A Day of Prayer

                                                           

The National Day of Prayer comes this Thursday, May 1st.  Officially designated as a national holiday by President Truman in 1952, the National Day of Prayer actually goes back to 1775 when our Continental Congress asked our citizens to pray for the nation as she was suffering from the stormy events leading up to revolution  and a fight for freedom.

Both Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush held special celebrations at the White House, celebrating more than 200 years of freedom and prosperity.  Bill Clinton stopped the practice during his administration but it was revived again by George W. Bush during his terms of office.  The White House celebrations stopped again in 2009 when Barack Hussein Obama took office.

Regardless, the National Day of Prayer is widely recognized throughout the nation.  More than 300 hundred religions participate and thousands of prayer events are held throughout the country.  For many folks this day is a highly personal experience and they will simply drop to their knees at their church or their home and send up prayers for peace, or healing, or strength to deal with personal problems...or simply to offer thanks for personal blessings.

Sadly, it is the organized prayer events that have drawn the most fire from atheists and agnostics.  In 2008 the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the Federal government in an effort to end the National Day of Prayer.   They were initially successful in winning an injunction by a liberal Federal district judge, Judge Barbara Crabbe, who ruled that atheist and agnostic Americans were suffering "concrete injury" by being forced to tolerate public events associated with the National Day of Prayer.   The battle in the courts continued into 2011 when the 7th District Court of Appeals overturned Crabbe's ruling and allowed the National Day of Prayer to continue.

So this Thursday millions of prayers will be sent skyward; from Navahos, Cherokees, Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Southern Baptists, Methodists and hundreds of other religions.  To my way of thinking that's a good thing; when folks are on their knees, and their hands are clasped, they aren't throwing stones or stepping on others...so that's a fine thing indeed.

A single nationally recognized day of prayer is not going to solve any of our problems.  There are hundreds of court fights going on right now, with public school injunctions to stop little school kids from bowing their heads before their school lunch.  The Freedom from Religion Foundation is winning case after case to remove overt demonstrations of religion in our armed forces.  Religion being such a big deal in a fox hole these injunctions are gaining traction in destroying the morale of our military folks.

But a single day of prayer is better than no day at all.  So, if your heart's in it...feel free to speak freely with your own personal version of God....we may never even have that before long.

"Juno's Place"

                                                           

If you love animals you couldn't do much better than to google "Juno's Place".  The site was developed by a working class lady up in Massachusetts.    But her heavily followed Face Book page is just a reflection of the life's work of a lady who does more to rescue and comfort and heal animals than anyone I've ever known.  

Her "icon" and the face of Juno's Place just happens to be a little Chihuahua dog that she rescued as a very sick little puppy, nursed it back to health, and it's been "Kismet" ever since.  Juno is a quite remarkable little dog.  If you don't think so just look at the hundreds of pictures of this little media darling.  The lady poses her in dozens of wonderful poses and how she gets this little dog to pose is beyond me....I have two Chi's myself and they do nothing they don't want to do, much less sit or stand calmly so that the camera can catch the magic of ultimate cuteness.  Nearly every picture is accompanied by Juno's running monologue about the nature of her latest predicament and they are heartfelt and funny and heart tugging.

Juno is known as "The Little Dog Who Does Big Things"...she is the "front girl", the "spokes-dog" for announcing the latest parade or dog walk or some manner of fundraiser whose proceeds go toward rescuing, providing vet care, housing, or just making an animal's life more comfortable.

Standing always in the shadows, this dear lady is the wind beneath Juno's wings.  No animal is too sick, or their fates too dismal for this saintly lady to offer her heart and all of her love and compassion.  She steels herself to face the loss of those she can't save and that is probably what will win her a first class ticket to heaven.  She'll cry over a pet that she was unable to save, wipe away the tears, straighten her back and go out and forage for lost, sick or abused animals, knowing some of them will eventually break her heart.  She's raised thousands of dollars and saved countless lives and I can't think of anything so satisfying or more commending to a caring God.

                                              

Juno's "pack leader" does not confine her heart's compassion to animals alone.  She raises funds for underprivileged school kids; backpacks, toys that they might know joy, and health care products so that they become strong in both body as well as mind.

Should you choose to venture over Juno's way, be forewarned; she'll touch your heart and before you know it you'll be sending a few bucks to feed, neuter, medicate or save an abused animal from death by euthanasia.  

But, if you never send in a dime, you'll find yourself tuning into Juno's Place to see what next predicament this little darling has gotten herself into, whether it be ordering pizza, throwing a tantrum for missing her favorite TV show, "Criminal Minds", or the chilling Bates Motel, or of recent note, getting busted for trading in forbidden "pig ears" as she is drawn into a Craig's List scam.  

You'll smile, you'll cry, you'll laugh out loud at Juno's latest antics, as she tugs at your heart...and makes you a better person for knowing this little dog who does big things....and the lady who makes it all happen.

                                                 

The Foxes At Fox News

                                                       

Alfred Hitchcock sold several hundred million movie tickets by giving into his fetish for blondes.  Whether it was Grace Kelly or Kim Novak or Tippi Hedrin or Doris Day,  it didn't hurt a bit that the protagonist in Hitchcock films were beautiful blondes.

Equally rotund, but brilliant Roger Ailes, head of programming at Fox News, seems to have latched on to Hitchcock's penchant for blondes and they bloom in glorious splendor on Fox News.  And no dumb blonde jokes please...I ran the bio's on these women.  They own more law degrees, journalism degrees and joint business/law degrees than any news staffs ever.  

Now call me a male chauvinist pig if you must but it doesn't hurt a damn bit to have your news brought to you by attractive women.  And the "attractiveness" doesn't just come from the physical; these are strong women, tough interviewers, and not a whine heard about gender inequality or the suffering from baking a batch of cookies.  And they seem more than capable of "bringing home the bacon...and cooking it up in the pan".

Contrast that with MSNBC.  See if you can tolerate 15 minutes of 'sigh-heavy' Mika on Morning Joe. Or Andrea Mitchell, Alan Greenspan's main squeeze....I can take about five minutes of her cynical monotones before I have to flip the channel.  Or Melissa XX Harris, who poked fun at Mitt's Romney's adopted Black baby and never met a Black thug she didn't love.  And, frankly, who wants to have their ass kicked by Mr. Rachel Maddow who seems perfectly capable of doing so.  

Nope...give me Megan Kelly for every day of the week.  She's beautiful, sassy, and smart as hell...and she's bringing home $20 million dollars worth of bacon..and she must be heating it up at home cause she's been generating a baby a year lately.

                                                   

And, lest you think I value only physical beauty, let me declare my admiration for Greta Van Sustern....she is the best at poking holes in liberal logic and skewering government officials for all their silliness.

And, have you ever watched "The Five?".  Take a look at the girl at the far left, front.  That's "the leg chair", occupied alternately by either Kimberly Guilfoyle or Andrea Tantaros, owners of the some of the greatest legs in the business.  And again, these women are smart as hell!  Andrea Tantaros holds a degree in journalism, did her undergraduate study at The Sorbonne in Paris and speaks three languages fluently.  

                                                   

Smart Foxes At Fox.....

News To Make Your Blood Run Hot & Cold

                                                     

Anybody want to join my crusade to gut the IRS and implement a 10% national sales tax to replace your 1040's now?  Apparently it wasn't enough that the IRS was used as Obama's political arm to harass and stone wall legitimate conservative organizations last year.  And the fact that the IRS fails to collect over $350 billion annually in unpaid taxes.  Or that each year since 2009 the IRS has issued $11 billion in Child Tax Credit checks to illegal aliens...many of them even who had already been deported to Mexico!  Many more are not bothered that tens of thousands of federal prisoners received stimulus checks!  

No, there are still millions of you who blindly send the IRS a nice fat tax check every April 15th...then go on your merry way and never question where that money goes!

Well, we learned this week that a few million of those taxpayer dollars go to disgruntled and poor performing IRS workers who are given bonuses to brighten their mood...and if that doesn't do it the IRS wonks grant them a month or two of paid time off!

Congratulations taxpayers!  

If that little tidbit makes your blood boil a bit, here's one that will turn your veins ice cold:

                                                   

The above graph shows where the heaviest incidence of Identification Theft is taking place.  Do I need to go into my illegal immigration rant for you to make the connection?  Well guess what; it's getting far worse than stolen social security cards and stolen credit cards.   The feds just reported this week that fully 43% of all Identity Theft is coming from the theft of your health records.

Yep...it seems that illegal Mexicans have found a way to get around Obama's Obamacare program.  It wasn't enough that Obama allocated $500 million dollars to establish medical clinics to treat illegal immigrants who don't qualify for Obamacare...no, the illegals want a "Cadillac plan"; YOURS!  You see, now that illegals feel safe from deportation they have become rather tired of using the Emergency Rooms of America for their routine care.  And Obama is not building those illegal clinics fast enough.  So Jose is now stealing your medical identification and using it to get costly surgeries and other hospital and specialist care.  

How are they doing this?  Well the FBI says the big criminal cartels are simply hacking into hospital and medical center records and taking all they need.  They then mass manufacture social security, medicare and private insurer health cards and sell them to anyone who needs a heart transplant or gall bladder surgery or other health treatments.    The rogue Mexicans are simply paying off a health care clerk in your local doctor's office or clinic and she provides him all the documentation needed to run down to a shop in Maryvale, or Escondido, or West Sacramento, or Fresno or El Paso, or San Antonio who can issue you a phony state driver's license, social security card and the medical card you need to get treatment in any hospital in America!

But wait...it gets worse.  Medical care providers have been finding that the medical care provided to the medical ID thief has been entered into your medical records.  Health Care providers are now frightened to death that they are going to be sued for giving you two pints of A positive blood for that little operation you have scheduled...when YOUR blood type just happens to be O negative!  Or the Doc may just decide to remove that perfectly good kidney because the thief sharing your record is having trouble passing piss!  Or you go in for a heart stint and end up with a heart transplant cause Pedro's been eating too damn many enchilada combos!  

I had just finished reading this ominous news when I turned on the TV and they were conducting Senate hearings on the Obamacare's Healthcare.gov site design.  One of the Senators pulled up a slide that came directly from the Healthcare.gov's own site.  In tiny, tiny script, Obama's healthcare site says this:  "Users Must Note that they can expect no reasonable assurances that confidential information provided will remain confidential".

Obama's HHS rep stood open mouthed and speechless when asked if she knew that Healthcare.gov does not conform to federal HIPA confidentiality laws.  She said she was aware that the cautionary clause was included in the site but had no answers as to how they would protect confidential patient information.....she did say "well, we're working on that."

If that doesn't make your blood run cold you're not breathing.

The Madcap Liberal "Clive Bundy" Victory Dance!

                                                       

Forgive me for "droning" on you, dear reader, by mentioning Mr. Bundy two days in a row, but I can't help marveling at the grand liberal "Clive Bundy" victory dance that has sent our liberal friends into an orgasmic frenzy these last few days.  Colbert, Jon Stewart, Nasty Pellosi, former "negro"-uttering Harry Reid are all having a field day laughing at an inarticulate old man who wears cowboy boots and walks through cow shit.

The libs are having the time of their lives making fun.  But I couldn't help wondering what would happen if they were to direct all of that hateful and cynical scorn on the very Blacks that old Clive talked about.  Allow me a bit of speculation here:

Breaking News:

Jon Stewart, on the daily show yesterday, was hilarious as he poked fun of illiterate Blacks who dropped out of high school, can't read at the high school level and speak in Ebonics because they've never been taught the Queen's English.  Stewart was hysterical as he aped the speaking mannerisms of Blacks in South Central Los Angeles...and he brought down the house when he "aks" what his homey be doing...what fun!

The only thing funnier on TV yesterday was Stephen Colbert's "man on the street" schtick where he hid in an alley behind an abortion clinic and his cameraman filmed bloody fetuses tumbling into a dumpster...oh was that funny, especially when he equated those little Black fetuses to economy sized licorice flavored gummy bears being set out for pick up.

Even MSNBC got into the act as Ed (Erectile Disfunction) Shultz nearly fell out of his seat on the ED Show as he put up a slide that showed that Blacks, some 12% of the population, consume 50% of every welfare dollar.  Old Ed was laughing so hard he popped the three middle buttons of his Ralph Lauren shirt so that viewers could see a real "belly laugh".

And on Jimmy Kimmel last night, old Jimmy got his 'man on the street' to query folks in downtown Detroit to see if they would vote for Obama if they got free Obama phones...and damned if everyone of those urban Detroiters didn't cave to the graft!  They even offered to vote twice if they could get free text and talk!

The day of gleeful comedy was topped off as Letterman dressed up a bunch of stooges as Swat cops and invaded the plush North Side of Chicago and began confiscating citizen's guns.  You should have seen the look on those Honky faces when the cops walked off with their Smith and Wessons and shotguns!  It was a riot!  Then since 47 people, including children in the playgrounds, were gunned downed on Easter Weekend on the South Side, Letterman's faux Swatters drove down to the South Side and dumped their bounty of guns right in the middle of the street!..you should have seen those Black thugs rushing to score some serious iron!  Hilarious!

And I wonder if all that poking fun at the Black community shamed even one to give up the green check, or think twice before trading their food stamp card for cash and Coors, or if a Black mother ever actually looked at that fetus torn and mangled from the womb..and reconsidered receiving a train of breeders into her bedroom or were shamed at the street killings of six year old children.

Probably not....after all, it was all for a big laugh, right?

Clive Bundy Died For Your Sins

                                                           

Cliven Bundy is not a politician, he's a rancher.  Mr. Bundy can't say the pretty words like Barack Hussein Obama does...words that are false, meant to confuse, divide, demonize, obscure...but most of all make you forget life's realities.  

So Mr. Bundy used words like negroes and coloreds  to describe Blacks.  And he talked about Blacks hanging out in ghettos with nothing to do but wait for the welfare check.  And heavens!...Bundy even talked about the 75% Black divorce rate!  And though he didn't mention the percentages, he talked about the fact that more than 80% of all abortions occur within the Black community.  Instead, Mr. Bundy talked of a time fifty years ago when Black families stayed together...before they became enslaved by a welfare check.

Mr. Bundy made a big mistake in speaking out about the massive fail of the African-American community.  And, because he's not an orator, because he's not a smooth politician who measures every word for political correctness before he utters it, he didn't put it in the context that any of we flighty Americans can accept.

So Mr. Bundy's "cause celebre" against a bullying big government is now over.  The Nevada and Arizona conservative legislators have come back home and, just as Judas did, they have denied ever knowing, or siding with Cliven Bundy.  They are joined by $20 million dollar per year media darlings like Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck who say they are appalled by Bundy's words.

But make no mistake people, Clive Bundy died for your sins this past week.  He said things that you think...and won't say yourself.  He says things our politicians know...but won't say themselves.  These are the same politicians who blow with the wind on illegal immigration, just as Speaker Boehner did this week when he castigated his fellow Republicans who won't pass immigration laws knowing Obama won't enforce any of them.  But the politicians are so desperate to save their Congressional seats they'd sell out their own mother if that's what the polls tell them they should do.

And, oh, how the Democrats love Clive Bundy...secretly of course.  They can now brand conservatives as racists because, after all, didn't they trumpet the cause of Clive Bundy last week?

Lost in all this was an open letter, written by a young Black Marine, a friend of Mr. Bundy's, who said Clive Bundy is not a racist and that, indeed, Mr. Bundy speaks the truth, not only about Blacks, but all Americans laboring beneath an oppressive and intrusive government.  Here's the text from Bundy's African American friend:  

The media distorts information to the point of social division. This is a photo of myself and the resilient, often charismatic, and maybe not so tactful Cliven Bundy. He’s a cowboy and a helluva family man, not an orator.

One thing he definitely isn’t – a racist. I found his comments to not only be NOT racist, but his own view of his experiences. Who the heck are we to determine another man’s perspective on the world around him?! Just because Picasso’s view of the world was abstract, does it negate the fact that his art was genuine?

Furthermore, if you take the time to do your own research, you’ll find that his statements about some black Americans actually hold weight. He posed a hypothetical question. He said, “I wonder IF” … Hell, I’m black and I often wonder about the same about the decline of the black family.

Bottom line is that we are all slaves in this waning republic, no matter our skin color. Mr. Bundy could have used any racial demographic as an example: Native Americans on reservations, whites in trailer parks, etc. He noticed the crippling effects of receiving government “assistance” and the long term result of accepting handouts.

It’s not progress at all. I challenge Sean Hannity, Rand Paul, and others to read my comment and reconsider their position in this matter. Individual liberties are at stake here, yours and mine. THAT is the issue.

Don’t let the liberal media and ignoramuses like Glenn Beck and that weasel Harry Reid make you lose sight of the real issue here: The federal government is a burgeoning behemoth and a bully on a once constitutional playground.I sincerely hope you real patriots out there who can see through the smoke.

Semper Fidelis

Readers, you will not see that letter spoken about in the main stream media.  And even as a thousand political "Judas" turn away from Clive Bundy, make no mistake; he died for your sins this week. And Mr. Bundy is not Jesus; he'll get no second chance and there will be no resurrection for him...and he died for saying what millions of us are thinking....but dare not say.

How To Halt Gay Marriage In It's Tracks

                                                         

There's a same sex female couple down in Alabama who want to change the state law on same sex marriage....so they can legally get a divorce in that state.  Seems they went up to Vermont a few years ago, got hitched, then found marriage ain't what it's cracked up to be. Now they don't want to travel back to the state that recognized their marriage and want Alabama to change their laws so they can divorce.  (Alabama said "since we don't recognize your marriage, just go your own ways and everything is hunky dory with us since we didn't recognize it to begin with")

Well, it has always been my contention that gays have lusted after marriage because it's something they can't have.  Now that they can, in 17 states, they're finding out marriage is not all what it's cracked up to be.   No more cruising the gay bars, no more lollapaloozas, no more fun.  Okay, I know that's a bit harsh but single straights have their own mating rituals as well so let's have equality in all things, huh?

Well, in the interest of good will, I've got the perfect solution for halting this gay marriage thing in its tracks:  no more taxpayer millions expended on defending the Defense of Marriage Act, no more federal judges sifting through mounds of evidence and weeks of testimony.  Just have Congress enact a law that bans all marriages, gay or straight.

Now you may think this is a bit much, but consider the current state of our society.  Over 50% of all marriages today end in divorce.  According to several studies the breakdown is as follows:  41% of all first marriages end in divorce, it rises to 60% for second marriages, and a dismal 73% for third marriages.  

Clearly Americans these days hold little value for the sacred vows of marriage.  Further, millions of people just choose to shack up, form domestic partnerships and avail themselves of a steady piece of ass without the dreary commitments that marriages demand.   And hell, the tax codes and welfare bennies all favor those who tell daddy to hit the road,  or, more telling, women just breed kids from various fathers and rely on the taxpayer to pay for the upkeep.

So why bother with all this?  Let's just all shack up, keep our dating options open, manage our own personal finances and split the cost of the rent or mortgage!   Those who need the formality of a legal document can always just establish a civil union, recognized by nearly every state in the nation.

So let's quit sweating this gay marriage thing.  And you folks that are offering the "reproduction of children" argument, give it up.....very few of you are producing babies, with the exception of Blacks who do it to up their welfare and WIC and food stamp booty, and illegal Mexicans who believe there is strength in numbers and every anchor baby gives them a toe hold on America's extremely generous social welfare programs.   Whites are either shooting blanks or tired of sex cause we're actually seeing a decline in the White birth rate.

I guarantee you if we start banning marriage altogether, if we look at the tax advantages of "single, head of household",  when all women tell hubby to hit the road and cash in on Uncle Sugar's generous support to single mothers, we'll have the gays flocking to Divorce Court in droves.  

Problems solved.

An Army Of The Republic

                                                                 

I just received a forwarded email from an old marine who was mourning the death of one of his old comrades from the Army of The Republic of Vietnam.    I too mourned the death because I know of the heartbreak of millions of ARVN troops who lived lives of quiet desperation after the North Vietnamese Communists took over that country in 1975.  

My Vietnamese brother-in-law fought for his country, right along side we Americans.  When the war was declared over, and we all came home, the war for our Vietnamese allies would continue.  My brother-in-law was stripped of his South Vietnamese uniform and shipped off to a Vietnamese "re-education camp".  There he was tortured, fed slop that a hog wouldn't eat, beaten repeatedly, and when they had defeated his spirit completely, they sent him home to die.   And this he did...he died painfully and at a painfully young age.  His crime; fighting for his country.

I had read a book about this sad story several years ago.  The book left me in tears and prompted me to write a Letter to the Editor of my local newspaper.  I just felt this story needed to be told.  The letter got little response because Americans want to forget wars, especially losing wars, as quickly as possible.

But it has always been hard for me to forget this story....the story of millions of Vietnamese vets who were tortured, then if they survived, were sent home to die.  And so many did.  These young men were barred from employment by the government, and much of the private sector, branded as traitors to the Communist cause, and were forced to live in tin can shacks or on the streets.  Some, lucky enough to have lost arms and legs could go to begging in the streets, but for those scarred from the inside, or ailing from a broken heart, were forced to survive any way they could.

Now, if I this is even a little bit hard to understand, try to imagine that you had served in America's armed forces.  Imagine you have risked your life, sacrificed years away from family, have chosen to fight for a bigger cause than yourself, and then are punished for that service.  And yes indeed, we have millions right here in this country who suffer from the after effects of war, to include the ten percent who are homeless today.   But even these poor wretches have it better than those ARVN guys who are desperately trying to survive in a country where the government despises them.

Thanks to the email I received this morning I've found a more tangible way to help.  A group of retired Vietnam vets have formed a 501 charity to provide financial help to these Vietnamese heroes.  It's called the Vietnam Healing Foundation.  This foundation was started when some American Vietnam vets returned to Vietnam and were appalled at how their old comrades were living...and dying.  Because the Communist Vietnamese bars assistance to these vets, the foundation is forced to work in the shadows, finding Vietnamese vets, validating financial need, then sending money for food, or medical treatment, or support for their children.  The fund is so tiny, their cause so little known, the foundation has only been able to aid 80 Vietnam vets directly and another 80 or so indirectly.  Their web site is so neglected I get more hits on this blog in a day than they get in a month.  I sent them a small check this morning and my heart is a bit lighter for it.

Should anyone want to send them a couple of bucks, the address is Vietnam Healing Foundation, P.O. Box 641, Willow Springs, North Carolina, 27592.  They also accept Pay Pal.  Here's the link to their website:  http://www.thevhf.org/www/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=72

Semper Fidelis

Profitable Pity

                                                       

Never let it be said that pity is not profitable.  No where is this more evident than with the ultra-liberal Gannett Company.  For those of you whom the name Gannett doesn't ring a bell, this is the media giant that produced America's first "cartoon newspaper", USA TODAY.  

Last year Gannett made $2.2 billion dollars.  They own some 600 newspapers and print publications across the nation as well as dozens of TV stations.  And they have done more for liberal socialism than any politician could ever hope to do.  

You see, Gannett deals in pity.  They use the monstrous power of their media foot print to publish a very narrow swath of news coverage that champions big government power and the great crusading for "victimhood".  And when the facts get in the way, they just print the myth, as long as it complies with their editorial position.

What is their editorial position?  Well, at the moment it is open borders/amnesty for 30 million illegal invaders.  And they employ the massive strength of their hundreds of newspapers that serve as their propaganda arm of their liberal media empire.  For example, the once independent Arizona Republic newspaper here once dared to report the news in a fair and objective manner.  However, once Gannett bought them out they set about trying to convert a conservative state into liberal zombies who will swallow their gruel.  Sadly, for Gannett, they are sailing against strong head winds as more than 70% of the state is conservative.  Readership of The Republic has plunged as Arizona readers have gagged on liberal editorials, an army of left wing columnists, with two token conservative writers who most often are given one little two inch block to offer a conservative thought or two.

So we Arizonans are hammered with sob story after sob story about illegal deportations, the tragedy of illegal arrests for ID theft, a decade long campaign against Sheriff Joe Arpaio...and a little news censorship when the 80% Hispanic crime reports are printed...while other news sites will print the victim's name, if its a Hispanic they try to suppress that little tidbit of info.  I once published a comment on their site, showing several identical crime reports, one from an objective news source, and one from the Republic, and the evidence was stark; the Republic clearly suppressed criminal information, even if doing so presented a threat to the community. 

And Gannett does this same type of stuff in their other major newspapers across the country...these local papers get their marching orders from McClean, Virginia and that's that.

However, not satisfied that the local paper was doing enough to advance their socialist agenda, Gannett has dramatically transformed the Arizona Republic's format just weeks ago....they meld sections of USA Today into the local paper, and boy is it loaded with sob stories.

Just this morning I was reading a Gannett piece about starvation in American.  Gannett claims that 44 million Americans are "food insecure"...that these folks are not getting enough to eat.  Well, Gannett must have a lot of faith in the zombie KOOL-AID because they profiled two families to make their point; one White, one Black....and guess what?  The pics clearly show four of the five in that White family are clearly obese, the one exception a little girl who hadn't learned to pack away a Big Mac combo with relative ease.  The Black family was no different; the mother was morbidly obese, was being embraced by two roly poly daughters.  But don't take my word for it...look for yourself...or stand outside any public school in the nation and tell me our children are starving. ...or walk into your local Walmart and tell me how many folks you see who are malnourished.

But really, who can blame Gannett?  If money is always the prime motivator, and if you were making $2.2 billion a year selling pity, wouldn't you do it too?

I better stop now...I'm feeling a little pity for myself...and I don't make a dime from it.

Am I Turning "Commie?"

                                                         

Keep an eye on me, folks...I may be turning a little "communist" on you.  You see, I was just reading an article written by Nobel Winner for Economics Robert Shillers  on the growing income gap in America.  Shiller proposes that we might want to consider indexing taxes in a direct ratio to the current income gap between rich and poor in America.  And god help me if at least part of it didn't make sense to me.

Now, settle down, and let me explain.  First of all, I still believe in free markets and free enterprise.  And I do know that a lot of that "income gap" is caused by an ever increasing swath of Americans who just don't want to work...and are being rewarded by our government for not working.  Secondly, the income gap has grown because of the huge increase in internet billionaires up there in Silicon Valley.  And thirdly, given a choice between having a billionaire keep more of his own money, or giving it to a government bureaucrat to grow another costly bureaucracy, I would be on the side of the billionaire.  Finally, if I were ever to embrace  higher taxes on billionaires, it would certainly not include millionaires who've earned their net worth by the sweat of their brow or through family owned businesses.

No, the only ones I would hit on would be those Wall Street rabbits who sit at a trading desk, take advantage of minute little computer spreads, multiplied by a a million trades, and come out earning $100 million a year off the backs of the small investor.  And I would hit on bankers who borrow money from the Fed at 0 percent, then give you a credit card and charge you 15 or 20% for the privilege of using it.  Finally, I would nail those company CEO's that are making 50 to 100 million a year, even as their company's top line declined, along with the small investor's meager share price.

Now let me offer a huge caveat....I would take that additional tax revenue from these non-productive fat cats and I would insist that it go to paying down our national debt and to rebuild our national infrastructure, highways, bridges and obsolete airports...and for no other purpose!  

Just last week we learned that some dude that Yahoo hired from Google didn't work out with the new company...so they gave him something like $58 million dollars to go away!  And this is not an isolated incident..I've read hundreds of these horror stories where massive failure is rewarded!  How the hell is this "free enterprise?"  And how many of those bankers and fat cat Wall Street types walked away with hundreds of millions after causing our entire economy to collapse?  How many went to jail for violating securities laws?  Zip.

So call me a "commie" if you will...but keep in mind that CEO's today are making thousands of times more than the average joe working in their factory or office place.  I read somewhere that the ratio in the prosperous fifties and sixties were about 50 to 1....now it is obscene thousands to one, and they are simply not worth that kinda dough. Besides, these are the dudes that are exporting your jobs to China and India...F**k em!

Whew!  Okay, comrades....have a good day!

"Droning" On an On

                                                           

Psst!  Please don't let this get out to the liberals in Sacramento...........

Wasn't it just last year when we were all fearful of government drones hovering over our back yard?  It seems to me we were fearful of being caught playing a little "slap and tickle" with the wife or girl friend out on the chaise lounge?  Or being caught sunbathing nude next to the pool?  Or mowing the lawn in that holy sweatshirt that you told your wife you had thrown away?

Well folks, it looks far worse than those petty fears.  I was just sitting here at the table this morning, enjoying a leisurely read of the Sunday paper, when I came across a story that had me spewing coffee all over the front page.  

It seems we indeed do have an emerging liberal contingent up in Coconino  County, up around Flagstaff, who are monstrously hungry for more of your property tax dollar.....so much so that they are considering implementing the use of drones to fly up and down the county and doing aerial imaging of county properties, residential and commercial.  

The reason?  More property tax moolah!  They want to see if you've put in a pool, thus raising the value of your property, something an occasional appraisal will not reveal.  They want to see if you've erected a gazebo or a garden shed, or a children's playground, or a grove of fruit-bearing trees, and if you have, they want to assess you higher property taxes.

You see, government knows that citizen taxpayers will go to any lengths to keep from paying higher taxes (even liberals; they just want the OTHER guy to pay more) so the bureaucrats desperately need a means to bust you!  And what better way to do that than keeping you honest by sending drones to hover your house!

I can see where these government drones may be the wave of the future.  If these "pioneering" county bureaucrats succeed in hiking the tax bounty on your properties I can see the IRS getting into the act. The revenuers can fly over your driveway, check out the kind of ride you have and, if it's a Cadillac or a BMW or a Lexus they might want to run an audit to see if you're reporting all your income.  Or, better yet, outfit that drone with thermal imaging capability to see how many big screen televisions and other high tech gear you own.  The possibilities are endless!

So don't sweat the "slap and tickle", don't fret about the feds seeing your tan lines....they've got bigger things in mind!

"Look, up in the sky!  It's a bird, it's a plane!...no it's "Superfed Drone!"

Art; Proof That God Exists

                                                       

The Philosopher Plato, in his Theory of Norms, argues the existence of God because of the human capacity for recognizing perfection.  He asserts that, while man is still a work under construction, most of our natural world clearly evidences the results of God's perfection.  We see six petals on a flower, each identical in shape and spacing and form, and we, without thought, recognize that flower to be of perfect form.  Plato says that we would never have that sense of cognition if, deep within our being, we were not instilled with the sense of what perfection is, and pays tribute to our creator for it.

Descartes would make the same argument more than a millennium later in Discourse on the Method, and I believe I've embraced Descartes philosophies because he champions a God-embracing version of religion that says it's perfectly okay to to question everything because that's what God built you to do.  He disdain's the blind following of organized religion and argues that the rigid confines of the church actually hinders the refining of our souls.

The central theme in the philosophies of both Plato and Descartes is that we humans, though far from perfect, possess something divine within us, and that our inner divinity allows us to accomplish divine things; to produce well above our natural capabilities because we are blessed with "the touch of our creator".  

Though the preceding is a roundabout and simplistic way of explaining our capacity for achieving perfection, it is the only way I know to offer my own argument that we humans sometimes achieve miraculous things....and the most tangible results of those miracles are found in our art, and the results of those miracles can only be achieved through the blessings of a generous God.

Think about this.  How many inanimate things do you know that have such a profound effect on us if not the penultimate art we are so blessed to experience.  Look at the Van Gogh painting above.  Though my little illustration doesn't do justice to Van Gogh's "Starry, Starry Night" how can one look at that painting, wonder at the richness of color, depth of mood and not be moved by it.  If Van Gogh is not your bag, I dare you to go down and visit an art gallery and see if something there doesn't stir your soul, captivate you, and cause you to linger and stare and not even know why.

Consider music.  I dare you to tell me that you've never had your soul set afire by some mode of music that transforms you into someone else, transplants you to somewhere else, and makes you, if even for a few moments, a better human being than you usually give yourself credit for.  For me I think about the Beethoven symphonies and am amazed at the thunderous glory of his music, including his 5th Symphony, written after he was nearly totally deaf!  Do you really believe there wasn't just a little "God" working there?

When I listen to George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" symphony I am in total awe!  I try to imagine how George sat down and figured out how to marry those notes so splendidly, how he thought up the idea that he could vary the rhythms that would carry the listener along like a ship roiling in an angry sea...then gentling you down so that you are gliding on a magic carpet ride over the skies of Paris.

And it doesn't have to be what some of you may call "blue hair" music.  Have you ever cried over a rendition of America The Beautiful?  Have you ever longed to be in New York after hearing "I'll Take Manhattan?"  Does your throat constrict a bit, and you get a little misty when you hear the wedding song that you danced to with your bride....or thrilled to hearing again the song that was playing when you first danced with a girl?

Art, whether it is a painting, or a sculpture, or the wonder of a symphony, or the perfectly crafted scene in a movie (for me the Bogart-Bergman farewell on that foggy night in Casa Blanca) are all touched with a perfection that defies logic, that creates a perfection so far above the mediocre world we usually occupy, that stirs our souls beyond all reason.  It is the magnificence of art that proves our creator dwells deep within in us, that we can sometimes draw on that minute DNA God molecule that proves once again that He exists.

Now, go out and play my children.  Go gather flowers.  Google U Tube and listen to Gershwin.  Go out and rent Casa Blanca.  Go down and visit an art gallery.  Attend your local symphony orchestra concert.  Go line dancing in a beer hall.  Invite your sweetie to a ballroom dance.  Go to a baseball game and stand up in the 7th inning stretch and listen to America The Beautiful.   Let your hearts soar and be grateful for our creator's grand munificence.

Bigoted Chickenhawks

                                                         

There isn't one regular reader here who doesn't know that I'm adamantly opposed to granting citizenship to illegal aliens.  I am even sufficiently hard ass to demand even the so-called "dreamers" earn their citizenship by serving four years in the military or with a nationally recognized community service organization.

So yesterday I'm scrolling through my Facebook posts and find a post sponsored by an organization called Stop Amnesty that dares to criticize Republicans who are proposing granting citizenship to illegal aliens willing to serve four years in our military.  As a retired Vet myself I felt qualified to comment on this post.  I reiterated my belief that anyone who's willing to serve and sacrifice and offer your life up for your country is the just the kind of folks we need in our citizenry.

Well, you would not believe the degree of vitriol I received for advocating for citizenship for those willing to serve.  One female chicken hawk asked if I was willing to share a bunk space with an illegal Mexican.  Well,  the term "racist" seems to be thrown around rather loosely these days but I would have no problem calling this woman a racist.  I've served with Mexicans and Asians and Blacks, and so many of them were some of the finest people I ever met.  Go look at that Vietnam wall and take a look how many Hispanic names are on that wall.  So yes...knowing how difficult and challenging it is to serve in the military, I would embrace anyone who's willing to endure four years of it, all the while writing a blank check up to and including your life.

I guess if I had to choose between an illegal Mexican and a gutless chicken hawk, I'll opt for Pedro.  Since less than 1% of Americans choose to serve in our military today, and even during the Vietnam era only 5% or so did so, there are damn few out there who deserve to weigh in on who serves and who doesn't.

At a time when Americans are weighing in on immigration reform, at a time when our entire culture is wrestling with our demons....desperate to find some human redemption,  I have now found a significant swath of folks who are pure haters, pure racists who go far beyond answering the question of illegal amnesty and choose to carry that issue into the nightmare racism prevalent in the south in the first half of this century.

Stick to your guns, folks.  Maintain your morals and your standards; feel free to speak out about amnesty for illegal immigrants....but be careful who you ally yourself with...there are hating White Supremacists out there for whom no measure of human redemption is possible if your skin is brown or black.

Sad.  Damned Sad.

Happy Birthday To Me

                                                           

The other day I was driving home from some errands and thought of another topic for my blog.  The ache in my recurring back problem reminded me that I'm getting old, which then set me off once again upon contemplation about why I keep stirring up trouble with my social and political crusading.

At that moment I thought about what my family and friends might say about me once I'm gone.  Will the summary judgment of my life be a "toss off" "oh, that was Dearel, that was Dad, that was my husband; a hard ass to the very end!"  That saddened me beyond all reason.  But, when I asked myself if I could or would think or live my life any different I find it nearly impossible to imagine.  

If I could just "mellow out", go with the flow, allow social and political events to just, right or wrong, unfold as they will, my life would be so much more comfortable and my psyche far more at rest.  Well, I can't.

My problem is I think too much.  There are those readers who have accused me of being "reactionary", responding to some event as if it offended me personally.  While the former is false, the latter is certainly true.  I don't believe I'm a reactionary because the term itself indicates one who reacts without thought, with an emotion not appropriate to the science of logic.  That's just not true; I spend far too much time thinking on something before I write or speak about it.  I think those closest to me will tell you that I'm a huge "contemplate your navel" kind of fella; I can be my own worst critic because I'm always undergoing these nearly epidemic sized bouts of self assessment.  

So, today I've reached the grand old age of 66, heart and soul in constant turmoil, still swinging the ever present rusty sword at windmills near and far.  I can recall a time when I considered the sum of 66 years to be one of decrepit uselessness, a time for sitting in rocking chairs, making sure I eat my fiber, rinse my dentures out each night before depositing them in the bedside water glass and waiting for the grim reaper to come.

And here I am; still have the vast majority of my teeth, the bowels working as well as a fella half my age, alert and leaning forward in my office chair, and as hungry for knowledge as when I was a freshman in college.  If the grim reaper comes I'll give the bastard the fight of his life before I'll let him take me before I'm ready.

If there are any uncertainties they are those whom everyone chooses to chew on occasionally; the question of my mortality....why am I here, why am I STILL here when someone seemingly far more deserving has passed.  Has my creator tasked me to accomplish some still unrealized goal He has set before me?  That question becomes more relevant when I consider the miraculous cure from lung cancer.  

Or perhaps there is some simpler lesson I am to learn....is He giving me more time to reform my soul?  Am I to suddenly transform myself and march down and unselfishly serve chicken soup each night in a homeless shelter?  Shall I join the Peace Corp and teach a remote African tribe the perils of drinking dirty water?  Is there one more person I need to meet?  

I have no answers to any of those questions.  And if God wants me to change my ways he's going to have to be far more direct because he instilled in me the ambition to write, assigned me a modest ability to do so....and so I write about the things that matter most to me.  If he wants me to write about something else he's going to have to give me a hint...cause I'm quickly running out of time.

So, here I am, 66 years old today...and without a damn good excuse to sit in a rocker and do nothing.  I'm still a gladiator, ready to step out into the arena and face the lions.  I might need a leg brace..or later a cane, but the will to fight still lives within me....and I guess I'll be no different until the grim reaper comes and I'm finally too damn weak to fight him off.

Let these thoughts be a celebration of my birthday....or serve as my own eulogy....they are as honest an assessment I can offer of myself so either one is perfectly okay with me.

Pot Holes On The Open Road

                                                       

A few weeks ago I wrote about my growing yen to once again hit the open roads and do a little more exploring of our beautiful country.  I've been scouring Craig's List and RV Trader for a used RV that fit my price range; something that was relatively small, easily drivable and reasonable on gas.  I'm still mourning my sale of my last one; a 96 Winnebago Rialta that would get us where we wanted to go, give us a place to cook a meal and a place to lay our head at night in some Walmart overnight parking lot, and do so with something like 15 miles per gallon.  My wife and I have been planning a trip to the East coast to go see our two daughters and we travel with our dogs so the RV is the best solution for us.

With gas prices being what they are, and because their production was limited to ten years, those little Rialtas are hard to come by, and when they are available they are selling for more than my budget allows.

So I've been pursuing lesser choices.  Took a look at the Toyota truck based campers, renown for their room coach space, but also for their tendency to easily be overloaded.  So I joined a Yahoo Group to learn more about these little RV's, did a lot of research, then focused my attention on trying to find one.

So last week I come across an ad for a 91 unit in Los Angeles.   The pics looked terrific and seemed to be just what I was looking for.  I called the gentleman who owned it and asked all the right questions and was moving toward making an offer, when I asked if he owned clear title to the vehicle.  He said he had the title that had been signed over by the last owner but had not registered the vehicle in California because of registration fees.  That was the first red flag, the second being the long, long essay he wrote about how great the unit was...except he had only "owned" the unit for a few days.  When I pressed him he was unwilling to get the title registered in his name so I wrote this one off.

The next Toy Camper I found sounded too good to be true.  The owner crowed in his Craig's list ad that the unit was in pristine "like new" condition, asserted that the unit was a 95 model, and that they were the original owners.   Since the vehicle was over in Mesa I called and made an appointment to see the unit on Saturday morning.  So I show up promptly, drive up behind the camper and can immediately see the exterior paint is oxidized, the decals are worn, and wear is evident on the exterior seams.  Cracked and broken lens caps and a badly applied job of calking the front overhang window added further concern.  When the owner comes out we fire up the camper and do a test drive.  Not too bad but I notice the gas tank is nearly empty.  When we return I ask to hear the generator run.  After several efforts to start it (bad coach starting battery), I finally tell him to start the vehicle and use the vehicle power to start the generator...it finally kicks in and runs weakly.  I then go into the camper and try to turn on the roof top coach AC and there is none.  The furnace grill is lying in the middle of the floor, the fridge door won't close and the appliances seem old and worn.  

When I ask to check the coach battery he doesn't have the keys to the compartment and is unwilling to go into the house to get them.  When I ask for the VIN number and ask if he has a problem with me running a car fax to confirm original ownership and mileage he says okay...and that his wife just ran one last night.  I ask for it and he goes into the house for about one minute, says he can't find it, and doesn't want to awaken his wife at 10AM to find out where she put it.  

By this time he has stopped spewing his unending declarations about how pristine the vehicle is and begins physically withdrawing from me.  So I leave and when I get home I run a car fax and find out that the vehicle is a 94 model (not 95...they didn't even make a 95 model) and that the vehicle was not "original owner" but the playtoy of four owners, in Arizona and Missouri.  

So this guy was trying to sell a 1994 toy camper for $15,500 (I thought I could negotiate down to $12k or so) that was not "pristine", was not even serviceable as is, and was outright lying about ownership history.

Not easily discouraged, I have now endured four different buying experiences nearly as bad as this one; questionable and temporary ownership, misrepresenting the condition of the vehicle, or way overpriced.  I even ran a car fax by license plate number on a Toyota camper and found the tags belonged to a Hyundai sedan!

So these days I'm longing to place a call and find an elderly gentleman on the other end of the line.  I'm longing to hear him say they've owned the vehicle for a decent interval, that they enjoyed their years of RVing and are now hanging it up and are willing to part with "Old reliable Bessie" for a reasonable price.   Instead I get mush mouth "ho-hums" and vehicle bragadaccio that rings untrue.

So I'm still looking for a Class B or a small Class C RV that fits my price, is reasonably reliable and will get me from point A to point B without leaving me stranded in the middle of the Texas panhandle.  

Sadly I'm finding far more pot holes on the "buying trail" than any I ever ran into in all my years of travel.  If any of you folks know of an "honest John Doe" that has an RV for sale, drop me a line!

"We Refuse The Right To..."

                                                           

Try to imagine the government, whether local, state, or federal, having to come in and close your business because you refused to honor your commitment and offer the specific services that you proposed to carry out when you opened your business.

Imagine a gas station that refused to sell you gasoline.

Imagine a McDonald's joint that won't sell you a hamburger

A Day Care Center where "no kids were allowed?"

How about a bar that limits you to two ounces of Budweiser?

Would you get a little upset by this?

Well, that seems to be what American educators are offering our kids, even as we pour hundreds of billions into the school system and they are turning out illiterates whose only employment option is to flip burgers, bag groceries and sweep floors...and demand a $15 dollar per hour "living wage" to do so.

Why, America, are you not upset about a massive failure of the school system to deliver on their main business?

I was just reading this morning that the University of Nevada, Los Vegas has had their football program placed on sanctions for the failure of their football players to meet minimum academic standards.  Folks, do you know what those standards are?....A  2.0 (C) average!  And keep in mind, these big galoots traditionally major in physical education with a boat load of basket weaving and pottery class electives!  And they can't score a "C" average!

Oh, it's not all dark for UNLV...they can still play all the games on their football schedule...they just can't play for a championship or a bowl game next year.  And, sadly, it took the NCAA to impose these sanctions cause UNLV thought everything was hunky dory even if their quarterback can't read basic road signs or the little talk balloons in the daily comics!

As you know I read a lot on the internet,  especially political sites, always mining for blog fodder to feed you readers.  One thing I've noted in the last few years is the dearth of cohesive writing on posts from site commenters.   I'm starting to believe that soon, very soon, we're going to have abbreviated texting code cause so few seem able to compose the written word...and when they do, they can't spell worth a damn.

I don't know about other states, but Arizona does tend to close a few schools that fail to educate our kids.  Each and every time they do so there are scores of teachers and Obamanites who march in the streets and cry foul.  We need to close far more.

Folks, if I told you that we are spending $602 billion dollars a year in state and federal dollars just for k-12 education wouldn't you consider that a fair amount to expect a quality education for our kids?  If I told you that we spend over $13, 500 a year, the largest per student expenditure in the world, wouldn't you expect something back for that kind of dough?  http://www.edreform.com/2012/04/k-12-facts/.  Well we're clearly not getting it.  

"hv urslf a grt day...dn't swt the sml stf"

Post Script:  The Chicago Tribune is reporting that three Black school districts are crying foul that the City has chosen to close three city schools that have been on probation for as long as fourteen years with no improvement in student performance...of course they cried "racism" in spite of the fact that the city school superintendent is Black...a cry of "racism" seems to be their biggest defense mechanism.  Oh!  Not a word said about 75% Black families without a daddy at home, about parental failure to enforce homework, etc.  And the teachers unions are bravely defending even their worst teachers.

World's Mightiest Leader Having A "Gas"

                                                           

Good morning dear readers.  Well, we awake this morning, here in the the world's declining superpower, and learn that the world's strongest leader, Vladimir Putin has threatened to shut the gas off to Europe's 18 national Gasprom customers!

http://www.kpho.com/story/25213111/putin-warns-europe-about-ukraine-gas-debt

It goes like this:  The Ukraine, in something of a national turmoil these days (something about a Russian invasion on the eastern state of Crimea), seems unable to pay their gas bills.  So Vladimir Putin, chief customer support officer for Gasprom (and a big shareholder) has sent a letter to the 18 European nations,  who rely on Gasprom to heat their steamed snails and weinerschnitzel, telling them that if they don't fork over money to pay the Ukraine's past due gas bills, he'll spin the spigot clockwise and cut off European gas supplies.

This "dunning letter" left European leaders stunned; after all their bills are paid up, so what does Ukraine's deadbeat ways have to do with them?  Well, Vladimir, being the cunning fella he is, knows damn well someone from the West will spring for the Ukraine's gas bill because, in the entire G-7 there's not a complete set of testicles among them...and they know better than to look to Washington cause the fella occupying the White House never experienced the masculine joy of having his testicles descend and become a man.

Oh, the "man-child" at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will surely trot out to the Rose Garden and rattle some tin sabers; he'll announce that he just got off the phone with American Express and they've agreed to cancel Putin's "Black Card"...that'll surely teach him a thing or two.  And let's not forget that Barack has been on the phone to Peking Bank of China to borrow $4.5 billion dollars for emergency foreign aid to the Ukraine and that should cover their Gasprom's bill for a few months.  After all, we just learned a few weeks ago that the Ukraine has a direct deposit account with Gasprom and Mr. Putin gets a big cut of that as the "collection agency".

The peril of course is that China may tell Barack that he's over extended his account.  We currently owe China $2.3 trillion dollars so Peking might tell Barack to look elsewhere.  Should that happen both the Ukraine and those 18 European states could be in for a world of pain.  Frenchman would be forced to eat their snails raw, Germans would be forced to eat their weiners cold and the United Kingdom would be gagging on cold kidney pie.

Thanks to American oil companies and pioneering oil fracking we do not face that same fate here, though god knows Obama and his Secretary of Energy have tried their best to achieve $7 dollar gasoline and destroy the American coal industry.  But you can bet our European partners will not be too happy with Barack if they have to eat cold vittles for long.  They might even repossess his Nobel Peace Prize!

Though I'm not much of an Obama fan I will, for the sake of those poor snail eaters, throw him one bone:  Hey Barack, since you seem impotent in the face of strong leadership, no matter who wields it, why don't you try this on the Russians....round up a couple of dozen of those hip-hop and rap artists that you adore so much, then get their permission to broadcast that stuff on the Voice of America streaming into Russia 24-7....Putin just might open the gas pumps and let if flow again!

Cliven Bundy And The Militia's Government "Beef"

                                                           

I'm having a hell of a time trying to puzzle out this week's Bureau of Land Management-Militia skirmish up in Nevada.  There seem to be no good guys in this.  Rancher Cliven Bundy had not paid his cattle grazing fees on public land since 1993, as some 16,000 other ranchers comply with.  I've pored through news reports from both the left and right and found that the BLM had tried to affect a settlement with Bundy before finally taking him to court and winning the decision.  So it seemed the feds were in the right to take some course of action to bring this problem to resolution.

The story becomes a little more complicated as another report suggested Dirty Harry Reid, reaper of millions accrued by using his legislative authority to enact federal law favorable to his pals, had another pal ready to enrich both he and his son for evicting Bundy's cattle on at least part of that BLM land so that it could be used for commercial purposes.  I have not seen enough information to confirm that but, knowing Dirty Harry's past ways, it is certainly in keeping with his modus operandi (google how Harry became a multi-millionaire by accepting real estate in return for favored legislation).  

The BLM, using gestapo tactics certainly didn't help the situation up in Nevada.  Reports of the initial skirmishes indicate government feds were violent, threatening and intimidating, contributing mightily to the escalation of tempers.

I guess what I don't understand is why the militia types chose this particular incident to draw a line in the sand against government bullying.  Just days before Americans will write some $2.5 trillion in IRS tax payments why the hell aren't Americans assembling by the tens of thousands to protest massive government waste, fraud and abuse?  Why aren't thousands of Americans lining up and driving a wedge right through those illegal Mexican street marchers demanding citizenship?  Why aren't Americans by the thousands standing outside their local hospital and burning their Obamacare premiums in protest of the massive government intervention into our personal lives?

Most folks don't know that the Boston Massacre was really brought about by a crowd of rock-throwing youths who forced the Redcoats to fire on the crowd in a desperate effort to defend themselves.  Will this Bundy incident prove to be similar in its disassociating from what is really bugging Americans about their government?  Is this the first skirmish in the 2nd Civil War which I predicted two years ago?  Will tempers flare even higher when a force of Homeland Security goons gun down a mob of unruly Americans?

Obama's mainstream "Pravda", his own propaganda arm, will surely group this little government "beef" with the Tea Party...simply another group of wild eyed radicals that refuse to accept Obamacare, illegal Mexicans and rising taxes.  Perhaps they'll succeed in branding these militia types as random clowns that the great Obama has to deal with.  It remains to be seen if this little skirmish was simply a chance to blow off a little steam at an oppressive government or if it is the first sign of fever for an America that has grown tired of government bullying.

?

"Mom; A Health Food Cook Before Health Food Was Cool"

                                                               

I was just reading this morning's Republic Food Section and realized belatedly that my mom was a health food cook long before it was cool.  The articles this morning talked about the importance of fiber and the need to avoid pre-packaged and processed foods.

Well my mom offered plenty of fiber, and if she ever cooked something out of a box I can't remember what it was.  Even her cakes and pies were made from scratch...that was easy because we couldn't afford processed foods or cake mixes or ready made pies.

Fiber?  Here's a frequent menu at our house.  Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat for breakfast.  A big pot of pinto or navy beans for dinner, and if we were lucky, a hambone she lied about at the butcher, supposedly meant for "the dog" but more frequently in a pot of beans.  Pan fried, baked, or boiled potatoes, fresh cole slaw and a big golden pan of whole grain cornbread.  All made from scratch with nary a box in sight.  Hell, we ate enough fiber around our place to put a real "run" on toilet time each morning and, keep in mind, this was before Beano was invented so we could all stink up the place pretty good on bean gases.

We did not eat much meat, because we couldn't afford much meat, so we were certainly in keeping with nutritional guidelines prevalent today.  Meat, as with the ham bone, was meant just to add some flavor to the meal, not served as the main course.

Mom made her own sauerkraut in big jars out in the garage and let them ferment nicely; then they would be served up with hot dogs or sausages.  We did have the occasional spaghetti dinner, and when we were flush, we would have meat loaf.  

Mom was also good at buying the cheapest grades of beef and slow cooking it until it was tender, then adding lot of fresh vegetables; onions, potatoes, carrots, celery and peas...and it was delicious.  

Oh, I'm sure the food lords would frown on a platter of fried spam, or a crispy plate of salt pork, but, again, they were just enough to heap extra flavor on the fresh veggies and legumes we were raised on.

For dessert we got our fruit in various forms of cobblers.  Whatever was cheap and in season was made into golden delicious cobblers, hot out of the oven..and, in lieu of whipped cream, we topped it off with condensed milk.  Apple, peach, or berry, I still salivate at one of mom's wonderful fruit cobblers.

So..who knew?  My mom was a pioneer in health food cooking!  We all thought her meals were wonderful and I don't think it went unappreciated by mom either.  She used to relate stories of what they ate during the great depression and we would all get a bit squeamish at the idea of rabbit, squirrel and even deep fried sparrow on their depression era dinner table!

I'll forego the wild game but my all time favorite meal consists of pinto beans, fried potatoes, cole slaw, a couple of strips of crispy salt pork, a hunk of cornbread, and washed down by a tall glass of iced tea.  Ahh, health food!

"Thank You For Your Service; Now Please Die!"

                                                         

I've reported on many occasions the massive fail of the VA Hospital.  I've recounted the government's abandonment of caring for millions of veterans when they began means testing to qualify for care in the mid 1990's, I reported on the scores of deaths attributed to negligence at the Pittsburgh VA Hospital.  A couple of years ago we learned of patient negligence and abuse of veterans here in Arizona.  Then, just this week we learned that the VA is probably responsible for the deaths of at least 40 veterans because of VA delays in treating them.  A retired VA doctor reported a long history of abuse and falsified records to an Inspector General Investigative Panel last year...yet no one was fired, and the deaths continue.  Seems the VA was keeping two sets of books falsifying medical care that was never provided.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/2014/04/10/deaths-phoenix-va-hospital-may-tied-delayed-care/7537521/

Most Americans will never hear of these ills.  Instead we heard Obama and McCain laud the example of the VA Health Program as clear evidence of how effective government provided health care can be.  Pure fiction.

Both state and government officials are scrambling to mitigate citizen criticism.  The Congressional Panel on VA oversight was in Phoenix to investigate.  The governor is planning to hold a press conference and voice her shock at this tragedy.  And yet, all over this nation, veterans are getting the short end of the stick, even as millions of welfare folks, who never served a day, enjoy good medical and dental care, with lots of political oversight.

And yet:

A veteran was found laying face down on a cement patio, having fallen out of his wheel chair while left unattended.  When someone finally came around to check he was experiencing a high fever and second degree burns on his face and arms.

A VA nurse got a hold on a veterans' bank account and cashed $4,300 dollars for her own use.

A VA patient was given meals that he couldn't chew because he had no dentures.  The hospital ignored requests for meals that the patient could eat.

Nurses failing to change gloves when moving from one patient to another.

Here's one family's testimonial:

 Brian Houston, whose wife, Deborah, called the Tucson veterans facility her home from the summer of 2013 until February, questions the state's ability to adequately operate another home.

He said the staff in Tucson mistreated and neglected his wife, an Air Force veteran.

He claimed, among other things, that staff banged his wife's head and knee into a wall while moving her on Christmas Day, left feces in the shower for days, were slow to respond to requests for oxygen, and provided care that resulted in bedsores.

"I've seen things you wouldn't believe " said Houston, who has his wife's name tattooed on his arm.

He said his wife was discharged after his repeated complaints to staff, administrators and public officials.

"Thank You For Your Service...Now Please Die"...because the government just doesn't have the time or money to care for you.