When I was young, I was introduced to "stock car racing". My Dad took me to "O'Hare Raceway" to watch stock cars, figure "8" races and "demolition derbies". The track was small; I believe it was 1/8 mile long; pretty close quarters. I was about 11 or 12 years old, and the sound of roaring engines, the smell of gasoline and cheering fans was intoxicating. All of the stock car races were first on the program, followed by the figure-8-race then, the demolition derby. My Dad knew one of the stock car drivers and we got to see him after the races were over; I thought this was very cool! But I have to admit, the demolition derby was my favorite race. For those of you who don't know what a demolition derby is, it consists of approximately twenty cars that spend the entire race driving into each other, intent on destroying all opponents to the point of mechanical collapse. The last car able to navigate the track was the winner. The crowd loved this race; crushing blows and twisted metal were everywhere. When an especially good collision took place, the mob cheered wildly. On one particular night, I remember a 1956 Cadillac in the mix; it was in pretty good shape at the start of the race, and out lasted many of its other contenders; finally, it succumbed to the barrage of collisions and stopped dead on the field; a cloud of dust and smoke surrounded it. Although that Cadillac was built to last, it couldn't stand the onslaught of constant attack. The Cadillac was the "King of the Hi-Way" and still is a revered automobile today; power and luxury, a great mix, but even a Cadillac has its limits!
America has been on a pretty good run for the last 230+ years. Our economic system has worked pretty well; as a matter of fact, it has been the envy of the entire world for numerous decades. Our system has been victorious over several recessions and depressions, a tribute to free market capitalism. We have done our best to correct abuses of the system; and there is always room for improvement; but no other economic system on this planet has done a better job for its citizens than free market capitalism. Socialism and communism are proven failures, and continue to fail whenever they are instituted.
Over the course of history, our system has been attacked by every lunatic philosophy and crack-pot theory under the sun. Thankfully, the people of America have used their gifts of common sense and love of individual freedom to discern the idiocy of those other systems. We are currently being given a look at potential socialism in America. What have we learned? We are now facing financial default, and huge national unemployment. We have seen a potential health-care program that threatens our financial stability for several generations, and our foreign policy has become one of subservience to a world organization. It seems America is in a "demolition derby" with a bad system.
My fellow citizens, we must not allow this destruction to take place. We are already feeling the effects of poor leadership from a dedicated ideologue. If we don't act now, and tell our representative (tell, not ask) what we want; America may be that Cadillac left like a smoking hulk on the track, dead, never to run again!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
"Just Punishment!"
How many of you remember the name Charles Manson? Back in 1969, the name Charles Manson was all over the news. Manson was the man who was alleged to be responsible for the "Tate- La Bianca Murders" perhaps the most brutal murders of that era. "Charlie" had a group of young hippies that he manipulated into doing his will by giving them LSD and other drugs and filling their heads with a bunch of pseudo-intellectual garbage. Many of this group believed "Charlie" was the messiah! Aren't drugs a wonderful thing! "Charlie" was never at any of the crime scenes; he never got any actual blood on his hands. He said "I never told them to do anything; they acted on their own." Those misdirected, drug filled and confused "children" murdered, or more accurately, butchered several innocent people at the behest of Charles Manson.
I haven't seen much of "Charlie" lately; he has been sitting in prison for over forty years. He comes up for the occasional parole hearing, and he rants, raves and spouts his own crazy philosophy, and then he is turned down! Charlie is a convicted murderer, and a lunatic, and he will never get out of prison; even if the Pope testified for him! It's a good idea to keep murdering lunatics in prison until they die (although I really like the death penalty). Murderers are not heroes!!
How many of you remember the name Abdelbaset al-Megrahi; he is a "big hero" in Libya. This "great hero" was convicted of bombing a U.S. commercial aircraft in 1988, murdering 270 innocent people. You are probably asking yourself "Why isn't this guy in prison?" That is a very interesting story; he actually was in prison for 7 whole years! That works out to about 38 human lives per year. You see, the world was told this scumbag had prostate cancer and had only a short time to live, perhaps only three months left. The people of Scotland found it in their hearts to release this murderer in August of 2009. Well folks, I guess miracles do happen; here we are in July of 2011 and al-Megrahi is still alive; and he is a national hero! He was present on Libyan television in which the spokesman said this "great hero" was the victim of a CONSPIRACY! During his trial, he admitted that he was acting on the orders of Gadhafi; kind of like "Charlie" Huh!
Let's all take our hats off to the Scottish Judicial System for extending kindness to this MURDERER! Thank you for allowing this "Hero" to return home; unlike those 270 innocent people he evaporated with his bomb!
I would like to extend my apologies to Charles Manson, after all "Charlie" is only responsible for the death of about a dozen people and he has already done over forty years! C'mon America, let bygones be bygones, FREE CHARLIE, he's suffered enough!!
I haven't seen much of "Charlie" lately; he has been sitting in prison for over forty years. He comes up for the occasional parole hearing, and he rants, raves and spouts his own crazy philosophy, and then he is turned down! Charlie is a convicted murderer, and a lunatic, and he will never get out of prison; even if the Pope testified for him! It's a good idea to keep murdering lunatics in prison until they die (although I really like the death penalty). Murderers are not heroes!!
How many of you remember the name Abdelbaset al-Megrahi; he is a "big hero" in Libya. This "great hero" was convicted of bombing a U.S. commercial aircraft in 1988, murdering 270 innocent people. You are probably asking yourself "Why isn't this guy in prison?" That is a very interesting story; he actually was in prison for 7 whole years! That works out to about 38 human lives per year. You see, the world was told this scumbag had prostate cancer and had only a short time to live, perhaps only three months left. The people of Scotland found it in their hearts to release this murderer in August of 2009. Well folks, I guess miracles do happen; here we are in July of 2011 and al-Megrahi is still alive; and he is a national hero! He was present on Libyan television in which the spokesman said this "great hero" was the victim of a CONSPIRACY! During his trial, he admitted that he was acting on the orders of Gadhafi; kind of like "Charlie" Huh!
Let's all take our hats off to the Scottish Judicial System for extending kindness to this MURDERER! Thank you for allowing this "Hero" to return home; unlike those 270 innocent people he evaporated with his bomb!
I would like to extend my apologies to Charles Manson, after all "Charlie" is only responsible for the death of about a dozen people and he has already done over forty years! C'mon America, let bygones be bygones, FREE CHARLIE, he's suffered enough!!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
"Good Luck Friend!"
Remember Pete Rose? Pete was also known as "Charlie Hustle"; he was the most dedicated baseball player I've ever seen play. Pete never walked to first base, he always ran even after being walked. Pete named his son "Ty" after Ty Cobb. Pete told his wife "baseball will always come first in his life": I don't know how she felt about that. Former teammates speak about Pete's dedication to the game and the team as the most vigorous they had ever seen in any other player. Pete Rose was a great baseball player!
Pete was also a man; a man with faults; Pete liked to gamble. Gambling is a definite NO-NO in baseball. As a White Sox fan, I understand this; I know the history of "throwing the World Series" by my beloved Sox; it put a black mark on their history that people still remember.
Pete Rose is not in the "Hall of Fame" because he has been banned from baseball for life. This is probably the worst punishment Pete could have been given; he knows he belongs in the "Hall" yet that day will probably never come. His bad action has cost him quite a bit!
Last month Glenn Beck left FOX NEWS. People on the left cheered as Beck left the air (he is still on-line). Those who hated Beck believe this is a victory for their agenda of socialism and division in America. George Soros must have been doing hand-springs when Beck did his final goodbye to his audience. Now he can focus all of his demented attention on FOX NEWS.
Well guess what I read yesterday? The NUMBER 1 on-air commentator/news-person on a FACEBOOK Poll was GLENN BECK!!! He was followed by Sean Hannity at NUMBER 2. Now I know many of you will say this is only FACEBOOK, and you do have a point; but try to remember that FOX NEWS regularly leaves all of the other news outlets in the dust in all the ratings studies. Ed Schultz was non-existent on this list; I guess America doesn't appreciate this uninformed bloviator!
I'll miss Glenn Beck's daily show, he was honest and always said "Don't take my word for anything; check it out yourself"; the kind of thing only an honest man would say. I took him at his word and did check out what he said, and guess what; he was telling the TRUTH!
I would like to personally thank Mr. Beck for opening many American eyes and hearts. He will certainly be missed as a voice that "told it like it is". I wish him well in all of his new endeavors; he truly is looking out for America's best interests!
Pete was also a man; a man with faults; Pete liked to gamble. Gambling is a definite NO-NO in baseball. As a White Sox fan, I understand this; I know the history of "throwing the World Series" by my beloved Sox; it put a black mark on their history that people still remember.
Pete Rose is not in the "Hall of Fame" because he has been banned from baseball for life. This is probably the worst punishment Pete could have been given; he knows he belongs in the "Hall" yet that day will probably never come. His bad action has cost him quite a bit!
Last month Glenn Beck left FOX NEWS. People on the left cheered as Beck left the air (he is still on-line). Those who hated Beck believe this is a victory for their agenda of socialism and division in America. George Soros must have been doing hand-springs when Beck did his final goodbye to his audience. Now he can focus all of his demented attention on FOX NEWS.
Well guess what I read yesterday? The NUMBER 1 on-air commentator/news-person on a FACEBOOK Poll was GLENN BECK!!! He was followed by Sean Hannity at NUMBER 2. Now I know many of you will say this is only FACEBOOK, and you do have a point; but try to remember that FOX NEWS regularly leaves all of the other news outlets in the dust in all the ratings studies. Ed Schultz was non-existent on this list; I guess America doesn't appreciate this uninformed bloviator!
I'll miss Glenn Beck's daily show, he was honest and always said "Don't take my word for anything; check it out yourself"; the kind of thing only an honest man would say. I took him at his word and did check out what he said, and guess what; he was telling the TRUTH!
I would like to personally thank Mr. Beck for opening many American eyes and hearts. He will certainly be missed as a voice that "told it like it is". I wish him well in all of his new endeavors; he truly is looking out for America's best interests!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
"The Spoken Word!"
I like watching some of the "judge shows" on television. I sometimes wish these judges were serving on our State and Federal Supreme Courts. I think my favorite is "Judge Judy", followed by "Judge Joe Brown". These two people exhibit great intelligence and humor on the bench. Joe Brown constantly sends a message of responsibility for your actions, and being a "real man" instead of a "poser". Judge Judy is as sharp a reader of people as there is today; she can spot a liar a mile away! I love it when she says "You're not as smart as I am, and you never will be!", whenever she is confronted by some wise guy who thinks he can "put one over on her". Another thing I like about Judge Judy is her persistent correction of people's use of the English language. She is not much of a fan of "street language". The more I listen to people conversing, the more I appreciate those who properly speak. Terms like "noImean!"(do you know what I mean) and "ainnothang"(it is nothing) do very little to inspire an image of intelligence to the listener.
Where does all of this pseudo-English come from? Obviously, somebody in our school system has dropped the ball. Our children have been led to believe it is better to sound like a thug, than an educated person. Our music industry can take a portion of the blame for this.
Another reason we are having this language degeneration is that NOBODY READS ANYMORE! I don't mean a newspaper; I mean books, real books! Hemingway, Hawthorne, Steinbeck and Tolstoy; authors who had command of the language, who forced the reader to understand cogent thought, authors who have been all but lost on our current generation because of "street poets" who can't put a sentence together without a thesaurus or dictionary have taken the place of intelligent writers. We are seeing the "dumbing down" of our children because we want the acceptance of "street-wise speech".
I live in small town America, and I hear "ghetto" language from kids who have never seen any building higher that a barn; but they want to emulate the garbage that has been fed to them by a society of low expectations.
As parents, and as Americans, we should be enraged by this. We used to take pride in the well spoken word, and the educational level of our society. We have taken achievement and turned it into guilt, and we have taken eloquence and turned it into a lost art. My Dad said "If you sound stupid, people will assume that you are." We need to put some pressure on our educational system and our entertainment industry, or we will end up with a "generation of illiterates"!
Where does all of this pseudo-English come from? Obviously, somebody in our school system has dropped the ball. Our children have been led to believe it is better to sound like a thug, than an educated person. Our music industry can take a portion of the blame for this.
Another reason we are having this language degeneration is that NOBODY READS ANYMORE! I don't mean a newspaper; I mean books, real books! Hemingway, Hawthorne, Steinbeck and Tolstoy; authors who had command of the language, who forced the reader to understand cogent thought, authors who have been all but lost on our current generation because of "street poets" who can't put a sentence together without a thesaurus or dictionary have taken the place of intelligent writers. We are seeing the "dumbing down" of our children because we want the acceptance of "street-wise speech".
I live in small town America, and I hear "ghetto" language from kids who have never seen any building higher that a barn; but they want to emulate the garbage that has been fed to them by a society of low expectations.
As parents, and as Americans, we should be enraged by this. We used to take pride in the well spoken word, and the educational level of our society. We have taken achievement and turned it into guilt, and we have taken eloquence and turned it into a lost art. My Dad said "If you sound stupid, people will assume that you are." We need to put some pressure on our educational system and our entertainment industry, or we will end up with a "generation of illiterates"!
Monday, July 25, 2011
"Emergency Situation!"
Normally, I try to start out my blog with a story about life in general, but today, I want to get directly to the point. I don't believe any analogy is necessary today; we are in too much trouble to "dilly-dally"!
We are very near a default status in our budget talks and all that is actually being done is a huge amount of name-calling and threats with little substance. Our nation has been over-extending itself for decade after decade. We have gone into "hyper-drive" spending in the last two-and-a-half years; and now it has all come home to roost. We cannot sustain the spending that has become common place in Washington. We cannot continue to send BILLIONS of American dollars to foreign governments while Americans are facing severe economic conditions at home. We cannot continue to give BILLIONS of American dollars to an organization that does nothing of substance to benefit the people of the United States. We cannot continue any government "pork projects"; ALL OF THEM NEED TO BE CUT! We cannot continue to support organizations like ACORN, while our border is an open door for felons and we don't seem to have the funds to properly address it.
We must act in a common sense manner, and we have very little time to do so. We may have our National Bond Rating reduced! We may become a SECOND CLASS NATION! This may be very soon! RED CHINA is holding quite a bit of "paper" on the United States; this is a dangerous situation.
Ronald Reagan's name has been invoked many times since this situation has become so prominent; yet, most of his statements have been taken out of context to support one argument or another. I know this: Ronald Reagan would never advocate the possibility of falling into the servitude of any COMMUNIST NATION.
It is time to start acting like America; it is time to act like responsible representatives of the people. This is beyond politics; it is about sustaining the American Ideal described under our Constitution; not any twisted ideology or social program! America is in jeopardy; what are we doing about it?
We are very near a default status in our budget talks and all that is actually being done is a huge amount of name-calling and threats with little substance. Our nation has been over-extending itself for decade after decade. We have gone into "hyper-drive" spending in the last two-and-a-half years; and now it has all come home to roost. We cannot sustain the spending that has become common place in Washington. We cannot continue to send BILLIONS of American dollars to foreign governments while Americans are facing severe economic conditions at home. We cannot continue to give BILLIONS of American dollars to an organization that does nothing of substance to benefit the people of the United States. We cannot continue any government "pork projects"; ALL OF THEM NEED TO BE CUT! We cannot continue to support organizations like ACORN, while our border is an open door for felons and we don't seem to have the funds to properly address it.
We must act in a common sense manner, and we have very little time to do so. We may have our National Bond Rating reduced! We may become a SECOND CLASS NATION! This may be very soon! RED CHINA is holding quite a bit of "paper" on the United States; this is a dangerous situation.
Ronald Reagan's name has been invoked many times since this situation has become so prominent; yet, most of his statements have been taken out of context to support one argument or another. I know this: Ronald Reagan would never advocate the possibility of falling into the servitude of any COMMUNIST NATION.
It is time to start acting like America; it is time to act like responsible representatives of the people. This is beyond politics; it is about sustaining the American Ideal described under our Constitution; not any twisted ideology or social program! America is in jeopardy; what are we doing about it?
Thursday, July 21, 2011
"Size Matters!"
I lived in Chicago for many years before I retreated to small town America. I used to drive through the "Down Town" area of the city regularly. I became used to the skyscrapers and vast "Lake Front". I've had friends from small towns visit me when we lived in the city, and on occasion, we would go into the "Loop" and the caverns of tall buildings. Many of our visitors would stop and look up in awe at the size of these mammoth edifices. I'm sure they all saw large buildings in movies and on television shows; but it is a different experience when you are actually standing next to them.
I remember being at a bar in the "burbs" one evening when Dick Butkus, Bobby Douglas and Doug Buffone came in (these were Chicago Bears). I was sitting in a raised booth when they passed by and even in a raised booth, they still towered over me, they were bigger in person than on television! Sometimes we don't grasp the size of things when we are "looking from a distance".
We are in a debt that is 14 trillion dollars. Now, as I look at this printed on this page the word trillion has only 8 letters, not too large, it looks manageable. Let's look at a trillion a little differently today.
Thousand: 1,000
One Hundred thousand:100,000
One Million:1,000,000
One Billion:1,000,000,000
One trillion:1,000,000,000,000
One trillion is a thousand "billions"! Wow! If you make $100,000 a year it will take you 10 years to make a million dollars. It will take you 10,000 years to make a billion and it will take you 10 million years to make a trillion! What does this say about the debt this nation has accumulated? America cannot continue on this path; and furthermore, we must take swift and severe action to change and it must be done now! We can no longer "bankroll" any other nations; we need to clean our own house, or our house will be foreclosed!
Many Americans don't understand the magnitude of this debt! Our leaders need to act NOW! Believe me everyone; Republicans and Democrats, this is your responsibility! SIZE MATTERS!
(I will be off tomorrow for personal business, see you Monday. T.P.)
I remember being at a bar in the "burbs" one evening when Dick Butkus, Bobby Douglas and Doug Buffone came in (these were Chicago Bears). I was sitting in a raised booth when they passed by and even in a raised booth, they still towered over me, they were bigger in person than on television! Sometimes we don't grasp the size of things when we are "looking from a distance".
We are in a debt that is 14 trillion dollars. Now, as I look at this printed on this page the word trillion has only 8 letters, not too large, it looks manageable. Let's look at a trillion a little differently today.
Thousand: 1,000
One Hundred thousand:100,000
One Million:1,000,000
One Billion:1,000,000,000
One trillion:1,000,000,000,000
One trillion is a thousand "billions"! Wow! If you make $100,000 a year it will take you 10 years to make a million dollars. It will take you 10,000 years to make a billion and it will take you 10 million years to make a trillion! What does this say about the debt this nation has accumulated? America cannot continue on this path; and furthermore, we must take swift and severe action to change and it must be done now! We can no longer "bankroll" any other nations; we need to clean our own house, or our house will be foreclosed!
Many Americans don't understand the magnitude of this debt! Our leaders need to act NOW! Believe me everyone; Republicans and Democrats, this is your responsibility! SIZE MATTERS!
(I will be off tomorrow for personal business, see you Monday. T.P.)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
"New and Improved!"
"New Improved", "Advanced Formula", "Secret Ingredient" and "New, Space Age Technology" are just some of the phrases we have seen on products in our grocery stores, seemingly, since the beginning of time. We are always in pursuit of the next big product improvement; we always want the latest "Hi-Tech" contraption that is put on the market. I like improvement, it appeals to my entrepreneurial spirit. In America, we reward those who come up with the next great idea; we also reject those products that "look good on T.V." but turn out to be over-priced garbage. I won't name any products, because I don't want to invite a lawsuit; but I'm sure you have all purchased a product only to find out they are far from the miracle they promised to be. I believe we do this to make our lives better, to achieve our goal of "the good life". Sometimes people purchase things to "keep up with the Joneses"; they feel they must be better than their neighbors. Some people don't like their neighbors; some people make "improvements" just to make their neighbors uncomfortable.
Yesterday, Iran announced that they are doing something that is "New Improved" for their neighborhood! Iran, that bastion of peace and tranquility, is installing better nuclear centrifuges! I, for one, applaud their efforts to continue in their pursuit to stabilize the Middle-East. I'm sure Israel feels really good about this rogue nation improving their nuclear capabilities. Iran has stated that the United Nations will have "supervision" over these proposed improvements, and I'm sure the U.N. will do their usual stellar job (yuk, yuk, yuk!). Iranian spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said this new action is in pursuit of "peaceful nuclear activity..."; and I'm sure it is! We all know how trustworthy the Iranian government has been in the past. I have to admit, I'm having a little trouble believing Iran in its statement about "peaceful nuclear activity" as I remember their leader saying "Try to imagine a world without Israel" and seeing him attend a rally where the crowd chanted "Death to Israel" (he was chanting too).
Don't worry Israel, the U.N. is on the job! Honestly, if I were you, I might be a little suspicious of Iran's "peaceful nuclear activity". I believe that Iran's idea of a "New and Improved Middle-East" will include the destruction of Israel; all in the name of peace, of course. As an American, I'm ashamed to say, don't depend too much on our current leadership for help; I'm sure you know what I mean. Israel, watch out for those "New Improved Neighbors"; their products are "dangerous"!
Yesterday, Iran announced that they are doing something that is "New Improved" for their neighborhood! Iran, that bastion of peace and tranquility, is installing better nuclear centrifuges! I, for one, applaud their efforts to continue in their pursuit to stabilize the Middle-East. I'm sure Israel feels really good about this rogue nation improving their nuclear capabilities. Iran has stated that the United Nations will have "supervision" over these proposed improvements, and I'm sure the U.N. will do their usual stellar job (yuk, yuk, yuk!). Iranian spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said this new action is in pursuit of "peaceful nuclear activity..."; and I'm sure it is! We all know how trustworthy the Iranian government has been in the past. I have to admit, I'm having a little trouble believing Iran in its statement about "peaceful nuclear activity" as I remember their leader saying "Try to imagine a world without Israel" and seeing him attend a rally where the crowd chanted "Death to Israel" (he was chanting too).
Don't worry Israel, the U.N. is on the job! Honestly, if I were you, I might be a little suspicious of Iran's "peaceful nuclear activity". I believe that Iran's idea of a "New and Improved Middle-East" will include the destruction of Israel; all in the name of peace, of course. As an American, I'm ashamed to say, don't depend too much on our current leadership for help; I'm sure you know what I mean. Israel, watch out for those "New Improved Neighbors"; their products are "dangerous"!
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