Ridin Into The Sunset

                                                                       

On 17 January, 2016, this blog celebrated five full years of bringing you my takes; on friends, on family, on values, and certainly on politics.  For four of those years I knocked out at least one blog per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.  (and I'm still amazed how I did that!) Those blogs have generated over a million and a quarter page views.  As my loyal readers know, I cut back on the blogs to three per week; Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

While I'm not putting this blog to rest, I do intend to stop publishing with regularity.  In the future there may be times when I pour out five blogs in a row....then not publish another one for a week or two.  Should you wish to read any future issues you'll need to be a subscriber.  That way, any future blogs will be announced in your email as they are released.

Now, it just may be that some of you "Trumpers" might smile with glee with this announcement.  I hope not; I would hope that we who care about our country can still disagree on how best to save her. Personally, I've enjoyed the fiery kickback I've received in response to my Trump rants....it shows that at least you care about this election.

As to all those many blogs I've written over the last five years, some are better than others, but I've always tried to write from my heart, as honestly as I could.  And, if I may be a little prideful, I believe some of my blogs were well written...some of them glimmered....and spoke as well about the human and societal condition as anyone writing today.

It's been a good ride, dear reader.  I'm grateful that you've allowed me into your world, and I'm grateful that you've sometimes shared a bit of your world with me.

And, again, I'm not saying goodbye.  I'm still firmly in the saddle; still swinging at windmills, still fighting for the future of my country as fiercely as I fought for her during 22 years of military service.

In this election year I doubt very much that my keyboard will remain silent.  I'll still, no doubt, crank out some rant about political hypocrisy, call out some tom foolery here and there....just not with the regularity as I once did.

I once wrote how, upon arriving back home in America after some long military tour overseas, I could literally smell the scent of freedom.  I've kissed her ground many times, so grateful for having been born American, and so proud to have fought for her.  I love this country dearly.  That love has been the source of my strength and commitment toward writing of both her ills and her graces.  

So, in bidding you adieu from this five year crusade, I thank those who have ridden with me; some for the whole journey, some for a part of it.  

May God Bless you all and may God bless America.

Suffering From "Familism"

                                                                     

Yesterday I was reading one of those social studies, put out by a liberal think tank who get their financial support from government grants. The study said that the problem with American society today is that we suffer from "familism"

Well, I have a pretty good vocabulary, but I have to confess I had to look that word up. The dictionary said "familism" is the societal practice of valuing the family unit higher than that of the larger community.

The study argued for greater government effort to encourage a"it takes a village" among the American populace. The "Think-Tankers" said that, in order for society to advance, the American nuclear family needs become more "open"...and allow the more learned among society to guide the lives of our children.

The study said that those who are inflicted with the dreaded disease of "familism" are Hispanic families and poor under-educated Whites who won't "get with the program".

"Wow!", I thought...isn't that exactly what we've been doing for half a century now? With half of America collecting some kind of government check (and being forced to comply with government mandates to get that check), aren't we already surrendering the nuclear family to our government masters? Hillary Clinton actually coined the term "it takes a village to raise a child" more than 20 years ago! And, in this past half century, American parenting has, either willfully or not, been surrendered to governmental institutions. Educational standards are now dictated by our government masters in Washington...with any local choices left available surrendered to our state and local administrators. And since spanking a child has pretty much been outlawed in most of the country, we have to resort to calling the police when our children get out of line. Even the concept of "patriarch" and "matriarch" are obsolete terms as the real family "breadwinner" is a government bureaucrat in Health and Human Services, or the Agriculture Department weenies who issue food stamps.

Mom and Dad now so unneeded. Both the federal and state government will feed and medicate and educate your child..from pre-school through college...as long as you embrace the liberal dictates that our masters demand.

So how could we possibly need less "familism"..that dreaded disease that puts family above all others and all else?. And how could the "it takes a village" folks possibly intrude in our lives any more than they already are? Well, I guess they could begin to define our religion for us too....the government has certainly made inroads as they can now punish Christians if they refuse to bow down to the "designer society" that our government masters advocate for.

As for me, personally, I'm glad that I was brought up in an era where we suffered from "familism". My single mom raised us without the assistance of government, and though she'd be imprisoned these days for those switches to our backsides, we turned out okay. And, long before utility bills were subsidized by the working class, long before welfare was in popular vogue, long before medical care became a "right", and long before work became an "option" and not a lifestyle choice, somehow we managed.

When I grew up we honored our "matriarchs" and "patriarchs"...our mothers and fathers. We didn't beat them to death with a frying pan cause they withheld cell phone privileges. We didn't call the cops on them as soon as a hickory switch came out. And, somehow, without those "village people" we lived, worked, studied and played in a happy and safe environment! And, for some odd reason, my generation scored higher on school achievement tests...scores that haven't been seen again since our government masters began supervising mandating education requirements. And our work force was larger and more productive before the era of massive government assistance. Even poverty rates are higher now than when we had so little government assistance!

And, as much as we honored and showed respect for our parents, we showed even greater respect for our grandparents. Back then they lived with us, reminded us of family heritage, reassured us that "family" is something long-lasting and meant to be treasured. Now those familial icons are shuffled off to old folks homes, or senior care homes...suffering mightily from the affliction of "familism".

Sad. Damned Sad.

"Be-Laboring A Point"

                                                                       

The U.S. Labor Department just released the latest "labor productivity" numbers...and economists were once again shocked.  Labor productivity declined half a percent, the third straight quarter of economic decline.

Why is that important?  Labor productivity is our best signal of economic health....it is tied directly to a nation's Gross National Product (GDP).  And without growth in GDP our wages remain stagnant, as does the economy that relies on a worker's wages for robust economic activity.

Now you would not know this, judging from Barack Obama's monthly trot out to the Rose Garden, a big smile on his face as he touts that 4.9 unemployment rate.  Of course Barry doesn't tell you that the labor participation rate sits at all time lows, our economy now producing 30 hour work weeks from the millions of part time jobs, made part time by Barry's now failing Obamacare program.  Employers simply refuse to hire full time because doing so imposes such high employer costs for health care.

The productivity numbers are even more telling.  Even as labor costs soared we didn't get any better production for that higher labor rate.    Even as Chicago and New York and Seattle and San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the dozens of other liberal bastions have imposed higher minimum wage rates, productivity has not gotten any better.  Those $15 dollar per hour burger flippers didn't get any more ambitious, or work any harder to earn their higher salaries.

Those economists, not relying on a government grant, or federal paycheck, will tell you that we will never improve the economy as long as those 93 million people who left the work force, remain at home, sitting on the couch and collecting unemployment checks.  

We kind of knew the numbers wouldn't be good, right?  Last month we learned that our trade deficit with our trading partners has declined by another $37 billion last month.  Our manufacturing jobs continue to go overseas, and our prime economic activity seems to be in the service sector....as we shine each others shoes, sell cheap plastic stuff made in China over at the local Walmart, and service the Japanese made cars down at the Honda dealership.  

And through it all, the American worker has seen his pay frozen in time, with no real pay increases in the last seven years.

Don't expect Barack Obama to trot out to the Rose Garden on this number folks...it's ugly and getting uglier.

America...You Had Me At 7...And Can Still Make Me Cry

                                                                 

From the time I was just a young child I've loved this country.  I remember being mesmerized when I opened one of those now ancient elementary history books, and looking at lovely lithographs of the first American settlements.  And, from earliest memory those founding fathers seem to leap off the page for me.  I could pick up the scent of Washington's saddle leather, imagine riding shotgun as Jefferson's coach made its way from Monticello to Philadelphia, imagine crickets chirping as Jefferson sat alone in his boarding house room and wrote the Declaration of Independence.  

I would turn to a page in that old text, and sit and stare at a surveyor's map, showing colonial engineers laying out the first post roads...followed to a tee from the old Indian trails, even then centuries old.

And it has been more than sixty years since the teacher hauled in a Bell & Howell projector into the classroom and show us a filmed re-enactment of Francis Scott Key writing the Star Spangled Banner as he waited in hopeful prayer throughout that dark night outside Fort McHenry...hoping that our flag would still be flying when dawn came.  I was most glad that the blinds were drawn back there in that classroom...because I had tears in my eyes and wanted no one to see them.

                                                   

And, as I got older, and learned more about my country, I grew to love her even more.  And, even now, some 60 years later, I am more than ever convinced that God indeed "Blessed America".  When Washington's troops were all but defeated, facing annihilation on the fields of Manhattan, a miraculous fog descended over the island, allowing Washington's forces to retreat to that Jersey shore...and live to fight...and win..on a later day...against the most powerful nation on earth, with forces that outnumbered ours ten to one.

And, on the 24th of August, 202 years ago, during the War of 1812, British forces marched into Washington and set our nation's capitol afire.  They set fire to our capitol and the White House and every government building they could torch.  And somehow, miraculously, a once in a century tornado fell from the skies, and rain that was surely God's tears put out those fires.  The storm was so mighty it upended British cannons, then moved eastward, destroy much of the British Navy's fleet that brought them here.  

Then, half a century later, our creator brought us another Abraham, this one named Lincoln...a man who would serve as our father and spiritual leader...and our conscience at a time when we were fighting over the very essence of what freedom really means.

We don't get enough 'Lincolns'...we tend to get a great President every fifty years or so.  The next one came with funny glasses and a walrus mustache, with the name of Theodore Roosevelt.  He smashed the robber barons, created our national parks, won a Nobel Peace Prize, even as he uttered the mantra "Walk Tall But Carry A Big Stick".

Yes, we've had some great national leaders.  But it has been the magnificence of our people most responsible for our greatness...the kind of people that De Tocqueville wrote about two hundred years ago..."these Americans who wear ambition on their sleeves but covet no man's wealth and success...a people as friendly as man can know...as reflective of the value of personal liberty as any man could hope for".  

I'm worried about our beautiful country...so long blessed by God.  I fear the miracles will disappear, fading over the horizon like a lost sun.  But, if anything,  I love her even more....just as a sick child garners the most most worry from a loving parent.  

America had me at 7 years old, and she has me now...and she can still make me cry.

"Yes" means "Yes?"

                                                                     

For those few of you who've been living under a rock for the last few years, you might not know that California liberals up in Sacramento managed to legislate their way into college sex lives.  And the libtards who run Berkley were all for it.

Under a state law called "Affirmative Consent" if a student (particularly a male student) wishes to participate in a little "slap and tickle" with a co-ed, he'd better have her consent in writing.  If the horny fellow doesn't have clearly articulated, and documented consent, he'd better keep his willie in his pants.  

When I read about this 'Yes, Means Yes?" campaign I thought it was a joke.  I should not have taken it so lightly, given the track record of California's history of liberal nonsense.  

It seems that the University of California PC police recommended a straightforward, one page sexual consent form, signed by both parties, before coital bliss begins.

Well, we just learned from a couple of Berkley students that "Yes Means Yes" ain't working so well.  These "Gender Studies Majors" traipsed about the campus and interviewed twelve hundred college women.  And, wonder of wonder, those who climbed in bed (or the back seat, or in a university stairwell) with a sexual suitor did not follow the program.  The biggest reason cited for not signing a "sexual release form?"  "It just happened" was the most popular response.

Who knew?  Could we have possibly guessed that a penis has no brain, or that, when you're horny, you're horny and no one has the time or inclination to sign a form before the fun begins?

So, once again, both our California legislators, and the Berkley boobs sought to intervene in the personal lives of the citizenry, and once again their silly laws proved not to be workable.  All those thousands of hours spent on writing another law, all those well paid hours spent on a politically correct notion, didn't work.

We should not be surprised.  Most politicians attain their orgasms through the pursuit of political power...these bloodless, passionless idiots have no concept of how sex works.  

Fear not, these libtard politicians won't give up on trying to turn everyone into automatons.  No doubt they are even now writing another bill aimed to forward their goals for a designer society.

Sigh.

"Trumpeters....Ya Got Trumped!"

A couple of months ago I wrote a satirical blog on the possibility that Trump and Hillary have concocted a plan to assure Hillary's elevation to the throne.  I got lots of folks attacking me for something so outrageous.  Here's the link if you missed it:

The Tyranny of The Left; Part 3 of The American Revolution Series

                                                                     

This week I'm dedicating all three of my blogs toward calling attention to the growing tyranny of the liberal left.  My contributions this week are meant to shake America's collective shoulders and get them to wake up before it's too late.

I was inspired to write this week's series by Wall Street Journal reporter Kimberly Strassel's newly released book "The Intimidation Game....How The Liberal Left Silences Free Speech".  Declared or not, we've got to at least begin to realize that we are at war with the Brown Shirt Liberals who are doing everything they can to stifle your right to express your personal views...either societal or political.

I intend to lead off all three essays with the above "preamble".  And I'm going to remind you that , if we wait for our government masters to give their approval for a 2nd American Revolution, it will not happen.  Citizens, where would we be if our founding fathers had waited for King George to give his permission to American Independence.  The time is now, people!  Agitate!  Vote!  And, by god, share these blogs with as many people you know!

The Tyranny of The American Left, Part 2 of The American Revolution Series

                                                                     

This week I'm dedicating all three of my blogs toward calling attention to the growing tyranny of the liberal left.  My contributions this week are meant to shake America's collective shoulders and get them to wake up before it's too late.

I was inspired to write this week's series by Wall Street Journal reporter Kimberly Strassel's newly released book "The Intimidation Game....How The Liberal Left Silences Free Speech".  Declared or not, we've got to at least begin to realize that we are at war with the Brown Shirt Liberals who are doing everything they can to stifle your right to express your personal views...either societal or political.

I intend to lead off all three essays with the above "preamble".  And I'm going to remind you that , if we wait for our government masters to give their approval for a 2nd American Revolution, it will not happen.  Citizens, where would we be if our founding fathers had waited for King George to give his permission to American Independence.  The time is now, people!  Agitate!  Vote!  And, by god, share these blogs with as many people you know!

The Tyranny of The Liberal Left...Part 1 of The 2nd American Revolution Series

                                                                     

This week I'm dedicating all three of my blogs toward calling attention to the growing tyranny of the liberal left.  My contributions this week are meant to shake America's collective shoulders and get them to wake up before it's too late.

I was inspired to write this week's series by Wall Street Journal reporter Kimberly Strassel's newly released book "The Intimidation Game....How The Liberal Left Silences Free Speech".  Declared or not, we've got to at least begin to realize that we are at war with the Brown Shirt Liberals who are doing everything they can to stifle your right to express your personal views...either societal or political.

I intend to lead off all three essays with the above "preamble".  And I'm going to remind you that , if we wait for our government masters to give their approval for a 2nd American Revolution, it will not happen.  Citizens, where would we be if our founding fathers had waited for King George to give his permission to American Independence.  The time is now, people!  Agitate!  Vote!  And, by god, share these blogs with as many people you know!

Two States Decide America's Fate...every four years

                                                                           

Look at all that red....and the relative paucity of blue.  And yet, every four years those blue states lead us a little further down the road of destruction.  Though there are several wannabes, the big bruisers in New York and California continue to decide our national fate.  And "who" do we have pulling the strings?  A liberal state like California who has somehow managed to legalize half of Mexico...and sent them into public office, and New York, home to New York City, one of the most corrupt cities in the history of the world.

Republicans, in an effort to boost morale, always talk about carrying the "swing states"..Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado, and Michigan.  But, really, it's all just chaff....those swing state strategies would be obsolete if we didn't have those New Yorkers and Mexifornians holding the puppet strings.

Meanwhile, all those people living in those red states, sit in their easy chairs, watch what's happening in America, and say "what the hell is going on?"  How did we end up with these liberal elites commanding the national discussion for the relative minority of gays and transgenders and illegal Mexicans and Socialists who now rule the world?  Whatever happened to those leaders who use to worry about jobs and the economy and America's role on the world stage?

Well, sadly, all the "deciders" live in New York and Mexifornia, and they own the leaders who make all those decisions.

The 2nd Civil War cannot come fast enough.

Sigh.

Please Don't Be A Whore

                                                                       

Note:  This essay was written before Trump decided to attack a Gold Star family.  First it was the attack on John McCain and our POW's, then it was his disparaging remarks about the followers of other candidates, and now the Khan family.  I'm convinced that Donald Trump is mentally ill; not so that he can't function, but serious personality disorders.  And the saddest thing of all is that, even after Trump's many, many blunders, he just might have won this election if he could just keep his mouth shut.  Hillary Clinton is so bad that, had Trump just assumed a small sliver of quiet dignity, he might reach the Oval Office.  But his periodic psychological breakdowns are going to give Hillary a runaway victory.
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A 'Whore" is someone who will climb in bed with anyone...for the right price.  By the time this blog essay is published you will have seen dozens and dozens of Republican politicians climb in bed with Trump.  It's what politicians do...they screw you with their campaign lies, then they seriously start screwing you when they get to Washington.

Please don't be a whore; don't crawl in bed with Donald Trump.  He too has been screwing people for decades...he just does it in the private sector.  Now he wants to do it as President.

I will never vote for Donald Trump...I don't care how bad you scare me with Hillary.  I'll write in a candidate before I ever vote for either of two bad choices.

Yes, Hillary is a bad choice.  Trump's even worse.  Here's why.  If, by some miracle, Americans completely lose their senses and vote for Trump, you may be assured that the only party left with even an iota of common sense is dead forever.  Trump would be such a disaster that the American populace would rightly say "see, we gave you Republicans a chance and you blew it..never again!" Generalities will not solve our national problems and bluster is not a solution either.

Our last, really lousy choice is to let Hillary have her four years.  Let her continue down Obama's already paved path of national destruction, and after four years of her, we can put up someone from our party who is truly conservative, whose not a total idiot, who owns a modicum of principle, and who gives us a decent chance for a comeback.

We already know leftist policies do not work.  Let Hillary bury herself and let's move on.....we really have little choice.  Trump is certainly not a viable choice...he speaks off the top of an extremely empty head, has no foreign policy experience, is already backtracking on his conservative pledges, and is just generally a really, really despicable person.  

Let's not be tagged as the party who supported Trump.  Let him have his little egoistic fling in the limelight, then let him go back to firing the Dennis Rodmans of the world on reality TV.

Do I really have to explain all this to you people?

Sigh.

It's All Over Folks, Nothing To See Here....Move Along.

                                                                       

Well, the Democratic Convention is now over.  Hillary stepped out in six yards of white pant suit, looking something like a rabid Polar Bear, and accepted her crown.  Whew!

While I was right on in my pre-convention previews, there were a few surprises.  But, first let's review the agenda.  We had the quadrennial worshipping of "the drowner", Ted Kennedy.  Old Ted was lionized even as Mary Jo Kopeckni spun in her water grave.  The Dims trotted out their illegal aliens, succored by American taxpayers, and serve as a travel brochure for a few million other Central and South Americans who were already mapping out their border crossings as Hillary spoke.

And the Dems seemed to have enough dirt on enough military generals who came out and skewed the Obama-Clinton military and foreign affairs record.  We had old Bernie wobbling out and championing the party's adoption of his $15 dollar per hour minimum wage...that seemed to be enough for The Bern to endorse Hillary.  At least half a dozen speakers promised to have taxpayers write a check for $2 trillion dollars in student loan debt...and, in the future, making a university education free for everyone...as long as the major was Gender Studies or Ethnic Studies.

The party leadership footed the bill for a dozen mothers of Black thugs to get a free wardrobe from TJ Maxx if they promised to show up on stage and dis America's cops.  We had virtually the entire party aghast at The Donald's fence, even as they convened inside a fence that kept the peasants out.  They even demanded that the delegates show ID in order to come in and vote for God's sake!

All in all, the convention went well.  Debbie "Wasserman Test" Schultz got outed on those despicable emails, but it turned out all right cause Hillary rewarded her with a "Campaign Manager" title.  And, by the fourth day, the Democrat attendees were so brainwashed they forgot all about Hillary's wrong-doings and lack of achievements and elevated her to god-like proportions.

I was a bit surprised that the Dems evoked the name of Ronald Reagan time and again.  I guess, having been assured that the liberal sheep were all corralled, they thought they'd throw a bone or two to the Independents out there in America...and the Republicans scared to death of Donald Trump.

I watched Bill out there in the audience.  At times he was nearly asleep during Hillary's speech...other times he had that now famous open mouth adoration he's famous for.  For 25 years I've prayed that a big old bumble bee would fly into Bill's gaping maw, but it never happens.

All in all, the Dems did what they had to do, did what they always do........promise more stuff to more people, and damn the costs....our line of credit with China and Japan is still intact, and what's another $20 trillion in national debt because America can't count past six figures so who's to know?

And, perhaps Hillary's greatest asset was the liberal main stream media.  They were absolutely giddy as America's liberals crowned their queen.  At one point I believe I actually saw Chris Matthews piss down his leg.

God Help America....please!