we do this round? He told me once that you learn to just step over the bodies and pretend they aren’t people. Someone had to do it.

When he returned, he graduated from my alma mater LeTourneau College (at the time) and spent several years working at LeTourneau, Inc. He left that for Kelly Springfield, from where he retired only months before his 72nd birthday. Papa died before reaching that milestone. I hate that I didn’t know him better.

He never talked much about his military service, but he believed every able man should serve. He was not a hard man, by any means, but he was the man you wanted around if you had to fight for a good cause. He kept my grandmother busy with one hobby/business after another, from dress shops to hair salons to ceramics to the Texas-shaped flower bed filled with bluebonnets in the front yard. He had a wonderful life with her, and they spent over four very happy decades together. He was one of the lucky ones.

We hear so many clichés on days like today. Slogans like “We will never forget” and “God bless our troops,” become trite after being printed on millions of posters and T-shirts, but one always rings true for me. All gave some, and some gave all. On Memorial Day we remember those who gave all – their very lives – because they believed in freedom.

Setting aside a day to honor those who fell is the least we can do for those who have gone on before us, but today is not the only day to remember. When you see an ancient Navy emblem tattooed on some old man’s arm, thank him. When you see a crippled woman wearing her military nursing pin as proudly as she did then, thank her. When you see a wheelchair with an “I support our troops” bumper sticker on it, thank the person sitting in it.

Today, remember those who gave all. The other 364 days, remember all those who gave some, and tell them you appreciate it.

Arizona Immigration Law

2010-05-16T14:42:00.002-05:00

I have decided to apply for the job of Attorney General of the United States. I am qualified because unlike our current AG Eric Holder, I have actually read the Arizona Immigration law, formally known as SB1070. These are the facts.

If you have ever read the language of any Bill, you know it consists largely of definitions, restrictions, and guidelines, and this one is no different. About 8 of the only 13 pages lay out terms and conditions – If you do this, it is a such-and-such level of crime, and you can be punished this amount for it. I did not research current laws on the specifics, but I assume the Immigration law allows stiffer penalties based on newly defined levels of the law.

The first restriction is that the State can’t go beyond what the federal law allows; the goal is to support those laws already in place by making it a crime to trespass in that state. (By inclusion in the United States, it already is.) Law enforcement can ask anyone they are legally in contact with whether they are here legally; absolutely no mention is made of any race, country, language or nationality. Thus, no profiling.

They are supposed to attempt to verify immigration status of people they question, but the final determination of status shall be made by someone already legally authorized to do so, such as a court or an Immigration official. In fact, violators will be turned over to Immigration or Border Patrol for investigation and processing, which keeps the State from overstepping its bounds into federal jurisdiction. The State of Arizona will be financially responsible for little more than the cost of initial detainment; then the offender will be in the hands of the Feds. No wonder the US Government is mad! How dare a piddly little state like Arizona force them to do their jobs AND make them pay for it!?

A peace officer can arrest without a warrant if someone is believed to have committed a crime that would result in removal from the US, such as being here in the first place. The person can be fined $500 plus court costs, which is paid into the Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team account. I didn’t like this idea at first, but it’s really no different that if someone had contraband on their person; they could be arrested on the spot and charged. Fines are paid into an appropriate war on something, usually drugs. This is not an additional power granted to law enforcement.

Transporting, hiding, or providing a vehicle to illegal immigrants could result in a $1000 fine for citizens. If a business owner hires an illegal alien, he can be forced to fire them and may lose any license or certificate he holds. However, if he used the e-verify system, and it said the employee was clear, the owner will not be punished because he made a reasonable attempt to determine status. (Why are they pushing that e-verify system so much? Who has that contract?) There are about 4 pages of this language, included in the 8 mentioned above.

Some sections protect citizens. They can’t take your legal car just because an illegal is driving it, although I’m sure you will be questioned extensively about the situation. If you are illegal and driving, the car can be impounded if it’s your car. Driving “implements of husbandry” does not count, which it shouldn’t since A) you don’t have to have a license to drive those anyway and B) how could legal contact with a cop arise from driving a tractor in a pasture?

The question of Constitutionality stems from two areas. Article 4 Section 4 states that the US government shall protect states from invasion and domestic violence. Search related crime stories in Arizona, and you will see they have NOT been doing that job. Amendment 14 guarantees due process and equal protection under the law for citizens. It also says that no state shall abridge “the privileges or immunities of citizens.” Arizona law does not abridge anything; conversely, it protects the citizens, and last time I checked, illegal immigrants are not citizens.

So. The law does not give additional power to government or law enforcement, it does not step outside its Constitutional authority, and it is no more expensive than the federal government doing its job correctly in the first place.

Frankly, I love this law and don’t see what all the fuss is about. Maybe it’s just those liberal who spout off at the mouth when they haven’t read the bill. That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Hyphenated Americans

2010-05-13T20:56:00.000-05:00

I’m not sure when “equality” came to mean “giving every possible minority group special treatment,” but it apparently does. If you’re gay, black, can trace your heritage, Muslim, female, overweight, disabled, or pretty much anything other than healthy white Christian male, there is a special interest group for you. (Note that I’m in there, too.) On the flip side, if you ARE a healthy white Christian male, you should probably just keep your mouth shut or expect severe criticism.

Do a YouTube search, and you will find hundreds of videos of darker-skinned hyphenated Americans talking about the uprising of their race and how they deserve special treatment. Look for the one of the teacher spouting hate language against white people.

Since 1997, National Council of La Raza has helped more than 22,000 Hispanics buy their first homes, they support 115 charter schools to “provide quality education to Latino children,” and their health clinics treated more than 100,000 people in 2006. (All statistics taken from their website www.nclr.org.) Have regular schools and clinics denied them quality education and health care? As a teacher, I can tell you the answer is a resounding NO. Schools bend over backward to make accommodations and teach English, and many simply conduct classes in Spanish rather than require assimilation.

La Raza openly supports affirmative action for education, tougher penalties for hate crimes, removing barriers to voting, and funding to combat housing discrimination. Who is keeping these people from voting?? I guess putting the ballot in Spanish isn’t enough.

The term “hate crime” should not exist. Why is your life worth more than mine just because you are attracted to the same sex or because your name is Rodriquez? There are already laws to combat housing and other types of discrimination, and a crime is a crime, regardless of your label. I busted my butt to get into a good college, and you should have to, too. Being born brown, black, yellow, green, purple, or anything else has nothing to do with what you deserve.

I am NOT a racist or hater of any kind. I don’t care what color your skin is, what language your parents spoke, who you sleep with, who you worship, or where you live. I used to think I was fortunate to be born white so I didn’t have to deal with discrimination, but in recent months, I’ve come to realize that I AM the minority in this country.

The fact is, every hyphenated or otherwise specifically labeled group thinks their cause and their needs are more important than the rest. They want special permissions and laws specifically to protect them. They want to be just like everyone else, yet they keep the hyphen and form groups like La Raza. Those groups demand special classes in school, special treatment at the real estate office, government documents in their language, and they expect their foreign holidays to be celebrated in the United States.

How dare you come to MY country then demand I give you something more than I deserve myself? Is it not enough that you are entitled to your ignorant and selfish opinion even though your fathers never fought to protect it? Is it not enough that you use the services you have never paid a dime into? Is it not enough that you take our jobs and send the money back where you came from?

What has happened to our country? We used to be a melting pot, where everyone who came here wanted to be the same thing – American.

No hyphen.

Teaching Trends

2010-04-12T08:13:00.001-05:00

A friend recently wrote to a member of the Texas State Board of Education arguing that we must teach significant events in history rather than just people. I wrote back, then edited it for this blog site. Here it is.

If I may, let me add that trends should also be discussed. Take the Civil War as an example. Don’t just teach the event of the Civil War, but tell me how we got there. What was the “feeling” of the People? Not one person, but People with a capital P. ONE person’s thinking doesn’t matter. (Even the great Martin Luther King, Jr. would have accomplished nothing if he had been the only person with his opinion.)

We teach the events that led to the Civil War, the battles within, and the end, and those are all important things to know. But I never learned the real reasons behind the war, how things had grown to that state, and the sheer exhaustion that led to the South’s surrender until I minored in History in college! That’s unacceptable.

The Feds played dirty in the North with “total war,” and people need to learn that today, or it will happen again. And I don’t mean that figuratively.

I wonder what they’re going to try to teach my grandchildren. I wonder if they’ll teach them about 9/11 then say that 15 years later, the racist antigovernment groups in the nation started a Civil War because we hate Muslims. Will they talk about how we beat them and enslaved them by only allowing them to run gas stations in this country? They could never really get ahead because we kept them down. They were a peaceful, loving people who only wanted to follow the Koran, and we hated them for the color of their skin.

Will they say the government did all it could do after 9/11 to protect us, but it was never enough for us? Maybe they’ll claim we blamed the government all along, and that the notion was completely unprovoked. They won’t talk about our dissatisfaction with the handling of Desert Storm and how they’ve made our self-sacrificing soldiers a bunch of armed sissies with the ridiculous Rules of Engagement. They won’t talk about how we woke up more and more and got angrier and angrier every time a sitting President tried to make us sitting ducks.

They’ll talk about how a market crash led us to another Great Depression one day a few years from now, but they probably won’t say it happened the day after Obamacare fully kicks in. They won’t tell our grandchildren that we fought like hell to prevent any of the above scenarios from happening; they’ll say we rebelled against all the holy government wanted to do for us.

I finally learned in college that trends not only exist; they are important. That’s the whole meaning behind the old adage about those who don’t know their history being doomed to repeat it. King Solomon wasn’t just being obvious when he said there is nothing new under the sun; he was telling us to pay attention to things that happen over and over because they matter.

Complacency

2010-01-16T20:46:00.000-06:00

A new friend and fellow political blogger sent me an e-mail today. It was a picture of a notebook-sized case; inside was an assortment of tubes, containers, and some kind of bellows, like you would use to fan a flame in a fireplace. There was a historical explanation of how a tube on this contraption was inserted in the rectum of a drowning victim to revive him. Somewhere, there was tobacco involved, so these people would literally blow smoke up someone’s butt to revive them. The joke was that the tool had recently been reintroduced to Congress.

You’re not going to believe this, but I’ve actually seen that REAL contraption.

However, I don’t remember the little plaque beside it inside the Guiness Book of World Records Museum saying anything about the rectum!! It WAS used to resuscitate drowning victims. They didn’t realize plain air would have done a better job than smoke. I was in that museum 16 years ago… I have no earthly idea why I remember that.

My friend believes that once we get our country back, we will never be so complacent again. I disagree. Whether this movement fizzles into nothing and we return to business as usual, or we end up in an all-out civil war, at some point, people will fall back into the lull of complacency. The only reason we call ourselves Americans and not UK’uns today is because we were ticked off and no longer complacent. Here we are, two hundred years later, in the exact same place we were then.

Ok, two hundred years is a long time.

I recently read about how Hitler’s rise to power began with him truly winning the people’s favor. It took two years. TWO. YEARS. That’s not even ONE Presidential term! Do we not teach our kids history anymore? I was never once taught the Holocaust was until I was in college four years ago – and I wouldn’t have learned it then except History was my minor! I had never heard Martin Luther King’s life story or entire speech until I taught it to fifth graders myself… after TAKS, of course. I was scolded for actually using “the N word” as it was written in one of the very first speeches ever given in the Women’s Rights movement (look up Sojourner Truth). God forbid we tell things the way they are, even if it isn’t pretty.

History really does repeat itself; I never believed that until I found myself living it right here in the land of the kinda free and the home of the politically correct.

Our founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they saw what our nation has become, and we should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing such complacency to nearly destroy what so many gave their very lives for. America as we know it is not what they envisioned.

We have to get our government back under control while we still can because I don’t want my great granddaughter writing this same blog. And you don’t want yours reading it.

Time Out!

2009-09-19T08:29:00.003-05:00

When I was in school, cheerleaders were pretty respectable people for the most part. After winning the popularity contest, their job was to encourage and cheer for the team whose uniform they wore, and no other. They made nice with visiting cheerleaders, hosted social events to bring us all together, and helped squads in other grade levels. Mostly, they made the audience believe it was going to be a great game, even if everyone in the stands knew we had the worst team in the county (not that it was ever the case in Van).

The Presidency of the United States carries some parallels. Obama won the popularity contest in November, and he has been encouraging his team ever since. He has made nice with opponents around the world, such as Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela. He encourages us by saying we are coming out of the recession, getting the swine flu under control, and saving the nation from poverty and poor health.

As captain, Obama has quite a few other team members to help him accomplish his purpose. You might be familiar with Van Jones, who unfortunately received too many demerits and is no longer able to cheer at games; you can bet he’s still planning the Homecoming parade, though. And let’s not forget Nancy Pelosi; she makes me think of the cheerleader in the movies who always stands behind the captain with crossed arms and hip kicked out saying, “Yeah! What she said!” She has no independent thoughts of her own, only the ability to parrot her leader when appropriate.

Cheerleading is a good thing, and Sunday afternoons just wouldn’t be the same without the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders at halftime, but that’s not the job Obama applied for. Why has he become a cheerleader for his Health Care Bill when we hired him to be the coach for the entire United States?

The coach’s job is to direct the players to do what is best for the team, not what is best for him. He should work them hard enough to be successful, but not the point of breaking backs. He should not run around complaining to other coaches about how unqualified the last coach was and the poor state in which he left the facilities. He should not apologize for the team's performance when they are, in fact, the best team around, even if they have some weaknesses and make a bad play occasionally. A good coach only mentions those things in the locker room.

When the supporters bring forth a concern about the team, it should be honestly considered by the coach. Suggestions made by wise counsel should be heeded rather than called silly, fake, or extreme, simply because they are contrary to his own methods. There is no weakness in accepting good advice.

When the coach does his job well, he is praised for being a good leader and a good planner. He is respected and admired by his team and their supporters, and he brings a greater morale to the entire population. Everyone benefits from his expertise and ability to carry out what needs to be done for good of all. But the parallel stops there because when a coach does his job poorly, he is fired.

Firing the President is easier said than done, but shouldn’t someone at least call a timeout?

Apollo Alliance

2009-08-26T23:32:00.001-05:00

Fellow Patriots:

I’m sick. I am literally sick at my stomach with what I just read. If you participated in the “Tele-Town Hall Meeting” last night with Congressman Jeb Hensarling, you heard a man ask about the “Apollo group, who wrote this bill.” I mistakenly thought he referred to the Health Care Bill, but he was in fact referring to the great Stimulus Package. I hope you’re sitting down.

They. Wrote. The bill. Our legislators took the words of the Apollo Alliance and turned it into the straw that is breaking America’s back. We have all wondered how over a thousand pages got written and passed in such a short amount of time. The fact is, it was written before Barack Obama even took office! Isn’t there some rule that our legislators – our LAWMAKERS – have to actually write the laws??? I’m pretty sure they aren’t supposed to steal billions of dollars from unknowing American citizens to support some third party’s AGENDA!!! And it IS an agenda; read on.

The goals of the Apollo Economic Recovery Act (their words) are stated simply on their website: The Alliance’s proposal calls for immediate targeted federal investments next year to improve energy efficiency in buildings, advance federal clean energy tax credits, expand home weatherization programs, modernize the transmission grid, sharply increase federal investments in rapid transit, and repair roads and bridges.

Isn’t it convenient that the auto industry was completely crippled just in time for this “recovery” act to be thrust upon us? Part of their recovery consists of being partially bought out by our government, pieces sold off in exchange for the promise of producing fuel-efficient cars (Fiat), and creating all these new jobs in the process. They forgot to mention all the jobs, savings, homes, and futures that have been lost in the entire economic fallout that resulted from a few key companies crashing.

By the way, the Apollo Alliance is a “project of the Tides Center.” They identify themselves: Tides Center provides back-office services to social entrepreneurs and activists working on the front lines of issues such as environmental sustainability, social justice, human rights, health, and community development. As a bona fide non-profit organization, they are eligible for grants and other breaks that regular businesses are not. Therefore, our government gives them money to advance their agenda, which includes “fiscally supporting” whoever supports all the junk we oppose! Check them out at www.tidescenter.org.

Am I the only person who sees something fundamentally wrong with this? I’d love to hear from you about it. I will also post it on Van Tea Party’s Facebook page, and you can comment there.

You can read Apollo’s own press release about the Apollo Economic Recovery Act (their words) here: http://apolloalliance.org/programs/full-proposal/apollo-economic-recovery-act/

Here is their homepage: http://apolloalliance.org/

2009-08-26T23:32:00.000-05:00

Van Tea Party Recap

2009-08-14T18:24:00.003-05:00

The following was sent to all who signed up to be on the Van Tea Party mailing list by Jill Dutton, the mastermind behind last week's rally. The Hubs says this makes me Alice in Wonderland's Madd Hatter. But you already knew I was mad.

What an amazing week it has been. I'm exhausted after 3 weeks of non-stop go, go, go in preparation for the Rally last Thursday! Shirley, Betty, and I literally threw the Rally together in just 2 weeks and were overwhelmed by the response of over 300 people at the event!

Monday, I was a guest on Grassroots America Internet Radio Program talking about the Van Tea Party. You can listen to that broadcast via pod cast at www.gawtp.com then click on Radio Meeting and choose 08/10/2009.

Later that day, Shirley and I attended a Town Hall Meeting with Congressman Jeb Hensarling and were able to deliver the poster you all signed at the Rally asking him to stand firm against Nationalized Healthcare. The Town Hall meeting was about Healthcare, and I can assure you, the Congressman is looking out for you!

Wednesday, I went to Dallas to finally get some work done at the office, but I made time for saving America! I delivered the other two posters to John Cornyn's office and Kay Bailey Hutchison's office. Rather neutral response from their staffers but I'm not sure they know what to think of the Tea Parties yet!

Finally, last night, a group of about 35 plus people met at the Farmhouse to discuss where they wanted to go from here. The group decided to organize a Leadership Committee:

Chairman: Stephanie Nalls
Vice Chairman: Ken H.
Treasurer: Jewel A.
Secretary: Diana W.
Communications: Fred S.
Legislative Committee Leader: Jim R

Chairman Stephanie Nalls is asking for your input on what you would like to see Tea Party Do. She says, "We are clearly like-minded -- the issue is simply what to do with our opinions and frustration. I'm open to suggestions." Please contact her with your ideas.

Health Care for Americans NOW - 2

2009-08-12T21:52:00.001-05:00

Frankly, I’m a little disappointed in the behavior of some of the party-goers across the nation, not that I can blame them for being so angry. Shouting and pushing like grade-schoolers serves only to reduce our credibility. Keep it civil, dear Patriots. Remember that attending meetings to speak our mind is one of the few rights we have left.

I told you last time about Healthcare for America Now and who they think we are. Under the headline “What are their goals in turning out disruptive mobs?” you will find the following statements (in italics). The primary organization that has taken it upon itself to pass the HCB believes our goals are:

1) to stop Obama. This statement is simply false. We want Obama (the man who holds the honorable distinction of being the first black President) to succeed. We do not want Obama (the power-hungry, condescending, elitist) to succeed at getting his pants on every day, much less in passing irresponsible, over-reaching, unconstitutional bills. If they’re going to throw blanket statements out there, at least add SOME shred of truth.

2) influence the media. Of course we want to influence the media! It’s about stinkin’ time they start reporting something that actually resembles the truth. My parents vaguely remember when the news was fairly unbiased and reported things we actually want to hear about. Today, the media scratches the back of every government official out there. If anyone figures out what their reason is for such bias, please let me know.

3) scare Members of Congress into thinking that there is more resistance to health care reform than really exists. This does not even make sense. If we wanted to inflate our numbers, we would first produce some numbers, which we have not done. We might send multiple letters with fake signatures, make numerous phone calls using different names, register dead voters. We would do anything except show up in person! That’s just ridiculous. Do they not realize that for every person who shows up, there are many more who did not? How many do YOU know who agree with you but haven’t bothered with a meeting?

4) The attendees are not reflective of the middle or average Republican Party member. This is true, partly because no one knows what a Republican is any more and partly because the tea parties are not partisan. They are advertised as such, and all publicity I have seen explicitly states that all are welcome. Attendees are reflective of the average American who is tired of the below-average performance of an above-average system.

The HCAN also believes the mammoth powers behind this movement “recruit mostly [militant] right-wing extremists” to “demonize Obama by tapping into fear and anger.” I wish we could make them understand that we aren’t tapping into anything. People are legitimately angry. They are legitimately fearful of our government that seems to know no bounds. We are mourning the loss of the vision our forefathers had for us, and we dread the America our children will live in.

Listen up, Lawmakers! Right now, we are just angry. Unless you start paying attention to We the People and start making the changes your constituents actually want, you are going to learn what an angry MOB really is.

Health Care for Americans NOW

2009-08-09T19:28:00.002-05:00

If you support the Health Care Bill, stop reading this and go to www.HealthCareforAmericaNOW.org. It’s what you’re looking for. The rest of you who still give a flip about this country, read on.

The site I just named is the biggest organization out there pushing to pass the Health Care Bill (hereafter called HCB). It boasts a large red and yellow headline link that reads “FIGHT BACK against the RIGHT” and tongue-in-cheek article titles like “Hey... Your Astroturf is showing.”

They don’t like “tea-baggers” much (their word, not mine), so their memo about how to handle us caught my attention today. You can read it by clicking the “Fight back” link on their site. In an effort to know my enemy, of course I read the memo (as you should, if you attend parties). They ticked me off in the second sentence by claiming the tea party movement is lobbyist funded. I haven’t received a dime for my contribution.

The first step in getting the HCB passed guides the reader to attend a meeting and provides a link to help them do so. Step 2 says to educate yourself on how to “combat right-wing tactics.” Step 3 explains their response and identifies the right wingers. According to HCAN, we are:

1) far right-wing ideologues recruited by paid organizers. Yes, there are some FAR right-wingers, but most of us are just plain ole patriots. We admit being right-wing ideologues. (Those are people who “advocate some ideology;” I had to look it up, too.) What we are NOT is paid by anyone. I was bribed with tea and cookies at my party, but it WAS a tea party, and I was asked for a donation to help pay for it. I didn’t look that phrase up, but I don’t think my experience qualifies as “recruitment” by anyone.

2) motivated by far right ideology in general - not by health care as an issue. Practically everyone who attends is there for one of three reasons. They are looking for information about what’s going on with our country, they are there to cause trouble, or they are like-minded and want to know what they can do to help. Most of the like-minded can identify a particular issue that pushed them to the point of actually doing something. For many, it is the health care issue; for many others, it is something else; for still others, it’s the left ideology in general.

3) held together by a common vision of the world that centers on defeating Obama and his agenda. Our vision is not so common as to be “of the world,” and it centers on giving the government back to the People. It centers on freedom, fiscal responsibility, limited federal control, and accurate representation. If His Majesty opposes any of that, then yes, we seek to defeat his agenda. We have no desire to defeat him as a person.

4) anti-abortion groups, pro-gun groups, insurance company employees (mandated by employers to come out), militia groups, and anti-immigration groups. Yes, there are party-goers who represent all those groups, plus religious, civic, educational, non-profit, senior citizens, parents, children, law enforcement, veterans, and political figures. Wow. Those paying organizers really missed some of their mark, didn’t they? I’m not sure about insurance employees being mandated to come, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Tomorrow I’ll explain their propaganda about our goals and purpose.

Are You With Me?

2009-08-08T00:21:00.002-05:00

It does my heart good to see news footage and Google search results with titles like “Tea Party Bashers Gone Wild” and “Top Democrat denounces health care protests.” It means it’s working. It’s working, people! They aren’t quite getting it yet, but they will.

Practically every news outlet in America reports something on tea parties every time they occur. Today I saw footage of arguments and protestors protesting the protests, which means they other side is concerned enough to show up at our functions to cause disruption. Liberal nonsense about how we are mere astroturf and not legitimately grassroots is pouring out of Washington now, but if they truly believed it, they would not be producing commercials and trying to shut us up.

One of my first few blogs told you how the Department of Homeland Security had identified me (and many of you) as extremist and anarchist. I don’t really mind that label because under their conveniently broad definitions, I suppose I am an anarchist. However, I resent being called part of an angry mob (Democratic National Committee). Angry, yes; mob, no.

We also resent the implication that this is a movement was organized by any other group than We the People – not Fox News or the GOP. Why is it so impossible for the opposition to believe there are enough ticked off people out there to make a difference? We are accurately called the minority, but Dr. King did not start with thousands of people attending his speeches, either. He started by talking to his family and friends and congregation about his dream that later became the cornerstone of the Civil Rights movement.

Slaves did not become free by one person occasionally walking off the plantation – it took leaders like Harriet Tubman and the random organization of untold numbers of other regular citizen to make changes happen. Alcohol was prohibited, thanks to a few women with axes who started getting the word out about how they felt; the prohibition amendment was repealed in similar fashion. My right to vote was borne on the backs of women who first started complaining to each other about inequality; so was yours if you voted before you turned 21.

The purpose of the non-partisan tea parties is not to tell us what to do – we already know what needs to be done. The purpose is to connect us and get us talking to each other. It’s not enough to yell at the six o’clock news in the privacy of your own home. It’s not enough to write a letter or make a phone call once in a while (although I strongly advocate those actions). It’s not enough to read my blog, watch Fox News, and only discuss politics with those who agree with you.

This great nation’s sovereignty began with a handful of men and women who were mad about being taxed. They banded together, stood up for what they believed in, and demanded that the government stop enslaving its citizens. And we’re going to bring her back the same way.

Are you with me?

Acting Stupidly

2009-08-02T10:40:00.004-05:00

I am reading the narrative of the Henry Gates Incident Report, trying to figure out exactly what Sgt. James Crowley determined to be “Disorderly Conduct.” President Obama was right when he said the Cambridge cop acted stupidly (notice I put it in the singular, though). Except the racial discrimination crap spewed by Gates, race played no role in this incident.

First, Sgt. Crowley told the 911 caller to meet him in front of the house she was calling about. If she was watching closely enough to see the man enter, surely she knew he was still in there. Being on that property – either trespassing or waiting with a criminal in the house – was the single stupidest thing she could have done.

The first paragraph of the report states, “These actions on behalf of Gates served no legitimate purpose” and caused people to gather around and watch. I figure just having a cop in that neighborhood would cause people to stare, but it looks like it made the officer uncomfortable enough to just arrest the guy shouting at him. Rule #1 - Don’t embarrass the cop. (On a separate note, no actions were done on Gates’s behalf; he acted himself. Stupid.)

Crowley details his arrival, saying the caller, now present, described the men as black. I first thought, “Well, that’s a lie.” However, Ms. Walen could have changed her story after talking to another witness while waiting for the cops. That’s actually fairly common in crime witnesses, so I’m not going to debate that much. Then he stupidly stood with his back to the door and smartly (finally) told her to wait outside.

Gates initially refused to open the door, but after the officer identified himself and his purpose for being there, Gates did open the door asking, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?” Seems like an odd response, and I admit it would put me on the defensive, but standing in his own house, he can say whatever he wants to. When Gates showed his Harvard ID, Crowley called Harvard Police. Why? Another Cambridge officer was already on his way. Did he NEED the Harvard cops? I’m sure they’re very experienced in such matters.

At some point, Officer Crowley entered the house; the report does not say when, but it does say he “walked across the foyer” to get out, only because he couldn’t hear on the radio. Based on Gates’s behavior so far, I seriously doubt the cop was invited to enter. Regardless, the cop certainly should have put the entrance in the report. I’m going to call it trespassing. Besides, his services were not needed. Stupid.

Gates loudly demanded the officer’s name several times, which he gave a least twice. Crowley was preparing to leave when he noticed the Harvard Police and several other civilian spectators who had gathered. When he saw everyone watching him exit with a shouting Gates on his heels, he probably felt like an idiot. (Remember Rule #1?)

Once outside, Crowley finally warns Gates to cool off a little, saying he was “becoming disorderly.” Crowley’s report mentions again – for the third time – that people were watching, so he pulls out his cuffs for show. Gates called his bluff and yelled again after the handcuff display, so Crowley arrested him on his front porch.

Wait... What??!!

He was arrested on his own front porch for being disorderly in his own home. Suppose he had been shouting some kind of rhetoric other than racism – save the baby whales or something. Do you think he would have been arrested for disorderly conduct? Of course not. The officers would have left smiling, content to let everyone think Gates was just a crazy old man.

Cambridge PD was well within its rights to go to the house, question the man inside, and even ask for identification. Gates’s actions were clearly absurd, but he didn’t do anything illegal; his actions didn’t warrant a ticket, much less an arrest (evidenced by the fact that the charges were dropped).

I was a bit surprised to see how people in east Texas responded to this. Both blacks and whites interviewed by a local TV station said Gates should have calmly done as he was asked, answering “Yes, sir” and “No, sir,” and none of this would have happened. That may true, but it’s also bull crap because the natural question following that response is, “Or what?”

You get arrested for disorderly conduct in your own home, that’s what.

Healthcare Accountability

2009-07-28T15:53:00.001-05:00

To make a very long story that I want to share with you somewhat shorter...

I spent yesterday at the doctor’s office and the ER with my 9-year-old son Dakota. We went to the doctor at 1:00 with a staph infection on the back of his leg (from the pool, probably), but he had unrelated symptoms that suggested appendicitis. The (visiting) doctor sent him to the ER and wanted to let them handle the staph, too.

Mom met me up there at 3:30. Dr. Creath said it WAS staph but wasn't too worried about the appendicitis thing; however, any treatment for staph could mask symptoms of appendicitis, so he needed to definitely rule that out.

They got set up to lance the staph abcess, drew blood for cultures, and gave him an IV for fluids. Then he had a chest X-ray to rule out TB (???) and a CAT scan to check the appendix. He was fine, so that was over.

When we got back, the doctor had told Mom that he was NOT going to lance it because the blood cultures were fine and it was draining. It had bled a single drop when I yanked a band-aid off; that's NOT drainage, and he knew I knew it! He had LEFT and left a prescription. Truth is, his shift was ending, and he didn't want to be stuck finishing a project. I was ticked! (Remind me some other time to tell you about how so many procedures get done an hour before shift change.) Instead of just signing out, I requested another doctor, and I liked him much better.

Dr. Marino said neither diagnosis was wrong and gave me the statistics I asked for. Basically, there was a 50% chance that sending him home with antibiotics would work. That left a 50% chance that we’d be back here in two days. If they lanced it, there was a 50% chance there would be no pus, and we would have cut him for nothing. On the 50% chance that there WAS pus, he would be better in two weeks. The Hubs and I agreed to go ahead and lance it then and be done with it.

Then there was another issue: Should we give him morphine then a local anesthetic, or should we just knock him out? Dakota wanted to be asleep, but there are greater risks involved, so we left that decision to the doctor. When the morphine kicked in around 10:45, they finally started the lancing. I won't go into details, but it was gross and bled a lot. They finally applied at least an inch of gauze and wrapped it. They gave him two prescriptions and instructions on how to care for it. We spent 20 minutes at CVC and came home.

Now here’s my question: How would this have played out under government health care? There’s no definite way to answer this, but you know I’ve got some ideas.

First, the primary care doctor that I’d never seen before probably would not have sent him to the ER in the first place. She would have poked and prodded and given him an antibiotic for the staph. But supposing she had, the ER would have been a different story, too.

Under Obama’s plan, “unnecessary procedures” will not be done, and tests will not be duplicated (from his most recent speech). Dakota probably would not have had the TB X-ray because he had no symptoms of that. It was necessary to rule out appendicitis because the antibiotics and pain killers they used to treat the staph would mask symptoms of appendicitis, possibly until it was too late. Since the attending physician did not suspect appendicitis, we would not have had the CAT scan, either.

Would I have had the right to request another doctor? What if he had chosen to do the local without the morphine? Would they have sent Dakota home with the antibiotics when he really needed something more? How many hours would I have sat there if doctors were getting paid a government salary, regardless of how many patients they saw?

But what if my son DID have appendicitis? What if we hadn’t lanced it and the two infections caused them both to worsen? Assuming the very worst, if that happened today, I could sue the doctor for negligence, and most of you would support me in that endeavor. So here’s my next question:

Will we be able to hold the government accountable if they take someone’s life because they didn’t do an “unnecessary” test?

Fungus-Filled Blog

2009-07-25T19:57:00.000-05:00

My mom was bitten by a stray cat that lives under our house. It was the gray-and-white one that looks like a Siamese that I call Mushroom that bit her. Very mean. Her finger’s all swollen, and she took some Benedryl, so now can’t think very clearly. Being a sweet little girl, I have decided to blog for her.

I’m blogging about Mushroom and its brother and sister, Don and Fancy. Don is a little bitty tabby. We thought it was a boy and called it Twiggy, then we captured it. I had to put on three jackets, a long sleeve shirt, two pairs of gloves, three pairs of pants and five pairs of socks just to keep it from hurting me! It was a girl, so we changed her name to Dawn. A few days later, we caught her again. This time, we realized it was a boy and not a girl, so we changed the spelling of his name to DON. We had gotten used to its name already.

Fancy, their sister, has been caught several times - ten, to be exact. We call her Fancy because she is solid white with orange ears, orange tail, and orangish back feet; her eyes are crystal blue (I keep wanting to call her Ketchup because her orange parts look like ketchup stains on white fur).
When I trap her, she makes this really funny sound. She sounds like she’s trying to talk, like my Grandma’s cat Zachaeus, but that’s a whole other story. I’ll tell you about that next time I blog for my mom.

Mushroom got his name because he’s funny-colored like a mushroom. Plus, that was the only thing my mom could think of. Mushroom was caught in the same trap I always catch Fancy in. My brother caught her. Caught him. Caught her. Caught IT! Anyway, we used blankets to pick him up, but that didn’t work. He was hissing and growling, and Mom wouldn’t come outside to see whether it was a him or her.

I was getting pretty anxious, so I told my brother to start tapping the cage to distract the kitten so I could pet it to see if it was soft. (Instead, he stuck his fingers IN the cage, and the kitten tried to bite him. It also had really greasy fur.) He was a grumpy butt after Dakota poked him with his fingers.

When Mom finally got outside to check the gender, she picked him up in the blanket. He got so mad, he threw a fit! He was hissing and meowing and trying to talk like a human! I told Mom to be careful, but it was too late. He had already bitten her. She gave it a whole new name that I’m not allowed to say! She dropped him in the cage and told us to put him back. We saw the blood on her finger, so I told Dakota to "STEP BACK!"

I pulled the blanket back from the top of the cage. He jumped out like a mad kangaroo and was gone like a bullet! I’ve never seen a kitten move so fast, and Mom said she had never been bitten so hard (by a kitten). Her finger was so big around, it was almost as big as my gigantic ‘cata-piddar’ Fatso.

Mom said that if we could catch all three, we could take the little devil (Mushroom) and Don to the pound and hope they get good homes, but I’m not sure I want to catch IT again. I’ve set up the trap to catch Fancy, though. In fact, she might be in it right now. So, bye!

Written 100% completely by Sheridan, age 11.

Naming Cheyenne

2009-07-18T22:51:00.001-05:00

I am a word nerd, and there’s no getting around that. I am fascinated by word origins and the meaning of names. My son is fascinated by Ask.com, thanks to all their commercials aired during sporting events or something. When he wanted to know God’s last name, that’s where we went. Apparently Mom’s answer was not enough. Once he got that answer, he said, “What else can I ask?” I had seen “What does my name mean?” as a suggestion as he was typing the original question, so I recommended that. This is where the fun began.

The site we used for name research was BabyNameAddicts.com, and it claims to give the true meaning of names, not the fluffy ‘beauty of the heavens” type of name that we have adapted to sound prettier than they really might be. We have learned in the past that all three of our children’s names mean friendship, which was not intentional. It was no surprise to find that Dakota means friend in the Native American Dakota language. Dakota itself means Native American Tribe in Old English. Very original. He’s a pretty popular kid, so the friendship part fits him.

Sheridan means searcher in Old English. This is also quite appropriate because she is a very adventurous young lady. Not the skydiving type, but the hiking in the mountains and having all the wild animals come to her like a Disney movie type. One of my male friends dared her to eat a whole tadpole once, and she DID! Can’t get the child to eat a carrot to save her life, but she’ll swallow a tadpole without batting an eye! Just when I thought I had her figured out...

Cheyenne is my little chatterbox, the perfect Gemini. Sometimes she’s sweet and thoughtful; sometimes she’s wise beyond her years; sometimes she’s silly and talks in a baby voice; sometimes she’s got PMS and is a raging... well, you know. She admits it. All of her personalities seem to have some kind of speech impediment, and they all talk really fast. Of course I can understand every word because I’m the Mom, but most other adults I know ask, “What?” at some point during the conversation with her. When she’s rattling off a story, my mother looks at me like, “Is she speaking English? I’m not catching a word.”

Dakota and I were quite amused to find that Cheyenne’s name means incoherent speakers. When I explained to him what ‘incoherent’ means, he almost fell off the bed laughing; I didn’t even have to explain the correlation between her and the word. In case you’re wondering, the Hubs means Prince and Stephanie means Crowned, so those are obviously right on the money!

The Hubs and I assume that when the English met the Cheyenne Indians and could not understand them, they reidentified the word Cheyenne (the title the Indians had given themselves) to mean incoherent speakers. What we can’t figure out is how they got to the Cheyenne all the way in Wyoming before coming upon that clever name.

We’ve done a little clever word-making, too. When someone says something that doesn’t make sense, we say they’re Cheyenning! She’s not too fond of it, but at least we’ve quit giving her such a hard time about being short.

Grievances Summary

2009-07-16T12:28:00.001-05:00

In case you didn’t read them all (and I can’t tell than anyone did), my grievances against this present government are:

1. Pay for what is reasonable, and pay it only for American citizens. Send everyone else home.
2. Strengthen our military instead of weakening it. If your freedom is important to you, leave the military budget alone.
3. Stop making laws that regulate my personal life. As a US Citizen, I have the right to make my own decisions in pursuit of happiness.
4. Leave my guns alone.
5. Spend my money wisely and with my opinion in mind.

This is the most exhaustive list I have come up with in one sitting, and here is what I realized. The government of this FREE country has effectively, to some extent, told me:

where I can be educated
what I can do in my house
what I can do in my car
what I can put in my body
what they can take from my body
when I can communicate
when I can assemble peaceably
what I can teach my children
what my property is worth
what property I can own
how I can store what I own
they don’t trust me
they are superior to me
they don’t appreciate me
they can take my freedom on a whim
they won’t support me
my land is not mine
my home is not mine
my body is not mine

And people wonder what all the fuss is about from the conservatives.

(If you have any questions about how my rant demonstrates the things listed above, please e-mail me.)

Grievance #5

2009-07-16T12:23:00.000-05:00

Several months ago, there was a lot of talk about how to handle the millions of Americans who were losing their homes in the faltering economy. Most of us are suffering in one way or another, so I shouldn’t be expected to pay for those who refuse to live within their means and now can’t pay their mortgages. Here’s a word for you – Downgrade.

There are programs in place to help families who have fallen on hard times that result in the loss of jobs, homes, health, etc., and I don’t mind paying for such programs. Those who got locked into mortgage plans that should never have been allowed (by the banks, not the government) and can no longer afford their interest are not my problem. You think that sounds cold and inhumane, but no one will help you if you lose your rented house, so why should they help you just because you own it? I do not approve of that use of my money because if I want to help my neighbor keep his house, I’ll write him a check.

I shouldn’t have to register my car every year. I paid taxes and registered it when I bought it. Unless I sell it, why do I need to check in with the government on a regular basis? Am I on probation? I realize there are legitimate reasons for the government to know who owns my car (if it were found in an alley with blood inside, I’d want them to track down the owner without a lot of red tape, for example). But there is NO legitimate reason for us to do it every year. Of course people buy and sell vehicles without registering them, but there are already laws in place to handle that situation. Forcing us to check in more often is nothing more than government control over my life. (For the record, I feel very differently about inspections.)

Yes, those fees go toward salaries and who knows what else, but even that is a facade. The government created many jobs by forcing you and me to pay unnecessary fees every year (someone has to process all that tree-killing paperwork.). I figure the participating lawmakers at the time were careful to say we would not pay TAXES to support those jobs. But we wouldn’t have to support those jobs at all if we weren’t creating laws to make them necessary. So do you realize what happened? They created laws solely to create government income. I don’t remember “increased revenue” being one of the goals of the Constitution.

I should also be able to eventually own my land and stop paying taxes on it, and when my children are too old to benefit from school services, the school taxes should be reduced (not eliminated because the community does benefit, even if you don’t have kids there. See? I’m not that extreme.). Do you realize you could own your land for 50 years but get behind on taxes, and the government could legally TAKE IT? Same with your home. How is that ownership?

Obama has told us that when he was elected, his administration had no desire to be a business owner, yet the government now owns a flabbergasting 61% of General Motors (ABCNews.com)! If the government is the People, then YOU now own a portion of that company, but do you think you have any decision-making authority? You can’t even keep your own GM car if the leaders don’t want you to. (This would include the cops taking it from a private parking lot, if they so desire. My blog “Attention, Hunters.”) Nevermind the fact that we didn’t get to vote on whether we wanted to own that company. Our elected officials are speaking on our behalf, but did anyone ask your opinion?

The current administration wants to create a government health care option and thousands of pages of other regulations that you and I don’t know about because those elected officials haven’t even read it! Obama promised not to raise our taxes to pay for it, but the money has got to come from somewhere. If it comes from our premiums alone, why is that option likely to be any more accessible than the insurance companies that are already out there?

My fifth grievance is: Spend my money wisely and with my opinion in mind.

Grievance #4

2009-07-12T20:40:00.001-05:00

My liberal friend is also outraged that Obama expanded gun laws to include allowing you to carry a licensed, concealed weapon into national parks (I didn’t research this, but his facts are pretty good). Why would anyone care whether I carry a gun into Yellowstone? If I’m not pointing it at you or hunting protected animals, then it’s none of your business. It’s my constitutional right to NOT be a victim. God forbid I be attacked by a mountain lion or rapist while hiking with my family and have a gun to defend myself. God forbid I get lost or stranded and have a gun to be able to kill something for dinner.

Gun laws have shown NO improvement in crime rates because the bad guys are going to have guns regardless of the restrictions. When Seung-Hui Cho was planning the murders of his fellow students at Virginia Tech, I seriously doubt he was concerned about breaking a little gun law. Accidents and tragedies occur because of irresponsibility, ignorance, and intentional violence – not because of lax restrictions.

I don’t want to have to register my gun or reregister when I move. I don’t want limits on how much ammo I can buy. I don’t want to be forced to use a trigger lock. I don’t want to be forced to keep it locked in a safe. What good is that going to do me if someone breaks in? Fine, I’ll start keeping a bat or a butcher knife in every room; are they going to restrict those, too? I want to buy and sell a gun without having to report it to anyone who thinks their intelligence is so superior to mine that they need to monitor what I’m doing in my private life. These are all PENDING legislation (and I don’t blame Obama for it - it’s a progressive trend). If passed, I could go to jail for not calling some almighty badge to tell them my new address. Obviously we shouldn’t be carrying suitcase nukes, but if it’s hand-held, has a barrel, and shoots projectiles, I should be able to own it without any ‘infringement’ on that right.

Cops act as though they are above the rest of us and are somehow worthy of our unconditional respect. But if a man tells me to get out of my car at night, I have a right to have my husband beside me, and I don’t care what color suit he wears (I’ve been denied that right). Furthermore, my husband is weapons trained by the federal government, to standards well beyond those of the licensed Texas peace officers, and he is not a criminal. Therefore, if an armed government employee addresses him or his wife, he should have the right to be armed, too. Sam Colt truly was the great equalizer.

My fourth grievance is: Leave my guns alone.

Grievance #3

2009-07-12T20:35:00.001-05:00

When I claimed the government governed things that were none of their business, my liberal friend pointed out the good that such laws have done. Cities don’t burn down any more because fire departments are well funded (then why do they ‘fill the boot?’); many diseases are all but extinct in this country today because of vaccines; our water is clean because of government regulations; our public buildings and roads are safer because of rules. Except vaccines, these things are all related to government entities - I don’t have a problem with regulating those things, and I don’t mind paying taxes to support it.

I DO have a problem with someone not being able to move into a RENTED house unless the city comes first to make sure they have smoke alarms (White Oak, TX, 2004 - that’s the landlord’s job). If you don’t give your kids vaccinations, that’s none of anyone else’s business, either, since the killer diseases they protect against are no longer a threat in this country for reasons other than just the vaccines themselves (sanitation, antibiotics). Of course, illegal immigrants may not be so safe.

I don’t care that you can’t smoke in a restaurant; I care that the government has the right to come in and make laws for a privately-owned establishment that go against the wishes of the owner. Are you next going to tell me I can’t smoke in my own house or car because it’s damaging to the real citizens who are smart enough to not smoke? I don’t mind the government saying I can’t smoke in THEIR buildings, but private businesses should make those decisions themselves. At the very least, it should be a voter decision, not a government one. The six City Council members in Longview, TX eliminated smoking in public places after asking a whopping 22 of their 88,000 residents what they thought about it. (tylerpaper.com/article/20080206/NEWS08/819286153)

I should not be drug tested to earn my money that third-generation welfare families can receive without being tested, as well. My car is an extension of my home, and you should not be able to search it without my consent or a warrant - probable cause is not enough. (You don’t think they can train dogs to falsely ‘hit’ on drugs just like they trained them to do so correctly? You don’t think they can ‘find’ or ‘lose’ evidence to make or break a case for someone significant to them? You don’t think they make deals and take offers? Watch the news.)

You should never be forced to submit DNA or similar body evidence against your will, regardless of what you’re accused of, just like you aren’t forced to testify against yourself. I should have the right to ‘opt out’ of what I don’t want my kids to hear in their classrooms, based on moral or any other reasonable grounds. My kids should be able to go to a better school if this one sucks, and I shouldn’t have to pay for it if I’m already paying taxes to my own district.

Whether I wear my seatbelt is no one’s business but mine. Insurance companies got that law passed to make themselves more money. I wear mine, and I know it saves lives and whatnot, but that’s MY decision to make as a free citizen. If my child calls and I happen to be driving, I should be allowed to answer the phone. You have to allow me that because only 7% of accidents caused by distraction are caused by phones. Are you also going to outlaw passengers, children, makeup, the radio, drive-thru restaurants, and talking with your hands? Those and similar things make up the other 93% of distraction accidents. (Parade Magazine, several months ago)

I believe you should be able to express your opinion by burning the American flag, but be prepared to have your butt kicked by your neighbors. I believe children should say the Pledge of Allegiance in school but not be forced to, and they should be allowed a moment of silence. Call it whatever you want, but allow one minute of a seven-hour day to be devoted to the opportunity to pray openly if they wish. If they don’t, no one cares. I’ve seen students pray and cross themselves, and I’ve seen students pick their noses and wait to sit down; either way, it’s a single minute out of 420, and it’s not discriminating against anything.

Teach abstinence and allow Creationism as an option, just as everything else is an option because the truth is, none of us knows how we got here. No matter what you believe, there’s a point where you just have to go on faith.

My third grievance is: Stop making laws that regulate my personal life. As a US Citizen, I have the right to make my own decisions in pursuit of happiness.

Grievance #2

2009-07-10T13:33:00.001-05:00

I can have a heated discussion about politics without actually getting heated, but this is an area that gets my blood pressure up.

As far as military spending, we don’t have a clue where the money goes. If you believe ANYthing that comes from ANY press about the military, you are naive. They do not tell us what’s going on out there, and that’s fine. The general public should not be privy to the inner workings of our military. The liberals are using that ignorance as their foundation for making military budget cuts.

Of course we’ve stayed too long in the Middle East, but kicking some serious butt was more than warranted. I believe we should have shocked, awed, and been home for dinner, but I wasn’t the one shocking and awing. I don’t know what has kept us there so long, and neither do you. If you have never served (especially in battle), you don’t know what the conditions are like for a military family. You don’t know how much of the military budget is spent on fuel, base maintenance, housing, training, and basic necessities. You don’t know what kind of equipment they use except what they allow you to know. And you’ve damn sure never received a military paycheck. Without pristine, current equipment and happy, well-trained soldiers, we’re sitting ducks in a battle. Go ahead and cut our military budget. When N. Korea finally nukes us, I’ll call a liberal somewhere to see how we’re going to talk ourselves out of it.

Our old and less than cutting-edge equipment is sold or donated to our allies. It keeps them our allies and makes them useful if we should need them. It is essential that our military have not only battle-ready equipment in secret storage, but also equally suitable equipment to train with. Provided housing must be maintained, expanded, and updated; meals are provided to the enlisted, as are uniforms and other basic necessities. High quality schools and state-of-the-art medical facilities exist on most bases, and discount, tax-free shopping is available to service members and their families. Some of these ‘perks’ are provided as justification for the ridiculously low wage they receive for defending our country’s freedom.

My second grievance: Strengthen our military instead of weakening it. If your freedom is important to you, leave the military budget alone.

Grievance #1

2009-07-08T22:32:00.000-05:00

GRIEVANCE #1

I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with a friend about all things political. When discussing the tea parties, I tried to explain the trends that have brought us to this point of being completely fed up with government interference. We had agreed to shorten our e-mails, so when I got to the second page of this response, I decided to make it my blog. Well, a few blogs.

First, he argued that immigrants do not adversely affect our economy. They accept jobs for the pay that the rest of us aren’t willing to, and many of us would not stoop to the level of digging potatoes. I think he is right on both counts, and I’m thankful to those who do similar jobs, but I expect them to be here legally. As legal citizens, they are like the rest of us - paying taxes, owning property, etc. Half my ancestors were American Indians, so immigration didn’t exactly serve my people well. That was also six hundred years ago, so let’s talk about the present. I don’t have a problem with legal immigrants; I have a serious problem with illegal ones.

Ask a south Texas farmer how many of his employees are living on their checks alone? Not that he would know because it’s not exactly out in the open. Do you know how the welfare system works? You can receive cash in the form of TANF, food stamps (which is good as cash since they can spend it on practically anything - my source calls it her Mexican credit card, and she sells the ‘money’ to others at a discount rate), free and virtually unlimited medical care, and daycare, nutrition, and other forms of assistance. In cities, the projects are not inhabited only by blacks; they’re inhabited by people of all colors who know how to work the system - there’s that corruption that some don’t seem to accept exists. My taxes pay for all that, my purchases pay their cash salaries, and they clog my Emergency Rooms.

This is especially annoying to me because when my husband, a veteran who voluntarily served his country and worked his tail off 19 years before ever asking for a dime of assistance, was denied that assistance (unemployment insurance - there’s an example of the government insurance they want). Unless you’ve been there, you have no idea what it means to fall between the cracks because you’re too rich for some stuff, too poor for other stuff, and can’t afford anything on your own.

I’ve waited tables, mowed yards, changed diapers, sold lingerie, Christmas trees, firewood, and whatever else I needed to to make money, and the Hubs has done the same. Agricultural producers only pay minimum wage, and they are exempt from paying overtime, which is also crap. I know high wages and other labor union hot buttons drive up costs, but those people are feeding us! Paying them less than McDonald’s does to its employees is ridiculous.

The elite (aka lawmakers) don’t understand that most families in the middle tax bracket can only do maintenance on their cars when they get tax refunds (thanks to the liberal-opposed Child Tax Credit because they make too much to qualify for the Earned Income Credit.). They make major purchases like school clothes, new tires, and dental copays with that money. It’s not about monthly budgeting - it’s about not having enough money to begin with because they paid it in to the government.

Those programs were designed for people who do not have enough, so where do the wealthy get off saying whether it’s used properly?

I’m tired of the King Midases of this country looking busy in their home offices with their stay-at-home wives telling me they can budget and spend my money better than I can.

My first grievance is: Pay for what is reasonable, and pay it only for American citizens. Send everyone else home.

Preamble

2009-07-05T01:44:00.002-05:00

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The People of the United States in 1776 consisted of the same everyday people who make up the tossed salad society we have today. I capitalize People because as a whole, we are the most powerful unit in the world. I think that qualifies as a proper noun.

I learned in school that the Preamble identifies six specific goals of the Constitution. They put the entire purpose in only one sentence; it’s probably pretty important.

To form a more perfect union... The union was not in very good shape at the time. We had fought a war on our own land, for starters. Then there were issues of disease and agriculture, Indians, and constantly changing forms of government. However, they had come here in search of relief from oppression of all types and believed that alone lent itself to a more perfect union. Everything else was gravy! But we can’t have the meat and potatoes without gravy!

Establish justice... Mirriam-Webster defines justice as “the establishment...of rights according to the rules of law or equity.” The founders’ goal was to create fair guidelines based on equality.

Insure domestic tranquility... They never expected the Civil War less than a hundred years later. Regardless of which side you feel was right, secession of States and brothers killing brothers would have destroyed the hearts of the writers of this sacred document. The federal government should encourage citizens, businesses, states, and other governments to work together toward common goals.

Provide for the common defense...They fully understood that to guarantee these things, war was sometimes inevitable. Our fathers believed the government should defend the people if attacked, and the People considered themselves a single entity. There was no mention of a draft for over a century because 200 years ago, fighting for what you believed in was a way of life. If you were able, you fought. If you weren’t, you supported those who did.

Promote the general welfare...Welfare is “the state of doing well especially in respect to good fortune, happiness, well-being, or prosperity.” The word chosen was not provide but promote. The idea was to further those things by allowing them to take place within fair boundaries; they never envisioned the government supporting people throughout their lives simply because they had no skills.

People were expected to find ways to support themselves, and the infirm were supported by their families. Laziness and general slovenliness were not tolerated; they were frowned upon. Society all but ejected such people rather than supporting them with government money. We governed ourselves on a local scale, and most people had little awareness of leaders not related to their jurisdictions.

Secure the blessings of liberty... What ARE the blessings of liberty? What are the gifts we receive solely because we are free to have them? The authors called them the Bill of Rights.

To ourselves and our posterity...The founding fathers expected the Constitution to last for many years, which it obviously has. Sadly, the average lifespan of a democracy such as ours is only about two hundred years, so statistically, we are already past our prime.

Do you think today’s leaders still believe in these six goals the way the Constitutional authors did? Do you see our leaders perfecting our union or hurting it? Are they maintaining justice or creating laws for the sake of income and power? Things are not tranquil on the domestic front, with unemployment rising and people losing their homes and jobs. And maybe you’ve heard of a little country called North Korea. How is saying, “They better quit that!” providing for our defense?

Washington has gone too far in providing for the general welfare. Our society is not what it was in the 18th century, and caring for our infirm is no longer the job of all the women in town. But it is not the job of the government to support system-savvy second and third generation welfare recipients who only lack the ambition (Obama’s word) to pull themselves out of that trench. If we want to repay our aging citizens for their contributions to our nation, I support that wholeheartedly, but don’t we owe it to those who are paying for it to make sure it’s done correctly? To make sure corruption stays at a minimum and fraud and abuse are virtually non-existent?

Google “US Rights Violations Cases,” then come back and tell me whether our blessings of liberty are secure. There is no denying that we have come a long way toward equality, but it has been achieved by a change in the ideas of the people, not under the laws of government. Your parents probably view minority groups differently than you, and they were different from their parents before them. WE changed; laws, which only serve to make obstinance against the government’s holy opinion punishable, came as a result of a change in the People.

If our government, in its current state (without regard to how it got here), can not reach the first five goals, how is it ever going to reach them for our posterity?

Today, on the 233rd anniversary of our nation's independence, I tip my had to our founding fathers and stand in awe of their wisdom. They gave their absolute best to ensure that these United States would remain everything they believed them to be. I pledge to do my part to carry on their dreams for ourselves and our posterity.

Happy Independence Day!

TEA Party Grievances

2009-07-03T20:03:00.002-05:00

TEA PARTY GRIEVANCES

I’ve recently been questioned about the whole TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party thing that’s been going on every month or two in our country. When asked what we were protesting, exactly, I forwarded this list of grievances taken from www.tylerteaparty.com. I thought I would pass (some of) them along on behalf of all of us who are NOT protesting Obama specifically, in spite of media reports to the contrary. Does NO ONE listen to us?? My comments are in italics.

1. It has used its influence and power to coerce, extort and slander individual citizens. Think GM CEO Richard Waggoner who was fired by Obama’s team.

2. It has used executive authority to spy upon individual citizens without proper judicial oversight.

4. It has developed a tax code so complicated and convoluted that it is essentially incomprehensible to most average citizens and, indeed, most legislators.

5. Its members have routinely failed to pay the very taxes they, themselves, imposed. Obama’s cabinet.

6. It has used legislative authority to redistribute wealth from the responsible and productive to the foolish and greedy. By allowing rampant corruption and inappropriate spending on government programs.

7. It has passed spending bills, enormous by any measure, without allowing a reasonable amount of time for citizens or, indeed, members of Congress to read and comprehend them.

8. Its members routinely spend a disproportionate amount of time (and therefore money) campaigning relative to the time spent executing the office to which they have been elected. We’re all tired of hearing about 2-year elections a full year before they take place. Don’t most of those people already have jobs they’re neglecting in order to find a better one? How would that work at YOUR job?

9. It has continuously failed to secure this nation's borders against illegal immigration and the trafficking of illegal goods. Did you know that the poppy in Afghanistan was non-existent before our soldiers were there? What do you make of that?

10. It has routinely and unapologetically refused to follow the first rule of public service; to always avoid even the perception of a conflict of interest. Even Bush’s motives were strongly questioned because he was a “Texas oil man.”

11. It has expanded the powers of the Federal Government to a degree that cannot be sustained without serious negative effects on our quality of life. Department of Homeland Security - enough said.

12. Its members have generally failed to uphold their oath to protect the Constitution of these United States. Rather, they protect the interest of lobby groups.

The following are from www.thecommonconservative.com. They also claim taxes are voluntary, and I don’t necessarily agree with that. #s 14 and 15 are the biggies with me.

13. The excessive regulation of all business and industry in this nation no longer makes it possible for free enterprise to survive.

14. The government of this nation has swollen to the point where it is no longer sustainable with the continued borrowing and increases in debt. We hereby demand that Congress learns to live within its means and no longer continues to spend money that it does not have. Our current tax payments are being wasted with projects and programs that no longer represent the desires of the majority of the people of this nation, but instead are going toward the desires of Congress in order to continue their political careers. We hereby demand that Congress immediately determine ways to reduce the size and scope of our government as it has become repressive in nature and no longer provides the protection of the rights of the American people.

15. Congress has no longer become the protector of the Liberty and Freedom of the Citizens of this nation as prescribed by our Constitution. We hereby admonish Congress to remember that you are our elected officials and in the matters of legislation, your primary role is to protect these rights above all matters brought before this Congress. We no longer feel we can trust our Congressional Representatives as long as they continue to take the path that leads to Congress telling us what we will do when Constitutionally, WE will tell YOU what we will ALLOW you to do. The power of our government lies NOT within the halls of Congress, but is vested solely in the People.

Now which part of this, exactly, do you liberals disagree with?

Presidential Beliefs

2009-07-02T23:34:00.002-05:00

While running for the position he currently holds, Barack Obama made no bones about who his heroes are, telling Barbara Walters (I think) he was reading Franklin D. Roosevelt's The New Deal shortly before entering office. He was believed to be a savior by many for his New Deal, but he prolonged the Great Depression with a flurry of government programs which still cripple our national budget today.

Obama is reading from FDR's playbook, and they seem to speak a language that makes no sense to the rest of us. They take good advice and twist it up into something that leaves the American people scratching their heads. We believe the lawmakers just aren't listening; however, FDR believed “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” (All quotes fom Brainyquote.com.)

He also said “Democracy can not succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” Obama wants us all to have at least a year of college but probably for a different reason. Studies have shown that the more education you have, the more liberal you are likely to be politically (www.kckcc.edu). He didn't mention that little detail.

Roosevelt asked, “Are you laboring under the impression that I read these memoranda of yours? I can't even lift them.” Rather than reading new laws “line by line” as promised, and rather than interpreting, “Keep it simple, guys,” Obama loosely translated, “You didn't think I was going to read all this crap, did you? It's 1,500 pages! Just give me a pen.”

FDR believed that while Washington is rattling on and on about economic laws, “men and women are starving. We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.” And are therefore imperfect, right? No. Apparently that means the economy won't run itself, and we must create laws to make it function properly. Obama believes if it’s screwed up a LOT, make a LOT of laws to throw money at it.

Obama began demanding human-created economic laws all over the place, but George Bush believed it would be “the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we're in.” Of course, he probably wasn’t counting on the government owning part of the private sector, either.

Before Obama gets the chance to defile any more Presidents' wisdom, let me share a couple the People should pay attention to. Abraham Lincoln saw where the government was headed and probably warned us best: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Clearly, he believed that a loss of freedoms would bring about our destruction.

FDR clued us in to the fact that “People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” I can't possibly imagine the context in which this statement was given, but it still holds true today, and you can bet Barack Hussein Obama believes it, too.

Flag Ban

2009-06-30T20:16:00.001-05:00

There is something seriously wrong when you can’t even fly the flag the way you want to without some government official harassing you about it. In Tyler yesterday, business manager Kevin Lewis received a warning for flying the American flag less than a week before Independence Day.

Granted, what he is flying is not your traditional 5'x7' banner; he used something called “feather banners.” Imagine taking one giant flag and cutting it into six vertical strips, across the stripes; then hang each strip longways on adjacent poles. The resulting effect is a broken but artistic rendition of the standard stars and stripes. Very appropriate right now, if you ask me.

The argument was that the display violates city ordinance in two ways. First, only three flags are allowed on any business property; none may include advertising. His did not include any words at all. Although Lewis showed his patriotism in the form of several pieces of one flag working together (also appropriate, in my opinion), the City considered this several individual flags.

Second, banners of this shape are not allowed, as the law describes them as “Flashing, fluttering, undulating, swinging, rotating, or otherwise moving signs” that can pose a distraction to motorists. If you are so easily distracted while driving that an American flag poses a safety risk, you don’t need to be behind the wheel. Besides that, are they seriously trying to tell us that an unusually shaped visual icon of our nation is more distracting than the eternal road work they’re doing all over the city? Quick – shoot all the eagles! We don’t want anyone crashing while looking at the sky.

KLTV reports that the City has been consistent in enforcing this rule; however, the 30-foot Uncle Sam blowup across the street has not received any crap about their display. Finally, Tyler’s Planning and Zoning Director Barbara Holly did something intelligent today to make up for her asinine comments she previously made in defense of her officers. She managed to find a loophole that provided an exemption for “holiday decorations.”

Of course this was after 95% of those polled on KLTV.com said the entire story was absurd. I gather that the $100 or so they would have made off the ticket was not worth losing the favor of the people because Lewis is now allowed to show his colors through July 4th. He said that was good enough, and the smiling reporter wanted to know if it’s a good compromise.

NO! It’s NOT a good compromise! There never should have been any compromise involved! Unless the flag is actually blocking traffic or visibility for drivers, leave the freaking business owners alone! Are they not having enough trouble in this economy? Do they really need the added stress of dealing with stupid code enforcement and forced participation in City of Tyler fund raisers?

In fact, this one turned out well for the business. They get to fly their flags, and they got all this publicity from local news stations; and of course my blog will be invaluable to his marketing! Sadly, the news never gave the name of the business. When I find out what it is, I’ll let you know, so you can shop there, too.

What's Making News

2009-06-30T00:12:00.002-05:00

I recognize Michael Jackson’s contribution to American music. I will miss Billy Mays shouting about OxyClean, I’ll finally stop waiting for Ed McMahon to arrive with my million dollars, and we’re all mad that they could only give Bernie Madoff 150 years. But we need to know what’s going on in the world. Here are some things you may have missed.

Did you know that Iran has resolved its election issues? According to FOX News, Iranian officials declared their election to have been fair and the voting count accurate. Iran’s President I-Did-A-Job or whatever his name is (it’s Ahmadinejad) declared himself to be the rightful winner after important people randomly counted 10 percent of the alleged votes.

It’s just plain amusing to me that Secretary Clinton said, “They have a huge credibility gap with their own people as to the election process.” As if we don’t. Incidentally, there were no reports of hanging chads causing problems with Iran’s recount.

There is also drama taking place in Honduras, where the region's first military coup in more than a decade ended with the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. (Washington Post) Neighboring countries oppose the coup, and the US still recognizes Zelaya as the legitimate leader of that country.

My NBC station finally reported this one at 10:20. Obama held an LGBT Pride Month reception at the White House today. During his speech to the attendees, he pointed out that although changes are coming slowly for the gay community, they ARE coming. He encouraged LGBT members, saying, “by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."

Defending his claim to be a “champion” for Gay Rights, Obama bragged about his accomplishments. The administration already extended some formerly spouse-only federal benefits to homosexual partners (www.hrc.org/issues/marriage/5662.htm) and is now urging Congress to pass the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act (www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2517), which would mean the extension of health care benefits. (CBSNews.com)

Ironically, it was during this speech that Obama told the rest of us exactly how to go about getting the government to see things our way. Referring to the incident that many agree sparked the LGBT movement, he said, “The riots at Stonewall gave way to protests, and protests gave way to a movement, and the movement gave way to a transformation that continues to this day.”

I am NOT condoning riots, but if “an inciting incident” led to peaceful protests about our government stealing our money and giving it to programs we don’t support, it might lead to a transformation wherein the government of this country actually returns to the hands of the people.

Obama is concerned about Iran and Honduras not because of what’s happening, but because of why it’s happening: Following repeated movements by the government which do not reflect the will of the People, the People revolted.

Well, that explains why this stuff wasn’t making news, doesn’t it?

Climate Change Bill

2009-06-27T00:37:00.002-05:00

In case you missed it, the 204 Democrat and 8 Republican Representatives’ signatures are still wet on the U.S. Climate Bill, which will “reduce the gases linked to global warming and to force sources for power to shift away from fossil fuels...toward cleaner sources of energy such as wind, solar and geothermal." (Taken from the Associated Press article “Questions and answers about the US climate bill”.) The final vote was 212-219. Did you call someone and tell them how to vote?

You should care about this bill in particular because it affects you directly. As a consumer of electricity, you should know that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determined that the new rules created by the bill will cost the average household an extra $175 a year. (AP)

To make a long story short, the government will give polluting factories permits allowing them a certain amount of pollution - that’s the cap. If they go over, they can buy permits from companies who aren’t using them, or they can have offsets, such as doing something else for the environment instead. That’s the trade.

If a company doesn’t buy extra permits, donate to the Sierra Club, or reduce their emissions, they pay a fine equal to twice what the permit cost would be. I think. I didn’t get a chance to read the whole 1,500 pages. I seriously doubt anyone in Congress did, either.

In any case, these are supposed to be “incentives” to encourage high-polluting businesses to find cleaner ways to build their products. Of course, no one else in the world is taking these measures, so I am having trouble understanding the reasoning behind this. Why would a company accept these “incentives” to do business here while paying our labor union salaries, and still be forced to pay off health inspectors, labor regulators, and everyone else with a clipboard?

Instead of trying to make a profit in a country where the government makes it almost impossible, wouldn’t it be easier to just set up shop in China where nobody gives a crap what you’re doing?

Universal Health Care - Part A

2009-06-26T00:50:00.002-05:00

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE - PART A

Between putting the kids down and an unreliable satellite signal, I didn’t get to see the whole Obama thing Wednesday night. I did see Charlie Gibson ask whether anyone in the room believed our current health care system needs reform, and everyone said yes. I think it’s safe to assume we all agree that the system has some serious issues. Our disagreement is in how to fix it.

I don’t any more (no thanks to doctors), but I used to get half a dozen sinus infections every year. As an experienced sufferer, I can recognize it without a doubt. When I go to my doctor’s office, she says, “Does your face hurt? When did it start? What color is the snot?” Then she writes me a scrip for a Z–pack and says, “That’ll be a hundred-fifty bucks.” (Which adds up to $900 an hour, by the way.) At those prices, give ME the pad, and I’LL start seeing patients!

One major problem is that the cost of healthcare services do not reasonably correlate to the actual cost of those expenses. Being charged $38 for a pregnancy test that costs $6 retail just because a doctor looked at the blue line is ridiculous. Part of the reason for this is all the non-payers, including illegals and those who use the ER as their primary care physician, because you and I are forced to make up the difference for hospitals who are understandably unwilling to lose money.

The doctors and clinics set their prices high enough to balance what the uninsured pay in cash against the reduced rates the insurance companies pay. A real example: My doctor charged $326 to check my temperature and do some blood work. My insurance company’s “negotiated” price for those services was about $110, much less than what I would have paid as an individual. Doctors have agreed to this because the negotiated costs ARE reasonable and cover the actual cost of services rendered.

So. Blue Cross takes a total of about $900 a month to insure me and my family, (including the Hubs’s company’s cost), and they paid out about $100 this month. They probably won’t pay another dime against my care for six months, but they will still get the $5400 during that time. I realize that my neighbor with an aneurism will get MUCH more return from her coverage than I will and that I’m covering part of her medical expenses. That’s fine; that’s how insurance works.

Though not legally required to, companies ARE forced to provide insurance to their employees because the people demand it. Insurance companies have taken full advantage of the concept that “you can charge whatever the market will bear.” Now that we are finally crying ‘uncle,’ people seem to think our only option is Uncle Sam.

It seems to me that instead of seeing insurance companies as an impossible enemy, we should find a way to force them to compete for our business. Isn’t that what we do in a free market society?

Parking Lot Fund Raiser

2009-06-22T19:23:00.001-05:00

Last year, Tyler Police Department raised over $213,000 for the City of Tyler by helping disabled people. I could not find any information proving that the money went to the benefit of those disabled people, but my local CBS station was very proud of them. (Story from www.cbs19.tv.)

As of today, Tyler PD has fifteen “trained volunteers” who write tickets to those who park illegally in handicap parking spots. Not only are cars in the blue wheelchair spots ticketed; they are ticketing those who park on the yellow stripes at the front of the parking lot. That means that if you put your motorcycle under the sign that tells what row you’re on, fifteen feet from any actual marked parking spaces, you can get a ticket, too.

I agree that able people should not take up the spaces reserved for those who are not, but I don’t believe cops should be running around like snipers looking for people who are breaking the law. Parking illegally is not a safety issue, and the fine of $253 is absurd. I can do sixty through a school zone at 7:45 a.m., and my ticket wouldn’t be that high, and that IS a safety issue.

The job of the Police Department is to serve and protect. The serving part used to come in the form of helping little old ladies cross the street and children find their lost puppies. The world has changed a lot since Andy Griffith refused to give Barney bullets, but isn’t that how we are supposed to see law enforcement? Instead, any time you move to a new (particularly small) town, someone always says, “Be careful. The cops are bad here.”

What the heck? Shouldn’t that friend say something more like, “This is a really safe town; cops are everywhere in case you need them.” Unfortunately, you make the opposite assumption – if you do 46 in a 45, be ready to get stopped and pay a ridiculous fine.

Granted, if you aren’t doing anything illegal, you are much less likely to be harassed by anyone in blue, but their job isn’t to go around seeking wrongdoers whom they may devour. Their legal authority should be exerted when someone is actually doing something that is either dangerous or violates someone else’s rights.

Again, the problem isn’t really our cops; it’s our lawmakers. For example, the Hubs sometimes drives his old truck with rather inefficient air conditioning, and blacked-out windows would increase gas mileage because the air conditioner would be used less. All the enforcers care about is the fact that my redneck better half might be doing something really terrible in there under the guise of dark windows, like talking on the phone while driving. It’s just stupid.

The fact is, cops and tickets are a necessary evil, but when a cop looks for tickets to write, the department should call the scenario by its proper name. Call it a Fund Raiser.

No Good Deed...

2009-06-19T10:35:00.001-05:00

NO GOOD DEED

Some of my blogs are goofy things about my pets or my kids, but when I write politically, I try to keep it relevant to politics. You do not hear me talking about Obama’s big ears, his wife’s good arms, or his game on the court. Sometimes I just shake my head at the crap the media calls news, like our brave leader taking it upon himself to rid the world of flies. I do that every day around here, but no one is putting clips of it on YouTube.

All the talking heads acted like the Obama was Chuck Norris or something just because he slapped a fly during an interview in the White House. I did not make this “useless news” complaint when President Bush was attacked by flying shoes because at least that incident had comical value; plus, he really did look like Chuck Norris.

Changing gears a little... PETA is the well-known organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Their job is to run around making noise about everything they find offensive to the animal kingdom, such as making your dog sleep outside in the yard. They put out negative publicity on celebrities who wear furs or leather and lobby for their special interest legislation. They try to keep us from fishing or hunting as much as we’d like, but they expect me to enjoy the great outdoors. -???-

They do worthwhile things, too. For example, in spite of having no official governmental authority, they set the standards for animals on film sets to ensure their treatment and safety. Regardless of what you think you see on the screen, PETA’s rules are almost never violated in the name of entertainment. They obviously encourage a strict vegetarian lifestyle, but they work to improve conditions for the animals the rest of us eat. They also keep us much more informed about endangered animals than whatever national organization is supposed to do that.

According to KLTV in Tyler, PETA made a public request to Obama: The next time a fly is in his house, PETA would like for him to “handle the situation more humanely” by catching the little pest and “releasing it back outside.” So they want him to – what? Appoint a Fly Czar?

Now, I’m all about criticizing Barack Obama, but that’s just ridiculous.

Walking the Line - 2

2009-06-18T02:14:00.001-05:00

WALKING THE LINE - 2

My last post, “Walking the Line,” was clearly and deliberately biased against crooked cops. I make no apologies for that, as they should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us, and their behavior was grossly inappropriate. What I didn’t tell you is that the stories given in the last blog are examples of the same cops that cops themselves are disgusted by.

Thanks in part to the popularity of crime shows, the general public believes law enforcement officers will defend each other no matter what. In the case of the NFL player, it was the jerk’s partner who reported the incident. Had it not been for him blowing the whistle, you and I never would have heard about it. The truth is, they cringe when they hear of brothers who have made the rest of them look bad, just as you would.

Obviously every group has bad apples. No matter what your job is, there are people in that field who don’t always follow the rules, but by and large, most apples are pretty good. We’re all human, so we make bad decisions sometimes; most of us also have the luxury of not having them made public. That said, I would rather be pulled over in an unusual situation by a veteran cop than one who is still wet behind the ears.

There is a certain amount of wisdom that comes with age, and certainly with being a veteran Police Officer. After a few years, you rather instinctively know the difference between someone who is just drunk and someone who is really going to do something stupid. An older cop isn’t likely to get trigger happy or taser happy out of excitement, fear, or anger. Of course there is no way to get that kind of wisdom without having first been a rookie, so what is the solution?

Here are a couple of ideas: They should all be required to spend a couple of years with a well-experienced officer before they’re allowed to use anything more powerful than handcuffs. They should spend a few nights in jail, and perhaps they should have to go through the whole demeaning arrest and booking process, too. Every instance of taser deployment should be investigated because of the incredible physical risk it can pose to the subject (see proof at www.azcentral.com).

I complain a lot about the government being too big in this country, but I don’t blame our peace officers. They took an oath to serve and protect, and that means enforcing the laws that exist, whether they believe it should be enforced or not. Most use good judgement, and a huge percentage go through their entire careers only discharging their weapons on the shooting range. But we don’t hear about those.

Cops who are crooked, cocky, or just do a crappy job don’t deserve their badges. They don’t deserve our respect, and they certainly don’t deserve to have any authority over another human being. But the ones who still remember why they joined the force and still uphold their oath should have our thanks.

Thank you, my friend who helped me write this blog. You are the type of officer we wish they all were. Your service is greatly appreciated.

~ Posted 6/18/09

Walking the Line

2009-06-18T00:58:00.001-05:00

WALKING THE LINE

There seems to have been an increasing number of publicized instances of inappropriate police behavior recently. I already blogged about the man whose truck was stolen by Frankston PD (“Attention, Hunters!”), but a couple of others have made even bigger news. You may have heard of these.

The first involves Officer Robert Powell, age 25. In March, he pulled over NFL player Ryan Moats (running back, Houston Texans) in the parking lot of Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano for running a red light just off the campus. Moats had stopped at the light, made eye contact with the other vehicle at the stop, and then ran the light. Instead of stopping immediately when he saw the cop’s lights, the player pulled on into the parking lot with his wife and her sister. (You can find the whole story and the transcript at DallasNews.com)

Moats was extremely calm and polite in trying to explain to the cop that his mother-in-law was inside the hospital dying as they spoke. He rightly told his wife to go in and he would be there soon. Unfortunately, his wife lost her mother while her husband was in the parking lot being harassed by a rookie badge with a chip on his shoulder!

Moats is black. Rightly or wrongly (and that isn’t the point here), the cop expected hostility first when he was ignored, then when several clearly excited black folks jumped out of the SUV. Fine. But the second the victim began explaining his situation, the cocky little jerk should have holstered his gun – yes, holstered his gun – and shut the hell up. I can think of several ways that situation could have been handled with more grace and sensitivity.

I greatly admire Ryan Moats’s ability to stay calm in that situation, regardless of his color, situation, or celebrity status, which he never brought up. He didn’t even sue, knowing he could win with the lawyers his NFL money could provide. The paramedic and driver in the next story are equally admirable for their behavior.

This past week in Oklahoma, a cop pulled over an occupied ambulance without its lights on, claiming the driver had “made an obscene gesture” to him. I didn’t realize that was a crime, but apparently it’s severe enough to warrant a peace officer putting his hands on your neck, threatening to “throw your ass in jail,” and jeopardizing the patient in the back of the bus (who was later treated and released). (www.boingboing.com - I couldn’t find a news site carrying this story.)

To become a certified Peace Officer in the State of Texas, only 640 hours of training are required; that works out to four months of full-time days. Four months. I teach young teens what a noun is, and I had to train for four years. And they still won’t let me carry a gun to work. Or a taser, or a bat. They won’t give me a fancy car with unlimited access to information on anyone I choose look up. They won’t let me be a jerk to my subjects, either.

None of us will ever know what was going through the minds of these cops, but it doesn’t matter; their behavior was excessive and unwarranted. It’s no wonder our hearts pound when we see cops! My point is this. If you’re going to run around with a badge, telling me what I’m doing wrong and seeing that I’m punished for it, you’d better be walking the line yourself.

~ Posted 6/18/09

Well, It's About Time

2009-06-16T16:29:00.002-05:00

What in the world took David Letterman so long to apologize to Sarah Palin and her family? I, personally, was not as offended by the June 11th joke as I probably should have been, but I recognize that he was making fun of Palin’s inability to control her own household rather than the sexual activity of an underage girl. It was definitely inappropriate, but I wasn’t quite ready to stop watching the Letterman Show, or whatever it’s called. (Can you see that I’m a huge fan?)

When Sarah Palin took her fourteen-year-old daughter Willow to a Yankees game last week, David Letterman remarked in his opening monologue that Sarah was concerned about keeping Alex Rodriquez from “knocking up her daughter.” Of course he later stated that he was referring to Palin’s adult daughter Bristol (who WAS “knocked up” as a teenager). He claimed he thought it was actually Bristol who attended the game, but neither the Palin family nor the public at large believed his crap.

No outrage occurred when Conan O’Brien made comments about Bristol having been impregnated by John Edwards or an SNL skit that claimed Todd Palin was “doing those daughters.” There was also no outrage at Jay Leno saying the Palin family’s story had already been preserved for posterity in a high-class film called Knocked Up. And still none when Craig Ferguson’s mock Larry King interview with Bristol’s boyfriend included a question about “kinky sex” with the drapes open. (Comments from BaltimoreSun.com)

So where is the line, exactly? Incest, perversion, infidelity with a minor, and general crassness about a very unfortunate situation involving a child all seemed acceptable until last week. David Letterman had no reason to assume that such a comment crossed the line. However, when the protests first began, he should have rescinded the comment and apologized to the Palin family immediately. But he didn’t.

Frankly, I agree with one of the idiots on The View who wondered what A-Rod thinks about all this. He was accused of potential rape and child molestation in the same sentence. Letterman probably chose to put A-Rod in the joke simply because his name is so well-known; A-Rod was probably just glad he wasn’t talking about steroids.

Letterman did finally apologize specifically to the Palin family “and anyone else” whom he may have offended with his humor. For the record, I’m a big Sarah Palin fan, and I would not call myself a fan of Letterman. In fact, I had never seen a single episode of his show until they put Conan on The Tonight Show. (That’s a whole other blog in itself.)

My point is simply that we don’t hold everyone to the same standard. I realize that no one watches SNL any more, but Letterman’s fan base is at least as large as that of the other comedians mentioned here.

Could it be simply that he is a loudmouthed liberal who pissed off a pit bull Republican mother? Well, it’s about time.

Divided We Fail

2009-06-10T17:33:00.000-05:00

Divided We Fall is an AARP group launched in 2007 that supports health care reform for the nation. I had never heard of it until I saw recent commercials featuring celebrities such as Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Whitherspoon, Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Givens, and many others. Their platform includes some points I strongly agree with and some I do not. Here is the rundown of their beliefs, which can be found in their entirety at www.DividedWeFail.org.

As “strong champions for the new American Dream,” they believe “all Americans should have access to affordable, quality health care” and that it should not burden future generations. (Thumbs UP) Health care includes prescription drugs and wellness prevention efforts (Thumbs UP). However, DWF also believes that these “prevention efforts” should include making “changes in personal behavior such as diet and exercise” national top priorities. (Thumbs DOWN because...)

Seeing how our government is growing exponentially in such a short time under Obama’s hand, to the point that we aren’t even allowed to make decisions about raising our own children, where do you think the government’s priority will lead? Mandatory gym membership, taking our overweight kids in the name of child abuse, forcing individuals to participate in certain activities for their own benefit since we peasants are too stupid to make our own decisions? If the government makes personal activities a priority, even more of our personal freedoms are in jeopardy. (Thumbs DOWN)

DWF also believes we should have choices when it comes to long-term care, especially those that allow citizens to stay somewhere other than government supported “old folks” facilities. If they want to live in an assisted living facility or even at home with help, that will be allowed under their plan. (Thumbs UP)

They support all Americans having “peace of mind about their future long-term financial security.” (Thumbs UP) Part of their solution is that “Social Security must be strengthened.” Support will be added for workers who save money, have retirement plans, and want to work without financial penalty in spite of collecting Social Security. In addition, all Americans should have “access to tools to help manage their finances” in easy to understand terms.

The current laws related to Medicare and Social Security are so complex that when Part D was implemented, commercials flooded our airways for groups such as AARP who are available to help you figure it all out. Being too young for these benefits, I am unfamiliar with all the ins and outs of the program, but the TV gives me a pretty good idea. Besides deciphering the legalese, companies are popping up all over the place that “supplement” the Medicare program; if so many companies are profiting off of the weaknesses in the system, there is a real problem with the system itself.

The Divided We Fail site (as far as I looked) never mentions “government health care,” but if they are successful in making health care a government priority, what else are they going to do? The government handles things in two ways - money and laws. They will obviously have to throw money at the problem to produce any type of reform at all. Reform will come in the form of new laws - not replacement of old laws, just adding new ones.

Please go to DividedWeFail.org and “let your voice be heard,” as they request. As their organization states, “Together, we can do anything.”

Happy LGBT Pride Month!

2009-06-07T14:16:00.002-05:00

HAPPY GLBT PRIDE MONTH!

Thanks to Jason S. for bringing this one into my line of sight because the media sure wasn’t going to. In fact, I’m curious as to whether ANY of you heard about this one.

If you don’t know, LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered. My ancient WordPerfect program (circa 2005) doesn’t even recognize that last word. However, as a member of the overwhelming majority of straight people in this country – 90-99%, depending on the source – I am forced to recognize and tolerate these lifestyles. Not only must I recognize it, I am now expected to celebrate it.

On June 1 the White House Press Office released a proclamation outlining the history of the American LGBT Rights Movement. It goes on to declare the many positive outcomes brought about by the LGBT community, including the vital role they played in our nation’s “response to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.”

The proclamation further chronicles how far the LGBT community has come, with so many people living alternate lifestyles, holding prominent business, artistic, and political positions. Obama states his own pride in being the first President to successfully appoint “openly LGBT candidates” during his first 100 days.

He admits that the work is not finished yet, not until all LGBTs can “live their lives with dignity and respect.” (Apparently, you can’t be gay and dignified at the same time right now.) Strides the President has taken during his reign to further this cause include effort to “decriminalize homosexuality” around the world, enhancing hate crime laws, supporting Federally recognized civil unions, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. (You didn’t hear about that, either, did you?)

He argues that such issues affect the entire nation, and we should all work toward the same end of complete equality, regardless of sexual orientation. Well, of course he does. We can’t be Socialists if we aren’t all equal. But none of that ticked me off. What got me was this final paragraph:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA...do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

This proclamation was signed last Monday, and I didn’t hear a single reporter mention it. Frankly, I’m not surprised they would let this slip through cracks when the real news is Paris Hilton promoting her smell-good, the First garden, and switching to digital tv. The morally conservative in this country don’t really need to know what’s going on, especially when it’s the White House that is slapping us in the face.

I wonder who we’re supposed to appeal to for a National Straight Month, or National White History Month, or National Women’s Month? It doesn’t matter anyway because we aren’t the minority; therefore, we will never be allowed to openly celebrate who we are without coming off as some kind of Supremacist. We can't demand equal treatment for whites or straights. If we cry reverse discrimination, we are dismissed as whiners. If we speak out against public gay figures or the LGBT movement in general, we are labeled intolerant or ignorant. They are currently working on laws to prevent us from speaking about certain sins in our churches, so we can't even call anything "wrong."

Who do you think is really oppressed here?

Accountability

2009-06-07T09:18:00.001-05:00

Part of the problem with politicians in this country is that we treat them like gods. I watched George Stephanopolous interviewing Hilary Clinton this morning and found myself wishing she would just answer the damn question. If he had been interviewing a murder suspect, he would have demanded that she quit, uh, hem-hawing around, and, uh, get to the point.

George is actually rather difficult for me to watch, especially when HIS opinion is the one being solicited. He is so liberal that he can barely have a reasonable conversation with anyone of a differing opinion. Part of what makes any person great (including Obama, regardless of your opinion of him) is the desire and ability to learn from others.

I have learned more about politics since beginning this blog than I’ve probably learned in my entire life combined. What you read here is generally my opinion, but my opinion is formed by what I learn from others - often Wikipedia or some major news outlet. (For the record, I get my topics from my local news and friends. I only consult Fox or other decidedly conservative media as a last resort.)

I’m not revealing any big secret by telling you that politicians get away with all kinds of crap that the rest of us never would. The Great Obama could not even fill his cabinet with members who regularly pay their taxes, and they’re supposed to be the best-of-the-best! You, on the other hand, would have lost your land, your house, part of your paycheck, your firstborn, or whatever the IRS deemed a reasonable payment for your debt.

They all lie, cheat, and manipulate the rest of us to accomplish their goals and further their agendas. They slip new laws in under the radar instead of enforcing the ones we have, especially when they know we wouldn’t approve of them. The only reason Blagojevich got caught trying to sell Obama’s vacant seat is because it was Obama’s seat. (Check tomorrow’s blog and “Sonia Sotomayor 2" for great examples.)

In the movie Nothing but the Truth, real-life liberal Alan Alda appeared as Constitutional Rights attorney Alan Burnside, who defends a journalist’s right to keep her sources private. My favorite line from that movie is this, given by Alda’s character:

“What, then, is the nature of government when it has no fear of accountability? We should shudder at the thought.”

I just can’t think of anything to add to that.

Cussing Spiders

2009-06-05T21:10:00.000-05:00

I come from a long line of women whose thumbs are some other color than green, so you can imagine my pleasure at seeing my first real garden in full bloom. My dad always shares a big garden with his brother; maybe I get it from him.

The Hubs tilled the ground, I cleaned it up, and the two young ones helped me plant seeds and plants. At last count, I had 75 tomatoes, a dozen ears of corn, three jalapenos, and several cantaloupes and watermelons, and everything has many more blooms. My strawberries have issues, and we aren’t going to talk about that.

I do have some interesting things happen out there. When I pull weeds and grass that insists on growing where I don’t want it, critters pop out and surprise both of us. The first was an earthworm. I had no idea earthworms got so large here in east Texas. They look like the Canadian Night Crawlers I buy for fish bait at the gas station!

When I yanked up one clump of grass, a six-inch worm slithered out of the hole I left. Of course I thought it was a snake and screamed a little bit. As I stepped/stumbled backward, my butt plopped right square on a watermelon vine, which was only a little bigger than a full grown watermelon, at the time. That’s the one with all the melons on it now. Hm.

Since then, I’ve learned what kind of grass roots the worms live under, and I look forward to disturbing them. They almost always come in twos, and it’s just fun! I never hurt them because the legless little decomposers are very good for a garden.

Yesterday I had a whole new experience. I think I got cussed out by a spider. I don’t speak spider very well, so I can’t be sure, but that’s what it looked like.

Again I pulled a little weed out of the dirt surrounding my all-but-disgraced strawberries. Pulling the roots out created a little hole just above where the grass poked out of the ground, like the missing root had collapsed a little tunnel. Before I had time to register that, a dime-sized little gray spider popped out of it.

I don’t know that it was a female, but it makes the story better if you imagine she’s a woman. She stood there with the front arm on both sides flailing around as though she were throwing a terrible fit. I was already on my knees but bent closer to the ground to see her better. I could see little cat-eye glasses and a miniature apron, so I assumed I interrupted her cooking dinner of strawberry soup.

She stood there completely unafraid of the two-legged white giant staring down at her from the sky. If I could have heard her voice, I’m sure I would have heard to spewing obscenities about destroying her house and not having any respect for other people. I actually laughed out loud at the tiny scene before me. Apparently offended, she dashed back into the hole just as quickly as she had come out.

I stood up and stepped on the hole. Earthworms are good for my garden environment, and they don’t cuss at me, so they get to live. Spiders... not so lucky.

Sotomayor and Abortion

2009-06-05T07:59:00.001-05:00

I have avoided writing about this so far because I find it impossible to stay on topic; please bear with me. After writing about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, someone asked me, “Does it bother you at all that she is pro-choice?”

Nope. I am rigidly pro-life, but I am also realistic.

Roe v. Wade is never going to be overturned, so pro-lifers should get over it. Abortions are always going to exist, just like they existed long before they became legal in 1973. Now that they are legal, that is the realm in which we must work. I rarely fall for this PSA crap, but if you want to prevent abortions, educate women and men! Teach abstinence to teens for more than religious reasons. Advocate adoption. Take action that will do some good, and quit wasting your time on useless protests. (Stepping off my soapbox...) Now where was I?

There is actually little evidence to be used for predicting how Sotomayor will rule when similar issues reach her court because few related cases have appeared before her. One case of note occurred in 2002, when Sotomayor rejected the Center for Reproductive Rights’s challenge to the “Mexico City Policy.” She sided with Bush’s public opinion; perhaps it is only coincidence that HE appointed her to the bench where the case appeared.

The “Mexico City Policy” (called the “Global Gag Rule” by pro-rights people) was introduced by the Reagan administration in 1984, overturned by Clinton, and restored by Bush in 2001. Obama overturned it again on January 23, his third day in office. Only Reagan went through regular law-making channels to implement the policy; the others used their Powers of Executive Order. If one man can sign a piece of paper that supports whatever abortion agenda he prefers, why does it matter what the Supreme Court thinks?

By the way, the Mexico City Policy prevents the U.S. government from providing funding for family planning clinics that offer abortion-related services overseas. “It essentially barred recipients of U.S. foreign aid from promoting abortion as a method of family planning.” (ABCNews.go.com.) What the hell are we doing funding another country’s medical system anyway??? I’d oppose the policy based on that fact alone! Back to my point.

Obviously, the abortion legal debate goes much further than Roe v. Wade. I don’t think the original parties involved had any idea what the impact would be of the final decision. You hear words like “viability” that are not actually mentioned in the Uniform Abortion Act. It only speaks of endangering or impairing the life of the mother or in lieu of a child with a “defect.” (Read the entire text at www.tourolaw.edu.)

They had no idea that in just twenty or thirty years, this exception would be carried to its maximum possible limit - abortion at birth. They call it “partial birth,” but do you know anything about having babies? It’s AT birth, not that the semantics make it any less horrific. The ban on partial birth abortions was declared unconstitutional by lower courts before finally being upheld by the 2007 Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision (www.wikipedia.com).

But prior to becoming law, it was vetoed twice by President Clinton. Can it not be overturned by Executive Order, too? So again I ask, If one supreme President can sign his own agenda into law, why does it matter what the Supreme Court thinks?

Read the Partial Birth Abortion Ban here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-108publ105/html/PLAW-108publ105.htm

Black Panthers

2009-06-02T01:29:00.001-05:00

Thank you, Laura, for bringing this one to my attention.

Ok, I’m calling BS on this case. A separate issue with this story is Gun Control. I won’t discuss it here except to say that if the men involved had been rednecks wielding guns, the story would have a very different ending. Here goes.

On Election Day 2008, the Black Panthers made more news than they have in a long time, thanks to some cell phones and YouTube. With dialup, I was unable to watch the video, but the still photos speak plainly enough. Three black men who openly profess loyalty to the New Black Panther Party were accused of intimidating white voters and workers at a polling place in Philadelphia. The leader carried a night stick around like a bad cop on steroids. Have you heard this story? I hadn’t.

The men planted themselves where every voter would have to pass by them. The leader tapped his baton “menacingly,” and they shouted racial slurs at voters, seemingly regardless of race. They wore black military style gear and hats bearing the Black Panther emblem. One apparently gained access to the polling place by becoming a Democratic Poll Watcher (FoxNews.com and WashingtonTimes.com).

The government finally brought civil charges against the three men, citing violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. With the popular YouTube video, numerous news reports, and countless witnesses, you would expect this to be an open-and-shut case. Silly reader - you forget we’re dealing with the government.

Obama’s Department of Justice dropped the case.

According to the DOJ spokeswoman, they let two off with a stern warning. The other is no longer allowed to bring a weapon to a polling place. Then, in the worst case of “talking out of both sides of your mouth” that I’ve ever seen, she continued, “The department is committed to the vigorous prosecution of those who intimidate, threaten or coerce anyone exercising his or her sacred right to vote."

See why I called BS on this? How is this an example of “vigorous prosecution?” I would certainly hate to see them “mildly” prosecuted! The very fact that black men were allowed near a polling place to secure the election of a black president pretty much negates their need to be there.

Those men literally violated the very Law that paved the way to this election. And the first final product of that Law let them get away with it.

Ironic, isn’t it?

Race for the Bench - 2

2009-05-31T20:21:00.001-05:00

Now to answer your real questions about Sonia Sotomayer, Obama’s first Supreme Court Justice nominee.

What kind of person is Sonia Sotomayor? According to Wikipedia, she was born in America in 1954 to Puerto Rican parents. Raised in the Bronx, she graduated from Princeton University and Yale Law School with honors. She served as New York’s Assistant District Attorney and worked in private practice, with special concentration on civil rights. She was approved as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1992 after nomination by the first President Bush. This is considered a “plus” by some.

During her second year at Princeton, she filed a federal complaint, accusing the school of “an institutional pattern of discrimination" because there weren’t enough Latino students there. Experiences at that school formed the platform on which she would stand for years to come. She provided counsel for some high profile civil rights cases and was a constant activist for such causes, especially relating to Puerto Ricans and other Latino groups.

How has she ruled in the past? Sotomayor has, in fact, ruled against the majority when it did not seem to be the right decision (City of New Haven, CT vs. some white firefighters whose promotion exam scores were thrown out when black applicants did not score high enough - Fox and other News outlets).

However, of the fifty race-related cases she heard as judge for the 2nd US Court of Appeals, “in 45 of those cases, a three-judge panel rejected the discrimination claim -- and Sotomayor never once dissented.” (LATimes.com)

I found no indication at all of impropriety, scandals, or repeated questionable rulings. She seems to have a reputation as a fair jurist, and as far back as college, she was respected, even in her bold endeavors to bring about change.

How will she rule once she gets to the Supreme Court? There is no way to truly know the answer to this question, but past rulings are probably a good indicator. Many are concerned that her minority status will cause her to “side with the underdog as a matter of principle rather than on the basis of cleareyed legal judgment” (LATimes.com) I’m not seeing it. Her reputation likely speaks for itself.

Yes, she has made some borderline-inappropriate comments relating to race, including saying that a wise Latino woman could make a better decision than a white male (2001). It would seem to me that a wise anything could make a better decision than most of the white males currently sitting in Washington.

I started this blog with no opinion at all of Sonia Sotomayor. Having done some research, I personally see no problem with her serving as a Supreme Court Justice. If you know something I don’t, please let me know.

Race for the Bench

2009-05-31T18:57:00.000-05:00

Just as with Obama, I don’t care if Sonia Sotomayor is black, white, brown, green, purple, or any other color. I don’t care what her “struggles” bring to the bench. And I sure as heck don’t care whether about her status as the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. Like you, I care what kind of person she is, how she has voted in the past, and what she will do once she gets there. Assuming she is approved by the king’s pawns, of course.

The media doesn’t get it. For some reason, they always feel the need to play the race card, but most of the country doesn’t give a flip about the race of our government leaders. Even Fox News describes the current Supreme Court nomination drama as a “tricky subject” for Republicans. Let me simplify it a little.

So often, people with similar backgrounds are touted as better and stronger than the rest of us because of the problems they had growing up as a minority, in the projects, or whatever. To hear most older folks around here tell it, the generation before us was forced to walk several miles to school every day. Uphill both ways. Barefoot. In the snow.

Ok. Maybe that’s not the best example, but we all had experiences that made us who we are. The fact that I grew up in the country makes me a very different person than someone who grew up in Houston. Having always been the white majority, I can not relate to growing up as a minority race in this country. Technically, Caucasian IS still the majority, so why do I care what a Supreme Court Justice brings from her minority background?

Let me be clear that I recognize the many minority and civil rights issues that are still going on in this country. I am sensitive to those, in spite of being white. I am only arguing that Ms. Sotomayor’s Hispanic heritage is no more relevant than my Heinz 57 heritage. Heck, some of my ancestors were American Indian. Talk about injustice!

My next blog will include answers to these questions:

What kind of person is Sonia Sotomayor?
How has she ruled in the past?
What will she do once on the Supreme Court?

Attention, Hunters!

2009-05-31T12:30:00.003-05:00

Frankston, Texas is a little Republican town with a population of about 1,200, and it surrounds the intersection of State Highways 155 and 175. I haven’t been there since I was about ten, but what I found online (www.epodunk.com) seems to indicate Frankston is a historic German town now inhabited mostly by rednecks like me. So what I heard on Channel 56 tonight blew me away.

David Weigand is an employee of Bowtech, an archery company that even casual hunters have heard of. The logos plainly displayed on the doors indicate that his red pickup is a company vehicle. Mr. Weigand and some friends, one of whom was a corporate officer at a local bank, carpooled from Frankston to Tyler for dinner this week. The bank officer gave Mr. Weigand permission to leave his vehicle in the bank’s parking lot overnight.

After dinner, friends who had left the restaurant before Wiggins called to tell him the Frankston Police Department was breaking into his truck! Surveillance video from the bank clearly shows the police inspecting the truck moments before a tow truck arrived. Then the cops broke into the truck with a slim jim, opened the doors, then had it towed. Nothing was confiscated.

According to Weigand and the police report, the cops said they towed the truck because:

A) There was no inspection sticker. Wiggins “admits that;” he just had the glass replaced.
B) They spotted the butt of a weapon in the back seat. It is not illegal to carry this weapon in your vehicle, with or without a Concealed Carry license. It turned out to be pellet pistol.
C) Another weapon was in plain sight. A Bowtech bow was resting in the front floor board, propped against the passenger seat. This is not illegal, either.
D) They could see alcohol in the vehicle. Cops could argue that they thought they had an Open Container violation, but the truck was locked in a private parking lot. The alcohol in question was a single unopened can of beer between the driver’s seat and the console.
E) The vehicle was missing one license plate. One plate was on the truck, and the other was missing. Wiggins says he did not know the plate was lost; he found it and has now put it on.

In spite of all these violations which were apparently enough to justify towing the vehicle, no citations were issued. None. It cost Mr. Weigand “several hundred dollars” to get his company truck out of impound, and the only comment by the Frankston Police Chief is that the cops were “just doing their jobs.”

What job is that, exactly? The serving part, or the protecting part? They clearly weren’t serving anyone. The Hubs and I can’t even figure out how it would serve THEM, much less the public. And what were they protecting the citizens of Frankston from? A sniper who shoots a bow at his victims and is stupid enough to plaster his weapon’s name all over this truck? If he’s a terrorist, he isn’t smart enough to do much harm. But he isn’t. He works for a weapons company.

His truck was broken into by the government. The officers had no right to search or even open his vehicle without a warrant or at least probable cause. While parked on private property, nothing about it was any of their business, regardless of it being a bank parking lot. For all they knew, some woman drove her husband’s truck today and was still inside working! Since the vehicle was not traveling, they had no reason to care whether appropriate plates or stickers were affixed or alcohol was inside.

Wiggins has filed a civil rights violation suit against the Frankston Police Department, as well he should. I hope he wins because that is just bullcrap!

This story was taken from KETK’s 10:00 pm news on Saturday, May 29, 2009. If at any point your jaw dropped, you should read this story, just for fun:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/518895/posts

Daniel Hauser

2009-05-30T21:33:00.000-05:00

When I first heard the story of Daniel Hauser, the 13-year-old cancer patient whose parents refused to provide chemo, I was dumbfounded. There are just so many factors in the story that if changed, any one of them would alter your entire opinion. Here are the facts from Fox News:

Daniel was diagnosed in January with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a highly treatable form of cancer. Six chemotherapy treatments were recommended by the diagnosing doctor, and other doctors agreed. The Roman Catholic family appears to be misinformed about the safety and success rate of chemo for this type of cancer. They stopped the chemo after only one treatment, apparently believing it was doing more harm than good. Long story short - someone called to complain, and the parents were accused of medical neglect.

On May 18, the doctor again examined Daniel and found that the progress made with chemo had now been undone by lack of continued treatment. The family had been using “natural” treatment methods, but the tumor had returned to its original size. The Hausers were to appear in court the following day to testify about the doctor’s report. Instead, Mrs. Hauser fled with her son.

My first question was why in the world parents would deny a lifesaving treatment to their child? I assumed they were Scientologists (ala Tom Cruise, John Travolta) or members of some strange cult, but they’re Catholic. The religious foundation for their decision lies in the words, “First do no harm.” That really isn’t unreasonable. When you combine the harm that chemo does do to your body, their argument is understandable, even if still wrong.

The next question was why the government is involved. Obviously someone reported the parents, and CPS has an obligation to investigate. At least they’re doing their jobs. Then I asked why a child of thirteen is old enough to tell a judge who he wants to live with when his parents divorce, but he isn’t old enough to decide how to treat his own body. His opinion should be sought, at the very least. Here is where things get sticky.

Judge Rodenberg did privately question Daniel about his understanding of the disease and the consequences of chemotherapy. He agrees with his parents about the potential dangers of the treatment and believes the chemo will kill him. I’m sure he offered his experience as evidence, since chemo is NOT pleasant. He also supports their religious belief that traditional medicine is somewhat overused and not always the best option. So what right did the government have to go against even the patient’s wishes?

As it turns out, Daniel has a learning disability. Now in junior high, he can’t even read. I did not find the exact nature of his disability, but I assume that if he is unable to read, he is probably unable to comprehend that the ends (being cured) will justify the means (side effects of the cure). He likely does not understand the big words and medical terminology; he probably parroted to the judge the same words he had heard from his parents.

I’m still torn because I don’t believe the parents should deny their son treatment that is proven to work. But if they don’t, I don’t know whether the government should intervene. What do YOU think?

Korea vs. Bugs Bunny

2009-05-29T19:51:00.002-05:00

A while back I related President Obama to Bugs Bunny, explaining that Korea testing weapons and no one doing anything about it was like Daffy Duck drawing a line in the sand and Bugs stepping over it without a second thought. I predicted that just like that Wascly Wabbit, Korea would do it again, and others might follow. Kudos, please?

In April, North Korea launched a rocket carrying a satellite into space, crossing the line the world drew in the sand. This week, the country took it a step further and conducted an underground test of a short range missile. From what I understand “short range” amounts to about 1000 km, which is a relatively short distance, militarily speaking. The problem is that they aren’t supposed to be launching anything into anywhere for any distance.

If you believe what Kim Jong Il says about his country, North Korea hasn’t actually committed any crime... yet. He claims the rocket was not a nuclear anything; it’s a satellite. Considering North Korea’s propensity for digging underground tunnels (GlobalSecurity.org), the world should take this recent underground test very seriously.

VoANews.com names Korea’s blatant disregard for the rules as the “first direct challenge to [Obama’s] Administration by an emerging nuclear weapons state.” Our fearless leader says he will “stand up” to North Korea because their missile programs “pose a grave threat to the peace and security of the world.” He “strongly condemns” their actions. Well, good for him. I feel much safer now.

Did I mention that the number of tested missiles reached SIX today?

Some of our more aggressive citizens hold the opinion that we should just march over there and blow them of the planet, but I don’t think that’s really necessary. Not to mention how all the bleeding hearts will whine about the innocents, destruction of the planet, world peace, and all that crap. I have another suggestion.

One of the most powerful weapons in the world is money. I think the election of our current President is a clear indication that money is a huge motivator; being without it makes things happen.

If Obama and other world leaders would simply make one little phone call to North Korea’s leader, this could be halted fairly quickly. Here - I’ve written a sample script.

“Hello, Kim. This is the world speaking. We have decided that until you agree to play by the rules, we’re going to take our ball and go home. All trade with your country and your allies will stop. TODAY. No one in the world is going to spend a single dollar on your TVs, your metals, your chemical products, or any of the piddly crap you provide for our dollar stores. When your economy goes down the tubes, maybe you will see things more clearly and decide to be obedient. If you have any questions, please give anyone in the world a call. They will be happy to explain it.”

Now. How hard was that?

Bailout Fallout

2009-05-28T13:44:00.002-05:00

General Motors is probably going to file for bankruptcy protection in the near future. I was one of those who kept saying, “Let the companies fail.” If I owned my own business and managed its money like a teenager would, with willy-nilly spending and no long-term foresight, no one would bail me out. Why are huge companies, who should have much better resources than I would, getting so much help? Now I’m not sure.

When Chrysler closed a quarter of their dealerships this month, I found my answer. A man interviewed on a local news station pointed out that for every actual car company job lost, many others are lost, too. The division of those companies that service cars will suffer, as well as your local bank or credit union that might normally finance cars and now can’t because of the struggling economy.

However, many smaller business might benefit. If we aren’t buying new cars, we will be fixing and better maintaining our old ones, which will benefit several industries. If you perform regular maintenance a little more rigorously, you’ll be helping companies who make air filters, motor oil, and similar products, as well as small businesses who do that work for you. You might be willing to fix up your ride, which will help local shops that do car stereos, body work, tire companies, window tinters, and car washes.

We might see more shade tree mechanics going to school to improve their craft and open their own shops; this would dump money into the economy and help Obama fulfill his goal of seeing every person attend at least one year of college. Not to mention the fact that these things would help people pay their bills and get things going in the right direction again. Which is more beneficial - keeping big companies alive or helping smaller companies thrive?

Either way, many jobs obviously would be lost. As a child of a thirty-year GoodYear employee who was outsourced, I certainly feel that pain. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. In addition to thousands of jobs that would be lost, the Dow would suffer greatly. They are listed as one of the thirty companies whose status can alter the entire Dow index. Basically, if they falter, other companies freak out and everyone’s stock drops, as we have seen. After filing bankruptcy, they can no longer hold that Top 30 status. (Powers that be are already looking at who will fill that slot.)

Obama wants to see us all drive electric cars, a notion I’m not going to discuss here, but we can’t seem to make electric cars people want to drive in this country. Foreign companies are way ahead of us in this technology (Honda, Nissan, Toyota). If our own companies die, we will be forced to purchase cars made elsewhere - electric or otherwise. The dealerships where we have our work done will be owned by those foreign companies, and so will the financiers for what we buy.

So let’s follow this. The government spent billions stimulating big companies. The big companies seem to be failing anyway (GM is only the forerunner), and bankruptcy will reduce the debt they have to pay to their creditors. Those creditors will lose untold amounts of their budgeted income, too, leading to similar problems.

We gave auto makers the bailout believing that when the economy improves, the money will be put back into the national Treasury, and nothing will be lost. When the companies finally go under, a huge portion of the money we spend on vehicles when our economy improves again will go to another country’s treasury, improving their economy.

So... who were we bailing out again?

Job Qualifications

2009-05-23T20:23:00.002-05:00

The whole concept of having cars inspected at places where they fix cars up to pass inspection poses a serious conflict of interest. We’ve all been to a buddy’s mechanic shop to get our car inspected where someone said, “Turn your wipers on. Honk. Blinkers work? Ok, here’s your sticker.” This has served me well in the past, but it does seem rather fruitless.

I ran into a couple of friends at the mall today, and they were annoyed at the Firestone store. They had gone in to get the husband’s truck inspected. Less than twenty bucks, and you’re out in ten minutes, right? Yeah, hold your breath.

The geniuses running the place consist of one old dude and a couple of younger dudes who might have a full-on high school education. Well, that, and they probably took a three-hour tire training class as part of their orientation. The manager might have taken the five-hour class.

So they go in to get the inspection, and of course the dude looks at the tires, which are admittedly rather worn. The inspection guy refused to give my friends the inspection sticker unless they had four new tires put on. If I understand this correctly, the inspection money goes to the state rather than the shop; they only offer inspections as a courtesy to customers. Firestone’s primary function is obviously to sell tires, so you can’t really fault them for trying to make a $600 sale in addition to the few bucks they might make doing the inspection.

My friends argued that the tires were worn, but there was still sufficient tread on them to pass inspection. The teenage tire guru disagreed, so my friends said, “Thank you anyway." Instead of just saying "Bye," the Firestone guy told my friends that they would not be able to get their inspection ANYwhere because he was going to put in the official Inspection Computer Network that they need new tires!

What the hell? Why does one guy who barely speaks English and has beer on his breath get to make that decision? Follow this to its logical conclusion: If my friends didn’t have the money for the tires, they could end up getting a ticket for not having a sticker because their tires may or may not be “adequate” in one person’s eyes. If they can’t pay the ticket, a warrant is issued, and my friend could actually go to jail! All because someone wanted to make commission on some tires. Again, I ask, “What the hell?”

As if crap like that weren’t enough, my real problem with this whole thing is in the numbers. Even with the pain-in-the-neck sticker, you can still get a ticket for having a busted tail light. If cops are going to ignore the stickers and give you a ticket anyway, then what’s the point of getting the sticker in the first place?

Here’s a hint... Multiply the 20 million Texas cars (TexasEP.org) times a minimum of $14.50 per inspection. If you still can’t figure out the answer, you are probably qualified to work at Firestone.

On Torture

2009-05-21T20:55:00.002-05:00

Let me play out a disgusting scenario for you. And let me say that cops should NOT have this power; I am only creating an illustration.

Let’s assume a bad guy breaks into your house and kidnaps your kid. He’s a real sicko - no criminal record yet, but strongly suspected in some repulsive and heinous acts. The cops have known for a while that he was out there and know what he has done to other helpless victims, but they haven’t been able to prove it without his confession. Now he has your baby. Knowing this twisted man’s history, law enforcement assumes your child is somewhere being harmed in ways that would turn your stomach, no matter whose child it was.

With your daughter’s disappearance, the cops finally have what they needed to nail him, but once in custody, the bad guy refuses to answer questions about where your kid is. A few senior investigators politely ask him questions to try to obtain information while every rookie cop on the force is rounding up all his friends. They find out that his cohorts have rather questionable pasts, too, and detectives believe they might be working together in a larger ring to carry out their crimes. They bring the buddies in for questioning as well.

Unfortunately, the bad guys don’t feel much like talking today. They claim to be good, peaceful men, upstanding citizens who don’t know anything about any kidnapping, and they’ve never heard of your bad guy. They’re lying, and everyone knows they’re lying. After a few hours of various forms of empty threats and psychological questioning techniques, the cops give up. At five o’clock they go home, telling you they’ll try again tomorrow. You say thanks and go to bed for a good night’s sleep, right?

Of course not! You’d scream and raise all kinds of hell with the Police Department, the FBI, the CIA, and everyone else who will listen. You’d demand that they stop that stupid “questioning” crap and make some real progress. Start removing fingernails with pliers, or hook a car battery up to his testicles - anything to get the information inside him OUT. You swear that if the Chief would just let you in that interrogation room for just a few minutes, YOU’ll get some information out of the #*%!. He has your child!!

Sadly, there are half a dozen people in custody, but your daughter is only one person. The cops refuse to take even slightly more extreme measures because they feel it would be inappropriate to violate the prisoners’ rights when only one person is at risk. The guy hasn’t been convicted of anything yet, and we can’t take a chance on “torturing” the men who really might not have relevant information or be guilty of anything.

By the time they find your child, she is dead, and she died because the men in custody didn’t feel like talking today.

In what universe does this scenario make sense? It doesn’t. To anyone! So why is everyone whining about torturing a couple of mass murders in Guantamo Bay? Three is the exact number of prisoners who were waterboarded. Not the hundreds the bleeding-heart media would have you believe. One of the men “tortured” was Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, which killed 2, 752 sons and daughters.

He also admits planning and funding dozens of other international terrorist attacks (not to mention the ones still in planning stages that were thwarted) and describes himself as an “enemy of the United States.” I seriously question the sanity of anyone who thinks we could have gotten this information by sitting him down with a soda and some Doritos for a friendly little chat. As far as the idea that something less than “torture” could have been used... all he had to do was talk, and it never would have happened.

Before you start judging the decisions President Bush made without your knowledge, you need to consider what knowledge he had that you didn’t. Barack Obama claims that these decisions were “made in fear,” and he is right. We all stayed glued to our TVs for hours, waiting to see if our city was next. He also claims that our interrogation techniques reduced our “moral authority.”

Consider this. Even Obama said no one stood up to oppose our methods at the time. Of course not, because when American lives are at stake and something can be done about it, we don’t give a damn about the moral authority of this country. We care about American lives. If he opposes actions that saves thousands of American lives, exactly what is it that Barack Obama does support?

Reflections in Time

2009-05-19T13:49:00.000-05:00

Strange things happen when you substitute at the school you attended as a kid. Today, I had the rather unique experience of traveling backward in time. I remembered things I did not realize I had forgotten. At Van Junior High, the buildings are new, but the spirit is old, and some things never change.

The current Junior High was built several years after most of us graduated from the “Alamo Building,” which is still almost as old and historic as the town itself. The walls are different in this building, and the halls even have carpet. There are computers in every room, the intercoms work, and only the oldest teachers still use chalk on green chalkboards.

Even some of the faces are the same. Today I subbed for a man who has two brothers; one played baseball with my brother, and the other graduated with me. One teacher was the smart kid in our class for twelve and a half years - that one I always wanted to be. Another tutored me in algebra, and her husband rode my bus. And still a couple others call my daughter by my name every day because they taught me, too. Small towns are just like that.

The Vandal Sprit hasn’t changed, either. Especially on a Friday, practically every kid in that place has on something red. They carry red-and-white bags and wear red and-white-shoes. Every girl who wears ponytails owns a red-and-white polka-dot ribbon to go with her spirit shirt. The cheerleaders aren’t the snotty brats you see on movies; they are pretty good examples of what Mike Hill thought a Vandal should be. So were some of their mothers, as I recall.

We all had that one teacher... the one who made us think about things in ways we never had before. They made us curious about things we previously wondered why we had to learn. Even if we thought they were geeky or strict or silly at the time, we still recognized their wisdom and knowledge. We have looked back over the years and wished we could ask them questions. We occasionally find ourselves saying things like, “Napkins in your lap!” or “Slicker’n snot.” And when we run into someone who knows them, we ask how they’re doing.

Going back after more than twenty years and looking at the same posters on the walls, the same rocks in the cabinets, and the same handwriting on the board brings back memories well enough. But when you add the memory of the same projects you enjoyed taking place before you with a backdrop of the exact same voice, you grow inside. You look back and truly appreciate what they did for you. You realize that you have actually used the information they gave you, and you never even knew you were getting it.

When you put all that together, it amounts to just about the highest compliment you can give a teacher. We all aspire to make learning easy and memorable, and maybe make a difference in a couple of lives in the process. We hope to open someone’s eyes to things they might have never enjoyed without our help.

You made a difference to me, Mr. Currin. Thank you for making it interesting and letting us have a little fun. Thank you for having high standards and making us achieve them. Thank you for always doing what was right, not matter what it may have cost you. And thank you for still doing it after all these years.

Judging Miss California

2009-05-16T23:25:00.003-05:00

Carrie Prejean (pronounced pray-ZHAHN - it’s French), probably better known as still-reigning Miss California, incited public outrage when she honestly answered Perez Hilton’s question about gay marriage during the 2009 Miss America Pageant. The gay community is shouting that by only believing in “traditional marriage,” she is propagating hate, intolerance, and ignorance. The straight and conservative communities applaud her for speaking her mind, knowing it would cost her the Miss America crown.

I, too, applaud Carrie Prejean for boldly speaking her mind. I also applaud Perez Hilton for being so openly gay in a society where, like it or not, his “lifestyle” is not wholly accepted. I loosely refer to myself as a political blogger, and I do not always follow accepted standards. As a teacher, I worry about who is reading my blog because I’ve heard horror stories about people losing jobs because of their opinions. In spite of what you read here, I keep an awful lot to myself. I honestly don’t know if I’d have the guts do to what Prejean did; I respect her for it and am disgusted by the fallout of a stupid beauty contest.

A question was asked of each finalist in the pageant, but only Miss California’s was so inflammatory. The question itself was designed to further Hilton’s own agenda, regardless of what he thought she would answer. He obviously expected that as a representative for the liberal State of California, she would support his side of this controversial issue. After reading a gay friend’s Facebook status about Prejean and the many responses from his gay and lesbian friends, I was compelled to post a question of my own. I respectfully asked why it was acceptable for the gay community to rake her over the coals, but it was not acceptable for her to speak out against the admitted minority.

Erica said the main problem is that she is not some random citizen voicing her opinion, which no one seemed to have much problem with; the fact that she represents as a spokesperson for an entire state, and possibly the nation IS a problem. Granted, no one pays any attention to Miss America, but that’s not the point. One comment compared Prejean to Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, which openly preaches that “God hates fags” (using that word - ChicagoTribune.com). I told the forum that those people are idiots and a poor example of most Christians’ and straight people’s opinions.

Clint explained the situation to me most clearly - Gays resent being expected to live by someone else’s standards. I understand and relate to that completely. I don’t like being held to someone else’s standards, either - especially when I feel (rightly or wrongly) that their opinion goes against something that I believe to the very core of my being. How would you feel if the situation were reversed, with government claiming only gay marriages were legitimate and your own marriage license carried no legal or moral weight in our society? You’d be spouting profanity and shouting about intolerance and ignorance, too.

Prejean may be intolerant, but I reject my friends’ claims that her statement was made in ignorance or outright hate. She knows what her Bible teaches and has come to a different understanding of it than those who oppose her. She has made no public statement at all about homosexuality in general; rather, she has only spoken about the right of gays to marry. In fact, in an interview with Greta Van Sustern on Fox News, Miss California refused to discuss other gay hot topics such as adoption or other rights, somewhat refuting the claim that is she “spreading the message of intolerance.” Her only statement is that she believes marriage should be “traditional” - between a man and a woman. Bash her where you feel she is due, but only bash what she has actually done.

When I asked why Prejean is being so strongly criticized for saying the exact same words that Obama used when asked the exact same question, my friend David answered. Obama made a statement. The end. Carrie, on the other hand, is making an attempt to further her “hate and intolerance” and is being evangelical about it; he even said that for each step made forward in gay rights, people like her take them two steps back. In addition, she uses the Bible as a foundation for her beliefs, as most people do who agree with her. This makes her a hypocrite. Case in point: her racy pictures, which have been construed as morally questionable, at best. Those are his (paraphrased) words.

The bottom line is this:

If marriage is a church thing, why is the State involved anyway, and vice versa? I have no answer for that, nor do I have a solid opinion on gay marriage. I don’t much care who you love, who you marry, or what you do with them behind closed doors. It’s none of my business, just like those things in my life are none of your business. As long as your decisions don’t bring harm to me, personally, do what you like.

All I ask is that whatever your opinion, give it in love. You aren’t going to win anyone over by evil wishes against their health or eternity, telling them God hates their actions, or making any statement at all in ignorance. If you are going to have an opinion, do your research first. I didn’t consult any experts or official publications to find information for this blog. I went right to the source and solicited real people’s opinions. I hope you are willing to at least do the same before you judge Miss California or anyone else.

Lesson in Drunk Driving

2009-05-15T21:55:00.002-05:00

This issue is really too close to my heart for me to talk about, but it needs to be said. These are the only two incidents I am comfortable sharing with you here, but know that this runs deep.

I am passionate about the issue of drunk driving. It first touched my life on New Year’s Eve, 1977, when my grandparents and I were hit by a drunk driver. When he T-boned us around 11:00 pm, he had already been arrested on a DUI charge that evening, and someone had bailed him out of jail. He hit us in a rented car. If my parents had had the governmentmental knowledge that I have, they would have sued the hell out of Tyler PD, and I’d be rich today.

It touched my life again on Easter evening, 2004, when my own children and their grandparents (my parents) were T-boned by a drunk driver about two miles from where my own accident occurred. In both cases, the driver failed to stop at a stop sign and hit our cars - my grandparents’ in the front quarter-panel and my parents’ exactly between the doors. If either car had been hit a couple of feet in either direction, someone would have died, and I’d still be rich.

I don’t know what the insurance paid on my accident except for replacing my grandparents’ car, but I received $700 apiece for my children, plus their medical expenses. They were not seriously injured or traumatized by the event (in fact, they thought it was “cool” to ride in the ambulance), but I sure was. I wasn’t so governmentally informed at that time, either.

Currently, the minimum sentence for a first-time DUI is six months automatic jail time. With all the overcrowding in Smith County jails, they usually adjudicate down to a year of impossible probation that includes a few thousand in fines, several classes, reporting to an officer, mandatory drug tests to the tune of about $100 a pop (they actually cost about $30 retail), community service, and the installation of a breathalyzer device on your vehicle to keep you from driving drunk again. You pay for all of this yourself (and rightly so), but at their inflated prices.

The man who hit me was in a rented car, and the one who hit my kids was in his (illegal) father’s car. The breathalyzer would have been useless in both cases. Classes on how driving drunk affects the offender or others have not been shown to make a difference, and random community service is completely unrelated to the offense. The probation really is almost impossible to complete, and if you fail at probation, you go to jail. A lawyer told me (when interviewed, not counseling me) the method behind that madness:

The local government makes more money off of you being in jail than on probation, even if you only serve one-quarter of your sentence. In addition to your taxes, jails are paid a daily rate by the state to house criminals, and that rate is over ten times the price it actually costs to care for them. They make this money after you have already paid hundreds or thousands in probation and other fees. Where is all that money going? (Side note: Get on YouTube and find a video called American Drug War: The Last White Hope. It is a well-researched, independently produced documentary on the government’s involvement in America’s War on Drugs. It will change your perspective on everything.)

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying drunk drivers should get off scott free, but how about some help? Do you know any convicted drunk drivers who are not alcoholics? It IS an addiction, and to some degree, the addict’s actions can not be controlled. Rather than only punishing these offenders after they offend, why aren’t we using all that money to offer programs to prevent the crime in the first place? This has been done in numerous countries, including Holland where everything is legal, and it has made a huge difference. The number of drug- or alcohol-related crimes has dropped dramatically, especially evident in the number of repeat offenders.

Treatment for the disease of alcoholism has been proven to work in millions of lives. As a government intervention, it has been proven effective in the reduction of crime in similar societies to ours. A logical conclusion would be that untold numbers of lives are improved by every person treated for alcoholism. The alcoholic would likely become a more productive citizen and may even have a more positive view of government programs, and not mind paying so much in taxes. Know what else?

They did not have to put a single restriction on any weapon or bail out any company in order to accomplish this. If they want their hands in our pockets, why don’t they try doing something FOR us instead of TO us?