Death of a Nation (What's Killing America)

OSAMA

2011-05-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

Normally the things I post are based on what moves me to do so. This time I am posting because I was asked.

When I heard that Osama had been killed I was relieved. When I saw all the people cheering and dancing in the streets I was a bit saddened. I just can’t celebrate the death of another human being. As bad a person that Osama was there were people that loved him and those people are hurting. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand why they were celebrating. I do understand that everyone doesn’t see the world the same way I do. Here’s the thing. If I had been in Obama’s shoes I believe I would have given the same order he did. I would have sent those guys in to get him and kill him.

I tend to try to look at thing from both points of view. I may not always put it to paper but that is because I am not a writer. I hope I get better as time goes on but as you see in things that I have written that sometimes I will go off in left field and get off topic (like now). That’s because I’m not a writer.

Back to topic. I agree with The President about not releasing the pictures. Some people want to see the pictures because they like seeing gore. Others want to see the pictures because they don’t want to believe the White House. Those that don’t want to believe WILL NOT believe. Some people see conspiracy in everything this President and/or the government does. Here is my conspiracy theory. I made this up last night while talking this over with my wife. The Bush Administration found and killed Osama in 2002 and burned his body. That’s why Bush said “I am not looking for Osama anymore and don’t spend any time thinking about him”. They didn’t tell anyone so that they could keep the wars going. Obama gets elected and found out what they had done. Rather than tell the American public they decide to pretend to kill Osama and bury the body at sea so that they can end the war. That’s as good a theory as any other. Feel free to add to it. If you do add to it please post it under the comments section. I would love to read it.

To the person that asked me post this, I hope I answered your question and thanks for reading.

Obama's Papers

2011-04-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday President Obama showed his birth certificate trying to prove to the Birthers that he is an American citizen. Let me first say that there is nothing that he can do that would make this group of people believe that he is legit. They will never accept a black man as their President. It upsets me that he would even respond to their idiotic claims that he is an illegitimate President.

This reminds me of the times when free black men had to carry their papers on them to prove that they were free. This is not those times. The President of the United States should not have to answer crazy questions from a bunch of knuckle draggers. It is like trying to explain quantum physics to kindergarten children. Truth be told, I think they understand but refuse to accept it.

A friend tried to compare the Birthers to the people that would call President W. Bush dumb. I disagree with her only because those people did that because of things Bush did and said. Like making up words and pushing doors that he should have pulled. The comments were based on his actions. There is no foundation for the illegitimate claims cast on President Obama other than the color of his skin.

I am happy that I’m not the President because the television stations would have to beep me if I had gotten the question about my birth certificate. Never in the history of this country has a President had to endure this level of disrespect. I don’t think I could smile and put up with it. I don’t agree with the President most of the time. He doesn’t fight enough for me. I believe in compromise but he seems to cave in and give the Republicans what they want far too soon.

I support the President but I don’t like the way the Republicans are treating him. He is allowing them to treat him like some “House Nigger”. I know I’m not supposed to use that word but no other word seems to fit. My mother sometimes reads my blog and because of that I can’t write some of the things I’m thinking right now. This really has me pissed off. He needs to stand up to these people. I know it is not all Republicans but until some Republicans denounce the Tea Baggers and Birthers, they are one.

Let me end by saying that if I could talk to President Obama I would tell him that he does not have enough papers to satisfy the knuckle draggers. There is no point in going down that road and he does not have to. He is the President of the United States of America so grow a spine and act like it. The Birthers are a bunch of F-ing racist and he can’t please them, so just plow thru them.

IS IT RACIST?

2010-10-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

It’s been a long time since I posted anything. It has been on my mind to do so but I have not been inspired to write anything. After seeing and hearing all the attacks from the Right Wing people aimed at President O’bama I felt the need to get some stuff off my chest.

I don’t know if it I racist or just plain hate for the opposition. What I do know is that it is not fair.

Let’s go back to before O’bama was elected. The Right Wing of the Republican Party said that O’bama was hanging out with terrorist because he was at a dinner that William Ayers also attended. Ayers is a man that was a 60s war protester that was involved with a group that wanted to bomb government buildings. What that has to do with O’bama is beyond me. Unless they are saying that being at a dinner that someone who once had violent or unpatriotic ideas about the government also attended makes you unelectable. If that is indeed what they are saying then I don’t understand why they didn’t complain when George H.W. Bush ran for public office. Why didn’t they complain about George W. Bush when he ran for office? They had dinner with Prescott Sheldon Bush. He is the father of H.W. Bush and grandfather of W. Bush.

I found out about Prescott when I was reading about Medal of Honor recipients. I was reading about Smedley Darlington Butler. This man had one hell of a life and you should Google him. To make a very long story short, In 1934 General Butler testified before Congress that he had been recruited to head a military coup. It was called The Business Plot. The intent was to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Prescott Bush was among those involved in this coup. This is all documented on congressional papers. The level of development was disputed but the fact that it was going on and talked about was not. Had they not chosen General Butler, more likely than not, this would be a very different country today. The Right Wing never complained about all those dinners Bush 41 and 43 had with Prescott.

On 9 Sep. 2010 during an address to joint sessions of Congress, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted “You Lie” from his congressional seat to President O’bama. This is something that is beyond unheard of. Never before had something like that been done. I don’t want to call it racist but it is defiantly highly disrespectful. This reaction is questionable because it is coming from the Republican Party that during the Bush administration touted patriotism above all else especially during war time. We are still at war. You have to wonder, would this had happened if O’bama were white? Or is it because he is a Democrat?

There is no way to know but it is something to think about. I don’t think the Republicans want to work with O’bama because they don’t respect him. It’s hard to work with and for someone that you don’t respect. There are any number reasons for not respecting someone besides their race. I wonder what their reason is. There was a time when you didn’t have to respect the person but you respected the office.

Let me also say that I don’t agree with everything President O’bama has done. He has not done enough. I voted for President O’bama partly because he said he wanted Health Care for all. I thought he would push for it and I believe what we got was far short of that. When you are working with people that don’t want to compromise you have to go your own way. There is nothing that President O’bama can do that the Republicans will not criticize. If he agrees with them they will criticize that. He should understand that and do what he said he would do when the people elected him.

I could go on and on about the things being said about this man, our President. These crazy Birthers and Tea Baggers are a whole story within itself. One has to wonder where they were during the Bush administration. They sat by silently while he spent money like a drunken sailor and they said nothing. Now President O’bama is spending money trying to get the country back on its feet and they are screaming bloody murder. You have to ask, what is their motivation? Is it race?

Some of these people are just bat sh*t crazy. I know a Tea Bagger and let me tell you a little bit about this person. This person works for the state. Our Governor said on TV that he was doing a 6% pay cut to all state workers so that he would not have to do any layoffs. The following Monday this person found out they were being laid off. Some of the local bosses got together and moved this person into another position and saved this state workers job. A few months later the Governor announced another round of 6% pay cuts across the board for all state workers. Then it was found out that this same Governor had given his own staff pay raises. This Tea Bagger still supports this Governor. This is the only person that I know who admits to being a Tea Bagger. I wish I knew more. They are fascinating.

I say all this to say you have to wonder if all or some of this backlash that President O’bama is getting is because of his race. Are those who are obstructing his path racist or are they just bat sh*t crazy? You tell me.

And now america has a muslim president!

2009-12-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

This is an email that was sent to me last week. I am always on the lookout for something that bothers me enough to blog about. I am not gonna say who sent it to me because that is not important. The point is that this email is going around the country/world targeting a group of people. Here is the email:

And now america has a muslim president!

This message is from a member of the Dutch Parliament--- must read

THIS SPEECH CLEARLY SHOWS OUR SITUATION IN THE WORLD.....WELL WORTH READING!
Geert Wilders is a Member of the Dutch Parliament.
America as the last man standing

'In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe?'

Here is the speech of Geert Wilders, Chairman, Party for Freedom, the Netherlands, at the Four Seasons, New York, introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem.

Dear friends,

Thank you very much for inviting me.

I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe.

First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe. Then, I will say a few things about Islam. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem.

The Europe you know is changing.

You have probably seen the landmarks. But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration.

All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It's the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corners. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe. These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city.

There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe. With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.

Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities.

In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims.

Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear 'whore, whore'. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin.

In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin. The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity.

In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan.

Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.

A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.

Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France. One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate. Muslims demand what they call 'respect'. And this is how we give them respect. We have Muslim official state holidays.

The Christian-Democratic attorney general is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey.

Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. I call the perpetrators 'settlers'. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies; they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.

Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries. Moreover, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.

The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages - at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad.

Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means 'submission'. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.

Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam 'the most retrograde force in the world', and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel. First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense.

This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam's territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.

The war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.

Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a 'right-wing extremists' or 'racists'. In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat. Yet there is a danger greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem.

Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe, American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe's children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so.
We have to take the necessary action now to stop this Islamic stupidity from destroying the free world that we know.

Please take the time to read and understand what is written here, Please send it to every free person that you know, it is so very important.

Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. Psalm 27:14

I did check to see if this was a real speech and as far as I can tell it is. It is sad that the radicals have hijacked the Muslim religion. What is even sadder is that there are so many people that don't see it. I know people that are Muslim and I know people that have Muslim people in their families. Should we turn our backs on these people? Should we outlaw the Muslim religion in the United States because of the actions of a few? That is what is sounds like this Mr. Wilders wants. The people that forward this type of email, what would they like to see happen because of their efforts.

As I told the person that sent this to me. I don't believe I am right in everything I do and say. That is why I am a Liberal. I realize that I am human and I make mistakes and therefor must leave room for others to make a different choice.

The people on the Republican far right feel that President O'bama is not a natural born citizen. That is a very small part of the party. Every group has its idiots but we don't destroy the entire group because of them. They make for great TV because people love a train wreck but that is about it.

I am willing to die for what I believe in but I am not willing to kill for it.

My point is we all need to think about what we say and the email we send. It may just be fun to us but to the people that are not thinking straight it could be just what they need to set them off. That email could get someone killed.

A little background infomation on Mr. Wilder. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Wilders or

Healthcare

2009-10-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

The latest debate going on is about healthcare. What is sad is the fact that we don’t already have Healthcare for everyone. Part of the problem is that we are still a very young country. I know that is not a good excuse but that is the best I could come up with.

O’bama said when he was campaigning for President that he wanted to change the Healthcare System in the United States. The people voted him in so I think he should keep his word. The Republican Party is going to oppose whatever he tries to do. The party leader Rush Limbaugh has gone on record to say that he wants O’bama to fail. Rush is a prime example of party before country politics. O’bama and the Democratic Party should put together the best bill they can come up with and sign it into law. They should not wait for the Republicans to stand with them because it is never going to happen. The job of the Republican Party has become to stop the President. Like they said, they want Healthcare to be his Waterloo.

I have Healthcare because I am retired from the military. When I was active duty I work for 20 years in the medical field. It pains me to hear people tell their story about having to file for bankruptcy because they became ill or they were injured. Medicine should be in the same category as the Police and the Fire Departments. The Police and Fire Departments don’t charge a fee when they come to people’s aid because we have a right to be safe and to have a fire put out. Why do we not have the right to be healthy? It is sad to know that millions of people are one doctor’s visit away from being homeless. For most people if they lose their job they also lose their health insurance. Many people take or keep jobs they hate only because they need the insurance. For this to be a country that likes to brag about being number one in so many areas, why can’t Healthcare be one of them?

Chapter 2

Watching the people on television talk about this subject is very sad. Seeing people at Town Hall meetings argue when they have been given bad information is painful to watch. In general I believe these are people that voted for McCain and they are still upset about not winning. I feel sorry for O’bama because these people are going to complain about everything he tries to do and there is nothing he can do to win them over. These are the people of the Republican Party. There is nothing O’bama or the Democratic Party can do that would make them happy except commit suicide.

I guess you could break this down to two types of people on this issue. Either you care about other people or you don’t. Another way to say it is, am I or am I not my brother’s keeper? I am the type that cares about other people. I am my brother’s keeper. If you are the type that doesn’t care about others, I don’t think you are wrong (really I do) in your way of thinking. You are who you are. I just don’t agree with your way of thinking and that does not make me right (yes it does).

The Democrats are saying right now that the public option is off the table and that is upsetting. The Insurance Companies are saying they can’t compete with the Government. The people at Town Hall meetings are screaming on their behalf. That is such a lie. The people that believe what the Insurance Companies are saying are not thinking. There is nothing that the Government provides that you can’t also find in the private sector. The government provides the Fire Department and you can still buy smoke detectors and sprinkler systems. The Government provides the Police Department but you can still hire private detectives and body guards. My point is the Government does not destroy the free market it only provides a safety net and gives people options.

Chapter 3

Here is my biggest problem. The Pharmaceutical and Medical Industries have nothing to keep them honest. The Drug Companies have figured out that there is more money in treatment than in cures. Because of that I don’t think anyone will ever see another cure for anything. This works out good for Doctors and hospitals because it keeps people coming back for more drugs. Their condition gets better but they will never be completely cured or healed. That is where the Insurance Companies come in. Because we have to go to the doctor or hospital multiple times and the costs for these visits have gone so high most people can’t afford it. Insurance companies get the doctors and hospitals to charge them less and the regular Joe more. Charging the regular Joe more money forces him to go to the Insurance Companies. If the Medical Industry would treat the regular Joe the same as they treat the Insurance Companies fewer people would be in bankruptcy. That can’t happen because lawyers would lobby against it.

In a nut shell I believe that if something is a MUST HAVE then the government should provide it for its citizens. Healthcare is not an option for people it is a MUST HAVE. Just as taxes are a must, so should Healthcare for all.

Patriotism

2009-10-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying, it is not patriotism that is aiding in the destruction of this country but the lack of patriotism. Patriotism as defined in Webster’s Dictionary: love for or devotion to one’s country. Our leaders of today are patriots to party and or money but not country.

There was a time when I was active duty military that I was ashamed to wear my uniform. It was not the military that I was ashamed of, but the political leaders and what they were doing with the military. I’m not going to go into the detail but it was during the Iran Contra disaster. For me the military was a reflection of the government. That was the way I used to think, not anymore. I do believe the rest of the world sees the military that way. When the military breaks into their home looking for terrorist and takes the men or boys, to the people that witness the event, that is America. When the military does something good for people and then do some bad things to the same people, the bad things are going to be remembered and talked about. I felt that way when I wore my uniform on the streets of America. I felt like Americans looked at me like I was one of the evil government workers even though I knew they did not. That feeling lasted a long time but I got past it. There came a time that I gave serious thought to getting out of the military and not making a career out of it. The back stabbing and cut throat politics had become more open in the military and I wanted no parts of it. I told a friend what I was thinking and they asked me if everyone who felt the way I did was to leave the service what kind of military would we have left. I took that to heart and made a career out of it. Talking to people on the civilian side I found out things were the same on both sides. So even had I gotten out I still would have to face the same type of people.

After retiring and having to deal with the Veteran’s Administration I regretted making the military a career for a while. I should be fair and say the VA benefits section works hard against the former service members. I thought it was set up to help me but I now know better. I realize that it is part of the D.C. politics and to them I am just a number, not a real person. A number that needs to be deleted. Their job is to deny and delay benefits as long as possible. Once that became clear it was much easier to deal with them.

I am proud of my military service and the country I swore to protect against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. I am ashamed of the politicians who run this country and the system they set up (so they say) to protect me. There was a time when I first started to deal with the VA that I wished that I had never joined the military. I don’t wish that anymore. Now I am happy I joined and did 20 years. If I had it to do over the only thing I would change is when people tried to tell me how bad the VA benefits system is I would pay more attention. I only have myself to blame for that because people did try but I didn’t listen. I did my job to the best of my ability trying never to complain and feel that I was and still am a patriot.

Chapter2

Our political leaders are not patriots. They are loyal to their parties and the companies that pay them. This is the problem in both parties but the Republicans are more blatant about it. When George W. Bush was in office they had control of the house and senate. They were spending money like it was a bottomless pit. There were NO Republicans or ANY so called conservatives taking center stage and complaining about all the money being spent. They All kept their mouths shut and let the party (Bush and Cheney) do what it wanted. They were loyal Republicans. They were being loyal to their party and let the spending run wild. This coming from a party that core value is (so they say) less government spending and fiscal responsibility. If that was truly a core value you would think that some of them would have been complaining about what was going on. If their loyalty was to their country first we would have heard lots of complaining but we heard none. We heard none because one of their own was in the driver’s seat. It doesn’t matter how bad the driving is, if it is your driver you let him drive where ever he want to go. Even if he is taking you places you don’t want to go you don’t complain. I am amazed at how robotic the Republicans are in general. For them to be a party of no left turns for example and the driver is making left turns every couple of blocks, you would think that some passengers would speak out but it didn’t happen.

Now that Obama (a Democrat) is in the drivers seat all Republicans in Congress are complaining about everything. The sad thing is that they are complaining about the same things they didn’t complain about when they were driving. Now all of a sudden they are the party of no left turns again. Every time Obama makes a left turn they come together and protest. It is not possible for one person or group of people to always be right. When you put party before country that is the way it works. How can you do that and call yourself a patriot? Unless you mean you are a patriot to your party and not your country.

When Republicans were the leaders they were quick to call all who didn’t agree with the leaders unpatriotic or traitors. Now that Democrats are the leaders those rules no longer apply. When you put party ahead of country then it makes sense to make rule changes when you need to gain power or to win. In other words, to cheat. The question is how can you do that and still call yourself patriotic to your country? The answer is you can not.

America is a Capitalist/Socialist society and in this country money comes first. There are those that would disagree with me on that but when you step back and look at this country, that is what it has become. Companies at one time used to look at its employees as assets and the jobs they created as building America. Now it is all about profit and employee are liabilities. There is no such thing as making enough money for some people. Greed is not all bad. I say that because that love of money motivates some people to work harder and come up with good ideas. What is hurting America is the growing number of people who have what I call “Blind Greed”. That is when you have a love for money and nothing else matters. That blind greed allows a person to abuse, mistreat, and degrade another human being with the sole purpose of making another dollar.

People in power and people of wealth in general don’t seem to care about people anymore. It is as if they don’t understand that without people they can not make the dollar they love so very much. How can a nation survive when its citizens are not important? The answer is, it can not. When I say nation what I am really talking about is the big businesses or multi-national corporations of this nation. Like I said big business is running the government. The problem is we let them. Yes I include myself when I say we. One would think that when American companies move out of the country to improve profits, stockholders as well as the American people would be outraged. Rather than make a better product companies would rather hire cheaper workers and call the saving profit. The problem is we are not outraged. We continue to support companies that do this. We continue to buy their products. This needs to change.

Chapter 3

I have a friend named Denise but I call her Quetta who lives in San Antonio, Texas. That is a nickname we came up with while we were stationed at Lackland A.F.B. Anyway we were talking on the phone about politics recently. We were talking about what we would do if we were king for a day. I told her the first thing I would do is introduce what I would call the “Patriot Tax”. This tax would be for any American owned company that operates in other countries. It would be a heavy tax that would be based on the percentage of their product produced outside of the United States. I know that would piss off lot of big CEOs but I could live with that. One would think that as American citizens CEOs would want to keep their companies in the States. Maybe they do but their loyalty is to the bottom line. I know we can’t force anyone to love their country more than their bottom line but we can tax the hell out of those who don’t.

The second thing I would do is what Obama said he would do but has not. I would change Washington D.C. They like to say they are public servant and I would make them prove it. I would make all three branches of government subject to the UCMJ (uniform code of military justice). This would clean up most of the dirty politics and corruption the first day. There is no way to make politics perfect because they deal with too much money and power. That money and power within itself brings corruption. It makes no sense to me why those who volunteer to place their lives on the line in defense of the country for not much money are held to a higher standard than those elected to run it for much higher pay. It is because the people elected to run it are the ones who write the laws or make the rules. They know that they are there to lie and cheat so the rules they make for themselves are much more lenient than those they made for the military to follow. If you look bellow the surface what our elected officials are saying is “those who serve us (the military) must be patriotic, but we (elected officials) do not”. I would put an end to that unless they killed me first.

The third thing I would do and last one I will talk about is incarcerate all those involved in the AIG mess. Those in Congress that voted to change the laws to make the mess possible would be fired. There is not much difference between Bernie Madoff and AIG. He got about 150 years for what he did and AIG got bonuses. Madoff went to jail because he had lots of money, stole from a few rich people and no power. AIG has lots of money, stole from a lot of middle class people and have lobbyist in the government. Lobbyist means you have a direct line to Congress and that means power. When you have power you don’t do jail time unless you are caught on video and you confess. Then maybe you will do a little time but I doubt it.

The thing talked about lately is former Vice President Dick Cheney running a secret operation thru the CIA without congress being informed. Naturally the Republicans are defending Cheney. At first I was on Cheney’s side. If the only thing he did was set up a program and have a few meetings then I didn’t see the big deal. Now that I am hearing that the program cost over a million dollars while it was in operation is a different story. If this is true then I am against him and it should be investigated. The first question I would have is when did President Bush give Cheney the authority to tell the CIA what to do and to run any type operation in that organization? His answer would be “I do not recall”. That seem to be the answer people in Washington give when they are in trouble. When they are not in trouble they have plenty to say. Have you ever noticed how they go on and on about simple stuff. They give a two or three paragraph response to a question when a simple yes or no would suffice. A few weeks ago Cheney was all over TV bashing the Obama administration on almost everything they were doing. Now that they are talking about him and what he may have done while he was in office he is nowhere to be found. Why does he not defend himself? Only he and his aids know the answer to that one. It just seems strange that he was so willing to talk when all he could do was speculate. Now that he can deal in facts he is unwilling to speak. He knows that he could be in trouble so he is keeping his mouth shut. Cheney’s motives needs to be questioned. We need to know if he used his office to punish foes. There isn’t much chance of him going to jail because Democrats are too spineless for that. They could slap his hand and point a finger at him but that’s about it.

Our elected leaders are not patriotic to this country. Most are patriotic to their party. All are patriotic to money and power. What we need are leaders that love this country and its people. We need leaders that believe in that document called The Constitution. We need people in office that are accountable for their actions. Why are members of the armed forces held to a higher standard than politicians? Why don’t politicians get drug tested? The answer is easy, because they make their own rules. Apply that to your own job whatever it is. Does that make any sense to you? You get to decide what you are paid. You get to decide if you get a raise. You make all the rules that govern your job. I understand why they try so hard to stay in office. Now they have set themselves up with options. If they get voted out of office they go to companies they helped while they were in office or they get high paying lobbyist positions. Either way you look at it, when or if politicians leave office they are paid very well by those they helped while in office. The old saying, if you want to find corruption just follow the money, is never truer than in politics. The problem with money in politics is there is so much of it that it is hard to follow.

Chapter 4

A friend recently told me her husband (Earl) reads my blog. She said he like what I Have written so far but I need to open my eyes and live in the real world. He says that the things I want to happen only happen in a fantasy world. That there are too many evil people on this planet for us to ever live together in peace. Earl is right, I am writing about a fantasy world. The thing is that all improvements to society start out as a fantasy in someone’s mind. I understand that the things I write are alive only in my mind and to that Earl is right. That doesn’t mean that they can not become reality. If this blog starts people to talking about what could be, then maybe that conversation could spark the change that is needed. There are lots of good people in this world so don’t give up on us yet Earl.

Patriotism is lost because of the divide in the country. Above all we should be Americans first. The divide I’m talking about hurts everyone and it is everywhere. The name is different depending on the subject but it is there. What’s lacking is what the military calls comradery. Comradery is a good thing and it brings a group of people closer together. Binding them by something they have in common. It will make one member of the group risk his or her life to save another. The problem is it will also make some lie to protect someone who has done wrong. I’m not talking about something that I think happens. I’m talking about what I know and have seen first hand. If I remember correctly the saying was, “if you will not lie for me how can I expect you to die for me”. I understand the thought process but I don’t agree with it. That is the attitude police have when they abuse their power. They do it because they know other police officers will protect them. They are not patriotic. Being patriotic means doing what is right for the people or as it says on some police car doors “to protect and serve”. Some of the police out there seem to think that means “to protect and serve other police officers”.

When we give positions of power in society there must be a way to check to see if individuals are or have been corrupted by the power they were given. I don’t think that there is anyone out there that believes people CAN NOT be corrupted by power and or money. I also don’t believe that there is any way to know for sure who will or will not abuse their power. Because of that we need to check those in power and check them often. Anyone who objects to having their power checked is already corrupted without doubt. There is always an exception to every rule but I am speaking in general.

When we talk about patriotism that does not only mean the way we act towards the government and the military. This is a two way street. Look at how the government treats the military. I feel fortunate because I never bought into the military family idea. They try to sell you the military is one big happy family early in your basic training days. They tell you that the government or Department of Defense (DOD) will take care of you because your welfare is important. I learned that there was no truth to that story. The truth was a hard pill to swallow but it is what it is. When the DOD took away the free medical and dental benefits from the retirees, I knew the government didn’t even see them as being human let alone feel any sort of patriotism towards them. When that reality sunk in the military became just a job for me. A job I took pride in and did to the very best of my ability every single day I wore my uniform. My drive was gone. The reality was I provided a service that the government needed and that was all it was. I knew people that believed the military family idea and for them the military was everything. I didn’t fault them for their way of thinking; again, it is what it is. In general people who buy into the military family do very well and rise high in the service until retirement. The life expectancy for them is very short after retirement. They are the ones who hang out on base or try to find jobs on base just to hold on to that sense of belonging to the military family.

A friend (Quetta) and I were talking about the military family idea. She mentioned the military suicide rate and how it is going up. The military has a stigma on those who seek help from mental health. If you are treated by mental health it will be known by others in your unit. You will be labeled as crazy. Service members know this and I feel because of that reason they are slow to seek help when they have problems. Young men and women are sent to war because their government need them to kill people. The risk of service members being killed is preferred over being injured. Especially when it comes to brain injuries or mental health issues. Death is cheaper in the long run than treating injuries. Why else would the government tell doctors to avoid diagnosing soldiers with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)? The answer is simple; it’s all about the money. The government wants soldiers to be patriotic to their country but their country is not being patriotic to the soldiers. The fact that the suicide rate for soldiers is going up is good news for the government because it saves them money. The government is a business and the military is part of that business. In business today the only thing that matters is the bottom line.

The people in Congress understand the government is just a business. That is why you see them being paid by special interest groups to help their companies profit. These Congress people like to wave the American flag and talk about how they are public servants when all they are doing is looking out for themselves. It is not possible to be patriotic to the country and not care about the people. This is something that has been hard for me to accept. Watching the citizens of this country fight each other about petty things while they are being raped by the elected officials.

I just don’t get it. How can you claim to love this country when your actions show you are helping to destroy it? It is the same argument I have with those who are against abortion. How can they claim to care about the rights of the unborn, when their actions show they don’t care about the rights of the born? That is why I believe most people don’t have a position of their own. They just support the views of their party even if those views they are supporting goes against what they need in their own lives. In most cases I will try to take care of myself first. You could say that is being selfish but I believe that if I don’t take care of myself I can’t take care of others. That is my rule in general but like I have said before, there is always an exception to every rule.

To close this up the last thing I will mention has to do with something Kirby (another friend) and I were talking about. We got on the subject of the tobacco chewing, NASCAR watching (no offence Sara and Jim), Confederate Flag waving people. The fact is that in most cases these people are Republicans. Republicans like to talk if not brag about how patriotic they are to anyone willing to listen. Now everyone knows that we as Americans want to be number one in everything we do. Given that fact, why would any group of people want to fly the Confederate flag when the south lost the war? I have heard people say stuff like “it is about remembering our heritage” or “we are rebels”. I just wondered why anyone would want to allied with the losing team. In my mind it would be like standing on the side line cheering “we’re number two, we’re number two”. That never made sense to me. Kirby looks at it differently. He said the Confederates tried to break away from the Union. Doing this would have hurt the country if not destroy it. The actions of the Confederates said “We no longer want to be one of you”. If saying it wasn’t enough they were willing to kill (and they did) U.S. citizens to accomplish the task. I don’t think you can get any more unpatriotic than that.

I had never looked at it that way and I must say he has a very good point. Why would any patriotic American individual or group of people want to fly the colors of the very people that tried to bring this country down? If you are a patriot you would not. In most cases the people or group that has to say or tell others what they are, is the least of it. In other words the person that tells you that they are your friend the most will be the first to stab you in the back.

Can a country that doesn’t care about its citizens and its citizens don’t care about its country last forever?

Sorry about the delay

2009-09-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

To those of you asking about the next section. I'm sorry about the delay. I finished writing it a couple of weeks ago but I'm having a friend edit it for me and he is almost done. I hope to post it next week. Patriotism and Health Care are both done and will be coming soon. Thanks for all the emails and even a few phone calls.

Upcoming Section on "Patriotism"

2009-06-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

"Patriotism" will be the new and final section that will be coming within the next few weeks; which may be the heart of my entire blog in its book form. It will be on the current state of our political parties and their use of this subject in their attempts to control the American population as a whole. As always, these will be my views as to what I perceive their motivations to be. Like I have said in the past, please feel free to leave comments based on what you have read on my blog. Thank you to those who have already done so, whether it be negative or positive. Sincerely, Randy

Family

2009-06-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

For me, I would say this is the most important section of this book. This is where change has to start. This is where ideas are formed. This is where values are taught. This is where character is shaped. This is where vision is developed. Family is where Americans are made.

I thought long and hard about this section: about what it means to be an American and how my family helped to shape my life. For me the two are so closely related. It’s a combination of what you see on television and what your parents taught you. When I say parents, I mean: mother, father, aunt, uncle as well as other adults in my family and neighborhood.

Being in the military has allowed me to travel to a few countries and meet lots of people. In talking to other people from other countries the thing that separates us from them is pride. I am not saying that others are not proud of their country. I believe most people are proud of their country to some level. As Americans we take pride to new levels. There was a time when I used to think that everyone wanted to live here.

In my travels I have found that everyone doesn’t want to live here. Many have told me that they love to visit America but would never want to live here. Some told me they wished their country was like America in term of freedom but they would never want to live here. I also found that other countries have trouble with illegal immigration. This means that people want to get into counties to find work just like the Mexican people want into this country. When I found out other countries had illegal immigrant trouble that meant America was not special in that regard. Even knowing that other countries have the same problem we have, in terms of people wanting to go there. That still does not diminish my pride for this country. We have the best country, the best looking flag, the most generous people and I would not want to live anywhere else. Even with all the bad things this country has done to people of my race I still love it. I’m talking about things that were done to them only because they were different. We live in a country where the people are quick to point out the difference of any group of people, and the government is slow to intervene on their behalf. Some countries are better in some areas but as a whole this is the best place to call home, at least for me.

Chapter 1

In order for me to talk about family I need you to understand where I am coming from. I will tell you my family story. I was born in Birmingham Alabama in 1962. Fortunately for me, the worst in terms of open racism in the city was over by the time I came of age. I have two sisters, Sharon and Donna. No brother. A wife Shannon and a daughter Karissa (from a previous relationship). Both of my parents are still together and still alive (my father passed away on 15 Oct 08). I have lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. I would say that I had a good childhood. I didn’t get in much trouble. I was an okay student in school. I could have been much better but I did okay. I come from a very close family. When I have told people about my family in the past; many did not believe what I told them. My sisters and I never had a fight. My sisters are six and seven years older than I am. One sister, Donna, likes to say that I am her son. We argued a lot but never had a fight. To this day I have never heard talk of anyone in my family fighting. We have family reunions every two years and when we all get together; we laugh and talk about what’s been going on over the last couple of years: never any fighting. My mother always told us never to fight each other. Fighting was never the answer to any problem. She led by example.

To this day, I have never heard her say an unkind word about her sisters or brothers or any other family member. That’s not to say we never criticize each other when we feel they are wrong. We can criticize each other without being mean and nasty about it. I was taught to treat all people that way. She used to tell us to be good to people even when they are not being good to us. We went to church (Baptist) almost every Sunday. The things I learned in church and home are still with me today. My parents are still in Alabama and I live in Las Vegas. We talk at least once a week, usually on Sunday afternoon but sometimes we talk several times a week. I could not begin to explain the level of love and respect I have for my family. I would not trade them for anything and I feel truly blessed to be a part of this family. I wish that everyone had a family like mine. That love and respect has kept me out of trouble. I have never wanted to do anything that would hurt or embarrass my family.

My mother is the one who did most of the raising and discipline. My dad was a long distance truck driver and was gone most of the time. He would be home most weekends and spent most of his time with us. When he was home I would be on my best behavior. The last thing I wanted was to get a whipping from him. It didn’t happen often, but when it did you did not forget it. Most of my whippings came from my mother. I can remember her making me go get a switch from a bush outside so she could whip me. You knew not to get one too small. If you did you would only make her mad and the whipping would be worse. Going to get that switch would be that longest walk of your life, crying all the way. When I look back on my life, those whippings were the best things that happened to me. I didn’t like them then, but I appreciate them now. If you whip children now either they or other people will call the police. I see children talk back to their parents, saying things that I was afraid to think about mine.

There is no fear. When I was growing up I can honestly say I was afraid of my parents. When I say afraid, I don’t mean I was afraid to talk or be near them. I was just afraid of getting a whipping. I can also say I never got a whipping because I went out and intentionally did something wrong. All of mine was because I didn’t think my actions through. That was just a lack of maturity. It taught me that my action have consequences. When I look at children today too many are not being taught that lesson. People are too quick to call child protective services because a child is being disciplined. The government will step in to stop the parent but when the child grows up and don’t follow the rules the parent was not allowed to teach. The government will do much worse to them. It is as if the government wants to keep the prisons full.

Chapter 2

My mother and I often talk about how children think they know more than the parents do. An example of that is when I was around nine years old. I had been climbing trees with a friend. I went home to get some water and was in a hurry to get back to my tree climbing. As I was about to leave the house, my mother stopped me. She told me that there would come a time, in just a few years, that I would not enjoy climbing trees anymore. I can remember this like it was yesterday. When she told me that, I thought she must be out of her mind. I am having too much fun climbing trees with my friend. There was no way I was not going to want to do this. I stood there and listened to her nonsense. I just wanted her to get to the end of her story so I could get back to my tree climbing. A few years after that story I was about to leave to go riding my bike and she asked me why I was not going to be climbing trees? I then remembered what she had told me years ago. I don’t remember what my response was but I do remember thinking that she had been right. I was not climbing trees anymore. If she was right about that then she might be right about other things. I believe that is when I really started to listen to what she had to say and the advice she would give me. Now I’m not going to lie and say I always did what she said. When I look back on my life, I can honestly say that I wish I had.

I know even if I had listened, my life would not be perfect. Even she is not always right – my wife thinks she is. She just saw things from a maturity that I was yet to obtain. In my adult years there are times when I listened and now I wish I had not. Like I said, she was not always right. I will say that had I listened to her from the start, on the occasions that I think she was wrong those decisions never would have needed to be made. There is no way for me to know. Maybe if I had done things my way on the occasions that I think she was wrong, things may have turned out worse. To this day I thank God that I still have her around to give me advice when I ask and need it.

My mother and I often talk about how we as children thought we knew everything. We thought we knew more than our parents. We thought we knew more than other adults. We thought adults were too old to understand how things are today. We thought adults were out of touch. We wanted to make all of our own decisions. When the real truth was we are not mature enough to understand that it is the youth that does not understand. It is the youth that should not be making decisions. It is the youth that is lacking enough maturity to be in touch. If only there was a way to make them understand. If they understood, life would be a much better for them. Unfortunately that is not the way life works. The very things we rebelled against when we were young are the things we long for when we become adults.

When I was growing up I didn’t get into much trouble. I knew if I did something wrong and my parents found out about it, I would get a whipping. I also knew that if I did something wrong and if any adult in the neighborhood saw me or found out about it, they would tell my parents. If it came down to my word against an adult, I would lose. Back then the rule was children lie. Things have changed a lot. I hear people all the time say, "children don’t lie." When I hear that I always wonder what children are they around. Children do lie, I will say that they don’t do it very well but they do lie. I remember when I was a child. I know for a fact that I lied about things. That’s not to say that I always lied but sometime I did. My parents would not take my word over that of an adult and they were right.

Times have changed. I hear so-called professionals on television all the time saying “children don’t lie”. When I hear this I sometime wonder if there are new types of children out there now. Now they are all perfect little angels and the adults are devils. These are not the type of children I grew up with. The children I grew up with were basically good kids. We would lie to get out of trouble. We would lie to get what we wanted. That’s not to say we were bad kids. We just were not perfect. We didn’t break into houses. We were not out fighting. We were not hurting anyone. We were just having fun with the immaturity of children and sometime we would do the wrong thing.

Like I said earlier, if I did something wrong the adults would tell my parents. When I was a kid, I could tell you the names of all the people that lived on the street where I lived: the people on both sides of the street as well as the street behind our house. I knew most of the people by last name in the entire neighborhood. The adults close to our house knew my parents well enough that they knew where I was allowed to go and whose house I was allowed to go into. If they saw me somewhere I was not supposed to be or if they saw me go into someone’s house I was not supposed to go into They would let me know that saw me and would also tell my parents. It was as if I had parents everywhere. When as a child you know you have all those eyes on you at all times it makes it much easier to stay in line. You know that you can’t really get away with anything. When I was growing up I didn’t like that many people watching me. I used to wish that they would mind their own business. Now as an adult when I look back I know that was the best thing they could have done for me. All children should have neighbors like I had. I hated it at the time but God knows I appreciate it now. This goes back to what my mother and I were saying. When we are children we think we know much more than we really do.

Chapter 3

I am very proud of my family and don’t know if I would have made it this far without them. Now I know many people have done much better than I have with no family at all. There are people who have done much better than I have who come from very abusive and dysfunctional families. I do understand that. Because of the family I have I can not imagine my family not being around me. They are more important to me than anything I could ever own. As I sit here writing this I am searching my mind trying to find the words to truly express their importance. The words don’t exist. To make it simple and to the point Nothing is more important to me than family, with the exception of God. After meeting other people and hearing about their families, I found out how special my family really is. God only know how thankful I am for every one of them. This includes the people who at the time I thought they were just nosey neighbors now I know it was because they cared. It is nice to know that I had so many people who cared about me and still do to this day. That knowledge continues to help me do the right thing. I don’t want to disappoint any of the people who took the time to watch over me.

I have a family reunion coming up and I am very much looking forward to it. When we get together we have such a good time. There are never any arguments, fussing or fighting. We talk about what has been going on over the past two years. We laugh, eat, play games and just have a good time. We remember those who may have passed on since we last got together. We are happy for those who have done well. Most of all we are happy that we are all together again. We realize that at the next reunion someone may not be with us. We must treasure the time we have together. We can not take anything for granted.

All the troubles of world and country can be traced back to the same place, family. Family means up bringing. If the family does the right thing and brings a child up the right way, many of the problems we have today would not exist. I was taught to respect others. No matter how right I think I am. The possibility still exist that I am wrong. We all need to understand that we are one people: one people on one planet that we all must share. If we would all respect each other we would do so much better. No matter how I look at it. It always comes back to family. Politicians like to talk about their family values. More and more we are finding out that they have none. If they have any values at all it is money and power that they value. They don’t value any families outside of their own. I really can’t be sure they value their own family. I say that because of some of the things they say on television. There is no way I would get on a nationally broadcast show and lie like some of them do. They are willing to do what ever it takes to support their party. They will say and do anything. I don’t believe they ever think about their family or their country. This is not a Republican problem. This is a bipartisan problem. It seems that if a person is to be an effective politician in present day, that person must be willing to lie, cheat, distort the truth and put party above all else. They wear flag pins on their suits and that is supposed to show patriotism.

Then they go behind closed doors and wipe their butts with the constitution because it helps their party. I tend to criticize the Republicans more because of the far right, like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. They seem to be evolving into an evil group similar to that of the Ku Klux Klan. Not to say that they will go out and try to lynch people. By that I mean the hate speech they use. It makes me wonder about their family. They ask their listeners to go out and try to disrupt the election process; the Klan did the same thing. They call the Democratic Party the “Democrat part’ because they believe it will upset them. That is disrespectful. Something Klan used to do and still does. They call the people who don’t agree or refuse to go along with their war, traitors or unpatriotic: another Klan tactic.

Sean Hannity likes to call refer to his callers as great Americans. I find that odd because he doesn’t know anything about his callers. As far as he knows the caller could be a rapist or murder. That doesn’t matter to him. His listeners are great Americans because in his mind he is a great American and they listen to him. He strokes their egos by telling them that they are great Americans, implying non listeners are not great Americans, to lift them up and make them feel better about themselves. Klan like. The call Democrats the enemy and the enemy need to be defeated. These are all Klan tactics. These are things that separate us as a people. The Klan tried to separate and dominate. The far right tries to dominate by controlling speech. If the left tries to speak out against the right, they are called derogatory names by all of the right as a group. When you are attacked by so many people, most people will back down. The Republican’s and the right work very well together. They get their talking points out to everyone and they all stick to them. Now I’m not saying the far right and the Republican Party is as bad as the Ku Klux Klan.

What I am saying is that they have some of the same tactics. They are dividing the country, suppressing the voice of the opposition, all the while giving praise and support to those who share their views. What kind of family do these people come from? Is this what they were taught as children? Is this what they are teaching their children?

Chapter 4

Maybe I am wrong in my way of thinking. My actions and beliefs in many ways reflect the type of family, friends, and neighborhood I come from and have. I would want them to be proud of what I am doing and what I have done. It seems that present day politicians and some of the people on the far right feel they will be proud of them because of the position they hold. If the power of influence or the amount of money you are making is the source of your pride, then I would say that they are justified. If this book sells lots of copies and I make lots of money from it. I would be very happy. I would be happy to pay off bills and to help family and friends. If someone reads this book and they move away from the far right and the far left, that would be a great accomplishment. If a politician decides they are no longer for sale after reading something that I have written it would be a dream come true. I know that one is not realistic but what is a man without a dream. If just one person told me that this book made a difference in their life, then I would feel proud. I can’t understand how someone can be proud of manipulation and distortion. When you are proud of that, then the question is who taught you that? Are parents proud of their children when they make lots of money illegally and dishonestly? What kind of values do those people teach their children? How long do they have to lie to themselves before they start believing it? Do they ever believe it?

This is why I could never run for public office. I respect people. I like people. I love my family and friends. Those things would handcuff me. My family and neighbors taught me to respect all people. That all people should have a voice and that voice needs to be heard. Even when I think someone is wrong; I should still listen with an open mind because I could be the one that is wrong. My mom used to tell me”The biggest fool in the world has something they can teach you, even if it is what not to do”. This is not the way in government. It is as if a person has to sell their soul before entering politics. If they don’t sell it before, it is gone soon after they enter office. They don’t like and respect people.

We are all the same, in general. By that I mean we all have someone who loves us. We all have someone we love. That was taught to me by my family. I can’t say truthfully that I understood it when it was told to me, but I understand it now. When you are walking around town or driving on the freeway. Anywhere you see people. Look at each person and think, each one of them have people that love them. Each one of them have people that they love. They all have family and friends. They all have happy times and sad times. They all have lives as complex as yours. That is something that we all have in common. All life is special and worthy of respect. That is something our political leaders were never taught or they have forgotten. It is easy to misuse people if you think of them as less than your equal. It is even easier if you think of them as less than human. When the white man was taking over this country and having the wars with the Indians. They referred to the Indians as savages. Meaning they were not civilized and not their equal. Never mind the fact that they had organized communities and they were farmers. When the white man took Africans from their home land they refereed to them as ape like. They too had organized communities, traders, and farmers. They were not the white man’s equal.

This all comes back to family. What kind of family did the people committing these acts come from? Were their family and friends proud of what they did? Did they teach their children to go out and do the same thing? I feel society is partly to blame for some of this. The common thing I hear today is “men should never hit a woman”. I hate to hear that because it implies that it is okay to hit men. You see talk shows where women get mad at a guy and start hitting him. When he pushes her off of him or hits her back, security jumps him. I think that sends the wrong message. In the real world if that was to happen a woman could get hurt really bad. She believes what she sees on television. That the guy is not going to hit her back. The problem is that at home there is no security to protect you. In all my past relationships I had this conversation. I told them before we dated. If she never hit me I would never hit her. That being said, if she ever hit me I would hit her back. I think it is a show of respect. If you respect someone you would never hit them out of anger. If you don’t respect me I don’t feel I need to respect you. I’m sure my parents would say violence is never the answer. That it would be better to just walk away or call the police. I agree that would be the right thing to do. I am just not sure I would be able to do it if I am angry and was provoked by someone hitting me first. I would be the first to echo that violence is not the answer. That is what I was taught as a child. I was told that repeatedly when I was growing up. If at all possible I should walk away. It does not make me less of a man by walking away. If it is my significant other I should remove myself from the situation and end that relationship. Parents should tell their children to think for themselves. Don’t go by what they see on television. This is even more important, if you have daughters. They need to know that if they hit some guy they could be risking their life. Above all else, the thing parents should be telling their children is to keep their hands to themselves. They should respect themselves and other people.

Family is the answer to almost everything. When government want to launch wars, I always wonder if they ever think about the cost in lives. I wonder if their parents taught them that life is important. I wonder if they care about the fact that every person that they kill will have a long line of people who are family and friends. Are these same government leaders teaching their children that violence is the answer to their problems? Parents need to educate their children on how they should conduct themselves when they get out on their own. Children should be taught from the start that they should respect all people. It does not mater what race the person is. It does not matter if the person is male or female. It does not mater if the person is from America or some other county. It does not matter what religion the person claims. The only thing that should matter is: this is a living human being. God has given this person life and we all should respect it. Maybe I am just afraid to show God that I don’t respect what he has created. Again it goes back to my upbringing. I was taught to both fear and respect God. Maybe if you don’t believe in God then you don’t believe there are consequences in the after life. Still, if you don’t believe in God you would still want people to respect you. I was taught to treat people the way I want them to treat me. If everyone was taught that, and everyone taught that to their children, we would have a very peaceful world. This is a very simple task. It means that everyone is responsible for themselves. This is the liberal in me talking but it seems like a simple thing to do. If every person was to take responsibility for themselves and their children we could have world peace. That means that there would be no fights because I don’t want to be hit, therefore I would not hit anyone. I don’t want to be killed; therefore I would not kill anyone. I want my privacy and personal property to be respected. I will respect the privacy and personal property of others. If parents were to tell this to their children and show them by conducting their everyday lives this way. The children will follow what their parents have taught them.

Chapter 5

My parents were very much involved in my life when I was growing up. Even as an adult they are still involved in my life. They wanted to know who my friends were. They wanted to meet them and know what we were doing. They would go to my school and talk to my teachers. I will be the first to admit that I was not the best student in school. I could have done much better. My parents did push me to do better in class. I just was not motivated to get all “As”. My sisters were, but not me. It was not because my parents didn’t try to get me to do better. It was all me. If it wasn’t for them I would have done much worse. I can’t say they didn’t try because they did try to motivate me. I know this is not important when I am talking about family. I mention this because I don’t want people thinking my family is perfect, or that I am trying to imply that they are. We have school drop outs. We have alcoholics, drug addicts and homosexuals. I only mention homosexuals because in the minds of some people; being homosexual is a choice. I don’t agree with that. I believe that being homosexual is the way God made them. I know the Bible speaks against it. The Bible is not always consistent. God said we would not always understand what he does. I accept that and if that is the way he made them, and then it is okay with me. I am getting off track. I just wanted to show that my family is not perfect. We have the same problems most families have. The thing that sets us apart is we all get along. We love each other regardless of our faults. I think all of the individual families that make up the Spencer side of my family, taught their children the same thing. That family is a special thing. When all else fails you always have your family. No mater how bad things are, you can always find comfort with your family. This is something that all parents should pass on to all of their children. I believe that most parents love their children. I say most parents because there are parents that beat, abuse, starve, torture, and kill their children. There is no way you can do that if you truly love them. If you love them you must prepare them for the time when they are on their own. You will prepare them for the time when you can not be there to protect them. You will teach them how to protect themselves. Just as when they are babies you feed them. When they are older you teach them how to feed themselves. Parents must not be concerned with being their child’s best friend. That time will come later. You must be willing to lay down the law when it is needed. Children should both fear and respect you. I don’t mean they should fear you as a person. I mean they should fear the consequences from you when they do something wrong. In doing that you must show them love. You must praise them when they do something good. You must encourage them when they don’t think they can do something. When they fail you must continue to push them until they get it right. Parents must be there for their children. They must be there to set the example for their children to live by. They must be there showing respect to others so their children have someone to immolate. Parents must stop looking to Hollywood and professional sports as role models for their children. Parents must be the role model for their children. The only thing children or any of us know about these actors and an athlete is what we see on television and what we read in the newspaper. They are with their parents’ everyday and talk to them daily. They get to see their parents talk to others and interact with people on a regular basis. Parents should be setting the example and therefore being the role model. It is sad to think that some children know more about characters on television shows than they know about their parents. That’s not hard to believe when children spend lots of time on their own watching television. Televisions have become a babysitter in today’s generation. This is just wrong.

Chapter 6

I have to wonder what makes some people decide to have children. Children are a huge responsibility. It requires dedication, sacrifices, lots of money and lots of time. Why do some people decide to have children when they can barely feed themselves? Why do some people decide to have children when they can’t keep up with the rent? Maybe I am being delusional but I truly feel that having children and raising a family is an optional responsibility. It means that you are responsible for life of another human being. You are responsible for providing nourishment both physically and emotionally. You are responsible for providing entertainment. You are responsible for feeding this child; at no time is feeding optional. Above all else you are responsible for shaping this young mind. You must prepare this child to take their place in society. They must be able to stand on their own. They must know how to interact with other people. They must understand that they are sharing this planet with other people. You are responsible for teaching them to respect other people and their property. These are responsibilities that I think some people take too lightly. It is a major undertaking and I take my hat off to all who take this responsibility seriously and to those who do it correctly. I’m sure it is hard work with great rewards.

Nowadays there are many potholes in the road to adulthood. It seems as if there are more child predators out there than in any other time in history. Maybe it seems that way because of 24 hour news stations. Any time something happens with a child it makes the world news. If it is really bad it will be on all the stations and played over and over. It is not safe on the street. There is danger in schools. There are dangers on the internet. Nowadays children have so much more than I did when I growing up. They also have a lot less. We were outside running, climbing trees, shooting marbles, playing ball, and riding our bikes. We used to make bikes, skateboards, and go-carts. We didn’t spend much time in the house. Kids today have computers, Play Stations, and X-Boxes. They don’t spend much time outside. I will say, they seem to be good with computer and are real good with video games. I do see some kids in my neighborhood riding their bikes, maybe two or three kids at a time. Not like when I was a kid. Sometimes there would be as many as 15 or 16 of us riding together. Sometimes we would get basketball games going and we would play from 9 or 10 in the morning until it was too dark to see anything. Almost all the fun we had was outside. Today’s kids seem to have most of their fun inside. I’m not sure if it is a good or bad thing. I do think children need to get lots of exercise. Sitting in front of the computer or television all day eating junk food is not good for them. Children do seem to be more overweight today than when I was a child. Given the danger that appears to be waiting on them outside, a little weight gain is not that bad.

If this country is to survive it will be up to the family to make it happen. The families will have to take responsibility for its members. We must teach our children to respect all people. We ourselves must respect all people. Parents must be role models and lead their children by example. If today’s parents don’t take the lead and teach their children what they need to know. Our nation is doomed.

Racism

2009-06-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

LOVE ONE ANOTHER Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12

Chapter 1

I thought long and hard about whether or not to include this topic. When talked about openly and honestly it can be a very sensitive subject. I will start by saying that everyone is racist to a point. I don’t believe all people will act on it but we all have racist thoughts. For example, I’m a boxing fan. When I watch, if there are two boxers that I have not seen before and one is black, more often than not I will pull for the black fighter. If I am more familiar with the white guy then I will pull for him. Even when I am pulling for the white fighter there is still a part of me that wants the black guy to win. That is a racist thought to me. I believe that if we all told the truth we would all admit to thinking that way. That doesn’t mean we have to act on those thoughts. When we allow thoughts to influence our actions is when we truly are racist.

I hear people very often say racism is not that bad in the United States; that we should get rid of Affirmative Action because racism is gone. I would very much like to agree with them but I know better. As a black man living in The United States of America I know for a fact the racism is alive and well in this country. I’m going to tell you a few stories of things that have happened to me. I am not going to tell you all of them because that would take too long so I will just go into a few of them. In my mind they are without a doubt racist but you can judge for yourself.

When I was living in Sacramento California I got orders transferring me to Las Vegas Nevada. In the military it is called PCS which means Permanent Change of Station. When you PCS the base that you are going to sends you a relocation packet. In this case I was relocating to Nellis Air Force Base. In the relocation packet was a newspaper, a booklet with houses for sale or rent, apartments and various other papers about living in Las Vegas. I knew we would be living in an apartment until we found a house to buy so I focused on those. Some of the apartments had their prices listed in the booklet and some did not. One of the places that I was interested in didn’t list their price but did list a phone number so I called them.

When I called the property listed as Vegas Towers a woman who sounded white answered the phone. She sounded very professional over the phone. I asked her the price for the one and two bedroom apartments. She told me the price and followed by saying they were full and had no apartments available. I informed her that I was active duty military living in California and didn’t need an apartment right now. I would not be moving to Las Vegas for another six months or so. She kind of laughed and said “sweetie we have a waiting list of more than a year to move in here, we are a very popular property.” She was very nice in the tone of voice she used and I didn’t question her any further. I just thanked her for her time, hung up the phone and continued to call other places. For whatever reason was I could not get Vegas Towers out of my mind. Like I said the woman had been very polite over the phone but I kept thinking about it.

When my wife, who is white, got home a few hours later I had her call. The same woman answered, I know this because I was listening on the other phone. My wife told her she was moving to Las Vegas and wanted to know the price of their apartments. This same woman who only a few hours ago had told me The Vegas Towers had a waiting list that was more than a year long was now telling my wife she had apartments available. She was not just nice to my wife she was overly nice. She was telling my wife that this was the best place in Las Vegas to live. She said that the towers were close to the strip and she would love it here. She said all the people living at the towers were very nice. She ended by saying that my wife should not decide on a place until she had a look at the towers.

I thought about having my wife rent the place then we both could move in. I knew that would be a bad idea because they would make my life a living hell until I moved out. Far too many people believe racism is just in the head of the accusers and don’t believe it is still around. I even thought about getting an attorney and suing them for discrimination but that is just not me. I believe GOD will take care of them for me.

Chapter 2

The second true story is when I was in Sacramento California. There was a Shell gas station not far from where we used to live. There were signs on the pumps saying “pay before you pump”. Once I forgot and tried to pump first and the attendant turned on the speaker and reminded me to pay first. I went inside and paid then pumped the gas and left without thinking anything of it. I had been going to this station for several months when one day my wife was with me. I got out and was going in to pay and she asked me why I didn’t pump the gas first. I pointed to the sign and said that I have to pay first. She said she had never paid first; she always got her gas and then paid. I went back to the pump and like before the attendant came over the speaker and said that I had to pay first. I did like I was told and went and paid before I pumped.

While pumping my gas I started to pay attention. White people were people were pumping their gas then going in to pay but I was the only black person there and none showed up before I left. I never went back there again. There is no doubt in my mind that this was because of the color of my skin and nothing else.

The last true story I will tell you about was when I first arrived in Las Vegas. Some will say this had nothing to do with race but I believe it did. I was down on The Strip killing time going from casino to casino. I didn’t have much money and was only spending about ten dollars in each casino.

I was going through The Monte Carlo casino and playing some machines. I would play a few dollars at one machine then move on to another. I had done this for a few minutes when I realized I needed to go to the restroom. As I was leaving the restroom I noticed a security guard. The only reason I noticed him was because he was very much over weight. The fact that he was a security guard made him stick out in my mind. I remember thinking that if someone had done something wrong and was running, there was no way he would be able to catch anyone. Why would they hire that guy? Those thoughts passed through my mind and I thought nothing else about him. I went back to playing slots as I moved through the casino.

If you are familiar with slot machines in Vegas then you know they have lots of chrome on them. You can see reflections very good on most machines. I was standing playing a machine when I noticed that obese security guy standing behind me. He was not close to me but standing several feet away from me. He seemed to be just watching me but I wasn’t sure so I decided to find out. I started walking slowly around the casino. I went from one side to another and all over the place. As I walked I would stop and play a machine from time to time. The security guard stayed right with me. Believe me once I was sure he was following me I was calling him everything except security guard in my mind.

I walked up front by registration and turned the corner then waited for him to catch up. When he turned the corner we were standing face to face and that caught him off guard. I calmly asked him why he was following me. His response was “sir, I’m not following you”. I asked him again why he was following me. He again repeated the lie that he was not following me. That pissed me off. Not only was he lying and felt that black men needed to be followed because we were up to no good but we were stupid too. Like I said we were up by registration and I got loud enough to let people know what was going on. I called him a liar along with a few other words that you would not hear in a Disney movie. Like I said he pissed me off and thought I was stupid. I will keep this clean and not repeat all the four letter words that I used that day. I said something to the effect that the color of by skin doesn’t fit the décor this casino is trying to achieve. Then I pulled out my military I.D. card and said this is how they treat us here. At this point a guy in a suit walked up and asked what was going on. I’m not going to repeat the language but it amounted to me saying that the fat guy is following me and refuses to tell me why.

The suit turned to the fat guy and asked him if he was following me and he lied and said he was not. That set me off again. The suit kept telling me to calm down and that I was mistaken because the guard was not following me. I asked the suit if I needed to get a lawyer and get copies of the tapes from cameras overhead. Maybe we could show them to the local news or national news too. Then it changed to if the fat guy was following me it had nothing to do with race because it was against hotel policy. He offered me a free room and other free stuff. I asked why would he offer me free things if the fat guy did nothing wrong. He said that it was all just a misunderstanding and I was clearly upset.

Since I am in the military and he appreciates military service he would try to make it right and make everyone happy. I told him there was no way I would spend a night here because the next day they would swear that I stole something. I walked out and have never set foot in The Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino again.

A few years later my wife was a dealer at a smaller hotel and casino off the strip. Most people start out at smaller casinos and as they learn games and get better they move up to the larger casinos. She had been at this smaller casino for about six months one of the other dealers asked her “why don’t you go try out The Monte Carlo”. He then took his finger and stroked the back of his hand and continued “they like us over there”. Just to let you know the answer is she did not go try out.

Chapter 3

I have more true stories but I think three is enough. I put them in here because I know there are people out there who will say racism doesn’t exist anymore or it is not that bad. I am but one man and I told you three things that happened to me and I have several more. Think about how many stories you would have if every black person you know told you their stories. If you don’t know any black people then think about every black person you see. I chose to tell you those three stories because I had my wife to verify it for me. Without her I would have no proof only what I believed.

As I sit here and stare at this paper I ask myself if I should even try to write on this subject. Black people that read this will totally understand what I am talking about and will feel what I feel. To be fair there will be some white people who get it. As much as I want it, I don’t think most white people will understand what I feel. My wife and I sometimes will have conversations on this type of thing and I don’t think she truly understands. There is no doubt in my mind that my wife loves me more than she loves herself. I believe with all my heart that she would give her life to save mine without a second thought. I would do the same for her. She is an extremely intelligent woman but this she doesn’t get. It may be like a woman trying to explain the pain of child birth or menstrual cramps to a man. That is something we don’t understand and never will because we can not relate to either. Men have nothing to compare it to and therefore there is no way for us to really understand what it is like.

Rush Limbaugh likes to talk about how smart he is. I can’t say that I agree with him but that is what he says. In early 2008 I heard him say one of the dumbest things ever. Maybe he is just ignorant but either way I thought it was dumb. A black guy called the show and was complaining about racist treatment he felt he was getting at work from co-workers. I don’t remember exactly what the details were but I remember thinking that based on what he said that it may or may not be racist. Sometimes people are just assholes and it has nothing to do with the color of your skin. Rush on the other hand said something that made me say “what the bleep are you talking about”. He said “there are plenty of people out there that don’t like me and you don’t see me crying about it. You need to get over it and move on. If they don’t like you they just don’t like you. It doesn’t matter what the reason is the result is still the same”. That told me that Limbaugh didn’t have a clue as to what the guy was talking about. People don’t like Rush because of the things he says on the radio. They don’t like Rush because of the things he has done in his life that has been made public. They don’t like Rush because of his far right political stance on almost every issue and his condescending attitude. They are legitimate reasons that they can point to as to why they dislike Rush Limbaugh and more likely than not they have multiple reasons. Most of the people who dislike him would love him if he changed his views and supported the Democrats or the far left.

On the other hand the people that dislike the caller did so because of the way he was born. They know nothing about him only that he is a black man. There is nothing he can do about it and make them like him. They think of him as less of a human being than they are. It doesn’t matter what he thinks on any political issue. The fact that he is alive is reason enough for them to dislike him. Rush says there is no difference between the two. To me that is just insane. I don’t understand how any sane person can see those totally different positions as the same. Maybe I’m the crazy person but I don’t think so. Maybe because I’m not white I can’t understand the other side but I do try. The best way I can think to explain part of the feeling would be for you to close your eyes. Imagine walking down an alley at about dusk dark without any streetlights. You don’t know the area very well so it may or may not be a safe place. There are plenty of people around, some notice you and others seem not to notice. You have heard of people that look like you have been attacked in the past but it is not talked about anymore. You have no choice but to walk through this alley. This is the way I feel every time I leave my home. This is the world I live in. I am almost always on guard.

Chapter 4

I do believe the world is getting better. I should say I know the country is better than it was. My parents and grandparents have told me things that happened to them before I was born. My grandfather used to tell about how he used to have to look at the ground when a white woman walked past him. Even though I was not alive when it happened it still hurt my heart to hear him tell the story. I know that my own mother had to ride at the back of the bus because the government didn’t feel she was good enough to ride up front. Just to write this brings tears to my eyes. I know things are better now but the pain is still there. It’s always funny to me when I hear people say that we shouldn’t talk about it. As if not talking about it will make what was done go away. As long as we don’t talk about it things will be just fine. It reminds me of some film footage I saw of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a few months ago. The reporter asked a white woman what she thought of Dr. King coming to town. The woman said “he is making trouble. We treat our Negros real good round here. They keep to themselves and we keep to ourselves. We don’t have no trouble out of them”. In her way of thinking, if Dr. King would just stay away things could stay the way they are and they would not have to deal with them. If he would just stay away we would not have to talk about any of the things that have been going on any everything would be alright. That is the position you take when you have the upper hand. That is the position you take when you don’t want to face your demons. I know this is a difficult subject to talk about but the thing is waiting until tomorrow is not going to make it any easier. I guess some people want to avoid it as long as possible and maybe their children will be able to deal with it for them. Some people choose to stick their head in the sand and hope their troubles will pass them by. I refuse to stick my head in the sand. When you do that you leave a part of your body exposed. I don’t like being stuck like that when I know the government is always out here waiting. I really should not say the government when it really is the political leaders who are the problem. The Constitution is a great document but it is the politics that seek to destroy it.

I was born in 1962. I was not old enough to experience any of the government sponsored discrimination: a government that pointed its finger at other countries and complained about how they were treating their people all the while treating some of its own citizens less than human. This United States government wanted to stop Hitler because he was killing Jews in Europe. This same United States government turned a blind eye when The Ku Klux Klan was killing its black citizens during the same time period. This same United States government passed laws restricting the sale and use of alcohol to uncivilized races. They thought that if black men used drugs or alcohol they would go out and rape white women. All the while white men were openly raping black women on a regular basis. Maybe they were afraid black men would digress to the same level as the white man.

I could go on and on about the stupid laws that were passed in an attempt to dehumanize the black race. Laws like separate bibles for blacks to put there hands on in court; a law where black people could not look out the same window as white people. These were laws passed by white people that were considered to be intelligent at that time. With people that stupid running the country I am truly amazed that this country is still standing. I have to wonder how much more advanced the United States would be if there was not so much racism and hatred around. It is not as bad as it once was but the Klan mentality is alive and going quite well. There are some laws on the side of black people and we can now fight back. Because we can now fight back, racism can not be as out in the open as it once was. It’s not just black people but there are white people who would not be tolerant and watch it go on. Never the less, just because you don’t see it in the middle of the street doesn’t mean it is gone. It has just moved to the sidewalks or in some places it is in the alley. No matter how you look at it, it is not gone just a little more hidden.

Chapter 5

I have heard people speak about reparations to black people. I am on the fence about that one. When I look at what was done to the black race in the United States and done with the blessing of the government. Then I look at the length of time the government allowed this treatment to take place. They didn’t just turn their heads but they wrote it into law. When I look at all the things the government allowed then I feel it should have to pay. The problem is there isn’t enough money out there to make right what was done. The other problem I have is that I don’t feel the government owes me any money personally. I do feel that the government has profited off my ancestors without fair pay for their efforts. The government has profited from my ancestors without offering them any protection from those seeking to do them harm. This government was profiting from them while doing nothing for them. It was taxing them without offering them the same representation it offered its white citizens.

This is a complex problem and I can not pretend to know the answer. How do you measure the profit from hundreds of years of non payment? How you put a price tag on hundreds of years of inhuman treatment that was sanctioned by the government? To say that the treatment was inhuman does not do it justice if anything can. The government sanctioned its black citizens being whipped until the skin was ripped from their backs. If they fought back they were to be hung by their neck until they were dead. The government sanctioned them being sold like animals. Families were broken up where fathers, mothers, as well as children could be sold separately and never to see each other again. Even when slavery ended things were not much better. A black citizen could be dragged from their home, beaten and hung because a white person said they did something to offend them. The really sad part is the accuser did not need any proof, their word was good enough. That means that if you were a black citizen living in The United States of America there was no place in this entire country where you were truly safe, not even your own home. In general your home is the one place people feel safe. Home is a place where as an American citizen you are allowed to defend yourself and its occupants against intruders. That has always been the case unless you were black.

Imagine being in your home one night and a group of men came knocking on your door asking for your child. Saying your child was looking at a white person and needed to be taught a lesson. I know for me there have been times where a person will say hello to me because they think I am looking at them. What I was really doing was noticing that they had missed a button, not ironed their shirt or missing a tooth. What I am saying is that just because I am looking at someone does not mean I am attracted to them. Sometimes I was even looking at something or someone behind the person that said hello. There have even been times when I was daydreaming and staring out in space and someone thought I was looking at them. Now imagine that being the case with your child and someone wants to beat them because of what they thought. No proof, just what they have in their mind. These were the civilized Americans.
This is how black people were treated for over four hundred years and affirmative action has been going on since about 1961 and many will say it should be done away with.

President Johnson said a long time ago. "Nothing is more freighted with meaning for our own destiny than the revolution of the Negro American...In far too many ways American Negroes have been another nation: deprived of freedom, crippled by hatred, the doors of opportunity closed to hope...But freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go where you want, and do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please. You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, 'you are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair...This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result...To this end equal opportunity is essential, but not enough, not enough." Some people say that racism is almost non existent. To those people I have to ask how they would know. Racism is not something that you can openly brag about anymore. It must be kept under cover and used alone or with like minded people. When it is let out in the open it can only be shown to its intended victim. When it is only shown to its intended victim and you are not that person then you would never know.

I say affirmative action should last two years for every year the government condoned the unjust treatment of its black citizens. I’m sure there are many who will say eight hundred years is too long for affirmative action to last. To those people I would say that the black people who were forced to suffer the slavery, discrimination and racism would say that one day of that treatment was too long. If it was your family that was treated that way what would you want? When you are not the target of racism it is easy to pretend it is not there. When you are on the receiving end it is hard to ignore. Most people choose to just mind their own business and not get involved. They will not say anything until it is going to cost them something. To be fair I will say when you are on the receiving end of racism it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between a racist and someone just being an asshole. Once you experience racism you become more sensitive towards it. It can also be family or friends that experience racism and it will make you watch your back.

Chapter 6

I debated in my mind as to whether or not to explain what it feel like when you are faced with racism. It may be different for each person so I can only speak for myself. Growing up I was taught to treat other people the way I would want to be treated. I was taught to respect other people and to treat their property better than I would treat my own. I was taught that every person that I see and hear throughout my entire life have people that love and care deeply for them just as I have people who love and care about me. I was taught to be happy for people when they do well in life, to do more than what was expected of me, to set the example for other to follow, and never to wrong someone just because they wronged me. I’m not going to lie and say that I have always stayed true to these things my parents taught me but I will say that they have never left me and I have almost always tried. I have heard and read the stereotypes out there for black people. I’m sure everyone has heard them. They say black people are lazy, not dependable, nasty, steal, like to fight, will end up in prison, rapist, not good friends, liars, their word doesn’t mean anything (that could also be a politician), can’t be trusted, and the list goes on and on but you get my point. I have tried to make it a point in my life never to validate any of those negative stereotypes. I’m not going to pretend that I am a perfect person. I’ve done some things that were not right. If I continue to live I’m sure I will make more mistakes. What I can say is that in general I have always tried to do right by others. I could never understand how someone could prejudge me when they knew nothing about me. I could be wearing a suit and a tie stepping into an elevator with a woman and she would hold her purse closer to her body even when there are other men already in there with her. To have someone look at you and know in their mind that you wish to do them harm is painful when nothing could be further from the truth. In past interracial relationships that I have been in and had the chance to meet some of the family members, there were some that didn’t approve of me at first sight and that was painful. There was one person that really surprised me by not only accepting me but welcoming me into the family with open arms and that person is my wife’s grandmother. She has always treated me as if I was born into the family. I love this little lady like I love all of my family because she treats me like I am human and didn’t prejudge me. I could go on and on about grandma because I love and respect her so very much but that would take me off subject. I had to put her in here because if she ever gets the chance to read this I want her to know that she is a very special person in my life and thank you.

It is painful to hear people say that racism is all but gone when I know for a fact that it is alive and well. To have a police officer tell you that you should leave a public place because the people don’t like black people and he can’t ensure my safety is painful. To walk into a room full of white people and have them stare at you like you are some kind of circus animal is painful. To be driving and stop at a store to ask for directions then have the clerk point at the maps and say “that’s what we sell those for” is painful. When you have someone look at you and think that you are less of a human being because of the color of your skin is not a good feeling. That is what you have to deal with every day of your life if you are born black. I have to keep in mind that every bad thing that happens to me is not because of my skin color. At the same time I know some of it is due to my being black. It is a fine like that I have to walk. I don’t want to use my race as a crutch but I also don’t want to let someone use it against me.

People talk about heroes but when they do they never talk about black people as a race. I’m not talking about the black people of today but the black people of the years past. The things they had to live through all the while still remaining loyal and loving to this country. Black people fought and died in wars so that this country could be free while the very country they were fighting and dying for was denying them their own freedom. That is a true hero. To have someone go off to fight and die in a war to keep the country from being torn apart by southerners when the very country you are fighting to protect doesn’t think you are good enough to look a white person in the eyes, this is a hero. To have someone go off to fight and die in a war to protect their country and the very country they are protecting refuses to pay them the same as the are paying the white soldiers, if they paid them at all, and still they continued to fight, that is a real hero. To have someone sent to the front lines with the oldest weapons the military had so they could save the newer weapons for the white soldiers and get the job done, that is a hero.

When people talk about heroes they talk about people like John McCain who was not killed in a prison camp. Maybe it’s just me but when I think of a hero I think about someone who voluntarily displayed great courage. A fireman running into a burning building to save a life is a hero in my eyes. He is a hero because he made the choice to risk his like to save another. I’m not picking on John McCain. I don’t know all that happened to him in that prison camp. What I am saying is that just because his captors decided or chose not to kill him does not make him a hero, you need more than that. Some would say that because his captors offered to let him go before others who had been in prison longer and he said no to them makes him a hero. It does take courage to do the right thing sometimes but can you call someone a hero for doing the right thing. On that point I will concede that he can be called a hero for that deed. He was risking his life by staying and saving another by letting them go. I am very happy McCain survived the prison camp and sadden for those who didn’t.

Chapter 7

As a veteran I never want to see another service member lose their life. I’m just not going to elevate them to hero status because they lived. I think that diminishes the true heroes. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand how some people can call him a hero because he flew his airplane into the hot zone, risking his life and was shot down. My problem with his hero status is when I hear people speak of his ordeal they talk about him staying and surviving with his fellow soldiers. I’m sorry but I can’t call him a hero for that alone. In his defense like I said if someone wants to call him a hero because he could have left and chose to stay with the others then I understand. I too would call him a hero for that.

By the logic I used with John McCain staying in the prison camp, it further proves my point with the black people of the past. They chose to stay in this country and endure harsh, inhuman treatment. Some of the received treatment equal to if not worse than what I believe McCain received at the hands of is captors. To be treated the way they were treated and still choose to fight for this country makes them heroes.

I am always amazed by the people who think they know me because they see of can hear in my voice that I am black. I feel sorry for them. They don’t realize that they are hurting themselves just as much as they are hurting me. We are all in this life together. We could get through it much easier if we would only work together. Some people prefer to work against others, making it harder for everyone. You see it in everything, race, economics, religion, politics, we are a divided country and world. Most of it comes from low self esteem. Some people can only feel good about themselves when they are putting others down. That reminds me of a cartoon I saw many years ago. I don’t remember what magazine I saw it in. There where two white guys in old torn clothes eating out of garbage cans in an alley. They saw a nicely dressed black man walking down the street and they looked at each other and laughed, saying “at least we ain’t black”. That is the mindset of racist people. It makes them feel better about themselves to think that the color of their skin make them better than someone else. I will not lie and say that I never have racist thoughts. What I can say is that I have never in my life allowed a racist thought to effect my actions.

I wish I had a solution to end racism in this country and around the world. As far as I can see there is no solution. Laws can be written and enforced but that will only change how we act in public. If there was a way to educate everyone and teach them that people are people. There is not much difference once you get past the skin. We are all kind of like cars. There are different makes, models and colors but when you get down to it they are just automobiles. Some may have more gadgets and cost more money but it is still an automobile. I drive a 2002 Nissan Maxima. Would it make any sense to think that my car was better than a black 2002 Nissan Maxima? If I was to say yes to that question most people would think I was crazy. They would say it is still a car. It is just something to get you from point A to point B. That is the way I see racist people. The human body is a means of transportation for the soul. When you look at it that way, racism is a really ignorant way to think. You are treating someone different because their Maxima is not the same color as yours. Racist people can not or refuse to see it that way because it feels better for them to see themselves as superior. That makes them superior through no action they have taken. God decides what body your soul goes in; you have no choice in the matter.

I think of my time spent here on earth as a test for my soul given by God. It is our choice as to how we answer each question set before us. When you see a homeless person, do you help them or do you look the other way? If that is the question God asks you, what will your answer be? If you choose only to help the black ones or only the white ones, does it count? I’m not going to pretend to know the answer but if I had to guess I would say it does not. I would say that giving must be done openly and from the heart without preconditions. If all that you do is based on only helping white people or black people, then you haven’t done anything. If you don’t believe in God then this doesn’t mean anything. If you do believe in God then it is something to think about. If you believe in God then you would know that God can take any form he chooses. My question is what he came back as a black man or a woman? How would you treat him? If you were God and wanted to test your people, what form would you choose? I would say black or Mexican. No matter what the race I would bet he would be poor. How do you think a poor black or Mexican is going to be treated in this country? An even better question is how are you going to treat him? When others are treating him poorly what do you do? Do you join in the crowd and treat him the same or do you intervene on his behalf? The choice is yours to make. There are many who will not pass this test. Many of those who fail call themselves Christians and are in church every Sunday. Some of those people would spit in my face if they were given the right opportunity. Many people in church like to call themselves Christians but don’t live their life that way.

Chapter 8

Dr. King once said that Sunday morning at 11AM is the most segregated time in the country. If a person of another race entered your church, how do you think they would be treated? Would they be welcomed with open arms? Would people stare at them throughout the service? If we are truly Christians and believe in the teaching of Jesus Christ, we would welcome all who want to worship with us. We would love one and all. There are many interracial churches in America and those are not the ones I am talking about. There are more segregated churches. We can’t force people or other races to worship with us but we can make them feel welcomed if they were to come through the doors. I believe that is what Jesus would do. If we would ask ourselves as Christians more often, what would Jesus do? If we would ask that question daily, would our life still be the same? Would we still do the same things? I’m going out on a limb here and say the answer is no. We should live our life as if Jesus was standing right next to us every day.

We as black people can not blame all of our ills on white people. We have no unity in our race. We need to work together. I don’t mean work together to the exclusion of white people. I mean we should include all races in our struggle. We have too many black people who choose to work against the greater good for their own personal gain. Like during the slavery times they had what they called the house nigger. The house nigger worked in the big house with the master and his family. He ate a little better and had a little better clothing. That little bit extra made him feel like he was better than the other slaves. He kept an eye on his fellow slaves and if he heard of a revolt or an escape attempt he would tell the master. Being the masters watch dog got him a pat on the head and made him look good to the master. He could rationalize his actions by thinking he kept the slaves from getting killed or a beating if they were caught. What he didn’t realize is that he was part of the problem. Instead of working with the other slaves to become free he was working with the master to ensure that both he and the others would always remain slaves. I see this in all walks of life but none more than politics. I see black politicians working to line their pockets on the backs of other black people. Saying their actions will help black people when they know in their heart that is a lie.

It never ceases to amaze me. When someone wants to move an issue that they know is not going over well, past a group of people. They will find a few people from the target group. Give them some money and pat them on the head. Make them feel like they are part of the elite group. The sad thing is that it works. Just because the pitch man is black does not make the issue correct for black people. We should not trust someone because of the color of their skin. Like I said before the person who would more often than not tell on the slaves plans was the house nigger. The plantations may be gone but the house nigger mentality is still here and always watching. Waiting and looking for the opportunity to trade in the progress of the group for personal success.

We like to say we are the greatest nation on earth. In many ways I would say that is true but we could be so much better. Until we eliminate racism we will never be the nation we could be. We should set the example for the rest of the world. We can’t expect others to listen to us when we are not doing the right thing. It is like telling someone to clean their house when our house is dirty. Why would they listen to us? We must do better. The fate of this nation if not the world depends on it.

Immigration

2009-06-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1

This is a subject that is hard to talk about because some people want to make it about race. For me it has nothing to do with race but everything to do with what is right and what is wrong. This country was built on immigration. People came here from all over the world to make a better life for themselves and their families. That was good for them and good for the country. They wanted to be Americans. They didn’t want to be Germans or Japanese or French living in The United States. They wanted to be Americans. That is the way it has to be if immigration is going to work. That is the way this country was started. Now that this country is up and running and I must say, very successful, many people still want to come here and make a better life. Once upon a time all you had to do was get here and start your new life. That’s not the case anymore. Now there are rules of law for immigration into this country.

Some people who want to come here will follow the law and wait to come here legally. Others will and have come here illegally because they want a better life. I understand them wanting a better life. I believe most people want a better life. I just believe it must be done the legal way. The other option is to allow anyone and everyone to come here to become citizens whenever they want. I don’t think anyone would think that is a good idea. We can’t just let everyone in. That would be a recipe for disaster, given the current terrorist climate that exists today. Unfortunately while many seek to destroy this country and all that it stands for. Many others only want to make a better life and call it home. If there was a way to differentiate between the two, open boarders would be great. The problem is that it can’t be done. Another problem is - there are people who follow the law and do all that is asked of them to become citizens. It would be very unfair to them if we allow some to become citizen when they entered illegally along with millions of others. If we grant amnesty to the illegals that are here now, what incentive would others have to follow the law?

I was watching the news and they were interviewing a man who said he been in this country, illegally, from Mexico for more than 40 years. He was married and had children but still illegal. The part that upset me the most was that he needed a translator. How can anyone live, work and raise a family in this country for more than 40 years, not be able to speak English. The answer is because we make it very easy for them, almost everything is bilingual. If an immigrant truly wants to be one of us then they must be like us. That means they must learn to speak the language. If we provide all or most information in multiple languages, there is less incentive to learn English. Language is the one thing that binds or unifies a society. This is also a safety concern for me. This is a true story that happened while I was in the military and it relates. I was working in the emergency room at an air force base one weekend. The rest of the hospital for the most part was closed. An Asian woman in her late 50s or early 60s came in clutching her chest. She didn’t speak English so we had to assume she was having chest pain. We ran an EKG, drew blood and took her vitals. We were guessing at the language she spoke and making calls to find a translator. It took some time but a translator was found and came from home into the E.R. to bridge the language gap. When all was said and done, the lady had indigestion. The point is this could have been a life threatening situation. If we put more pressure on people living here to learn the language it could save their life and we all could be better off.

Chapter 2

It is hard to have a rational conversation with some people on this subject because passions run very high. People that believe in amnesty for those that are here illegally like to call those who oppose them, racist. Being called a racist in America is a very bad thing. The problem is when you are called a racist it is hard to prove that you are not. Most people will back down to avoid the racist label. Since it is just me putting my thoughts down on paper and I know in my heart I’m not a racist, I will not worry about it. If this gets published then that will be a horse of a different color.

In general there are two groups of people that support illegal immigration and amnesty for them. People of Latin decent and those who wish to exploit them. I’m sure there are people outside those groups who are in favor of amnesty but I am speaking in general. I have asked people who favor amnesty if they think we should have immigration laws and they always say yes. I ask if they think people should be able to go back and forth across the boarders as they wish without boarder security and most will say no. When you break it down and ask the questions one at a time most people will not favor illegal immigration. They want to help poor people coming here to support their families. I understand that and I too would like to assist them. I also understand that we can’t help everyone. If we as a nation are not secure we will not be able to help anyone and that includes ourselves.

Most of the attention is focused on the Mexican people. Some would say all of the attention is focused on the Mexican people. I’m sure others are here illegally. I think we should target all people. Maybe Mexican people are the majority of people coming across the southern boarder but they are not the only ones here illegally. There are people who fly into this country legally and never leave. There are people who drive across the boarder legally and decide to stay. No matter how they get here, if someone is here illegally and we allow them to stay, it is wrong. If we target one group of people while leaving others alone when both are breaking the law, them we are wrong. If we are truly a nation of laws then those laws must apply to all people equally. If the legal system allows people from Europe to stay here while targeting Mexican people, then the system is wrong. If people from Asia are allowed to stay and the people from Mexico are not, then the system is broken. If people from Africa are allowed to illegally migrate to the United States and justice turns a blind eye then that is injustice to us all. A great man once said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

I wish I could say that I had all the answers to all the problems that face this great nation, but I don’t. This country has some very complicated issues it must deal with. As far as I can see there are no simple answers. Immigration has to be near or at the top. It is not as complex in general as it is made out to be. It only gets that way when it is broken down to individual families. I will attempt to break it down and explain it the way I see it.

People come here because the feel the can earn more money here than they can in their home land. They need it to provide for their families. I have nothing but love for people who want to provide and make a better life for their family. The problem is it must be done the right way. When it is done the wrong way people can and will use that against them. They will be paid less than what is legally allowed for the labor they are providing. They can be forced to work in unsafe environments. They may be forced to work longer hours then what is legally allowed. They can’t complain because they themselves are breaking the law may be forced to return to their homeland. Even though they are not being treated fairly it is better than what they have back home so they will stay quiet. The people who employ them know this and are making more money by pay illegal wages. This is where it gets complicated. The families and people enter this country illegally. They settle down, give birth and raise a family. The child or children by birth are American citizens and the parents are not. The question then is should the child or children be deported with the parents. Some would say this is a difficult case and I don’t think it is at all. The child or children should go with the parents unless they have someone here to care for them. Some would say it is unfair because the child is a citizen. I say when the child is old enough to care for themselves they can return. Parents are separated from their children everyday because the parent broke the law. For some reason there are people who think this is different. The child may be 9 or 10 years of age and have been here all their life. They have a home, in school, and have friends here. I agree with that argument because it does seem like it is unfair. The thing about it is that life itself at times seems unfair. When you have laws and rules that apply to everyone and some choose to break them due to their perceived necessity. The person or people being caught may feel the system is unfair. My example for this is rather simple. Let’s say I have three children. I have been in my home for fifteen years and never been late on any of my bills. My wife and I along with my fictional children all love our home. Now let’s say my wife and I both lost our jobs. Without having the money to pay our bills we would have to leave our home that we all love dearly. We would have to leave because there are rules to living in a home and raising a family. There are rules we must follow in life itself. In this case, we must pay the mortgage or rent each month to stay in the home. Even though we want to continue to live there, without the money we would be forced to leave. If we all only follow the rules and laws that are convenient to us this country would look a lot different. We can not allow people to break the law because we feel sorry for the law breakers. Everyone feels sorry for someone. People who are in favor of illegal immigration like to point at the children because they know that is a soft spot for most Americans. When you make decisions based solely on emotion I believe you will make the wrong choice.

Chapter 3

It is funny to me when I hear people describe illegal immigrants as hard working, law abiding people. They may be hard working but I find it difficult to call them law abiding. They broke the law when they entered the country. They break the law every day that they stay in this country. They break the law every time they work without permission from the federal government. Those are just the laws that I know about, there may be others. I without a doubt agree that most are hard working. Here in Las Vegas I see Mexican people doing manual labor and that is not easy work. I just refuse to ever say that the ones that are here illegally are law abiding when they are breaking laws every single day. I will say that if you ignore the laws that the illegal immigrants have broken, then they are law abiding people. When you think about it the same can be said about everyone, including the people in prison. When you ignore the laws they have broken then they become obeyers of the law. If you agree with that then the next question I would ask is. What makes this group of people so special that they should be given amnesty? After you answer that question, I have another. Should all people in the United States illegally be given amnesty or only the Mexican people? Still more questions. Do they have to be from what is considered a poor country? Is Mexico really a poor country or poorly governed? What should the parameters be that allow a person or group of people to willingly break the law? Keep in mind this is federal law. Last question is do laws even matter?

Some would say that illegals don’t take work away from Americans. I disagree with that and I will tell you a true story to show that is not the case. I know someone who needed to have their front and back yard landscaped. They told me they called a few companies and got estimates. The cheapest one said $1000 for the front yard and $4000 for the back yard. The estimates came from licensed contractors. Before they decided on a contractor to do the work a friend told them about a group of illegals that would do the work really cheap. After looking at some work the men had done and liked what they saw they decided to use them. They contacted the workers and agreed on a price of $2,500 including tip. They used these men, saved quite a bit of money and were happy with the work they did. If these men were not around a legal company would have made around $5000. Because of this story I know for a fact that illegal immigrants do cause Americans work. It is my understanding that this group of men did several jobs in that neighborhood so it caused Americans more money than I previously stated. Therefore when people say illegals do the work Americans will not do. That statement is not complete. What they should say is Illegals do the work that Americans will not do for the same price.

When you look at the way the economy is you can’t fault people for trying to save money. Still that doesn’t make it right but I understand. If the economy continues to get worse people will more than likely hire illegals more frequently? People try to cut corners and save as much money as they can. Hiring these workers allows them that luxury. Even some of the people that are against illegal immigration will hire them if they are hurting for money and they need to get the work done. I include myself in that statement. I have never used them but if the conditions were bad enough I would think about using them and I am strongly against them being here. I don’t believe I am alone in the way I feel.

When I look at the people from Mexico I see people I see people who want a better life. Their government doesn’t provide much in terms of social services. There is not much work available to them at livable wages. Social services and wages is something they can get here in the United States without much effort. They can make more money here illegally than they can legally in Mexico. The Mexican government doesn’t force the employer to pay them a fair wage. The Mexican government doesn’t force the employer to provide a safe work place. I don’t claim to be an expert on Mexico. I have only been to Tijuana. When you cross the boarder headed to Tijuana you see lots of slum looking areas and I can understand people wanting to leave. I know people who vacation in Mexico and they talk about how nice it is in places like Cancun, Guadalajara and Acapulco. That makes me wonder why the illegals don’t migrate to the nicer places in their country. If it is their government they have a problem with then why don’t they have marches in Mexico like they do here in the United States. It is my understanding that Mexico is a democracy in theory. On paper Mexico is a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches similar to that of the United States. Senators are elected to six-year terms. The congress is composed of a senate and a chamber of deputies. Of the 128 senate seats, 96 are filled by direct election and 32 are chosen by proportional representation from party lists. The president is elected by popular vote for one six-year term and cannot be reelected. Consecutive reelection is also prohibited for all legislators. In the lower chamber, 300 deputies are directly elected to single-member districts and 200 are on basis of proportional party representation. Deputies serve three-year terms. It is an openly corrupt system where bribery is the way things get done. Much like that of the United States only they are more open about it. As bad as their system is one would think they would vote to change the way things are done there rather than come here to change the way things are done here. I even saw a man being interviewed as an illegal immigrant holding a Mexican flag. He was saying through a translator that he is a proud Mexican man and loves his country. All I could think while watching him was if you love your country so much and truly proud of it then why did you leave. If all that he was saying was true why didn’t he stay and try to fix the things he perceives to be wrong or broken in his beloved country. Like I said I am not an expert on Mexico or the laws of the country. It just seems that if the people from Mexico can come here and organize themselves and hold rallies and marches. They can organize peaceful protests for the rights they want in cities across the United States of America. If they can do all of this here do you not think they should have the same passion in their homeland of Mexico? In their defense maybe they have tried or they are trying and it has not made it to the news or things that I have read here in the states. If they are trying and the government is suppressing them then maybe our government should get involved. GOD knows our government gets involved in everything else. In general I am not in favor of interfering in other countries affairs but when their policies or injustices directly create problems for the United States them we must get involved. The best interest of this nation and its citizens should and must always be paramount. That is something I feel our political leaders have lost sight of. That short sightedness is mostly due to special interest groups and the people they represent. Their desire to profit off the backs and labor of the illegal immigrants is the only thing that matters to them. It is in their best interest for things in Mexico to stay the same if not to get worse.

Let’s face it, there are lots of us who would do the same thing if we were in the shoes of the Mexican people and I include myself. I’m not saying we all would do it but many of us would. If you are hungry enough and feel you have no other options. Many would steal rather than starve too death. When you add in seeing your family suffer, your choice becomes much easier. In most cases people will rationalize it in their minds that no one is being hurt. Even when they do realize that someone is or could be affected by their actions. They can still rationalize and say they are only one person breaking the law so the harm is not that bad. The problem is when you multiply that slight hurt by millions of people the hurt becomes great. Great harm is being done to this country by illegal immigration. It is difficult for me to understand that our political leaders don’t see this. Then again maybe I am not seeing the picture correctly. As I have said before I am a very liberal person and I feel sorry for the Mexican people but the way they have chosen to deal with their problems is wrong. The answer is not to illegally migrate to the United States. The Answer must be to stay home make the necessary changes in Mexico. My analogy for this is: my neighbor has lots of things wrong with their house. Broken windows, leaking roof, doors will not close and broken locks as well as many other things. They are behind on their mortgage and don’t have the money to catch up or make the much needed repairs to their home. One day when I get home from work I find that they have broken into my home and refuse to leave. I ignore them at first then they start to invite their family and friends to join them. Then they start to tell me how I need to add more rooms to my house and fix things that are going wrong with my house, like the windows, doors, locks and leaking roof. It is hard for me to believe that anyone would think that this would be okay. Anyone and everyone would be outraged if this was to happen to them. I find no difference between that example and illegal immigration.

These people are poor and they want to improve their way of life. They want to provide for their families. I see nothing wrong with that. The Mexicans are a proud people and they want to support their fellow countrymen. I totally understand and respect that. What I don’t understand are those people who support those who willingly break the law because the law stands between them and financial success. The law is there for a reason. If we are not going to enforce the law, then those laws should be removed from the books.

Chapter 4

Have you ever asked yourself why the law is not being enforced? All the other laws are being enforced, as far as I know. The only answer I can come up with is: someone is making lots of money by ignoring the problem. Think about it: if you owned a business and hired illegals, you could save lots of money. You could save on no health insurance, no taxes, and no worry about sick pay. They can pay below minimum wage. Also there is no paper trail with illegals. So as you can see there are advantages to using illegals. I don’t think the savings are going to be passed on to the consumer. The owner is going to sell their product for as much as possible. It is not illegal to get as much money as you can, but I think it is wrong. Just because it is legal doesn’t make it right. If people would do the right thing we would not need the laws. The thing is that laws are not always right, because people make them. Also, the lives of people are so complicated and that makes it difficult. The laws can’t be fair to everyone but should reflect the needs of the population as a whole. I am yet to hear any government official explain how not enforcing the existing laws is beneficial to the population. You don’t hear it done, because it is not fair and it is not right.

I’m not sure what the solution should be. I don’t think the local police should be out trying to round up all the illegals. I don’t think they should be checking the legal status of every person on routine traffic stops. If it is things like, DUI, car chase, Assault & Battery, Robbery or anytime an arrest has to be made; that is when I would want the legal status checked. I would also go as far as to say if someone applies for social services, the social security number should be checked. If the number and name does not match, then the federal government should be notified. It could be an immigration issue or identity theft.

If you are a business owner, you should always match the name and social security number. Again, when they do not match, the proper notification must be made and documented. When this is not done the business owners should be required to pay a heavy fine for each employee with a bad social security number that was not checked. If all of this is done, it will not get rid of all the illegals but most of them would return home. I would not want to spend taxpayer’s money to hunt illegals. It would be much cheaper and easier using existing laws to pressure them into returning to their home country. Even doing all of that I’m sure we will still have some here. I know it is not a perfect plan. I don’t and would not want to hunt them down like animals. Just to pressure them into returning home. It would also catch some of the people out there committing identity theft. I’m not saying that illegals are hard criminals, but they are breaking the law by being in this country.

What I don’t understand is the regular, everyday person like me. We don’t, as they say, have a dog in this fight. Why do people like me support illegal immigration. I know we are a very giving people in general. We like to help others. This is a good thing and would love for that to continue. We should always want to welcome all who want to come and assimilate. We should want to help those who are less fortunate than we are. We should not want to assist others to the detriment of ourselves. This is one of the times that I don’t think many people are looking at the big picture. We all need to look at the big picture. We would all agree that this issue is really hurting us. This is not about race. It is about what is right and what is wrong. We as citizens of this really great country must do the right thing. We can not look to the government or political leaders to do anything. Everyone should know by now that big business owns the government and the people elected to run it. That includes both parties, Democratic and Republican. The parties are not going to help us. We must do this for ourselves. We must come together as one. We must think for ourselves. We must not go along just because someone associated with our political party said so. We must pay attention to those who support this issue and vote against them. If there is a business that supports illegal immigration then we must not do business with that company. The only thing that companies care about is making money. They don’t care about people. The only way they will respond is if they start to lose money. When they find out that they are losing money, they will make changes. If enough people care about this country and make it known, companies will respond. I know I can not change anything by myself, but I am doing what I can.

When Exxon spilled oil and didn’t clean it up, I stopped buying gas from them. To this day I still don’t buy gas from any station that has an Exxon sign on it. If more people felt the same way I do and did the same thing I am doing: what do you think Exxon would do? If I have a big problem with what a company is doing or something it has done, I don’t do business with them.
I don’t think I would ever hire an illegal to do work for me; even as bad as times are, and it would save me money. I would not hire them because I feel it would be wrong. It would be wrong because of what I believe in. More important, in my eyes, it would be wrong for the country.

Chapter 5

We as Americans in the past had pride in our love of our country. Now I’m not so sure anymore. Now it seems like we have more pride in our political parities, than we have in our country. I for one am proud to say that I am an American first and above all else. The only things that exceed my love of country are my love of God, my wife and family. I don’t call myself “African-American”. I call myself an American. I have only one citizenship. I define my race as black, but I am one hundred percent and nothing but American. Even though I love this country very much, I can still see that there are many things wrong with it. I love it enough to want to see it doing better. I think it says a lot for us when people from other countries think enough of this country to want to move here. They are saying our country is better than theirs. It is so much better; they are giving up their homeland to become one of us. That should be a compliment. The thing is; it is only a compliment when it is done the right way. I put lots of emphasis on the “right way” part. If someone looks at my house and yard and likes it and wants to see inside, that is a compliment. If someone breaks in just to look around, even if they don’t steal anything, this is an insult to me. Some might say the illegals broke into the country, not my home. I feel that this country is my home. If you really respect this country, you also respect its laws. Our laws are what make this country special.

For many people this has become a touchy subject. As I have said before, when some people talk about this, it gets turned around on them and it becomes a race issue. If you really listen to people talk about it, you will find that it only becomes a race issue when the defenders have lost the discussion. People can’t have a discussion and exchange ideas anymore. Now when they talk they are trying to show you where you are wrong and they are right. If they think they are wrong, it is a blow to their ego. It should not be about ego. It should be about exchanging ideas and understanding how other people think or feel about the subject at hand. I’m sure everyone knows someone who is not capable of having a discussion; with them it always turns into an argument.

It amazes me how American citizens will rally to stop people from speaking out against illegal immigration. They will get together to suppress a citizens’ first amendment right to speak freely. As I watch this being acted out on my television screen, what I am seeing is a group of American citizens, not illegal’s, trying to prevent another group of American citizen from speaking out against noncitizens breaking the law. Why would anyone want to stop me from saying that I don’t want people to be free to break the law without any repercussion? Most of the people who protest are in what I call sheep mode. They are just following the crowd. Most of them could not put together two sentences without repeating talking points. It’s not their fault. Most people are followers, not leaders. Most people will think for themselves to a point. Once they are within a group they stop thinking and start following. If we would all think for ourselves, using rational thought, void of emotion; most of our problems would go away. That still would not stop our political leaders from trying to bend us over.

Recently the Democrats tried to pass an amnesty bill for illegal immigrants by attaching it to a war funding bill. This bill would have allowed illegal farm workers to have a path to citizenship and stay in this country. If this is really important, why does it need to be attached to another bill? Why does it not stand alone? I don’t believe it takes a rocket scientist to figure out who is paying the politicians to push that bill. Farmers pay the illegals next to nothing while saving millions by not using American citizens. It is not hard to understand why the farmers want to keep illegal’s in this country. If the illegal’s leave they will have to pay citizens a fair wage. They don’t want to do that and they don’t have to. As long as Democrats and Republican leaders are for sale, business will continue to buy.

The Mexican illegal’s are in a unique position. The Republicans want to use them to make lots of money for them and will fight to keep them in the country as long as possible. The Democrats want to use them to get their votes and will fight to keep them in the country as long as possible. I don’t believe either party cares about them as a people when there are no cameras around.

War

2009-06-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

War – Watch the DVD “No End in Sight”

Chapter 1

This is a very difficult section for me to write. I say this because we are a nation of hypocrites and I say this to include myself. The rules we impose on others don’t apply to us. Nothing shows that more than our view on war and foreign policy.
When our country was attached on September 11, 2001, I was in the Air Force on Temporary Duty (TDY) in San Antonio, Texas. I was attending a computer class. The class was terminated and we were sent to our hotel rooms after we were told what happened. When I got to my hotel room and turned on the television I could not believe what I was seeing. After seeing that destruction and hearing that it was a terrorist attack I can’t tell you how angry I was. I could try but I don’t think I could ever show the true level of anger. I was ready to go to war that very day. If it meant I had to die in the process of getting the people responsible, then so be it. I could not believe we could be attacked like that, killing so many people. Even as I write this I can feel the anger rise again.

Let’s look at this way: let’s change the location of the attack. Let’s put it in Iraq and let’s change it from airplanes to missiles. My point is it doesn’t matter what the delivery is. 3000 dead is 3000 dead. I think what makes it so hard for us is we don’t fight that way anymore. We used to but we have evolved. Back when this country was being formed the rules of war was to dress up in uniform and march out in the open and shoot at the enemy. What the U.S. did was hide behind trees and in bushes and fire. If there was a Geneva Convention at that time we would have been in violation. Much like the tactics people in the Middle East are using against us now. As much as I disagree with the tactic they are using, if things were reversed I would do the same thing, except for the suicide part.

People can say anything they want but the truth is we feel like we are better than people of other countries. Think about what we are doing in other countries. Now imagine another country doing that in the United Sates. The outrage would be from coast to coast. There is no way the American Public would stand for another country doing to us what we do to them. If you look at it that way then you will understand why we are disliked around the world.
The sad thing is that I feel we are better than the rest also. I don’t want to feel that way but I do. I guess when you hear all your life that this is the greatest country on planet earth, you start to believe it. You also believe it because so many people from so many countries come here to call home. Most of the people who talk bad about this country would live here if they could. I love what this country stands for and the opportunity it offers. Still you can not deny the hypocrisy we show towards the rest of the world.

Some of it has to do with culture. That still does not change the fact that we have double standards and we use them according to our interest. Example: North Korea has nuclear weapons and detonated one to prove it. Our President did nothing and after some time passed decided to try diplomatic talks. Iran is trying to get the information needed to build a nuclear weapon and he is already talking about attacking. The only difference I can see between the two is the lesser nuclear threat is in an oil region. The country we chose to talk to starves and limits the freedom of its people. The country he is talking about attacking has basic freedom for its people. I can’t help but to wonder if oil has anything to do with his desire to attack this country. I was all for going after the people responsible for the attacks on the twin towers. It is the twisted world police mentality we have for attacking countries that someday may pose a threat to us, if there is oil involved, that I have a problem with. We do this under the cloak of protecting the civil rights of its citizens or our allies.

I like the right wing defense of “is the world better off without Sadam?” I agree, I think the world is better off without Sadam. The problem is I don’t think it was our call to make. I’m sure there are countries out there that would say the world would be better off without George Bush. Do you think they have the right to make that call? I don’t think they do. Bush is our problem. We should not push him off on anyone else. When you look back at the history of this country, it is filled with double standards. We are always talking about preventing other countries from getting nuclear weapons. If you think about it, other countries should be trying to get nuclear weapons away from us. We have shown that we will use it. We have done it not once but twice. As far as I know we are the only nation to use it. Are we saying that we are the only nation that knows when nuclear weapons should be used? I must say that I think we are. I fear that if the countries like Iran had the weapon they might use it. I then ask myself, why do I think Iran will use it if they had it? Because that is what the American media tells me. Then I ask if the American media has spin or bias? Yes. Then I ask, is the American media wrong about Iran? I don’t know and I would be afraid to check or risk it.

Chapter 2

We are too willing to ignore the United Nations and go it alone. When there is something we want we go to the United Nations. We also encourage other countries to go there and do as they say. When the United Nations don’t do what we want, we label them ineffective and do what we want. You are only allowed to do that if you are a superpower. It’s no wonder lots of people around the world have negative views of this country. How can we expect other countries to listen to anything the United States has to say when its foreign policies are filled with double standards? I truly believe that if we applied the same policies to ourselves that we apply to other countries we would not have entered this war in Iraq. It seems that our politicians think that since we give countries money they should support whatever we do. They have not yet realized that everyone is not for sale. There are people on this planet that have principles and to them those principles are more important than money. Others have sold themselves to the highest bidder for so long that they think it is natural. Now that they have us in this mess that is the Iraq War they have found this out. Some people really do hold strongly to what they believe. They will stay true to those beliefs, and views even when faced with death. Our leaders will change theirs quickly for a few dollars without a second thought. When you look at the way our politicians do business and the way the Bush administration does its business, can anyone really be surprised by anything he does? I believe that 90% of politics is driven by personal financial gain. The other 10% is done for the country and its people. This has been the case for many, many years. The Bush administration has taken this to another level. They do things for money and they don’t even try to hide it. They do it right in your face. When you question what they do, they well you that you don’t see what your eyes are telling you. In other words your eyes are lying to you. If you ask them to prove your eyes are wrong, then they are unable to do that due to National Security or Executive Privilege.

We have wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan and yes I believe these are profit driven wars. Bush and his boys are raking in some serious money. That’s what it is all about: money, money and more money. It doesn’t matter how many people have to die in their quest for more money. It doesn’t matter what country the dead people are from. Just get them more money. They claim BILLIONS of dollars are unaccounted for in Iraq. They can’t find the money because there is a war going on and war is hectic. When I hear “war is hectic” from Bush I have to laugh. I wonder how he knows. When he had the chance to go to war, he dodged it. Since he became president he has started two of them. He now watches the war from the safety of the white house while counting his money. You would think that the American people would be upset by what is going on in Washington DC but they are not. According to the polls that I see on television most people want the war to end and the president’s approval numbers are way down. Are the people upset yet? No, not yet. If the president was to have sex, then I think that would do it. People being killed and stealing are not big deals as long as there is no sex going on. You have to ask yourself if this is what has become of our government. I remember when the Republicans were going after Clinton about a blow job. They were on television pounding their fists, veins sticking out on their neck, and faces red because they were so appalled. Now we have billions of dollars stolen, thousands of soldiers killed, tens of thousands of soldiers injured, congress and the American public mislead with very bad intelligence, and almost a trillion dollars spent on these wars and to this the Republican party says this is okay. The Republicans beat us and lie to us until we do as we are told. The Democrats watch them and tell them to stop but they don’t get involved.

I guess I want the country to be outraged by what is the Bush-men have done to our country and our military. When I see what they are doing, I don’t understand why we as a people are so complacent. I don’t point fingers at anyone because I am not out protesting either. I can promise you one thing: I pay attention and will protest with my vote. I wish they would put the impeachment to a vote. I don’t know what I am thinking, they would rig that too. This war is being fought based on what our country deems to be injustice on another country’s people. Basically that is what we are being told. I’m not going to say that Sadam was a good guy and he treated his people with respect. In my view he was a bad and evil person. Now let’s look at this a different way: this was a different country. This country has a different culture. A culture I will not pretend to understand. This culture has a totally different belief system. This country’s culture and belief system is much more different than that of the United States. The religion there is mostly Muslim, from what I can tell. There are different types of Muslims and each type has its extremist. They fight over the differences in their religions. There are some among them who ignore the difference and live peacefully. If only everyone could be so liberal the world would be a better place.

Unfortunately the world has too many bullies. Bullies are extremists and want to control. Control as in not allowing them to decide what is best for them: not being liberal and letting them be themselves, understanding that they believe and think much more differently than we do. We decided that we could not stand by and let them live the way they were living. I understand that to a point. I too would like to liberate the world and allow them to live as free as we do. In order to do that I would have to assume that they want the same things I want. I believe that it is wrong for me to force my beliefs on someone else, no mater how strong my beliefs are. When I was in Germany I met lots of people. Most of them found it amusing that we put people in jail for smoking weed. Most of them smoke it everyday. For the sake of argument, let’s say that Germany wanted to invade us because we put so many people in jail and ruin lives for smoking weed. If they tried to put pressure on us because of our stance on weed, we would think they were crazy for trying to tell us how we should live and govern our country. It’s the arrogance in us that makes us think we are better. We have more people in jail than any other country. Let’s say that other countries were putting sanctions on us for the number of people we have in jail for non violent crimes and calling it injustice and complaining about our capital punishment laws. Most of us would want them to mind their own business. I believe that has a lot to do with why we or better yet, our foreign policy is disliked so much around the world. We say we want people to be free to choose, and then we tell them how to live and what to choose. Who is right and who is wrong?

I will be honest and say that I don’t know. I just don’t think we should force our beliefs on someone else because that means it is not free. This is the best country to live in, but that is my opinion and it is the only country that I really know. I have had periods where I have lived in other countries. The thing is; I didn’t live there long enough to say I knew that country. Unless you truly know that country, how can you say what would be best for it. Even if you do truly know the country there is still the question of, is it your call to make as to what is right for those people. Are we the parents of the world? I know parents always make decisions for their children, as they should. Normally that is not the case for adults. Adults in this country are allowed to make their own choices in most cases. That is a freedom that we have by law. Laws are different from country to country. I hear people in this country say all the time, “if you don’t like our laws then you should get out”. I agree with them with all my heart. If you don’t like where your home is then maybe it is time to move.

Chapter 3

We went to war because Sadam was a bad man. I will agree with the President on that one. Now we get down to where I think he and his side kick Dick should be fired. They are President and Vice President. Responsible for millions of people and speak for this great nation. They took us to war based on faulty information they thought to be true. I understand that people do make mistakes and I don’t fault them for that. Here is where my problem is: as the leaders of a superpower and a morally just nation, they have a greater responsibility. When we go to war there will be millions of lives at risk.

When you have that type of risk, the level fact checking should be much higher than what would normally be in place. When millions of lives are at stake and the information coming to the president means many of them will die. I would have thought that Mr. Bush would have had those facts double checked. If it came back and said millions could die, he would have asked to have them triple checked. This was a huge error and for that he should have lost his job. We invaded a county and stepped all over their rights based on faulty information. When the president found out he said, well he was a bad man anyway. Let’s look at this way: let’s pretend that the President and Vice President are doctors or company CEOs. I use those jobs because they are responsible for many people. The doctor got bad lab tests but didn’t double and triple check. The CEO got bad reports and didn’t have them double and triple checked. The fact that they didn’t make sure the facts were solid and many people died. They would have been fired. If they had any class about them they would have stepped down. I am not surprised to see them still in office because our leaders are not accountable for their actions.

The thing that I am unable to understand is Republicans went after Clinton because of a blow job and he lied about it. He was wrong for what he did. I even agreed with them on the impeachment hearings. Not because of what he did, but because he lied under oath about it. He was the president and for me he is held to a higher level of accountability. The fact that he let some chick give him head is none of our business. That should have been between him and his wife. I don’t think he should have ever answered the question. Once he decided to answer, he should have told the truth. He lied and because of that I supported the Republicans in their decision to hold the impeachment hearing. Since the Bush administration took office the party has shown its true colors. By their actions they seem to say that you are only responsible and accountable for your actions if you are a Democrat. According to Mr. Bush if you make a big mistake or do wrong, he will give you a medal. If you get caught and they try to send you to jail, he will pardon you before they get you behind bars. All of this and more is okay with the Republicans because Bush is one of them. They are a group of "party before county" hypocrites. I am not just talking about the Republicans in office. I’m also talking about the American people that continue to support them.

All I can say is that some of the people just refuse to open their eyes. They think their party can do no wrong and only look for fault on the other side. If fault is found in their party, they pretend it didn’t happen. This happens on both sides, both Republican and Democrats. That is the same attitude that got us into this war, only taken to another level.

Some people close their eyes to what this country does, pretending that this country can do no wrong. In my eyes, wrong is wrong no matter who the perpetrators are. Can we really always be right? I think we as Americans need to open our eyes to what is going on. We need to stand as one to defend this nation from our elected officials. I mean defend it against both parties, both republican and democrat. These parties do not have the best interest of the United States at heart. The officials only have the interest of themselves and their party in mind when they make decisions. When I say them, what I really mean is the big business that is funding them. We must open our eyes if we want to regain our status as the moral leaders of this world.

We went into this war without a full plan. The only plan they had was to overthrow Sadam and protect the oil. They removed all the stability the country had. All the political leaders were removed from office. The police was removed. The military was disbanded.

This meant hundreds of thousands of people out of work and a country with no security. After doing all of this the Bush administration didn’t expect what happened next. Think about this for a minute. What would happen if the same thing happened in the United States? Imagine another country invading the US and throwing Bush and his gang out of office. I know what you are thinking, “sounds good so far”. Then they get rid of everyone on the senate and house along with their staff. Okay, it’s not bad yet. Next, they shut down all police departments. Now it’s getting bad. The last thing they do is to close down our military. That would be devastating. Our government is bad and terribly broken, but we do not have chaos in the streets. If all that I said was to happen that is what we would have. The streets would not be safe. Our military was there on the streets but they were not allowed to stop looters and there was lots of it. Again, think about all that going on here at home. Some people would be happy what Bush and gang were gone. Others would be mad that another country was interfering in our business.

We have plenty of guns in this country and the people that are mad would take shots at the invaders from time to time. Now you throw in looting while the invaders watch. People start to get upset and talk to each other about what they saw. Then you add in no running water, no sewage, and no electricity. People are getting more upset. Finally you throw in rapes and kidnapping and the people are pissed. People are afraid to leave home because the streets are not safe. Imagine all this stuff happening and lasting not days or weeks but years. You see the invaders and the only thing that gets protection is the oil. I believe we would fight back, I know I would. The Bush boys didn’t understand that. I’m sure someone in the military tried to tell him but they had a plan and was going to stick to it no matter what. They only wanted to hear about what would make their plan work. The example in my mind is they are all sitting around a big table discussing flying a kite on the moon using only sticks, cord, paper and a tail for stability. The problem they are trying to decide is how long the tail should be. A general walks in and realizes what they are discussing and tries to tell them that their plan will not work because of the lack of air on the moon. They get mad and tell him to get out because failure is not an option. They tell him that unless he is bringing ideas don’t come back. After he is gone they all laugh saying “you would think a general would realize that the gravity is much weaker on the moon”. That is the type of intelligence I see in the white house.

Chapter 4

If we really wanted to hurt Sadam we went about it all wrong. All we had to do was to devote the countries resources to developing alternative energy. Like when government decided we were going to the moon. Our president is an oil guy so I think it would be a cold day in hell before he did something like that. If he would have done that he could have given or sold that information to the rest of the world making him a hero. That doesn’t even sound right, using the word hero in a sentence where I am talking about Bush. That would have removed any possibility global warming caused by people. The world would have little to no use for oil. That would have crippled Sadam. That also would mean less money for Bush and you know he could not have that. We hear the right wing talk about supporting the troops all the time, but I don’t think they really mean it. It is easy to say “we support the troops”. The truth comes when you have to show it.

If you step back and look at what happened: you can see that they don’t support anything but themselves. A while back Rumsfeld said “you go to war with what you have, not with what you want”. Just based on what he said I agree with him. When you look at the real world then I think it was a lie. Either way it shows you don’t care about the troops. Its not like we were being attacked and we were fighting back. We had been attacked a couple of years ago and therefore we had time to prepare. If you really wanted to support the troops and keep them alive by preparing them for war. There was nothing told to us that forced us to attack quickly. The decision for whatever reason was made to attack quickly with no thought on protecting the troops. I would have preferred that Rumsfeld said “we don’t go to war until we are prepared unless we are forced, because troop safety is paramount”. That would be true troop support. After the war started and they found that road side bombs were being used to kill troops: why didn’t they pull the troops back and prepare them for that type of attack? If you cared about the troops you would make adjustments with the troops as you find out more about the enemy. Would you send firemen out to fight a fire without a fire suit? The troops are going to do as they are told so it is up to the leaders to protect them. The problem is, the people at the top (Bush administration) don’t care but like to say that they do.

You want more proof? You can’t say you support the troops and then turn your back on the Veterans Administration (V.A.). When I talk about the V.A. I talk about first hand knowledge, not what someone else told me. So, how can they support the troops but not the V.A.? When troops are badly injured, they are separated from active duty then they enter the VA system. Let me first say that the V.A. varies from state to state. Some states have better V.A. care than others. I have been in some V.A. hospitals that I am ashamed to say it was in the United States. Those hospitals were not in Nevada. The V.A. hospital here in Las Vegas is pretty good; it is part of Nellis Air Force Base. The V.A. system is the problem. I believe they make it as difficult as possible for the veterans in hopes that he or she will give up and go away. I will give you an example by telling you what is happening to me. I was told by the V.A. that when I had back surgery, they would pay me 100% disability while I recovered and was unable to work. I was told that I needed to give them the name of my surgeon and the hospital where the surgery was done. Also, I was to bring them something from my surgeon saying how long I was to be off work. It has been four months so far and I am still waiting for the first dollar from the VA. I have made many calls to them and nothing is helping. My point is if I needed to rely on the V.A. to pay my bills I would be homeless (they did pay me 10 months later).

I was watching C-Span and a woman who was the Director of V.A. for Chicago, if I remember correctly; said they make it difficult because they don’t have enough money. That makes sense, and if it makes sense that it is probably true. So now the questions would be how can you say you support the troops when you don’t fund the V.A.? If you don’t fund the V.A. then what you are saying is “I support you as long as I can use you”. There is nothing about this war and the Bush Administration that makes sense to me. Here is what I get from the Bush gang. They are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on this war in Iraq. The spent no money on equipping the troops prior to starting this war. What that says to me is “send the troops into war and if they get hurt then so be it, we will just send in more”. The troops are just numbers to the Bush gang and not real people with real families. If that is the attitude of the Bush gang then it would make sense. When you don’t fund the V.A. especially after starting a war, how can you say that you support the troops? What that says to me is “we are done with you, now go away”. It’s easy to say that you support someone or something then do nothing. The hard thing is to get out there and show your support. If the Bush gang is doing anything for the troops and the V.A. then I must say they hide it well because I don’t see it.

Chapter 5

This war is wrong. Granted this is my opinion. When I say this war I am talking about the war in Iraq, not the war in Afghanistan. When we went in Afghanistan it made sense to me. We were going after the people who attacked the United States. They were hiding in the mountains there and we were going to get them. If you attack us we will attack back. I was all for that. I am still all for that. Again, I turned this around. If there was a group here in the United States that attacked Iraq and the Iraq government found out the group was hiding here and our government was doing nothing to bring them to justice. Then the Iraq government sent troops here to get them, I would understand. I would never condone another country invading the U.S. and I’m sure I would take up arms against the county doing it but I would understand why they did it. Why is it okay when we do something and wrong if another country does the exact same thing. I think wrong is wrong no matter who the culprit is. This will get me lots of flack from the right wing. They don’t believe in freedom of speech unless they are speaking or you are agreeing with them. They don’t believe the constitution applies to them. They are the only ones that should be allowed to share their opinion with the public. If you disagree with the war then you are unpatriotic. You are called a traitor and stupid and any other negative thing they can think of. These are the people who call themselves the real Americans. Most of them were too afraid to serve in the military and defend the constitution. These same people are the first to step on the rights that document gives us. We say this war in Iraq is about freedom for the Iraqi people. What we really mean is freedom for the Iraq people as long as the United States agrees. If you say you want the troops out of Iraq: the thing I hear the most is “you want us to lose”. Since when did lose become a curse word. What they are doing is using America’s ego against itself. They know what they are doing.

They see the damage they are doing to the country and do it anyway. For them the policy is winning at any cost, party before country. I think we look better as a free nation when we stand up against our government when it is engaged in an unjust war such as the one in Iraq. Can we call ourselves moral when we stand by and watch what the Bush gang is making our military do to another country? I don’t fault the military. I think they are in the middle of a civil war and are acting very responsibly for what they are faced. When I was growing up I heard many times at home and at school “winning isn’t everything”, my conduct was the most important thing. Now we are telling everyone that will listen that winning is the only thing that matters. That is the wrong message to be sending to children as well as the rest of the world. I’m not saying another nation should never be attacked but what I am saying: we should always try diplomacy first before we attack. If we are attacked first we will retaliate but not until the military is prepared, if we have that option. We must always remember that our military are people: people who have families and people who love them. We can’t allow companies like Blackwater to carry firearms and wear the American flag on their uniforms, conduct business in other counties without any oversight. Those countries see them as our military even though they are not. We are the moral leaders of the world and must conduct ourselves as such. When our fellow citizen criticizes our war policies or efforts we should listen. Asking a question or stating your disagreement makes you a free person not a traitor, we should embrace that. When you try to stifle a person’s freedom of speech that goes against the constitution and by definition would be un-American. The constitution is what makes this country what it is. That is something the right wing should be reminded of.

With all my heart I want this war to end. This is where I side with the Democrats. I believe they want the war to end like most of the American public. They are afraid to stop the funds for the war. They have been called weak for not putting an end to the money needed to keep the war gong I will admit that I also called them weak for not ending this crazy war. Now that I have given this more thought and seen the ease of the Bush veto. If they don’t give him the money he will just leave the troops there until they start getting killed. Then he will blame it on the lack of funds. I think the Democrats realize that they can’t play chicken when the other side doesn’t care.

When the first Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off in Iraq, the Department of Defense (DOD) should have pulled the ground units back into the green zone and equipped them with armor. When the troops asked for armored vehicles Rumsfeld said “you go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had”. To me that means “shut up and color”. That is a saying we used in the military that means just do as you are told. Rumsfeld was asking these soldiers to put their life on the line for him and he was not even willing to listen to their complaints. I believe his response to the questions should have been “I agree you do need armored vehicles. We are pulling as many of you as possible back into the green zone until we can equip you with what you need. We didn’t anticipate the use of IEDs and for that I am truly sorry. I know I am asking a lot from you guys but hang in there. You tell me what you need to stay alive and I will do my best to get it for you”. That would have been a better response, rather than making a joke out of the question.

This last part is just some things I got from watching the DVD “No End in Sight”

*The oil ministry was the only major facility protected by military.
*17 Billion missing*No marshal law until a month or two after Sadam was removed to stop looting
*1980 – 1988 Iraq at war with Iran. U.S. give economic and intelligence aid to Iraq.
*1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait and U.S. pushed him back. The President (1st Bush) urges the Iraqi people & military to rise up against Sadam. The Shiites did just what he asked. Then our government allowed Sadam to repress and kill them.

This was allowed by Bush #1 and Clinton. The sanctions that resulted only hurt the average people of Iraq. Sadam and his friends still had the luxury life. The Iraqi people turned to religion for help.

Politics

2009-06-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1

Law trumps common sense. Example: to me common sense would tell anyone that it is illegal to video a person’s private moments in their home without their knowledge. A smart lawyer found that there was not a specific law on the book against that particular activity and used that oversight to get their client off. These are the people that we have to choose from when we select our political leaders. I was watching the nominee for Attorney General being questioned. He was asked a simple question, “Is water-boarding illegal?” His answer was an in your face lie. His response was “I don’t know what that is.” If this guy does not know what water-boarding is then he is too ignorant to be Attorney General. The sad thing about his lie is we as a people allow our leaders to lie to us. I believe he was lying because I learned what water-boarding was because I have a television. I was an EMT in the military. If someone asked me what suturing was and I said “I don’t know”, that would be a lie. If an EMT said they didn’t know what suturing was they are either lying or not fit to be an EMT. That is how I felt when I heard his answer. When you think about it, it is our fault. We as a people let them do it. What should happen when someone gives an answer like that is the question should be asked again to give them a chance to change their response. If it remains the same then all questions should stop and the process or interview should be ended. If he doesn’t respect us enough to tell the truth and answer a legit question he does not deserve the job.

That is just one of many examples. I believe they do this because they don’t fear the American public will hold them accountable. They don’t feel they work for the public. They now work for Corporate America. Corporate America loves every minute of this. They are getting everything they paid for. It is like our country has been hijacked. Now the question for us is: how do we get our government back? I wish I had the answer. As I see it three things have to happen in order to get the corrupt politicians out of office and get our government back. First, the people must get angry enough to get out and vote. When I say vote, I mean listen to what the person has to say. Watch what the person is doing. Find out where the person’s money is coming from. If they are getting any corporate money, that should raise lots of flags. Nothing is free. If big business gives them money they will want something in return. Voting means: ignoring the endorsement from other people and groups. Everyone has an agenda. By agenda, I mean wants, beliefs, desires and circumstances that shapes the decision making process used when casting your vote. I want to go further in detail on this to be sure I clearly get my point across when I say everyone has an agenda.

I am a 46 year old black man. I was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. I am retired from the military and live in Las Vegas, Nevada. My family has a substantial history of cancer. I am 40% disabled through the Veterans Administration of this moment. I have had three surgeries on my back and continue to have trouble in the form of constant pain. In the military I was in the medical field and was an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Since I retired from the military I worked as a security guard in a major casino in Las Vegas for a few years until I had my third back surgery. I spent about five months in Germany trying to help a friend launch his music career without success. I tell you all this to show you some of the things that shape my vote, but this is not all. Because I am black I want someone who is interested in minority issues. People can say that racism is not that bad but I know better. My wife, who is white, used to think that racism wasn’t prevalent. Since she has been married to me she has seen it first hand, but that is for another section. Due to my having been in the military and currently 40% disabled I want someone that wants the best for our military and its veterans. Because cancer is so big in my family I want someone that the pharmaceutical industry has not purchased. I want someone who will look for a cure and not another band-aide in the form of a pill. I’m sure it is in the best interest of the pharmaceutical companies to have long term treatment but the best for the people would be a cure. After helping my friend with his music I would like to have a president that would the undo the monopoly Clear Channel has on the radio stations. Due to the time I spent in Germany in 2006 I want someone who will work at improving this countries image around the world.

Chapter 2

When I was in the military I knew people that said they voted republican because they gave us pay raises. What really shocked me was some of them got upset at me when I said I don’t always vote republican. I can’t vote republican just because they could possibly give me a $10 pay raise. Even if it was a large pay raise I still couldn’t do it. My vote is not for sale. If it was then I would be a politician. They sell their votes to big business and push the big business’ agenda through at the people’s expense. Even though there are things that I would like the president to do. I don’t want it done at the detriment of this nation. We need leaders who care about this country more than they do about making easy money for themselves and friends. I don’t think what is best for this country even enters their mind anymore. When it comes to making laws in Washington DC I think two things matter. What is best for the party and what does the company paying them want. When I see a politician cross party lines I believe they are either doing what the company wants or they are up for re-election. If they ever find a way to steal an election, and I do believe they are trying, they will no longer have to worry about re-election. Once that happens then it is all big business all the time.

When I was in Germany there were several occasions that people talked to me once they found out that I was from America. It never failed when they wanted to talk about my country that my president would come up. I hate to say”MY PRESIDENT”. I know George W. Bush is the President of the United States of America as I write this. It still pains me to admit it. They all spoke well of this country and very poorly of our president and his international policies. I can truly say that for the first time in my adult life I was ashamed of my president. Because of that I want a president who can fix our image outside of the country’s border. I want a president that I can be proud of or at least one that I am not ashamed of. These are just a few of the things that I think of when I cast my vote. I say this to show that everyone has an agenda. It’s always funny to me to hear people say they don’t put a spin on things. There is even a person on television and radio who claims no spin and “The No Spin Zone”. That is such a load of crap. Everyone has a spin. To me spin is influenced by your opinion. If you have no spin then you have no opinion. If you have no opinion then you are not capable of thinking. So to say you have no spin means you don’t think. Too many people listen to the spin of the TV news and their party. I am registered no party because I like to think for myself. I don’t believe everything either side says. I believe there are three sides to every political story: the democrat side, the republican side and the truth. Think for yourself. Vote for who you want not because someone you like endorsed them.

Second thing is we need to get money out of the elections. The money keeps the people who should be in office out. You need to be wealthy to get in office or have a wealthy person backing you. When you allow a wealthy person to back you then they own you. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

I guess I am a dreamer. I dream of a country where the people care. Where a person determines his or her self-worth by what they contribute to society. Where a person determines the depth of their character by what they are willing to sacrifice for their fellow man. These are the type of people we need in public office. The people we currently have in office do know this and will do all they can to keep them out. The type of people that I am talking about is a threat to the system that they have set up. In defense of the people who may want to do the right thing I believe that if an honest person was to win and get into Washington, their life would be in danger. Outside of the military, where can you find a few hundred people that are willing to give their life to do the right thing? It will be a hard thing to do, but it can be done. It will never happen until the American people get angry enough to get out and vote and make a change. We must vote for who we want to win, not for whom we think will win.

I remember back when Ross Perot was running for president. I voted for him because I like what he had to say and I felt we needed a change. After he lost I heard several people say they wanted to vote for him but didn’t think he had a chance to win. As long as people vote like that, a change will never come. Our two-party system is broken because they have been purchased. We need a candidate from outside those parties. Then we need to get him or her some help in the house and senate. We must vote against the two parties because they are working against us.

The third thing is very important. We need to require politicians to answer questions and be accountable for their actions. For me it is very frustrating to watch an interview or debate where a yes or no question is asked and the politician go into a two page response and never answer the question. What truly amazes me is the moderator allows them to get away with it. My opinion is that the moderator should say “Okay, you are not going to answer that question, let me ask you something else”. In defense of the politicians, if a question is asked that they don’t want to answer then say so. Stop side stepping questions. When I see a politician doing that, I feel like they don’t want to be called a “flip-flopper”, or held to their word. They want to be on both sides of almost every issue. If you don’t have the courage to take a stand then how can you lead? We need a leader.

In a nutshell, I am saying we need to require our leaders to speak plain, honest English. Require them to be accountable for that they say and do. They need to be responsible for the people in their staff and not let them get away with saying “I didn’t know”. We are far too lenient on our elected officials. They are held to a lower standard than the public. They should be held to a higher standard. Anytime a professional athlete makes a mistake and gets into trouble; people talk about how they are role models and should do better because children look up to them. That is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. It is just parents shunning their responsibilities. A professional sport takes talent. Either you have it or you don’t. Elected office takes an education anyone can get it. Why would you make a role model out of a profession you have little to no chance of obtaining? I think that it where parents come in. If you are not willing to do what is needed then maybe you should not be having children.

If you have children then the things that I am saying should make sense and ring home to you. Your children should be your highest priority. I’m not saying parents must be perfect. I know that will never happen. I am saying that you should try to be perfect but don’t beat yourself up when you make a mistake, it’s going to happen. We should be making decisions that we think will help the future of this country and our children. If you care at all about your children or grandchildren you must do your homework and get out and vote.

Chapter 3

I watch almost every debate and almost every interview I find with a person running for office. I watched a debate (democrat) last night where they spent lots of time talking about endorsements. It does not matter to me what endorsement a person gets. There are things that are important to me personally. The most important thing to me is national security. That means all the things I said was important to me still are but must fall behind national security. If our borders are not protected then we are at the mercy of all who wish to do us harm. I see our borders the same as the doors to my home, it is where I enter. That being said I pose a question: if you knew without a doubt that someone was out to get you and do you harm, would you leave your doors unlocked? Before 9/11 I understood the lack of border security. Since that day it makes no sense to me not to lock the doors and check everyone that comes through.
As I think about this, I wonder what has to happen, if anything, for our government to secure our borders. President Bush likes to remind us that we are at war, that we were attacked on September 11, 2001. That terrorist wants to kill Americans. He has repeatedly reminded us of the dangers we face as Americans but he shows no interest in protecting the very soil that is America. Time and time again he has said that congress should give him what he wants and not question his decisions. He says it shows weakness when what we need to show is solidarity. He says that we can’t set a date for withdrawal because the enemy watches our broadcast and will wait us out. I don’t understand why no one calls him out on what he says, because it makes no sense. If they watch our broadcast then they would stop fighting because he said when the fighting is over we will leave. He says they will wait us out if we set a withdrawal date. They will wait us out even if we don’t because they are at home. He says these things without fear because he knows the democrats are weak and spineless.

The republicans are like a fine oiled machine. They speak as one and nothing is off limits. They have their talking points and they all stick to them. They focus their attacks and all attack as one. It is as if they send out e-mails to Fox News and the right-wing radio stations as well as their political leaders and they attack at once and continue until they are called off. They have total disregard for public opinions.

The democrats are just the opposite. They have no conviction. This party has no union. Each member goes his or her own way. The one thing that they all have in common is that they stand for nothing. When confronted there is one thing that you can count on, they will back down. Democrats could learn a lot from the Republican Party. I think their biggest problem is they have no leader. In their defense, I like the fact that they don’t vote the way the person in charge of their party tells them to vote. I do believe they vote the way big business tells them to vote. One thing they have in common with republicans is they have total disregard for public opinion.
When I look at both parties I see two things. I see bullies and wimps. When I listen to the right wing radio, watch Fox and the right wing news shows on CNN and MSNBC I hear them call the left wing things like: stupid, dumb, evil, un-American, unpatriotic, treason, crazy and ignorant. All said with the sound of hate in their voice. When I listen and watch the left wing I see and hear things like: “that’s not stupid”, “that’s not un-American”, or “that’s not unpatriotic”. They are always defending themselves. They try too hard not to be personal in their attacks instead of just fighting back. While I applaud their desire to fight fair but at this point it is like putting on boxing gloves at a gun fight. I think the left is afraid to engage the right wing on any issue because the name calling is going to start from almost every person on the right and it will be vicious. They will not get much support from the left because they will become targets, from the right.

I was watching the democratic debate and could not believe how the top candidates dodged question after question. Only the candidates bringing up the rear would give straight answers. The bad thing is those are the people that have no real chance at winning. The same can be said for the republican candidates also. The front runners dodge questions the same as the democrats. I’m sure neither party cares what I think because I am registered as no party. I can only wish that all Americans would change their voting status. That one change would really shake things up. It would show both parties that your vote is available for the candidate that you feel would do the best job. Your party has very little to do with who I will vote for. What is the point of having a debate if they will not answer the questions put to them? They do this because they can. There is no repercussion to not answering a question. Therefore, they all do it trying not to anger any groups of people or voters. I believe that if we made it clear that failure to answer a question or take a side on an issue will guarantee a no vote for you from both sides. If we can come together as a nation and vote on issues that are important to each individual and ignore the parties and endorsements. We as a people will take a huge step forward.

You need to do all you can to make your opinion known: go online and participate in surveys. Write letters and e-mails to your elected officials. You can do like I did. Join websites that send the voting results of your state politicians. I watch every debate of both parties. I watch C-Span to see what the House and Senate are doing. I got their websites to see what they have to say. It is a lot to do but I feel it is important enough for me to do it. After eight years of the Bush gang I think we all need to research anyone running for President. If you watch them all the time and read all the interviews you will find the lies. If you think only the other party lies then you are not living in the real world. They all lie. I think it is part of being in politics.

People ask me what party I belong to. I can’t answer that. I know that I feel that I am a liberal. I say that because I feel that people should be free to live their life as they see fit. No adult has the right to tell another adult how to live their life. I don’t feel that I have the right to do that and that makes me a liberal. People like to point fingers at people doing something wrong and point it out to others. Doing this makes them feel better about themselves. Why must you lift yourself up by standing on someone else? You could just be a liberal and stand next to them, upholding their freedom even when you disagree with them. Just because I don’t agree with what you are doing doesn’t give me the right to try to stop you. It seems to me like that is the direction this country is headed. What is sad about it is the politicians are leading the charge. A lot of these politicians are lawyers and because they know the law they look for loopholes. They use these loopholes to get around the spirit of the law. They are putting their interest ahead of the law as well as the constitution.

Chapter 4

Our rights are slowly being stripped away by the very people we elected to uphold the law. They are using our fears against us. We fear another September 11th type attack and they use that fear to further their agenda. We call the United States “Land of the free and Home of the brave”, but that is not how we conduct our policy. We are changing this country based on fear. Fear of what someone else will do to us. I think it is wrong for the leaders to use fear to steer us in a particular direction. When election time comes close we hear more talks or speeches with the words terror attacks or 9-11 in them. This comes mostly from the right wing of politics. This wing seems to be very pro-war, which does not make a lot of sense to me. The problem I have with them is they say they are pro-life also. How can you be pro-life and pro-death (war) at the same time? That does not make sense to me. Conservatives (right wing) are not correct, because if they were they would not have to scare people into following them. They are using two things to keep the population in line, fear and ego. Like I said before, if you don’t elect a republican you will die from a terrorist attack. The other is if you don’t elect a republican we will lose the war in Iraq and America’s ego and pride helps with that angle. I refuse to allow them to herd me with the other sheep. My eyes are open and I see what they are doing. I only want to hear them talk about real issues. Don’t use my fears and pride against me.

Since I am talking about conservatives I guess I should say what I think a conservative is. To me a conservative is someone who believes they are right and the others are wrong. They believe in taking care of business and in return the business will take care of its employees. They believe that abortion should be outlawed because the fetus should be given the right to live a full life. They believe we should continue the war in Iraq because the Iraqi people should have the right to live in freedom. They believe their position is the right one. If you don’t agree with them, you are wrong. They want to decide for you. That is the part that keeps me from being a conservative. I don’t want to decide for any adult. Choice is the basis for any free people in my mind. How can anyone say we are a free country then in the same breath say, “no, you can’t do that”? What is freedom when you have no choice? Conservatives are basically saying, “You are free to do as I tell you”. If everyone thought the same way then that would be fine. If everyone became conservatives we would lose our freedom.

I listen to what the right wing has to say and sometimes I agree with them. For example, I agree with them on not giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. I don’t know if our reasons are the same. The reason I think this is a bad idea is because I think driving is a privilege. This is a privilege given to our law abiding citizens and visitors. When you sneak into the country illegally you are breaking the law. If you break the law you should be denied the privilege of driving. I am firm in that belief and that makes me conservative on that issue. I am always willing to listen to what the other side has to say about their position. Openly listening to the other side is what makes me a liberal. Understanding that there could be something that I have overlooked is what makes me liberal. Listening to what the other side has to say and responding to them without calling them names is what makes me a liberal. Conservatives have started making the word liberal into something bad. It is one of their talking points. Why is it a bad thing to be open minded? I for one am very proud to be a liberal thinking American. I wish more people thought the way I do. This world would be a much better place to live. I’m happy that we don’t all think the same because difference is a beautiful thing. It is very nice to talk to people and have civil conversations about differences. It has been my experience that conservatives don’t want to have a conversation where ideas are exchanged. They want the other side to listen to their point of view and just agree. When they are listening it is only to show you where you are wrong. This country was founded on liberal view points. People were free to choose the life they wanted to live. Now we have the far right wing of the Republican Party growing in the government and the population. There is not a huge difference between them and the people that attacked us on 9-11. The attackers believe in their way of life, their belief system is the right way. They will do anything to make their way the only way, killing in cold blood and ridding the world of liberals. That is what America is: a liberal nation. Everyone is equal, free to do what they want; a place where you are free to worship who you want. Women have the same rights as men. A place where people are free to express themselves as they see fit as long as they don’t infringe on the rights of others in the process. The attackers see our freedoms as a threat to their way of life. They see women as second class citizens. The freedom this liberal country gives us is a threat to them. They believe Islam is the only true religion. The freedom we have to worship whoever we want is a threat to them. Killing in cold blood is their way of defending their way of life. They are protecting their right to force their beliefs on the rest of the world. They will kidnap, torture, beat and suppress anyone that stands between them and enforcing their beliefs.

Chapter 5

I believe what once separated us from the Islam terrorist is that we held strong to what we believed but not at the expense of others. Freedom for us and freedom for others but, not forced on anyone. Now in Iraq we are trying to force our way on them because we know our way is the right way. Rather than let them make the change to their government, we do it for them. Democracy can not be given to any group of people. If it is to work the people must want it and earn it. This nation has lasted for so long because it earned its freedom and had to fight for its democracy. We have always helped other countries when our help was requested. We are becoming more and more like our enemies than most people’s pride will allow them to realize.
The right wing is not completely like the terrorist. As far as I know, they are not killing people. They are still in the early stages of being bullies like the terrorist. Right wing people like to use insulting words when they talk about the opposition. They don’t do this to initiate dialog. They do it to humiliate and silence them. They don’t value any opinion other than their own. I don’t think they have graduated to pulling the wings off of flies but it is in their near future. Right now the most the right wing will do is belittle the left wing verbally. They are all over talk radio with many broadcasters and now they have their own 24 hour television news station. The people on these radio and television stations all repeat the same talking points over and over. They clearly don’t have a mind of their own. If they do they choose not to use it. I must admit, it works well for them. Still I think it must be difficult to find individuals who will ignore what they think in order to push the agenda of the party. Even though as I have said many times the right wing is like a well oiled machine. What amazes me about extremist is their ability to recruit. Terrorist recruit people to commit suicide to further their cause, that’s amazing. The right wing recruits Americans to give up their constitution given first amendment rights to free speech to have them say what they tell them. These people act as if they are speaking freely. Anyone with ears knows that is not the case. There is no way they all could say the same thing unless they are repeating what they are told, or they all share the same brain. Either way it works well for them.

I don’t think much of the Republican Party. It is because of their tactics that I put them below the Democratic Party. As I write this we are still in the party primaries. Going by what the polls are showing the general elections will be between Hillary and Rudy. I pray that is not the case. If that happens, when I go into the polling booth I will have to decide which one of Satan’s children do I want to vote for. We have two groups of corporate presidential candidates. None of the leaders from what I can see have the best interest of this country at heart. Some of the so called “B” team candidates I think want to do what is best for this country. The problem is the television stations don’t talk about them very often. They don’t have the media driving them. When they do speak about them they always let you know this is a “B” team candidate. These are not corporate candidates and they have no real chance of winning. The “A” team people are paid for and they will get their monies worth out of them. It’s easy to tell who is paid for because they don’t say anything when they are asked questions. They do lots of talking for a simple yes or no question. With all the talk that they do they never answer the question. All of the leading candidates do this without fail. When you ask the same question to any of the “B” team candidates they will give a simple answer. One would think the “B” team people would do better in the polls. I believe the main reason they don’t do better is because they hear on television that they are low in the polls. Because they are low in the polls then they are not likely to win. People then go in the polling booth and pick who they think will win and not who they think will do the best job. As the saying goes,”America loves a winner”. We need to get away from that way of thinking. When we vote we need to do the right thing. We must think of America when we cast our vote. If we are trying to pick the winner we are playing right into the hands of corporate America.

Chapter 6

Corporate America has the money and connections to get their people on radio and television. The more exposure their people get, the more they are talked about. The more they are talked about, the better their chances of winning. As long as they don’t say the wrong thing they stand a good chance of winning. I watch and listen to lots of news shows. It’s almost the only thing I do. It only takes a few minutes for me to realize where the slant is for any particular show. That does not make me special. That is just something that I look for. That is what I think everyone should look for. If you only hear one side of an argument you never get to hear the full story. What you are doing is allowing that person to make the decision for you. I hear them saying things like, “I am just looking out for you or I am the only one who has your best interest at heart”. It all sounds good but it is not even close to the truth. I say this because if they know nothing about you, how can they know what is best for you. Another thing is: if they only give you one side of the argument or their opinion, they are not allowing you to make up your own mind. This is common policy on most shows because they don’t want you to make a decision. It would be much better for them if people just did as they are told. Unfortunately, far too many people are falling into this trap and doing what they say. We need to wake up people. We need to do it before it is too late. I fear they will not stop until they have taken all of our rights away or until we stop them. If people would only stop and think about what is going on. There is no way anyone’s side is always right. When you listen to these new people, they will make you think their side is always right. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that they even believe what is coming out of their mouth.

There is a person that I try to listen to from time to time. It is hard for me to listen very long because he speaks with so much hated for those who oppose him. During one of his commercial spots about his show he describes himself as “The man running America”. I hope he was joking, but it didn’t sound that way. What that sounds like to me is, “I tell you what to do”. It sounds that way to me because; America is the people of this country. We are America. If he is running America, then he is telling us what to do. When I listen to him he does sound like that is what he is trying to do. The problem is he is only for his party. If he is only for his party then he is not for America. One would think that everyone would want what is best for this country. In reality what we have now is two parties fighting for power and control. What does not make sense to me is why would anyone want all power and control while at the same time destroying the very country the power and control they seek derives from. If either political party wins and the country is destroyed: they still loose. When I hear leaders from either political party speaking, all I hear is a power struggle. I ask you to pay attention. Listen to what they are saying. People on the left spend most of their time pointing out mistakes made by the people on the right. People on the right spend most of their time pointing out mistakes made by the people on the left. They do this to keep from having to talk about real problems. What is sad is that we let them get away with this tactic.

I see America headed in the wrong direction. It is going downhill and going fast. Our government is split in half with two political parties engaged in a power struggle. The people of this country are busy trying to make a living and take care of their family. Not enough people are open-mindedly involved in the political process. Most of the people that are involved follow their party with their eyes closed. The gap between the rich and the poor is growing. Racial tensions are growing. The government is gathering enormous debt with no end in sight. Most of the world is very upset with the foreign policy of the United States. The United States is at war in two countries and threatening war with a third. Most of the citizens of this country oppose the wars, yet the wars go on, and another country could be attacked in the near future even though the citizens don’t want it. U.S. companies are leaving and going overseas putting thousands of Americans out of work. My wife was a victim to this. She is a chemist. The company she worked for moved to China in 2005.

Like I said, our government is owned by big business. Our politicians have made it too easy for them to move their companies overseas to increase profits. I’m all for companies making profits but not at the expense of its workers. There is something the government could do about this. They could put heavy taxes on American owned companies that operate in other countries. They could triple or quadruple the import taxes on their products when they are shipped back to this country. I’m sure there are many more options but that is what I would do. That would never happen because the companies that do this pay the politicians enough money to protect them. Employees don’t matter in this country anymore. The only thing that matters now in the United States is profit. I think that this is a very sad thing. One would think that a company’s biggest asset is its employees. In today’s profit driven world, people do not matter, only money.
No one really cares about the people anymore. The democrats like to say that they care about the regular people. When they are in office their party never really does anything for anyone other than the companies that give them money. The good thing about the republicans is they don’t even pretend to be for the regular people. They take care of the big business that pays them. If you are rich and live in the United Sates they are the party for you. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the republican point of view. If you take care of the rich people they will put the money they make back into the system. The money they put into the system will help the regular people. I do understand that theory, I just don’t agree with it. They believe in giving the rich incentives to invest and build. My belief is rich people do not need incentives. These are people that motivate themselves. That self motivation explains their success. There is a separation between them and us. They drive high-end cars. Stay at high-end hotels. Eat at high-end restaurants; shop at high-end stores. Save millions in the banks. When you give millions to rich people, millions of dollars will go in their banks and high-end places. If you give the same tax breaks to regular people, all of the money they get will go to places like Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Burger King and McDonalds. These places are owned by rich people or they hold stocks in them. Either way the rich people still make more from the tax cuts to the regular people. The money the rich people make from the tax breaks to regular people will still make its way to the high-end stores and the banks. Think about it, if you give a million dollars to a rich person part of it will be added to the money they already have in the bank. If you give the same amount to a regular person all or almost all of it will end up back into the economy. No matter how you look at it, there is no political party in the United States looking out for the regular citizen.

Religion

2009-06-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1

I was raised Baptist. I went to Sunday school and church almost every Sunday. I am a deep believer in God and Jesus Christ. When I look at the world and by that I am really talking about nature. When I look at it I see perfection. Our planet, solar system and the universe in my eyes and mind it is beauty and perfection. It is hard for me to accept “that” beauty and perfection as being an accident. This is my belief and the way I see things. I understand that if I was born somewhere else I would have a different belief in God, if I believed at all.

The parents that I have also influence my belief system. So if I had different parents my belief could also be different. That being said I am open minded enough to understand how someone could not believe in God. I’ve heard people say things like “if there is an all loving God, why would he let 9/11 happen?” “Why would he allow all those people in Iraq, Darfur, and Somalia to die like that?” “Why would he allow the black plague, aids and a host of other deadly disease?’’ If you look at all the bad things that happen on this planet, I can understand how a person can think that way. My view on that is that if you look at death as a bad thing then I understand a person’s reluctance to believe in God. If you see suffering as a bad thing, then I understand your reluctance to believe in God. If you see birth defects as a bad thing then I understand your reluctance to believe in God. If you see any social or biological ills and or injustices as a bad thing then I understand your reluctance to believe in God. If I looked at the surface of things, I believe I would see things the same way. I look deeper and this is the way I see it. I see myself as a child of God and I am here on earth visiting until my father calls me back home. I view my body the same as my car. My body drives my car just as my soul drives my body. I’m sure there are more points that people could and will come up with to further their disbelief in God. I see all these problems: drought, disease, floods, hurricanes, these are all tests or opportunities to share or help our fellow man. It gives us the chance to do something good and to feel good about ourselves for doing it. If you only see the bad things you will never see God. I choose to see the good things that life offers.

Look at the pictures taken by the Hubble telescope. You can find them all over the internet. The pictures you will find are a thing of beauty. For me personally, beauty and love are signs of God. If you look, the signs are everywhere: puppies, kittens, or any young animals. Babies, flowers, sunrise, sunset, a full moon, and ocean waves are just a few things I see beauty in. The list could go on and on. As for love, think about your spouse, parents, children, pets, best friend or your country. By country I don’t mean government, but what the country stands for and the people of the country. I listed things that I find beauty in and what I love. I’m sure others will make a list that differ from mine and that within itself is a beautiful thing. People that don’t believe in God will look at what I write here and say “that is not proof”. I will have to agree with them on that. I have no proof that there is a God. I have no proof that Jesus really is my lord and savior. Just as they have no proof to prove their point of view. That is where belief and faith comes in. I believe in God and I have faith in him. There is no part of my mind that does not believe in God. I think it is all about how you look at things and the way you were raised. I was raised to believe in God but also to think for myself. Learning from other people is something I have always tried to do.

Spending twenty years in the military exposed me to many people. People from all over the world and I had the opportunity to visit several countries. Talking to these people gave me some insight into their religious beliefs. I found that all religions at some point are open to interpretation. People being people are going to twist those openings to fit their needs. That is what people do. The more power they get the more they do this. It does not matter what the book is. It could be the bible, the constitution or any rule book; they will use it to their advantage. I think the overall message in religious books is to love and be good to everyone. If we as a people could learn to do that, this would be a much better world. I think the problem we have with religion is: it is open to interpretation. Because of that openness, people will see what they want to see. They will take things out of context and use a phrase to meet their needs. That is what people do. In general, I think most people have a need to be right. We will do whatever it takes to prove to ourselves that we are right in what we are doing or thinking. I think that is human nature. The thing is; some people take it to the extreme. The extreme I am talking about right now is in religion. Because of religion we had September 11, 2001. I don’t think it is the fault of religion that those people hijacked the planes. The fact that because they believe so deeply in their religion and combine their need to be right, now you have a receipt for disaster. The need to be right is more important to some people than anything else. Their religion is right because that is what they believe in and they are 100% sure that their religious book is the right one. They are also positive that the religious book that they read contains the truth and the only the truth. They believe the book contents are complete and unaltered. The rest of the world should change to their religion, because only theirs is true. I see nothing wrong with thinking that way. I should say there is nothing illegal about it. The problem comes when you try to push your beliefs onto others. For most of us, our religious beliefs are based on two things, where we were raised and who our parents are.

Chapter 2

In general our parents pass their religious beliefs onto us. We in turn pass them onto our children. Some people grow up and turn away from religion while others grow up and turn to it. Areas of the world, country, or city also affect religion. Some countries are mostly Muslim and others are mostly catholic. Then you have countries like the United States where you can find them all. In countries like this when you look at cities and neighborhoods you will find people of like faiths in areas together. This is not always the case but it is a very common thing. This is why I have a hard time understanding religious wars. What they are doing is fighting and killing each other because they have different parents and was raised in different places. Is that a good reason to go to war? I think not. Why would anyone want to kill another person because of a difference of opinion? One would think the difference of opinions would be a good reason to engage in dialog, to learn about another point of view, to exchange culture, to teach others about what you believe in. Being different should be a good thing as a way to lean. Rather than learn from it the extremist choose to fight and kill because of it. I believe that fighting and killing means that your argument or position is too weak for conversation.

I am using Islam as a focal point because that is the extremist group responsible for 9-11. I don’t mean to suggest that Islam is the only religion with extremist groups. Religious wars have been fought for thousands of years. These acts of war have been committed by many different religious groups. Islam is just the most recent to attack. It has been my experience that most religious people believe they should spread the word of God. Convert as many people as you can to your religion. Demonstrate to others and the rest of the world, the love of God and peace. Share his teachings with those who have never been exposed to his words. Also, share his teachings with those who may have started out in the church but then for whatever the reason, seemed to have lost their way. My point is that in general, people of religion were all about peace, love, understanding and sharing the word of God to any and all that wanted to listen. Now we have some radical Islamist groups that want to destroy those who believe in other religions. More important, they seek to destroy anything supporting western interest. The problem I believe they will face comes from being on the same slippery slope the United States is currently on.

When you have something that you believe (and willing to kill for) in so strongly that you know in your heart that others and the rest of the world would be much better off if they would only adopt your beliefs and world views, you are a danger to us all. The problem with what they want to do comes when they come across people who believe equally as strong in their current way of life. When two sides like that meet and one side tries to push their beliefs harder. That is when we have war. As long as war is an option there can never be peace. I would be the first to say that western civilization is the best in the world. If the rest of the world had freedom of religion it would enjoy a better way of life. I also realize that this is the only way of life I really know. That makes me somewhat biased. It is my belief that most people will say their country and way of life is good if things are going well for them. When things are not gong well is when citizens find fault. My example for this is, during slavery times, I believe most slave owners would say slavery is a good thing. If you were to ask the slaves I don’t think you would get the same answer. These slave owners were upstanding citizens, political leaders, Presidents, and church going people. If you were to ask them if owning slaves conflicted with their religion most would say it did not. That is what I mean by religion being open to interpretation.

Two people listening to the same sermon may get different messages. I know that this may sound as if I have a problem with religion, but I do not. I believe religion is a great thing. It means you know there is a power greater than yourself. It gives you a relationship with your creator. It gives you comfort when things are at its worst. It keeps you grounded when you feel like you are on top of the world. It keeps you centered. My religion tells me that everyone and everything is important. All things great and small come from God. I also believe that people can have a personal relationship with God. He talks to you if you are willing to listen. When I say listen, I mean hearing what he is saying to you without injecting your own desires into it. My personal relationship with him tells me that all life is important and belongs to him. He also tells me that people should be free. Free to make choices regarding their life. Free to worship him as they see fit. I feel that I have a personal relationship with God and that he speaks to me. This is what I believe. I understand that some people don’t believe in God and that is their right. People who don’t believe in God have as much right to their opinion as I have in mine. I believe my God would say that they should be free to choose.

This creates conflict in my mind. On one hand I feel people should be free to choose what they want. By this I mean everything: religion, lifestyle, government, spouse, jobs and all aspects of their life. If they choose to have no religion; that should be okay as well, then on the other hand I see people doing things that my God says is not okay. This creates conflict for me spiritually. I overcome this by understanding that I must not impose my religion on someone else. Sometimes this is a really hard thing to do. Then I realize that if I don’t respect other people, how can I expect anyone to respect me?

Let’s look at a much talked about topic right now: gay marriage. In my heart I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. The problem I have with that being the law is that my belief comes from my bible. There is supposed to be a separation between church and state. Can we honestly say that it is right to make laws that affect us all when that law is based solely on religion? When we do that I feel we go against the very freedom that has always made us special. We tell the world that people should be free. We tell the Middle East that they should respect each others differences and live together in peace. We tell them this while we discriminate against our own natural born citizens. We do this based on religion. That is the same reason for the problems in the Middle East. Religion can bring so many people close together. At the same time it can destroy a nation. To be honest, the problem is not religion. The problem is the people. People desire power. Power over other people makes them fell better about themselves. Religion without people would be perfect. When you add the people that is when it goes bad. When religion is organized that puts people in a position of power. There are some people who can handle power without any problem. Then there are the people who let the power go to their head and bring corruption. Rather than being the leader of the church and teaching God’s word throughout the congregation, they try to influence political leaders; pushing their religious belief on people of different or no faith. When you force people to follow your faith or better yet; force them to follow your interpretation of your faith you deny them their freedom. Because of that I would allow same sex marriage.

If Buddha was to tell his followers that it is okay for two women or two men to get married? That is their religion. What we are really saying is that we have freedom of religion as song as we Christians agree. If you feel that your church should not perform same sex marriage, then I would agree if it goes against your religion. I just don’t think governments should have a problem with it. I think same sex marriage should be done by civil ceremony or any church that is okay with it. How can we as Americans truly call ourselves a free nation when we continue to deny our citizens rights because we don’t agree with what they do in the privacy of their own home? How can we as Americans call ourselves a free nation if we deny our citizens rights due to them because they don’t love who we want them to love? We should be a better people than this. As it stands now any sinner can pay taxes but only those who live as Christians can get that tax break. We should take religion out of our legal system.

Chapter 3

I understand that this country was founded on the belief in God. I agree with the concept of “One Nation under God”. I agree with the Ten Commandments on the capital buildings. I agree with prayer in school. These are the things this country was founded on. I see no problem with following some traditions. Having things on or in government building only relates to the nations founding. It is not a statement of promotion for any one religion. I think some of the people complain because they can. Others are just jumping on the band wagon. There is no real effort to co-exist peacefully with others. Now-a-days people want to dominate others. I don’t want to take the conservative view of placing blame. I don’t want to take the liberal stance and let the people choose and the problem works itself out. We need a combination of the two. What I see is that over the years organized religion has moved from their congregation into our lives. Let me explain what I mean. Organized religion (the church) used to speak to its members. It would tell its members what they should be doing. Telling them what Jesus would do and what he did; giving them hope; helping them through hard times; spreading the word of God throughout its membership. The church was all about Love. Love for your neighbor even if you didn’t agree with what your neighbor was doing; loving yourself enough to live a respectful life and allowing your life to be an example to others. Respecting others enough to allow them to choose the life they want to live. My point is there was a time when the church’s sermon was aimed at its congregation. It seems as if those days may be coming to an end. I don’t mean to say that all churches are doing this. It just seems like it is happening more and more. What it boils down to is churches, some of them, don’t respect the people anymore. This goes back to what I said about the people being the problem. Church leaders are people just like the rest of us. They are subject to the same desires and temptations as the rest of us. For some of them I feel it is only about power. The church is becoming more and more involved in people’s private lives. Even if you are a non-believer, it is still happening.

The church is becoming openly politically active. I have big problems with this. If people would be honest and do the right thing, then religion and politics could work. That is not the way people work. People are not honest when they are given power. People are not always honest in their quest for power. With the church entering the world of politics they are not immune to the corruption. The church views the world looking through glasses tinted with one particular belief in God. This country has many religions. In each religion there is what I call a sub-religion. If we allow one religion or sub-religion to enter politics; it becomes a problem if they make it to the top. Politics affect the lives all people regardless of religious beliefs. As long as your church is calling the shots you would be okay with it. What happens when another church takes the top spot? I feel that it is wrong to make laws based on your personal religious beliefs.

What if you are a non-believer? You should have that right and be free to live without someone imposing their beliefs on you. Don’t get me wrong. I understand where the church is coming from. When things are working well for you; you want to share it with everyone. Another way it could be is that you see what you feel is wrong with the country and you feel that you have an opportunity to fix things.

Here goes the problem: when you have someone complaining about something they say is wrong, you need to ask questions. What is the problem? Is it really a problem or is the person overreacting? Is the person taking advantage of the opportunity of getting in front of a microphone? Some people will complain because they have someone who will listen. Some people need to be told that they need to share the planet with others and other people have rights also. If we could get people to understand that their religion may not be right for everyone. (Or just might not be right period). The religion they belong to, does not belong to everyone else. The church needs to understand that everyone in the church is not good. They need to further understand that everyone not in the church is not bad. There are people in church every Sunday that will cheat and kill you. There are people who never go to church who would risk their life to save yours. There are good and bad on both sides. If we could only get the churches to understand that they may not be the answer for everyone. I see churches helping many people they and could help many more. I’m just not sure they have the answer for everyone.

Think about what I am saying. If every church on the planet was sure they had the answer for every person with a problem and its members were willing to kill and die to prove it. Which one would be right and how would we know. Religion is such a personal thing that I think it should stay out of politics. Then we have political leaders talking about their religious beliefs. George Bush said he talks to his heavenly father about what he should do. This could be a good thing if that was really what he is doing. The problem is there is no way for anyone to know if he is telling the truth. Just because a person says they pray for an answer does not mean they really do.

Some people, especially politicians, will say they are religious people when they are not. They will do this because most people in this country believe in God. People seem to think that if you believe in God then you must be a good person. Politicians understand this and because of it they tell people as often as they can that they believe in God and are deeply devoted to the church. There is no way to measure a person’s devotion to God or the church. This gives to politician an easy way to score points with people without any down side. I’m sure some of them are as religious as they say they are. Just as I am sure most are just saying they are because it is expected. This is another reason it would be a good to take religion out of politics. Political leaders are using our faith against us and to their advantage. They can say they pray every night and several times a day and there will be no way to know if it is true. They can go to church every Sunday and think about sports during the entire service and there would be no way for anyone to know.

The reason I find it so difficult to believe all these politicians are as devoted as they say they are is because they tell too many lies. How often does a person in politics say one thing while they are campaigning and once they are elected they do the opposite of what they said they would do? You should ask the question, “If a person is truly a Christian and live their life as such, would they also tell people so many lies?” Then you have the other problem. If you have a candidate who is openly atheist running for public office would you vote for them? As hard as it is for me to say it: I will be honest and say that I would not. As I say this I would be the first to acknowledge that just because a person doesn’t believe in God does not mean that they would not do a good job in public office. I would like to think that if a person is honest enough to admit they don’t believe in God may tell us the truth about everything else. In my mind honesty is what we are missing in politics.

I don’t think anyone would argue with me about no truth in politics. It has been this way for such a long time. So long that is seems like lying is just part of it. That is not the way it should be. Maybe we should try having someone in office who is a non-believer, it could be an improvement. As bad as it is I think I would be afraid to vote for a non believer. In general I am not afraid to try something new but on this subject I am.

Chapter 4

The problem as I see it is not religion but how it is used in politics. People in public office should be held to a higher standard than the general public. Of the people in public office, those who use religion as part of their platform should be held to an even higher standard. I feel that way about everyone who uses religion as part of their image. For example, I love to watch boxing. Two of my favorite boxers were Tyson and Holyfield. Tyson was a hard puncher, troubled, and not the cleanest of fighters. Being a clean fighter is not a big deal to me; after all, this is fighting. Then you have Holyfield. He was a smaller guy but still a hard puncher. Then he became God’s warrior. I think that is what he was calling himself. I remember he spoke a lot about how God was in his corner. After he got God in his corner he continued to head-butt his opponents. That is when I stopped watching his fights. When I did watch him I cheered against him. I did this because he was a dirty fighter and using God as a platform. If he had left God out of it I would have continued to be a fan. When he put God in his corner and didn’t change his ways and clean up his fighting style, he lost me.

That is how I feel about the use of religion. If everyone was to do the same thing, people in public office would stop using religion as a platform. They would back away from religion if they were required to act religious instead of just talking about it like they do now. The founding fathers of this country understood that religion is a supremely personal choice. That is why I feel they had the implied idea of separating church from state. They had the foresight to see that as the church’s size grew, so would its influence. They wanted to prevent the church from creating law knowing it would be solely based on its religion. If this was allowed it would destroy most if not all other religions. Also, as government became larger it would prevent it from destroying the churches. If they both were to grow in size and influence, this would also keep them from attacking each other in a type of civil war. They started this country to give its citizens freedom.

In order to give people freedom they must have choices. If you are a good Christian then you follow the Bible and the teaching of Jesus. It doesn’t matter what your religion is, there is a book for you to follow. That book limits your choices. It gives you rules and guidelines to follow. Rules to your religion that governs the way you live your life. If you are true to your religion then you don’t have as many choices as those who are non believers. That is why the church can not govern a free nation. The same way a free nation can not run the church. The definition of each would contradict the other. They can not co-exist in terms of power and control. If they both are to survive they must remain separate. Religion is an important part of the birth of this country. It is the backbone of the American society. Unlike any country before us we have managed to blend our religious beliefs with our government. It was the perfect blend. It was more of an understanding that as Christians we believe that we are all God’s children. As God’s children and Christians we follow the teachings of the Bible. The Bible gives us the rules and guidelines we need to follow in order to join him in heaven. It gives us information on our past as well as insight on our future. I will admit that I don’t know the Bible inside and out. I only have a basic understanding of it. I have read it but I don’t study it. As I understand it God makes Himself available to us but it must be our choice to enter. It is not possible to force God on anyone. It must be their choice.

I believe the founding fathers understood this. They took the basics of their religion and used that as the foundation of this country. They didn’t endorse any religion. They did acknowledge their belief in God. Still they were smart enough to keep their beliefs somewhat personal. Sharing with us what the beliefs were but not imposing them on the rest of us. Had they done that we would be the same as the Middle East. With most people religion and politics are the two subjects that will get people to argue. These are very personal things. When people speak of them they usually do so with much passion. The passion is generally the same no matter what side you are on. I have talked to people who don’t believe in God. When you talk to them and they explain why they don’t believe, they have valid points. The first thing they usually say “there is no proof”.

When you think about it, that’s true; there is no tangible proof. Science says that man evolved from apes. They show the evolution in the form of fossils as proof but there is a gap. That gap is called the missing link. Without that link the chain of evolution is weak. Just because they have not found the missing link does not mean that it is not there. It is just means that it has not been found. No matter how you look at it. There is a flaw in that theory. As long as that flaw is there they can’t claim their point of view as fact. That doesn’t stop some people from claiming that evolution is the only way life could have started on earth. Evolutionists say creationists are wrong in their beliefs. They say God is just a story that has been passed down over many years like Santa Claus. That he was created by poor people to give them comfort and hope during hopeless times. That there is absolutely no proof that God does or has ever existed. Those are all good points but they can’t be proven. When you look at both sides of the argument, both have valid points but none can be proven. Then it comes down to what you believe, on the side of religion they call that faith. Faith is what I have. With all the faith that I have and as much as I believe n God, I totally understand when I meet people who say they don’t believe in God and support evolution. All I can say to them is that I understand their point of view. I just happen not to agree with them. I don’t get upset with them just because we have a difference of opinion.

Even if I could get them to agree with me or me with them, I would not change the world. I would rather we all respect each other and live as one. That is what I would like to see happen. I am sure someone would like to see the United States if not the entire world convert to Christianity and all live according to the Bible. I would also like to see that. The problem is if we tried to make it happen it would be wrong. We would not be respecting the other religions. Even if I could make everyone in the United States Christians and have Washington D.C. govern us according to the Bible, I would not do it. As a Christian I know without a doubt that I don’t follow the Bible to the letter. I don’t think there is anyone who does. I’m sure there are many who try and many who come close. Just as I am also sure that some people follow what they perceive or their interpretation of what the Bible says. Let’s look at something simple. The Bible say to rest on the Sabbath and for Christians that day is not Saturday but Sunday. There would be some Christian that would want everything closed on Sunday except the churches. Some would want to insist on that and to me those would be the extremist. Others would want to let everyone choose. They would want gas stations, hospitals, firefighters, police and more to be open on Sunday. People need to understand that we are all different even when we believe the same things. It all boils down to respect. Without it we have nothing.

Introduction

2009-06-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

These are my personal views of what is killing, in my opinion the greatest nation to ever grace this planet. This started out as a book then I decided to just post it on line for free. I concider myself very conservative in my beliefs and very liberal in implementation of policy.

I often hear people talk about the “good old days”; “If we could go back to the 1940’s, 50’s or 60’s; when the country was unified”. I agree with them to a point. Those were the good old days if you were a white person living in the United Sates of America. The nation was more united. One person could work and support a family, leaving usually the mother to raise the children as they saw fit. During times of war the country came together and sacrificed to support the troops and government. It was as if the country went to war and you trusted the political leader to make decisions based on what was best for the country. Now it seems as if corporate America has major influence in the decisions made in Washington DC. Now it is what is best for the company not the country. Corporate America has purchased this county and I don’t think they will ever sell it back to the people. During the times previously mentioned, I believe the companies had the interest of the workers in mind equal to profit.

There was a parent home with the children giving them constant nurturing, love and guidance. Kids were outside playing and learning social skills. You knew and had some sort of interaction with most of your neighbors. Neighbors looked out for each others property and children. It was like an extended family. There was a respect the children had for their parents and adults in general. The children knew that if they did something wrong in the neighborhood or school and an adult saw them, they would tell their parents. The combination of fear of getting caught and the disappointment the parents would feel kept most of us in line. You knew that if an adult said you did something your parents would believe them. Somewhere between then and now some psych professional convinced the American public that children don’t lie. That gave the children lots of power. Power that I feel they are too young and immature to deal with. Children know when they are in trouble and will lie to get out of it. Some children like attention the same as some adults and will lie to get it.

Politics was not as cut throat as it is today. The best interest of the country was paramount. The people of the country mattered. There was a clear separation between church and state. The church had the bible as its guide and government had the constitution. These books were followed and the two didn’t mix. Now some churches will interpret passages from the bible to suit their agenda and ignore the passages that go against the same agenda. Politicians do the same with the constitution. They will find what they call loopholes to go against the spirit of the law to suit their needs. Our legal system is the best on the planet but it is deeply flawed. “Why do we need defense lawyers?”, because our system is flawed, and should be questioned. I question everything.