As I'm sure all of you are aware, last night was the annual State Of The Union Address by the Buffoon In Chief. I wish I could tell you that I watched it, but the truth is I didn't; the mere sound of NObama's voice makes me want to rip my ears off, so I didn't watch it. I did what I always do - I read the transcript instead. Takes less time, gives me a chance to look at things two or three times to make sure I understand it, and spares me the wasting of 60+ minutes of my life that I'll never get back.
To make a long story short, I'm not impressed. This year's speech was just more flowerly rhetoric, more empty promises (although the promises are smaller this year as compared to last year), more over-inflation of minor accomplishments, more criticism of the Republicans in Congress resulting in more division, and nothing positive of any real substance or meaning.
But it was also laced with a couple of veiled threats, one of which the GOP jumped on right away and one which I'm not sure that most folks recognized. I'll get to those in a minute; right now, here's the real State Of The Union as I see it from Downrange.
Our nation is more divided along political lines than ever, and the faith of the American people in the Federal government is at an all-time low. Our President has done nothing over the course of the past five years to resolve this; rather, he has contributed to the divisiveness that has frozen the Congress into a stalemate by laying the blame for all ills and failings of both Congress and his administration squarely in the laps of the Republicans. He holds both himself and the Democrats in Congress blameless for the quagmire that our Congress has become. He has failed us as a leader in every way, shape and form, and the speech he gave last night in which he makes yet more empty promises and speaks in flowery terms about the "progress" the nation has made under his insightful leadership is both a joke and insulting to anyone with half an ounce of common sense. From his speech last night:
"The lowest unemployment rate in over five years."
Sounds good, until you realize that the unemployment rate was 7.8% when he took office, rose to 10.0% under his "leadership," and didn't drop below 7.0% until last month. And all this after he vowed that under his leadership, unemployment wouldn't top 8%.
"And for the first time in over a decade, business leaders around the world have declared that China is no longer the world's number one place to invest; America is."
Was this before or after American's credit rating got downgraded for the first time in the nation's history?
"It's not just oil and natural gas production that's booming; we're becoming a global leader in solar, too. Every four minutes, another American home or business goes solar, every panel pounded into place by a worker whose job cannot be outsourced. Let's continue that progress with a smarter tax policy that stops giving $4 billion a year to fossil fuel industries that don't need it, so we can invest more in fuels of the future that do."
Does the name, "Solyndra" sound familiar to you, Mr. President? You know, that company you gave billions of dollars to, the one who got that money after contributing to your campaign fund, the company that went bankrupt two years ago? Does that rign a bell? And how about the Keystone Pipeline? Have you forgotten how you killed the funding for that one? Or is that a figment of my imagination?
"Finally, if we're serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders, law enforcement -- and fix our broken immigration system. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have acted. And I know that members of both parties in the House want to do the same. Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. And for good reason: When people come here to fulfill their dreams -- to study, invent, contribute to our culture -- they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everybody. So let's get immigration reform done this year. Let's get it done. It's time."
From where I stand, the only thing that's broken about our immigration system is that you still haven't secured our borders to stem the flow of illegal immigrants who steal jobs from Americans and then don't pay taxes, and the only people who think the immigration system is broken are the illegals who don't want to go through the process legally. We have a process in place, the process works, but you have to actually use it to see that. The illegals in our country don't want to do that; they'd rather have you and the liberals in Congress give them without working for it what others have gained by working for it. They want something for nothing, and they're counting on you to give it to them.
"I'm also convinced we can help Americans return to the workforce faster by reforming unemployment insurance so that it's more effective in today's economy. But first, this Congress needs to restore the unemployment insurance you just let expire for 1.6 million people."
Now if you want to talk about a process that's broken, this is it. Our unemployment process allows the shiftless, unmotivated, unwilling, and lazy to take advantage of a system that will sustain and promote their useless way of life by means of taxpayer-funded handouts. Sure, there are people in our nation who genuinely need and deserve this program, but for every one of them that fit that category there are three that are taking advantage of it. THIS is the process you should be concentrating on fixing, not immigration.
"Already, because of the Affordable Care Act, more than 3 million Americans under age 26 have gained coverage under their parents' plans. More than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage. Nine million."
Uh, no. Technically, the numbers do add up to 9 million, but the real truth is that only 3 million have signed up for NObamacare, and the other 6 million have signed up for Medicaid. A little creative juggling of numbers to over-inflate the truth. But wait, does this sound familiar: "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it." You told us this three years ago, and you lied to us just like the senator from South Carolina proclaimed. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have had their insurance cancelled because it's no longer available under your "Affordable" Care Act. Doctors that were available to treat special-needs patients are no longer available because they're not on the list provided by the "Affordable" Care Act. Programs that were being used to help treat cancer are no longer available because they're not offered under the "Affordable" Care Act; one of our own congressmen just found this out for himself when the program to treat his cancer got cancelled - all due to your "Affordable" Care Act. The bottom line is that America can't afford your health care program.
"Citizenship demands a sense of common purpose; participation in the hard work of self-government; an obligation to serve our communities. And I know this chamber agrees that few Americans give more to their country than our diplomats and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces."
Really? So would you please explain to us why you signed a bill last month that only gave our Armed Forces a meager 1% pay raise, and why you signed into law a budget that slashed the medical benefits of our retirmed Armed Forces members? We give 20+ years of our life for 50% of our pay, while you and the members of Congress can retire with full benefits after only 2 years of service. If you want to talk about a wage inequality, look no further.
Earlier I mentioned a couple of veiled threats that NObama made and that I'd mention them in a minute; well, it's time, and here they are. I'll start off with the one that the GOP jumped on right away.
"But America does not stand still -- and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do."
In other words, NObama is telling us that he's going to rule by executive order and bypass Congress at every opportunity. Whatever he wants to do, he's going to find a way to slap the label of "expanding opportunity for more American families" on it and then sign an Executive Order, bypassing Congress. This is the exact thing our Constitution is designed to prevent, and the GOP has already said publicly that if he does this he's going to "run into a brick wall." You have to keep in mind that our President is the same one who recently said, "It seems our Founding Fathers designed a system that is a little harder to change than I'd like." That's the whole point, and the GOP is going to remind you of it at every turn.
Now for the one veiled threat that I haven't heard anyone talk about. Here it is:
"Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day. I've seen the courage of parents, students, pastors, police officers all over this country who say "we are not afraid." And I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, in our shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook."
In plain English, the NObama Administration's war on the Second Amendment is about to kick into high gear. The Buffoon In Chief has just declared that he will bypass Congress in order to assault our Second Amendment rights by means of the Executive Order. If any of you thought that the fight over our Second Amendment rights was over, I have some very bad news for you: it's only just begun. If you support the Second Amendment but are not a member of the NRA, now is the time to join.
Contrary to what NObama wants me to believe, I don't believe that America is a better place in any way due to his administration. He has done more harm than good and intends to do yet more. I believe him to be the biggest threat to the American way of life that this country has ever faced, and I thank God that he's not eligible for a third term. I am genuinely afraid for the future of our great nation, but I vow to do my part to protect and defend our nation, the Constitution, and our way of life.
I'm a patriot, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
IHC
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
South Carolina Senate Bill 308 - It's About Time
Late last week the news broke that the South Carolina House had overwhelmingly approved and sent Senate Bill #308 to Governor Nikki Haley for signature, and the liberals and gun-grabbers immediately went into a frenzy. Of course, this is to be expected anytime a legislative body of any kind does anything to guarantee the Second Amendment rights of the citizens, so we should be used to this kind of thing by now.
For those of you not familiar with the provisions of the bill, it does several things: it lengthens the time that a Concealed Weapons Permit is valid, it provides for improved training and certification, expands the methods and places that you can carry a weapon in a vehicle, streamlines and improves the application/renewal process, and most importantly for those of us who have a CWP, it allows a CWP holder to carry concealed in an establishment that serves alcohol for consumption and prohibits the holder from consuming while doing so.
So out of the list of things I just mentioned, guess which one the liberals and gun-grabbers totally ignored and which one they centered all of their attention on.
If you said they totally ignored the part about providing for improved training and certification, you'd be correct. If you said they chose instead to center their attentiona bout the part where you can now carry concealed in a place where alcohol is consumed, you'd also be correct. And if you're as familiar with the "logic" (how I hate to use that term in this case) of the liberals and the gun-grabbers as I am, none of that comes as a surprise.
What this bill means to me, basically, is that I no longer have to disarm to take my wife out to eat. Prior to the bill I had two choices: leave the weapon at home, which goes against every fiber of my being, or leave the weapon in the car - which also goes against every fiber of my being. Leaving the weapon in the car invites it to be stolen and then possibly used in the commission of a crime, and wouldn't the liberals and the gun-grabbers just love that! I can see the headlines now: "Weapon Owned By CWP Holder Used In Crime!" Of course, they'd use the term "owned" instead of "stolen from," but we all know that. No, leaving the weapon in the car is not a good choice, not even if you lock it in the trunk.
And leaving it at home kinda defeats the whole purpose of having a CWP in the first place. After all, if you're going to get accosted or robbed while out and about, statistics show that you're most likely to be accosted in the parking lot while you're either walking from or back to your car. Your chances of being accosted inside the restaurant are slim to none. The parking lot is where the bad guys ply their trade, and that's the place where you need the weapon the most.
This, of course, is something that is totally lost on the liberals and the gun-grabbers, and I fully believe it's that way by their own design. The first thing you heard from this group of malfeasants was that South Carolina was going to turn into the Old West, with drunken shootouts taking place in the streets of Five Points and inside every bar in the state. This is, of course, the same thing the liberals and gun-grabbers said was going to happen in Florida when that state became the first state to pass a "must-issue" CWP law way back in the '90s, and of course that didn't happen. (Statistics from the FBI have shown that crime has actually decreased in that state since the passing of the law, as it has done in every state that has passed a similar law since.) And as it didn't happen then, it's not going to happen now.
The main thing that the liberals and gun-grabbers refuse to realize is this: if a person is mature and responsible enough to be trusted with carrying a weapon and granted a Concealed Weapon Permit, they're also mature and responsible enough to be trusted not to drink alcohol while armed. And since the people with CWPs are law-abiding citizens, they will obey that part of the law that says they can't drink while armed. It's as simple as that. (Besides, if you're not going to drink, why go into a bar anyway?)
Another thing that the liberals and gun-grabbers choose to ignore is the fact that there are already guns in bars throughout the state and the nation, and it's the bad guys who have them. The good guys don't, because up until the bill is signed it's illegal to carry concealed in a bar or restaurant. In the Columbia area in the past couple of months there have been several shootings in parking lots of bars, and they all have the same things in common: the participants were all drunk, they were all out in the parking lot, and none of them were CWP holders. But of course, you won't read that in the paper or hear it on the news; no, all you'll hear is that there was ANOTHER shooting.
Personally, I think this amendment to the law is long overdue. It's about time the state of South Carolina brought itself into line with the majority of states who have CWP laws and who allow their permit holders to carry concealed in a restaurant or bar. We've proven that we can be trusted by getting the permit to begin with, and it's about time that the state recognized this by doing away with a provision of the law which prevented us from being armed where it was most important - in the parking lots. To me, this is just one more step in the slow process of formal, legal recognition of the fact that weapons in the hands of law-abiding citizens is the answer and not the problem.
Now if only the liberals and gun-grabbers would realize that.
Nah, I ain't holding my breath.
IHC
For those of you not familiar with the provisions of the bill, it does several things: it lengthens the time that a Concealed Weapons Permit is valid, it provides for improved training and certification, expands the methods and places that you can carry a weapon in a vehicle, streamlines and improves the application/renewal process, and most importantly for those of us who have a CWP, it allows a CWP holder to carry concealed in an establishment that serves alcohol for consumption and prohibits the holder from consuming while doing so.
So out of the list of things I just mentioned, guess which one the liberals and gun-grabbers totally ignored and which one they centered all of their attention on.
If you said they totally ignored the part about providing for improved training and certification, you'd be correct. If you said they chose instead to center their attentiona bout the part where you can now carry concealed in a place where alcohol is consumed, you'd also be correct. And if you're as familiar with the "logic" (how I hate to use that term in this case) of the liberals and the gun-grabbers as I am, none of that comes as a surprise.
What this bill means to me, basically, is that I no longer have to disarm to take my wife out to eat. Prior to the bill I had two choices: leave the weapon at home, which goes against every fiber of my being, or leave the weapon in the car - which also goes against every fiber of my being. Leaving the weapon in the car invites it to be stolen and then possibly used in the commission of a crime, and wouldn't the liberals and the gun-grabbers just love that! I can see the headlines now: "Weapon Owned By CWP Holder Used In Crime!" Of course, they'd use the term "owned" instead of "stolen from," but we all know that. No, leaving the weapon in the car is not a good choice, not even if you lock it in the trunk.
And leaving it at home kinda defeats the whole purpose of having a CWP in the first place. After all, if you're going to get accosted or robbed while out and about, statistics show that you're most likely to be accosted in the parking lot while you're either walking from or back to your car. Your chances of being accosted inside the restaurant are slim to none. The parking lot is where the bad guys ply their trade, and that's the place where you need the weapon the most.
This, of course, is something that is totally lost on the liberals and the gun-grabbers, and I fully believe it's that way by their own design. The first thing you heard from this group of malfeasants was that South Carolina was going to turn into the Old West, with drunken shootouts taking place in the streets of Five Points and inside every bar in the state. This is, of course, the same thing the liberals and gun-grabbers said was going to happen in Florida when that state became the first state to pass a "must-issue" CWP law way back in the '90s, and of course that didn't happen. (Statistics from the FBI have shown that crime has actually decreased in that state since the passing of the law, as it has done in every state that has passed a similar law since.) And as it didn't happen then, it's not going to happen now.
The main thing that the liberals and gun-grabbers refuse to realize is this: if a person is mature and responsible enough to be trusted with carrying a weapon and granted a Concealed Weapon Permit, they're also mature and responsible enough to be trusted not to drink alcohol while armed. And since the people with CWPs are law-abiding citizens, they will obey that part of the law that says they can't drink while armed. It's as simple as that. (Besides, if you're not going to drink, why go into a bar anyway?)
Another thing that the liberals and gun-grabbers choose to ignore is the fact that there are already guns in bars throughout the state and the nation, and it's the bad guys who have them. The good guys don't, because up until the bill is signed it's illegal to carry concealed in a bar or restaurant. In the Columbia area in the past couple of months there have been several shootings in parking lots of bars, and they all have the same things in common: the participants were all drunk, they were all out in the parking lot, and none of them were CWP holders. But of course, you won't read that in the paper or hear it on the news; no, all you'll hear is that there was ANOTHER shooting.
Personally, I think this amendment to the law is long overdue. It's about time the state of South Carolina brought itself into line with the majority of states who have CWP laws and who allow their permit holders to carry concealed in a restaurant or bar. We've proven that we can be trusted by getting the permit to begin with, and it's about time that the state recognized this by doing away with a provision of the law which prevented us from being armed where it was most important - in the parking lots. To me, this is just one more step in the slow process of formal, legal recognition of the fact that weapons in the hands of law-abiding citizens is the answer and not the problem.
Now if only the liberals and gun-grabbers would realize that.
Nah, I ain't holding my breath.
IHC
Friday, January 24, 2014
A Clear Case of Selective Persecution and Political BS
So the latest news is that the Justice Department has issued subpoenas to the Christie Re-election Campaign and the New Jersey GOP for documents relating to the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, despite the fact that the New Jersey DA's Office has done the same thing.
One has to wonder several things about this latest move by the NObama-led federal government.
First, why is the Federal government even getting involved at all? The GWB is not federal property, the federal government is not responsibilities for the bridge in any way, shape, or form, and the lane closures had no effect on any Federal operation that I know of. So why isn't the Federal government just sitting back and letting the State of New Jersey take care of its own business?
Second, if the Federal government is going to get involved at all, why not do it in collaboration and cooperation with the New Jersey DA's office instead of launching their own witch hunt - excuse me, investigation?
Third, Governor Christie has already said he was unaware of the closures originating from his office, he's taken full responsibility for it, and has fired the people he's been able to prove were responsible for it. (Something that our President has so far refused to do with any of the many screw-ups his administration is responsible for.) So why is the Federal government singling him out for persecution? (And I use that word intentionally.)
The answers to all of these questions are simple. The NObama Administration knows that Christie is the biggest threat to "Billary" Clinton in the upcoming Presidential elections, and both the NObama Administration - meaning the Buffoon In Chief - and the Democratic Party are seizing this oppourtunity to take out the threat before the election process begins. Both The Great Pretender and the Democratic Party want the NObama and the liberal legacy currently strangling our nation to continue, and they both know that "Billary" Clinton is the one to make sure this happens. They've known all along that Christie was the only real threat that could possibly emerge from the Republican party, so they're jumping on this chance with both feet to take him out as soon as possible.
The other answer is that Christie has made NObama look like the fool and buffoon he truly is by standing up and taking the blame for what goes on under his watch as any true leader should, and now it's time for NObama to make Christie look bad. It has been my personal experience in life that those with no backbone will jump at any chance to play "catch-up" with those around them who have the moral and ethical guts that they lack, and this is simply more of the same. NObama is a spineless, gutless figurehead, and Christie made him look very bad. Now it's time for NObama to play a little "catch-up," and he's not letting the chance go by. Of course, he's not doing it himself, he's having his lap dog Holder do it for him, but you can bet next month's welfare check that the phone at Holder's office rang this week and it was the Buffoon In Chief on the other end of the line.
Personally, I think our government has bigger and more important things to worry about. We're still waiting for the justice that NObama promised to be delivered to those responsible for the murders of four Americans at Benghazi. But then again, in order for this to happen the Feds have to know who did it, and right now the NObama Administration and the Holder Justice Department can't figure that out even though the rest of the world knows it was Al Queda.
We're also waiting for those responsible for the "Fast and Furious" debacle to be held accountable, another incident in which an American was killed, justice was promised, and nothing has been delivered. Of course, this will never happen either because the one responsible is Eric Holder, and for NObama to admit that's true and punish him would be to admit that NObama made a mistake - and we all know that The Great Pretender is perfect in every way, right?
Then there's the investigation into the IRS unlawfully targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups. Yeah, the NObama Administration is all over that one, appointing a special investigator and everything. A Democratic liberal investigator who was also a major campaign contributor to NObama's re-election campaign, that is. Yeah, we can really expect justice to take place in this case, right? In a pig's ass.
The message here is clear: the NObama Administration, led by the Buffoon In Chief, has no desire to uncover and expose the truth about anything that will make them look bad or interfere with their socialist/liberal agenda, and they will do anything and everything both fair and unfair, legal or illegal, moral or immoral, ethical or unethical, to ensure that their legacy of liberalism and socialism continues on into the next administration. There hasn't been as incompetant a President sitting in the White House since Jimmy Carter, and there hasn't been an administration so rife with scandal and corruption since Richard Nixon. The damage that this President and his socialist administration are doing to our country will take decades to correct, and it will take a concerted, coordinated effort by both the Republicans and the American people to get it done.
And it needs to start now, before it gets worse.
IHC
One has to wonder several things about this latest move by the NObama-led federal government.
First, why is the Federal government even getting involved at all? The GWB is not federal property, the federal government is not responsibilities for the bridge in any way, shape, or form, and the lane closures had no effect on any Federal operation that I know of. So why isn't the Federal government just sitting back and letting the State of New Jersey take care of its own business?
Second, if the Federal government is going to get involved at all, why not do it in collaboration and cooperation with the New Jersey DA's office instead of launching their own witch hunt - excuse me, investigation?
Third, Governor Christie has already said he was unaware of the closures originating from his office, he's taken full responsibility for it, and has fired the people he's been able to prove were responsible for it. (Something that our President has so far refused to do with any of the many screw-ups his administration is responsible for.) So why is the Federal government singling him out for persecution? (And I use that word intentionally.)
The answers to all of these questions are simple. The NObama Administration knows that Christie is the biggest threat to "Billary" Clinton in the upcoming Presidential elections, and both the NObama Administration - meaning the Buffoon In Chief - and the Democratic Party are seizing this oppourtunity to take out the threat before the election process begins. Both The Great Pretender and the Democratic Party want the NObama and the liberal legacy currently strangling our nation to continue, and they both know that "Billary" Clinton is the one to make sure this happens. They've known all along that Christie was the only real threat that could possibly emerge from the Republican party, so they're jumping on this chance with both feet to take him out as soon as possible.
The other answer is that Christie has made NObama look like the fool and buffoon he truly is by standing up and taking the blame for what goes on under his watch as any true leader should, and now it's time for NObama to make Christie look bad. It has been my personal experience in life that those with no backbone will jump at any chance to play "catch-up" with those around them who have the moral and ethical guts that they lack, and this is simply more of the same. NObama is a spineless, gutless figurehead, and Christie made him look very bad. Now it's time for NObama to play a little "catch-up," and he's not letting the chance go by. Of course, he's not doing it himself, he's having his lap dog Holder do it for him, but you can bet next month's welfare check that the phone at Holder's office rang this week and it was the Buffoon In Chief on the other end of the line.
Personally, I think our government has bigger and more important things to worry about. We're still waiting for the justice that NObama promised to be delivered to those responsible for the murders of four Americans at Benghazi. But then again, in order for this to happen the Feds have to know who did it, and right now the NObama Administration and the Holder Justice Department can't figure that out even though the rest of the world knows it was Al Queda.
We're also waiting for those responsible for the "Fast and Furious" debacle to be held accountable, another incident in which an American was killed, justice was promised, and nothing has been delivered. Of course, this will never happen either because the one responsible is Eric Holder, and for NObama to admit that's true and punish him would be to admit that NObama made a mistake - and we all know that The Great Pretender is perfect in every way, right?
Then there's the investigation into the IRS unlawfully targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups. Yeah, the NObama Administration is all over that one, appointing a special investigator and everything. A Democratic liberal investigator who was also a major campaign contributor to NObama's re-election campaign, that is. Yeah, we can really expect justice to take place in this case, right? In a pig's ass.
The message here is clear: the NObama Administration, led by the Buffoon In Chief, has no desire to uncover and expose the truth about anything that will make them look bad or interfere with their socialist/liberal agenda, and they will do anything and everything both fair and unfair, legal or illegal, moral or immoral, ethical or unethical, to ensure that their legacy of liberalism and socialism continues on into the next administration. There hasn't been as incompetant a President sitting in the White House since Jimmy Carter, and there hasn't been an administration so rife with scandal and corruption since Richard Nixon. The damage that this President and his socialist administration are doing to our country will take decades to correct, and it will take a concerted, coordinated effort by both the Republicans and the American people to get it done.
And it needs to start now, before it gets worse.
IHC
Thursday, January 23, 2014
The First Amendment Doesn't Say That
If you've been paying attention to the news lately, you've no doubt heard a lot of discussions about the First, Second, and Fourth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Out of all the Amendments in the Bill of Rights, in my humble opinion the First Amendment is almost tied with the Second as the most often and widely misinterpreted Amendment of them all. Not only is it widely misinterpreted, it also bears the separate distinction of being used the most often as "blanket coverage" for people saying, doing, or displaying things that mainstream society finds wrong, insulting or disgusting.
We have to start off with a look at just what the wording of the First Amendment is, so here it is:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Before you start interpreting the Amendment, I think you first have to look at why it was written in the first place - what were the events our Founding Fathers experienced that drove them to write this Amendment and make it first. The answer is simple.
The colonists fled England because of religious persecution. Seems that the king of England at the time issued a decree making one religion the official and only recognized religion of England, and he also made it illegal to practice any other religion under penalty of death. Once in America, the colonists found out the hard way that the quickest way to get locked up and have the key thrown away was to speak aloud or write something critical of the Crown; do that and the redcoats would show up at your door, haul you away, and throw you in prison until the Crown decided you had learned your lesson and released you. (There are several other Amendments that were spawned out of this as well, but that's for another post at another time.) Once the unrest in the Colonies grew to the point where people were gathering in large enough groups as to make the local Crown representatives nervous, the Crown promptly made it illegal to assemble. They then refused to hear any complaints on anything that the colonists wanted to complain about, claiming that they just didn't have to - either that, or they just ignored the colonists altogether. (For example, in Colonial Williamsburg when the House of Burgesses would meet, discuss an issue, and then pass their findings and recommendations on to the British government, if the British governor didn't like what he was told he would simply disband the Burgesses. Problem solved.)
So there's the First Amendment in all its glory and the reasons why it was drafted by our Founding Fathers. Now let's talk about how people have misused it through intentional misinterpretation.
First and foremost, you have to take note of and keep in mind the first five words of the Amendment for two reasons: first, these five words spell out specifically who the Amendment is aimed at, and second, what specifically that body of people can't do. And those first five words are, "Congress shall make no law." That phrase is very clear and precise, and for the life of me I don't understand how anyone with a lick of common sense can miss that - unless they choose to do so.
So let's talk about the first part that addresses religion and the practice thereof. You will note, please, that nowhere in the wording of the Amendment is found the phrase "separation of church and state." In addition to NOT being found in the Amendment, that phrase is also not found anywhere in the Bill of Rights or in the Constitution itself. That phrase was used in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. To quote Wikipedia:
In English, the exact term is an offshoot of the phrase, "wall of separation between church and state", as written in Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. In that letter, referencing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Jefferson writes: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."
What the Amendment actually says in regards to religion is that it is unconstitutional for the Congress of the United States to pass a law making one religion the "official" and "only" religion recognized and able to be practiced in the United States. It does NOT say that you can't display the Ten Commandments at the entrance to a county courthouse, nor does it say that you can't display a Christmas tree in the town square on town land. This is where the intentional misinterpretation and misuse comes in.
The next part concerning freedom of speech and of the press is equally simple. Plainly put, if you want to criticize the American government in either speech or printed text you can do so without having to worry about getting locked up because "Congress shall make no law" making it illegal to do so. And no one in the Federal government - NO ONE - has the authority to order you to be locked up because they don't like what you said. Lincoln did this during the War for Southern Independence and got posthumously censured by Congress for it. (Making false accusations and libelous claims is another matter entirely, one I won't go into here.)
If you choose to hold a demonstration to voice your displeasure with the Federal government, "Congress shall make no law" to prevent it. As the Tea Party can tell you, it's perfectly legal to demonstrate outside of the White House without getting locked up. And lastly if you are treated unfairly by the Federal government, you have a right to voice your complaint to the Federal government and have that complaint heard, then acted upon. Nothing says you're gonna like the reply, but they at least have to give you one. "Congress shall make no law," remember.
In plain language, the First Amendment was drafted to prevent the government - any government - from subjugating the people by controlling, limiting, or outlawing their rights as given by God to practice the religion which they believe in, to complain about the government, to assemble in groups to voice those complaints, and to have their complaints heard and addressed. It's as simple as that.
What the First Amendment doesn't do, in my humble opinion, is prevent anyone from erecting and displaying any kind of religious symbol of the religion they practice, nor does it prevent a town or city or other form of organized community from using that communitie's funds to do so. It also doesn't make the display of a manger scene on a military installation illegal.
It doesn't give you the right to wear a t-shirt emlazoned with the Nazi swastika or the Confederate battle flag on it out in public. There's no law in this nation anywhere I know of that says you can't, but the First Amendment doesn't give you the right to do so. That, in my opinion, is NOT "freedom of speech" as intended and stated in the Amendment itself. Any other interpretation or extrapolation of the Amendment to support that claim is, in my opinion, total and pure BS.
It doesn't give you and your friends the right to take over the grounds of the State House and camp there for as long as you think you need to in order to make a point. If the city has a law - a law, mind you - that camping on the State House grounds is illegal, then the moment you throw out a sleeping bag or pitch a tent when the sun goes down, your ass is fair game for the cops to come arrest you for criminal trespassing and throw your butt in jail.
It also doesn't give a journalist the right to conceal the identity of his/her source for a story. There's no such thing as "journalistic priviledge," and the First Amendment doesn't say anything about protecting sources. Read it again if you have to, but I dare you to find where it says anything remotely resembling that.
Yeah, I know, a whole lot of so-called "experts" and learned men have given far different and conflicting opinions and interpretations - there's that word again - of the Amendment and the Bill of Rights than what I've stated here. On the other hand, I've never claimed to be a legal expert on the Constitution or anything else having to do with the workings of our government, either. But you have to realize and recognize that our Founding Fathers didn't write the Bill of Rights and the Constitution for the benefit of the "legal beagles" out there, those who have studied law and claim to be "experts" on it. No, they wrote it for us, you and I, the common folk, the people who stood the most to gain by having the Amendments written - and who had the most to lose by not writing them down. They wrote them in the language of the times which is, unfortunately, the main trait of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution that allows for the massive misinterpretation of those documents in this day and age. Personally, I think to fully understand and correctly interpret the Constitution and the Bill of Rights you need to first understand the language of the times and the meanings of that language. If not, then any interpretation runs the risk of being incorrect by either accident or design. Unfortunately, in too many instances these days the misinterpretation is by deliberate design.
And that's the problem.
IHC
We have to start off with a look at just what the wording of the First Amendment is, so here it is:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Before you start interpreting the Amendment, I think you first have to look at why it was written in the first place - what were the events our Founding Fathers experienced that drove them to write this Amendment and make it first. The answer is simple.
The colonists fled England because of religious persecution. Seems that the king of England at the time issued a decree making one religion the official and only recognized religion of England, and he also made it illegal to practice any other religion under penalty of death. Once in America, the colonists found out the hard way that the quickest way to get locked up and have the key thrown away was to speak aloud or write something critical of the Crown; do that and the redcoats would show up at your door, haul you away, and throw you in prison until the Crown decided you had learned your lesson and released you. (There are several other Amendments that were spawned out of this as well, but that's for another post at another time.) Once the unrest in the Colonies grew to the point where people were gathering in large enough groups as to make the local Crown representatives nervous, the Crown promptly made it illegal to assemble. They then refused to hear any complaints on anything that the colonists wanted to complain about, claiming that they just didn't have to - either that, or they just ignored the colonists altogether. (For example, in Colonial Williamsburg when the House of Burgesses would meet, discuss an issue, and then pass their findings and recommendations on to the British government, if the British governor didn't like what he was told he would simply disband the Burgesses. Problem solved.)
So there's the First Amendment in all its glory and the reasons why it was drafted by our Founding Fathers. Now let's talk about how people have misused it through intentional misinterpretation.
First and foremost, you have to take note of and keep in mind the first five words of the Amendment for two reasons: first, these five words spell out specifically who the Amendment is aimed at, and second, what specifically that body of people can't do. And those first five words are, "Congress shall make no law." That phrase is very clear and precise, and for the life of me I don't understand how anyone with a lick of common sense can miss that - unless they choose to do so.
So let's talk about the first part that addresses religion and the practice thereof. You will note, please, that nowhere in the wording of the Amendment is found the phrase "separation of church and state." In addition to NOT being found in the Amendment, that phrase is also not found anywhere in the Bill of Rights or in the Constitution itself. That phrase was used in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. To quote Wikipedia:
In English, the exact term is an offshoot of the phrase, "wall of separation between church and state", as written in Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. In that letter, referencing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Jefferson writes: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."
What the Amendment actually says in regards to religion is that it is unconstitutional for the Congress of the United States to pass a law making one religion the "official" and "only" religion recognized and able to be practiced in the United States. It does NOT say that you can't display the Ten Commandments at the entrance to a county courthouse, nor does it say that you can't display a Christmas tree in the town square on town land. This is where the intentional misinterpretation and misuse comes in.
The next part concerning freedom of speech and of the press is equally simple. Plainly put, if you want to criticize the American government in either speech or printed text you can do so without having to worry about getting locked up because "Congress shall make no law" making it illegal to do so. And no one in the Federal government - NO ONE - has the authority to order you to be locked up because they don't like what you said. Lincoln did this during the War for Southern Independence and got posthumously censured by Congress for it. (Making false accusations and libelous claims is another matter entirely, one I won't go into here.)
If you choose to hold a demonstration to voice your displeasure with the Federal government, "Congress shall make no law" to prevent it. As the Tea Party can tell you, it's perfectly legal to demonstrate outside of the White House without getting locked up. And lastly if you are treated unfairly by the Federal government, you have a right to voice your complaint to the Federal government and have that complaint heard, then acted upon. Nothing says you're gonna like the reply, but they at least have to give you one. "Congress shall make no law," remember.
In plain language, the First Amendment was drafted to prevent the government - any government - from subjugating the people by controlling, limiting, or outlawing their rights as given by God to practice the religion which they believe in, to complain about the government, to assemble in groups to voice those complaints, and to have their complaints heard and addressed. It's as simple as that.
What the First Amendment doesn't do, in my humble opinion, is prevent anyone from erecting and displaying any kind of religious symbol of the religion they practice, nor does it prevent a town or city or other form of organized community from using that communitie's funds to do so. It also doesn't make the display of a manger scene on a military installation illegal.
It doesn't give you the right to wear a t-shirt emlazoned with the Nazi swastika or the Confederate battle flag on it out in public. There's no law in this nation anywhere I know of that says you can't, but the First Amendment doesn't give you the right to do so. That, in my opinion, is NOT "freedom of speech" as intended and stated in the Amendment itself. Any other interpretation or extrapolation of the Amendment to support that claim is, in my opinion, total and pure BS.
It doesn't give you and your friends the right to take over the grounds of the State House and camp there for as long as you think you need to in order to make a point. If the city has a law - a law, mind you - that camping on the State House grounds is illegal, then the moment you throw out a sleeping bag or pitch a tent when the sun goes down, your ass is fair game for the cops to come arrest you for criminal trespassing and throw your butt in jail.
It also doesn't give a journalist the right to conceal the identity of his/her source for a story. There's no such thing as "journalistic priviledge," and the First Amendment doesn't say anything about protecting sources. Read it again if you have to, but I dare you to find where it says anything remotely resembling that.
Yeah, I know, a whole lot of so-called "experts" and learned men have given far different and conflicting opinions and interpretations - there's that word again - of the Amendment and the Bill of Rights than what I've stated here. On the other hand, I've never claimed to be a legal expert on the Constitution or anything else having to do with the workings of our government, either. But you have to realize and recognize that our Founding Fathers didn't write the Bill of Rights and the Constitution for the benefit of the "legal beagles" out there, those who have studied law and claim to be "experts" on it. No, they wrote it for us, you and I, the common folk, the people who stood the most to gain by having the Amendments written - and who had the most to lose by not writing them down. They wrote them in the language of the times which is, unfortunately, the main trait of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution that allows for the massive misinterpretation of those documents in this day and age. Personally, I think to fully understand and correctly interpret the Constitution and the Bill of Rights you need to first understand the language of the times and the meanings of that language. If not, then any interpretation runs the risk of being incorrect by either accident or design. Unfortunately, in too many instances these days the misinterpretation is by deliberate design.
And that's the problem.
IHC
Saturday, January 18, 2014
The Unexpected Rewards of Just Doing Your Job
Anyone who knew me when I was growing up knew, as did I, that I was destined to join the military. I grew up listening to my father telling sea stories about his time in the Navy; my favorite Hallowe'en costumes were a Confederate soldier's uniform and a USMC uniform. My attitude about things was always serious and duty-minded, and I took to military history and affairs like a duck takes to water. This became even more true when I joined the Civil Air Patrol in 1971, getting my first taste of what life would be like in the military. All it did was cement in my mind that I was born to wear a uniform, and in 1975 I made that happen when I joined the US Air Force.
Once in the Air Force I was always more serious and duty-minded than my peers, more dedicated and devoted to following the military way of life than most around me. It was only natural, therefore, that when I re-enlisted in 1979 I would turn my attention towards making the most out of my attitude and abilities. Once I returned from the year-long remote tour to Korea that the Air Force gave me three days after I re-enlisted (another story for another time), I decided that I wanted to become a Military Training Instructor. My MTIs when I went through Air Force Basic Military Training, Staff Sergeant James R. Schraeder and Staff Sergeant Stephen Bong, taught me things about duty, honor, and dedication that made an impression on me and would stay with me throughout my Air Force career. In 1980 I became the founding Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the Installation Correctional Custody Facility at Seymour Johnson AFB, NC, and being involved with the retraining of errant airmen proved to me that the place I needed to be was Lackland AFB, Texas. I wanted to be a part of the training of the airmen joining my Air Force, so I started the application process in the spring of 1982 and in August of that year received notification that I had been accepted for MTI duty and was to report to the 3711th Basic Military Training Squadron, 3700th Basic Military Training School at Lackland AFB, Texas in October.
I spent four years at Lackland, transforming approximately 2,600 civilians into Airmen in the United States Air Force along the way. I won't say I loved every minute of it because there were a few things about life in BMTS that I didn't care for, but I will say that it was without a doubt the best and most rewarding time of my 23 year long Air Force career. Everyone who serves in the military for a career will always have one assignment, one base, one post or one ship, that they call their "home," the one place that they seemed to "fit" and loved the most, and BMTS was mine. BMTS fit me like a glove, because Lackland AFB was a by-God MILITARY BASE, a place where they did things the right way, the military way, the AIR FORCE WAY, and I was proud to be a part of it.
I took my duties as an MTI just as seriously as I did everything else prior to that, and along the way got taught some very important lessons by a little fireball of an MTI by the name of Staff Sergeant Patricia D. Barrett. SSgt Barrett was my trainer when I graduated from the MTI School, and she taught me the right way to train a flight - BY THE BOOK, PERIOD. "Do things by the book," she once told me, "and you'll never have to answer to anyone as to why you did it this way!" Sage words of advice that I follow and preach to this day.
She also taught me that my main purpose for being there was to teach, not just strut around wearing the trademark campaign hat and yelling at every trainee in sight just to hear the sound of my own voice. "There will come a time in the training of every flight when yelling won't work anymore, and you have to know when that time comes or you're screwed," she told me. She was right, and I molded a lot of how I trained the trainees along those lines. I set high standards for the trainees in my flights, and then I trained them to meet and maintain those standards. I can honestly say that with the exception of the first seven to ten days of training (depending on how fast the flight picked up on things), I never raised my voice to yell at a trainee unless the trainee did something to deserve it. I knew plenty of MTIs in my unit who would yell at a trainee just for the hell of it, and I'm proud to say that I wasn't one of them. I was there for a purpose, that purpose being to turn civilians into airmen and make them a viable, productive, disciplined part of the United States Air Force, and I like to think that I did just that and was at least moderately successful at it.
Simply put, I was just doing my job.
Well, I must have been more than just moderately successful at my job because now, 28 years after I left BMTS, I'm still being sought out and contacted by my former trainees. That in and of itself is touching enough, but what really touches my heart is that they all have told me what a big impact I made on them and what a positive role I played in their lives, and they've all thanked me for doing what I did and helping to make them the person they are today.
Honestly, when I went into BMTS so very long ago I knew I was going to impact people's lives, but I had no idea of the depth and length of that impact. Sure, my MTIs impacted my life much in the same way that I later impacted the lives of my trainees, but in my youth and naivete I can honestly say that I never put two and two together. It really didn't become clear to me until the advent of Facebook and my former trainees began finding me through that medium. So far I've been contacted by six of my former trainees, and I have a feeling that more will come out of the woodwork as time goes by. Of those six former trainees, four stayed in the Air Force for a career with three having attained the rank of Chief Master Sergeant, the highest enlisted rank. And these are just the ones I know of.
All of this is a very much unexpected reward of just doing my job, but I must say that it impresses, flatters, and humbles me to no end. It is indeed gratifying to know that I played such a positive role in their lives, and I am most appreciative that they took the time to contact me. It means more to me than I think anyone could possibly know.
So to any of my former trainees that may be reading these words, let me just say this: I'm proud of each and every one of you, and it was my honor to have been your Military Training Instructor and have served with you.
Carry on.
IHC
Once in the Air Force I was always more serious and duty-minded than my peers, more dedicated and devoted to following the military way of life than most around me. It was only natural, therefore, that when I re-enlisted in 1979 I would turn my attention towards making the most out of my attitude and abilities. Once I returned from the year-long remote tour to Korea that the Air Force gave me three days after I re-enlisted (another story for another time), I decided that I wanted to become a Military Training Instructor. My MTIs when I went through Air Force Basic Military Training, Staff Sergeant James R. Schraeder and Staff Sergeant Stephen Bong, taught me things about duty, honor, and dedication that made an impression on me and would stay with me throughout my Air Force career. In 1980 I became the founding Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the Installation Correctional Custody Facility at Seymour Johnson AFB, NC, and being involved with the retraining of errant airmen proved to me that the place I needed to be was Lackland AFB, Texas. I wanted to be a part of the training of the airmen joining my Air Force, so I started the application process in the spring of 1982 and in August of that year received notification that I had been accepted for MTI duty and was to report to the 3711th Basic Military Training Squadron, 3700th Basic Military Training School at Lackland AFB, Texas in October.
I spent four years at Lackland, transforming approximately 2,600 civilians into Airmen in the United States Air Force along the way. I won't say I loved every minute of it because there were a few things about life in BMTS that I didn't care for, but I will say that it was without a doubt the best and most rewarding time of my 23 year long Air Force career. Everyone who serves in the military for a career will always have one assignment, one base, one post or one ship, that they call their "home," the one place that they seemed to "fit" and loved the most, and BMTS was mine. BMTS fit me like a glove, because Lackland AFB was a by-God MILITARY BASE, a place where they did things the right way, the military way, the AIR FORCE WAY, and I was proud to be a part of it.
I took my duties as an MTI just as seriously as I did everything else prior to that, and along the way got taught some very important lessons by a little fireball of an MTI by the name of Staff Sergeant Patricia D. Barrett. SSgt Barrett was my trainer when I graduated from the MTI School, and she taught me the right way to train a flight - BY THE BOOK, PERIOD. "Do things by the book," she once told me, "and you'll never have to answer to anyone as to why you did it this way!" Sage words of advice that I follow and preach to this day.
She also taught me that my main purpose for being there was to teach, not just strut around wearing the trademark campaign hat and yelling at every trainee in sight just to hear the sound of my own voice. "There will come a time in the training of every flight when yelling won't work anymore, and you have to know when that time comes or you're screwed," she told me. She was right, and I molded a lot of how I trained the trainees along those lines. I set high standards for the trainees in my flights, and then I trained them to meet and maintain those standards. I can honestly say that with the exception of the first seven to ten days of training (depending on how fast the flight picked up on things), I never raised my voice to yell at a trainee unless the trainee did something to deserve it. I knew plenty of MTIs in my unit who would yell at a trainee just for the hell of it, and I'm proud to say that I wasn't one of them. I was there for a purpose, that purpose being to turn civilians into airmen and make them a viable, productive, disciplined part of the United States Air Force, and I like to think that I did just that and was at least moderately successful at it.
Simply put, I was just doing my job.
Well, I must have been more than just moderately successful at my job because now, 28 years after I left BMTS, I'm still being sought out and contacted by my former trainees. That in and of itself is touching enough, but what really touches my heart is that they all have told me what a big impact I made on them and what a positive role I played in their lives, and they've all thanked me for doing what I did and helping to make them the person they are today.
Honestly, when I went into BMTS so very long ago I knew I was going to impact people's lives, but I had no idea of the depth and length of that impact. Sure, my MTIs impacted my life much in the same way that I later impacted the lives of my trainees, but in my youth and naivete I can honestly say that I never put two and two together. It really didn't become clear to me until the advent of Facebook and my former trainees began finding me through that medium. So far I've been contacted by six of my former trainees, and I have a feeling that more will come out of the woodwork as time goes by. Of those six former trainees, four stayed in the Air Force for a career with three having attained the rank of Chief Master Sergeant, the highest enlisted rank. And these are just the ones I know of.
All of this is a very much unexpected reward of just doing my job, but I must say that it impresses, flatters, and humbles me to no end. It is indeed gratifying to know that I played such a positive role in their lives, and I am most appreciative that they took the time to contact me. It means more to me than I think anyone could possibly know.
So to any of my former trainees that may be reading these words, let me just say this: I'm proud of each and every one of you, and it was my honor to have been your Military Training Instructor and have served with you.
Carry on.
IHC
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
America Has Lost Its Way
The America in which I live today is not the same America in which I grew up. I realize that things will inevitably change with time, but I have to say that over the course of the past five years those changes have not been for the better.
In the America that I grew up in, we were proud to be Americans and we showed that pride by starting each school day with the Pledge of Allegiance. There was an American flag in every classroom, and we recognized that flag and our nation each and every day by reciting this simple verse. We thought that was a small price to pay in return for the freedoms we all enjoyed simply by being born in America.
We knew that our nation was founded by Christians on sound Christian principles and that the adherence to those principles had never failed our nation or its people, carrying both through some of the toughest times imaginable. We went to church on Sunday to pay our respect to God and to worship Him, another small price to pay for being the benefactors of His good will.
We were taught to respect other people, their rights and their property, knowing that we would garner the same respect from them. We knew in our hearts that this was the right thing to do, and we did it for just that reason.
We respected our elders, knowing that they had many valuable lessons they could teach us, but mainly because they were our elders. They were older and more experienced in life than we which meant they deserved our respect, and we knew it.
We knew that you could get anything you wanted out of life in this great nation, and that all you had to do was apply yourself, work hard, never quit, and what you wanted would be yours. It would be yours in every sense of the word because you would have worked for it, sweated for it, cried for it, and in some cases bled for it - but when it was all over it would be yours because you earned it. No one gave it to you, you earned it. And for that reason we didn't expect a handout, nor would we accept one.
We knew that our government was looking out for us and acting in our best interest, our President and the men and women on Capitol Hill doing the best they could to ensure that we and our country were safe, secure, and profitable. The needs of the people were placed first, ahead of political ambitions or personal ideologies and agendas.
We as a nation were the lamplight of freedom and liberty, a shining light of opportunity for anyone in the world who wanted to come here and better themselves. All they had to do was ask and we'd let them in; all they had to do then was apply themselves as we applied ourselves, and they would gain all that we would gain by the same means. They became Americans in every sense of the word, learning our language and our ways, adapting themselves to the new nation they now called home.
We as a nation were respected world-wide for our values and traditions; we were the ones the rest of the world turned to for help. And we gave that help whenever we were asked, because that's what America was all about.
This was the America that I grew up in. Sadly, however, it is not the America in which I live today.
The Pledge of Allegiance is no longer recited in the classrooms by the school children each day, lest it "offend" someone who is not of American heritage or birth. The flags, too, are gone from the classrooms. You may find a few here and there, but for the most part they've been removed for fear of "offending" a non-American.
The Christian principles on which our nation was founded are now the object of scorn, ridicule, and abandonment. Liberals nationwide have filed numerous lawsuits to have the symbols of these principles, such as the Ten Commandments posted outside of a courthouse or the opening of a high school graduation ceremony with the Lord's Prayer, removed and/or discontinued. Even the crosses on national monuments to our war dead are not safe, with liberal judges nationwide ordering their removal because a few liberal souls claim to be "offended."
Respect for others, their rights, and their property is almost a thing of the past. Instead of treating our elders and others around us with respect and dignity, our youth play the "knockout game" instead.
Hard work and dedication has been replaced by a sense of entitlement based on skin color, sex, religion, or ethnicity. Instead of working for something and basking in the glow of self-achievement and accomplishment, our youth today would rather stand indignantly with their hand out, demanding that which they think they are entitled to at the expense of others, simply because they were born black, or female, or Hispanic, or just because they can. Hard work and dedication have been replaced by scorn, discontent, and pure laziness.
Our government no longer works to protect us and do what's best for the people and our nation; instead, the President and the politicians on Capitol Hill are too busy working on their own political and personal agendas, doing what they know will be best for them and ignoring that which the people want. Our rights are constantly being trampled without fear of retribution or punishment, those responsible being safe and secure in the knowledge that those who elected them based on the belief that they'll receive a handout in return will neither turn on them or vote them out of office. So while the handouts continue and the hard-working people suffer, the rich in Washington get richer and the poor continue to be poor despite the promises of prosperity by the ones they elected.
Immigrants to our nation no longer conform or try to adapt to our ways and customs; they now expect us to accommodate and conform to them, expecting us to learn their language and do things their way instead. They object to the display of the American flag at public gatherings, demanding that it be taken down and the flag of their nation flown instead. They are supported by a liberal President and Congress who refuse to support us, the natural-born Americans, choosing the immigrants over their own citizens. Our President and Congress give financial aid to illegal immigrants at the expense of the benefits of those Americans who chose to voluntarily serve our nation in the military, cutting their retirement benefits so this money can be given away to those immigrants who ignore our laws instead.
Our nation is no longer respected in the eyes of the world, our embassies the targets of attack and our ambassadors and citizens killed simply because they are Americans, and our President and Congress sit on their hands and do nothing - just as the world knew they would do.
The world no longer turns to us for help; rather, they turn to us for a handout. And our liberal President and Congress give it to them.
This is the state of the nation in which I know live, and it distresses me greatly that it has come to this. But what distresses me more is the knowledge of two things: first, it's going to get worse before it gets better, and second, when things finally do start to change and the values on which I was raised and in which I believe once again become the way of our nation, it's going to be painful and bloody. Thomas Jefferson once said, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," and I fully believe that this is what will happen. Lots of good, patriotic Americans are going to shed blood in order to regain our liberty, but along with that the blood of tyrants will also be shed. And in the end run, when it's all over, we'll have our country back.
And it'll be worth it.
IHC
In the America that I grew up in, we were proud to be Americans and we showed that pride by starting each school day with the Pledge of Allegiance. There was an American flag in every classroom, and we recognized that flag and our nation each and every day by reciting this simple verse. We thought that was a small price to pay in return for the freedoms we all enjoyed simply by being born in America.
We knew that our nation was founded by Christians on sound Christian principles and that the adherence to those principles had never failed our nation or its people, carrying both through some of the toughest times imaginable. We went to church on Sunday to pay our respect to God and to worship Him, another small price to pay for being the benefactors of His good will.
We were taught to respect other people, their rights and their property, knowing that we would garner the same respect from them. We knew in our hearts that this was the right thing to do, and we did it for just that reason.
We respected our elders, knowing that they had many valuable lessons they could teach us, but mainly because they were our elders. They were older and more experienced in life than we which meant they deserved our respect, and we knew it.
We knew that you could get anything you wanted out of life in this great nation, and that all you had to do was apply yourself, work hard, never quit, and what you wanted would be yours. It would be yours in every sense of the word because you would have worked for it, sweated for it, cried for it, and in some cases bled for it - but when it was all over it would be yours because you earned it. No one gave it to you, you earned it. And for that reason we didn't expect a handout, nor would we accept one.
We knew that our government was looking out for us and acting in our best interest, our President and the men and women on Capitol Hill doing the best they could to ensure that we and our country were safe, secure, and profitable. The needs of the people were placed first, ahead of political ambitions or personal ideologies and agendas.
We as a nation were the lamplight of freedom and liberty, a shining light of opportunity for anyone in the world who wanted to come here and better themselves. All they had to do was ask and we'd let them in; all they had to do then was apply themselves as we applied ourselves, and they would gain all that we would gain by the same means. They became Americans in every sense of the word, learning our language and our ways, adapting themselves to the new nation they now called home.
We as a nation were respected world-wide for our values and traditions; we were the ones the rest of the world turned to for help. And we gave that help whenever we were asked, because that's what America was all about.
This was the America that I grew up in. Sadly, however, it is not the America in which I live today.
The Pledge of Allegiance is no longer recited in the classrooms by the school children each day, lest it "offend" someone who is not of American heritage or birth. The flags, too, are gone from the classrooms. You may find a few here and there, but for the most part they've been removed for fear of "offending" a non-American.
The Christian principles on which our nation was founded are now the object of scorn, ridicule, and abandonment. Liberals nationwide have filed numerous lawsuits to have the symbols of these principles, such as the Ten Commandments posted outside of a courthouse or the opening of a high school graduation ceremony with the Lord's Prayer, removed and/or discontinued. Even the crosses on national monuments to our war dead are not safe, with liberal judges nationwide ordering their removal because a few liberal souls claim to be "offended."
Respect for others, their rights, and their property is almost a thing of the past. Instead of treating our elders and others around us with respect and dignity, our youth play the "knockout game" instead.
Hard work and dedication has been replaced by a sense of entitlement based on skin color, sex, religion, or ethnicity. Instead of working for something and basking in the glow of self-achievement and accomplishment, our youth today would rather stand indignantly with their hand out, demanding that which they think they are entitled to at the expense of others, simply because they were born black, or female, or Hispanic, or just because they can. Hard work and dedication have been replaced by scorn, discontent, and pure laziness.
Our government no longer works to protect us and do what's best for the people and our nation; instead, the President and the politicians on Capitol Hill are too busy working on their own political and personal agendas, doing what they know will be best for them and ignoring that which the people want. Our rights are constantly being trampled without fear of retribution or punishment, those responsible being safe and secure in the knowledge that those who elected them based on the belief that they'll receive a handout in return will neither turn on them or vote them out of office. So while the handouts continue and the hard-working people suffer, the rich in Washington get richer and the poor continue to be poor despite the promises of prosperity by the ones they elected.
Immigrants to our nation no longer conform or try to adapt to our ways and customs; they now expect us to accommodate and conform to them, expecting us to learn their language and do things their way instead. They object to the display of the American flag at public gatherings, demanding that it be taken down and the flag of their nation flown instead. They are supported by a liberal President and Congress who refuse to support us, the natural-born Americans, choosing the immigrants over their own citizens. Our President and Congress give financial aid to illegal immigrants at the expense of the benefits of those Americans who chose to voluntarily serve our nation in the military, cutting their retirement benefits so this money can be given away to those immigrants who ignore our laws instead.
Our nation is no longer respected in the eyes of the world, our embassies the targets of attack and our ambassadors and citizens killed simply because they are Americans, and our President and Congress sit on their hands and do nothing - just as the world knew they would do.
The world no longer turns to us for help; rather, they turn to us for a handout. And our liberal President and Congress give it to them.
This is the state of the nation in which I know live, and it distresses me greatly that it has come to this. But what distresses me more is the knowledge of two things: first, it's going to get worse before it gets better, and second, when things finally do start to change and the values on which I was raised and in which I believe once again become the way of our nation, it's going to be painful and bloody. Thomas Jefferson once said, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," and I fully believe that this is what will happen. Lots of good, patriotic Americans are going to shed blood in order to regain our liberty, but along with that the blood of tyrants will also be shed. And in the end run, when it's all over, we'll have our country back.
And it'll be worth it.
IHC
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Off to a New Start
Well, it's a new year with new promises and, I'm quite sure, new challenges that will be facing all of us in the months ahead. One of the promises I've made myself which also happens to be one of my challenges is to post on my blog more, something that I've been remiss in for the past several months. (Okay, okay, for the past seven months, all right? Happy now?)
In any event, I'm going to try my best to keep up with my blog this year. I won't make any excuses for not keeping up with it for the past seven months because that's just what they'd be - excuses, and anyone who knows me knows I don't deal with excuses. Reasons, yes, excuses, no. I have also come to realize that I do, in fact, have an audience out there who read my blog regularly and do, on occasion, ask my advice. I was reminded of this today when I checked the stats on my blog and saw the comment from a young mother who wanted my help in explaining a gun-control related item to her daughter. I remember when that happened, and I was quite honored to have been able to help or to have even been asked in the first place, and having re-read that exchange today brought it all home to me.
So to all of you, my fans and readers, I promise that I will do my best to keep my blog current and up to date in the coming year.
With the start of the new year and my newfound motivation and promise to my readers, I think it'd be a good idea at this point to re-iterate a few things about myself and my blog, since it's been several years since this whole thing started. For those of you who either know me or have been reading my blog all along, none of this will be new to you; for the rest of you, this may serve some good and help you put my comments into perspective.
Or not, but whatever, I'm gonna do it anyway.
First and foremost, the views and opinions stated in this blog are my own unless specifically quoted and attributed elsewhere. I write about the things I see going on around me from my "view downrange," voicing my opinions, ideas and concerns in this medium as my Constitutional right guarantees that I can. I don't expect everyone who reads my blog to agree with me, nor do I care. I don't write the things I do to garner public or popular opinion; I write them to get them off of my mind. Do I expect to change the world? No, but I've changed a few lives along the way, and that's good enough for me.
And speaking of differing views and opinions, I realize that he who puts his views and opinions out for the world to see should expect the occasional differing view or opinion. I'm okay with that, I really am. If you disagree with something I've said I'm more than willing to discuss it with you; just post it in the "comments" section and we'll go from there.
What I'm NOT okay with and will not tolerate is said differing view or opinion being voiced in a derogatory, insulting, or immature manner. Do that and I'll delete your comment forthwith and be done with it. Either that, or I'll post it in my blog and then make a monkey out of you for all the world to see. I believe in discussing things in a mature, sane manner and refuse to tolerate anything less from the other person.
I also have little respect, regard, or tolerance for those who choose to enter insulting comments under the "Anonymous" byline. I'm secure enough in my views and opinions to post not only my name but my picture to this blog; if you're so insecure, immature, or ill-informed in your views and opinions that you choose not to post at least your name - your REAL name - to your comments, then I'm not going to waste my time with you. I'll just delete your comments and move on.
I don't claim to be an "expert" on a damned thing. There are certain things I know a hell of a lot about, but as far as slapping the "expert" title on myself, I won't do it. If someone else wants to refer to me as such then that's their call and it's okay with me, but I won't claim the title for myself no matter what the topic. Once upon a time in the Federal Magistrate Court of Newport News, Virginia I was declared in court by the sitting judge to be an "expert" in the areas of RADAR Operation, Field Sobriety Testing, and Breathalyzer Operation, but that was a long time ago - so long ago that there's no way I'd claim to be an "expert" in those areas now. Things change, ya know, like it or not. I do, however, do some research on things as necessary before I start speaking of them. And by "research" I don't mean reading a news report from CNN, MSNBC, or Fox on the internet. I mean doing some real research, finding the information and statistics I need from the people who put them out to begin with, free from the political ideology-motivated slant that most news organizations apply to almost everything they air or print. I do try to look at both sides of a discussion and will admit when I'm wrong, believe it or not, but I'm not gonna believe anything I hear in the news media as the unvarnished truth until I prove that for myself.
Well, I think that just about covers the basics. If I missed something I'm sure it'll turn up later, and if that happens I'll deal with it then.
To those of you who have kept up with my blog for these many years, once again, my thanks. I truly appreciate it, and I promise I'll try to do better this year.
In the mean time, it's my birthday today so I think I'm gonna go have dinner with my wife.
Y'all take care, and I'll see you soon!
IHC
In any event, I'm going to try my best to keep up with my blog this year. I won't make any excuses for not keeping up with it for the past seven months because that's just what they'd be - excuses, and anyone who knows me knows I don't deal with excuses. Reasons, yes, excuses, no. I have also come to realize that I do, in fact, have an audience out there who read my blog regularly and do, on occasion, ask my advice. I was reminded of this today when I checked the stats on my blog and saw the comment from a young mother who wanted my help in explaining a gun-control related item to her daughter. I remember when that happened, and I was quite honored to have been able to help or to have even been asked in the first place, and having re-read that exchange today brought it all home to me.
So to all of you, my fans and readers, I promise that I will do my best to keep my blog current and up to date in the coming year.
With the start of the new year and my newfound motivation and promise to my readers, I think it'd be a good idea at this point to re-iterate a few things about myself and my blog, since it's been several years since this whole thing started. For those of you who either know me or have been reading my blog all along, none of this will be new to you; for the rest of you, this may serve some good and help you put my comments into perspective.
Or not, but whatever, I'm gonna do it anyway.
First and foremost, the views and opinions stated in this blog are my own unless specifically quoted and attributed elsewhere. I write about the things I see going on around me from my "view downrange," voicing my opinions, ideas and concerns in this medium as my Constitutional right guarantees that I can. I don't expect everyone who reads my blog to agree with me, nor do I care. I don't write the things I do to garner public or popular opinion; I write them to get them off of my mind. Do I expect to change the world? No, but I've changed a few lives along the way, and that's good enough for me.
And speaking of differing views and opinions, I realize that he who puts his views and opinions out for the world to see should expect the occasional differing view or opinion. I'm okay with that, I really am. If you disagree with something I've said I'm more than willing to discuss it with you; just post it in the "comments" section and we'll go from there.
What I'm NOT okay with and will not tolerate is said differing view or opinion being voiced in a derogatory, insulting, or immature manner. Do that and I'll delete your comment forthwith and be done with it. Either that, or I'll post it in my blog and then make a monkey out of you for all the world to see. I believe in discussing things in a mature, sane manner and refuse to tolerate anything less from the other person.
I also have little respect, regard, or tolerance for those who choose to enter insulting comments under the "Anonymous" byline. I'm secure enough in my views and opinions to post not only my name but my picture to this blog; if you're so insecure, immature, or ill-informed in your views and opinions that you choose not to post at least your name - your REAL name - to your comments, then I'm not going to waste my time with you. I'll just delete your comments and move on.
I don't claim to be an "expert" on a damned thing. There are certain things I know a hell of a lot about, but as far as slapping the "expert" title on myself, I won't do it. If someone else wants to refer to me as such then that's their call and it's okay with me, but I won't claim the title for myself no matter what the topic. Once upon a time in the Federal Magistrate Court of Newport News, Virginia I was declared in court by the sitting judge to be an "expert" in the areas of RADAR Operation, Field Sobriety Testing, and Breathalyzer Operation, but that was a long time ago - so long ago that there's no way I'd claim to be an "expert" in those areas now. Things change, ya know, like it or not. I do, however, do some research on things as necessary before I start speaking of them. And by "research" I don't mean reading a news report from CNN, MSNBC, or Fox on the internet. I mean doing some real research, finding the information and statistics I need from the people who put them out to begin with, free from the political ideology-motivated slant that most news organizations apply to almost everything they air or print. I do try to look at both sides of a discussion and will admit when I'm wrong, believe it or not, but I'm not gonna believe anything I hear in the news media as the unvarnished truth until I prove that for myself.
Well, I think that just about covers the basics. If I missed something I'm sure it'll turn up later, and if that happens I'll deal with it then.
To those of you who have kept up with my blog for these many years, once again, my thanks. I truly appreciate it, and I promise I'll try to do better this year.
In the mean time, it's my birthday today so I think I'm gonna go have dinner with my wife.
Y'all take care, and I'll see you soon!
IHC
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)