"ILLEGAL Loopholes!"

Every year, I file an income tax form to the Federal and State governments; I have done this for more years than I would like to admit to. I am now retired, and I still submit income tax forms every year, and I still pay taxes. I use whatever “legal” benefits I can derive to lessen my tax payments.  I don’t like “tax cheats”; they are stealing money from every American taxpayer, and if they are caught, they should receive a stiff fine and, perhaps, even prison time. Did you know that everyone who makes money in America, either legally, or illegally, must file income tax? This is a fact; that is how the “Feds” got Al Capone! Al didn’t have any legal deductions; Al cheated and got caught!

I believe in legal “loopholes”; that is why we have tax lawyers and accountants in business and private life. None of us want to pay more than we have to pay; I earned it, and I want to keep it! I have no problem with paying my legal obligation to the government, and I won’t cheat!

Our President, Barack Obama, wants some Americans to pay extra taxes because they are successful. His logic is that those extra taxes will remedy the huge debt that his administration has accumulated over the last three-plus years. He also wants to eliminate tax breaks for the Oil Industry. Oddly, the tax breaks he is talking about are the same tax breaks every business owner is entitled to, but Mr. Obama chooses to demonize the Oil Industry, segregating it from all other enterprises. He feels those groups are somehow guilty for trying to retain what they have earned, even though those people and businesses are paying their legal obligations to the government.

Mr. Obama has vowed to eliminate those “unfair” loopholes, yet, he has done absolutely nothing about the ILLEGAL ALIENS who are cheating our income tax system of over FOUR BILLION DOLLARS a year!! Mr. Obama is careful not to mention this criminal theft of taxpayer’s funds as he dislikes upsetting criminal illegal aliens. Putting aside the fact that every person who enters the United States illegally is already a criminal, our government is sending some of these thieves thousands of American tax dollars for “dependent children”, some of who still reside in MEXICO, and have never been in the United States!! The “loophole” is called ADDITIONAL CHILD TAX CREDIT, and it is for tax credit in working families who have dependent children “living at home”. There are instances of families using between 10 and 12 extra children in this tax scam, bilking the government on a yearly basis. The Treasury Department said that in 2010, payments for these fraudulent claims went to 2.3 million people, and the numbers continue to climb!

Hard working Americans who have made a success of their lives, and an industry that supplies jobs to thousands of Americans every year, should not be put under a spotlight by Barack Obama for not paying “their fair share”, if criminal illegal aliens can cheat our government for decades with abandon. Our Social Security and welfare systems are overburdened with the needs of our “LEGAL RESIDENTS”; we don’t need to pay for the needs of those who committed a crime coming here and continue their crimes by stealing jobs and then CHEATING ON THEIR TAXES!! I would like to hear Barack Obama make a speech about this in the near future, but I won’t hold my breath.

"A No Brainer!"

Have you ever been cut off in traffic and had to make a split-second decision? You may have had to swerve into another lane, or even drive off the road to avoid an accident. In times like those, our options become instantly limited and only one choice seems available.

In 1941, Franklin Roosevelt went before Congress to announce a formal declaration of war against the Empire of Japan. We were attacked without notice at Pearl Harbor; the cost of American lives was devastating, and America was ANGRY!

My personal belief is that regardless of who was sitting in the Oval Office on December 7^th 1941, the decision that would have been made would be identical to that of Franklin Roosevelt.

Harry Truman gave the order to use nuclear bombs against Japan in 1945. Harry had the option of prolonging the war or ending it months and perhaps years earlier. Tens of thousands of American lives were probably saved by Truman’s decision. I also believe that any President who was in office at that time would have made the same decision, as a president’s first duty is the preservation of American lives.

Jack Kennedy took America to the brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union to avoid having nuclear missiles on Cuban soil, only 95 miles from America. Once again, any sitting President would have to take a similar action to protect the American people.

Sometimes a President will be called upon to “Call Down the Thunder” on an enemy, and people will die because of his decision; most of the time those decisions are unavoidable, like driving into the next lane to avoid an accident, and are the only option that could be made at the time. At times, we call decisions like this “No Brainers”!

A year ago, Osama bin Laden was killed by a group of Navy Seals at the order of the President of the United States, Barack  Obama. Osama bin Laden was the man who took responsibility for the cowardly murders committed on 9-11, killing over 3,000 innocent American citizens; not soldiers, civilians spending a day in New York City.

Osama bin Laden deserved to die, I’m only sorry his death wasn’t more painful and prolonged! I’m glad President Obama gave that order, one of the few decisions he has made that I agree with. I must also make this observation; I believe any sitting President, including Richard M. Nixon and Jimmy Carter would have done the same thing. No person who calls themselves an American could have possibly done anything else.

Barack Obama loves to take credit for good things just like everybody else does; he enjoys patting himself on the back. He did a good thing when he eliminated Osama bin Laden, but then he went a little too far; he politicized the whole thing. Mr. Obama cast aspersions against Mitt Romney, insinuating that Mr. Romney would not have ordered the death of bin Laden. Mr. Obama even misstated Romney who made a complete statement that said he would eliminate the terrorist leader. By the word misstated, I meant LIED.

Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy never used these devastating decisions to advance their political careers; only Barack Obama is making this type of decision into a political issue, and casting a shadow on a prospective political opponent. I know Barack Obama doesn’t have much of a record to campaign on, but Obama’s statements about Mr. Romney reveals to me who is the NO BRAINER!!

"Code of Conduct?"

I remember my Dad telling me something when I was very young, perhaps seven or eight years old, he said “Everything you do outside this house reflects on you and your family; never do anything to dishonor your family’s name.” Now being a kid, I got into my share of messes, but nothing too severe; maybe those words my Dad spoke about in my early years had some impact on my later behavior. What my Father was doing was giving me a “code of conduct” to live my life by.

When I was seven, I began going to church and learning about God and His laws, you know, the Ten Commandments. A list in plain language would probably sound like this.

1.         Honor God before anything else in your life.

2.         Don’t pray to any images of this world, just pray to God!

3.         Don’t use God’s name to curse anything, it is to be respected.

4.         Honor God on the Sabbath day; he comes before everything, even the NFL!

5.         Honor your parents, this is not a suggestion, it’s a rule.

6.         Don’t murder!

7.         Keep yourself pure, this is how you will honor your future spouse (get married first).

8.         Don’t steal!

9.         Don’t lie!

10.       Don’t worry about what somebody else has; he worked for it, and it’s not yours.

These are some pretty good rules, and they will definitely help build good character.

The Boy Scouts also have a “code of conduct” which says this:

“On my honor I will do my best,

To do my duty to God and my country

And to obey the Scout Law;

To help other people at all times;

To keep myself physically strong,

Mentally awake, and morally straight.”

These sound like some really good things too, also meant to build good character.

Our military also has some words to describe how they should conduct themselves:

The Marines say “Semper Fidelis”, always faithful. The Navy says ”Honor, Courage, Commitment”.  West Point says “Honor, Duty, Country”. The Air Force says “Integrity First” and “Service, Before Self”. The Coast Guard says “Semper Paratus”, always ready.

All of those are great slogans to live by and it takes commitment to live by them.

This week, we are seeing the OCCUPY movement once again pollute our cities with their endless diatribe against the American way of life in an effort to promote their socialist and communist agenda. So far, 66 people have been arrested across the country for perpetrating vandalism and causing public disturbances outside the boundaries of peaceful protest. Since the start of this movement, there have been hundreds of arrests, and even alleged acts of homicide committed by these “peaceful protestors”. Private property has been destroyed and police have been assaulted with missiles of all types, including human waste! These groups have seen the likes of Neo-Nazis, communists and socialists throughout the crowds at every demonstration site.

I wonder what “code of conduct” these people have had taught to them? Our current educational system is overrun with ex-Hippies and 60s protestors who have “infected our children” with a bunch of socialist and communist garbage, and the best part is that hard working American parents have paid to have this un-American propaganda heaped upon their children. Nancy Pelosi admires this movement, along with her boss, Barack Obama! I wonder what their “CODE OF CONDUCT” might be?

"It's a Crime, Not a Race!"

Shakespeare once said “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” What does that mean? It means that no matter what you call that flower, it will still smell the same way! I’ve heard hot dogs called “tube steak”, but believe me, there is a big difference between a wiener and a rib-eye! When I was in the Army we ate powdered eggs and powdered milk; and I don’t care what you call them, neither resembled milk or eggs! I have watched soccer on television and it was called “football”, but honestly, to me, it definitely has nothing to do with the FOOTBALL that I watch.

I watch the program “Cops” on occasion; I really enjoy the action and reality. The people that are arrested are usually caught “red-handed” in whatever criminal act they have perpetrated, although the show always has a disclaimer that “all persons are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law”.

We have a saying (not racial) that says “Let’s call a spade a spade”, it means let’s be honest in our speech when we address an issue or problem. If you murder, you are a murderer; if you rape, you are a rapist and if you steal you are a thief. Mincing words to distract from the truth only serves to hide the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts; that is a fact of life, and people will have to learn to deal with that fact.

For decades, the United States of America has been under siege at our southern border from “CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS”! I said the “I” word!! I have said something that the left is now trying to equivocate to racism; this is LUDICROUS!!! If you do something illegal, you are a CRIMINAL!! You have committed an ILLEGAL ACT!! Stealing jobs and benefits from LEGAL CITIZENS is a crime, not a “racial slur”, regardless of what some leftist tries to make you believe!

A spokesperson for a group called “Drop the I-Word” is trying to push the term “Illegal Alien” into the same genre as the “N-Word”. As far as I know, it isn’t illegal to be black, and the “N-Word” is definitely a racial slur of the worst kind, and should never be tolerated.

What is the real purpose of this group? In actuality, the whole purpose of this group is to soften a view that sneaking across our border to steal jobs and benefits is not a crime, and those who entered the United States illegally are not criminals. The fact is that they came from another country without going through the proper procedures by crossing our borders ILLEGALLY; therefore they are “ILLEGAL ALIENS”. This is not a “stigma”, it is the TRUTH, and no matter how anyone tries to rationalize this, those who cross our borders from other nations illegally are “ILLEGAL”!!

For those Americans who have been called a Dago, Wop, Kike or Mick, the idea of using the term “illegal alien”, a racial or ethnic slur must seem very foolish. I didn’t choose to be an Italian-American, my wife didn’t choose to be born a Jewish-American; we were born in the groups that God chose for us, and we are proud of them. Thieves choose to steal. The committing of illegal acts are choices of the perpetrators of those acts, and no one else.

Black is not a choice; Yellow is not a choice; Red is not a choice: crime is a choice and the term is “ILLEGAL”, like it or not!!

"The Next Four Years Could Be MUCH WORSE!!"

What has happened in America since January of 2009? How are you enjoying the costs of fuel today? You were paying quite a bit less than you are presently paying, even though George W. Bush did free up more federal land for oil exploration; unfortunately, the ecology activists have had great success in limiting the drilling efforts in those areas, despite the claims of our President, Barack Obama, who has taken credit for what little drilling that is being done today; even though that credit belongs to George W. Bush.

Unemployment wasn’t supposed to go above 8% if we passed the first Stimulus package, which was quickly followed by a second package. At the present time, nearly four years later, unemployment is still above 8% and current figures point to a near stagnant growth in jobs for, at least, the next two quarters. Private sector job growth has been inhibited because of the cloudy expectations of the Obama healthcare initiative and its heavy expense toward employee benefits. Every jobs bill that has been put forward by the Republican House has been “shelved” by Harry Reid in the Senate, along with every proposed Congressional budget. America hasn’t had a budget since 2010, courtesy of the Harry Reid’s Democrat-controlled Senate. Our National Debt surpassed our Gross National Product several months ago; America spends much more than it makes, and the Red Chinese are holding a huge amount of our debt; THE RED CHINESE, THE COMMUNISTS!! We have, once again, RAISED THE DEBT CEILING!! It seems obvious to me that most of our members of Congress and our sitting President don’t have a grip on the reality of this current situation, or they believe if they ignore it, it will go away on its own.

Four years ago the rest of the world understood what a powerful America was; today, we are on the verge of becoming a “member of the pack”, as Barack Obama has reduced the American military in size and capability, and also reduced our missile capabilities dramatically in Eastern Europe, leaving many of our allies in a desperate situation, with no one to turn to but the weak-knee’d United Nations.

How much was your home worth four years ago? How much is it worth today? A mortgage crisis came about through spurious loan policies which George W. Bush warned us about in 2006, but Barney Frank said Bush was acting like “Chicken Little” and everything would be alright, and the Democrat-controlled Congress happily flushed the housing market right down the drain. Retirement plans are nowhere near what they were four years ago, as banks and loan institutions and a fragile stock market lost the life savings of many of our senior citizens.

Our current President’s first acts were to “make amends” with people who were responsible for the vicious murders on 9-11, bending at the waste to Middle-East dictators.

How many more illegal aliens have crossed our borders because of the porous enforcement from the Obama administration, and why has this administration tried to block law enforcement from securing our most jeopardized states?

Mr. Obama made references of America being a “car in a ditch” when he took office; it seems now, that we are “out of the ditch”, and “headed for a cliff”, and the Obama administration has its foot pressed firmly on the accelerator toward American disaster!

Yes America, we have certainly come a long way in these last four years; too bad we have gone in the WRONG DIRECTION!! We need a massive “U-Turn” in November; we don’t need to go over that “CLIFF”!!!