Mr. Trump, You’re Hired!

Hmmm, after waiting years to produce a birth certificate to prove he was a natural born U.S. citizen (a requirement for holding the highest office in the country!), only “the Donald” could stir up enough fear, controversy, or trouble to force Obama to come up with something that appears to show that he was indeed born here.  As always, this inquiring mind has many questions:

Why the wait? 

Is it that money does indeed really talk? 

Are we to believe that someone in Mr. Obama’s position had that much trouble getting his hands on such a crucial document to dispel these disruptive rumors?

If  it does actually take that long for the POTUS to wade through red tape, what hope do we ordinary peeps have to access things we need, say like government health care, etc?

Does it take longer to produce a real birth certificate if you are really a U.S. born citizen, or to forge a convincing replica if you were not actually born here?

Is it better to have people focusing on the question of your origin of birth or honing in on the real issues of government corruption and pandering to rogue foreign leaders?

Now it appears we may need the extreme influence of Mr. Trump to get to the bottom of a new batch of questions. Although most of us Americans feel some degree of satisfaction that good has triumphed over evil and Osama bin Laden has gone to meet his 72 virgins–oh, wait–that’s for the good guys–we wonder why Obama has set himself up for more controversial questions.  Here are a few:

After almost 10 years of relentless searching, how does it happen that our most anti-military, foreign-ass-kissing president gets to claim victory for this military coup?

Why, after such an unbelievable feat being accomplished on his watch, would he so hastily dump the evidence into the depths of the Arabian Sea?

Is following Islamic burial tradition really going to deter these terrorists, who have nothing else on their agenda besides hatred and killing?

Why must we respect the dead body of the biggest mass murderer since Hitler while our young soldiers’ bodies are dragged through the streets and many of the victims of this monster could not even be recovered for proper burial in accordance with our traditions?

As Obama’s ratings plummet, was bin Laden served up as a sacrificial lamb by even more evil elements who wish to keep Obama popular and in power in order to preserve the one-world government dream?

In the scheme of things, bin Laden’s death is mostly a symbolic victory.  It will not bring the thousands of victims back.  It will not prevent countless others who have no jobs, dreams, or freedom to pursue more productive lives from joining terrorist groups.  Unfortunately, it will probably not keep my son and the children of other Americans from having to deploy to an insane lawless region of the world.  But I love to see good triumph over evil, and a villain delivered into hell where he belongs.  And I’d love Mr. Trump to continue asking the questions the rest of us want to know.

On 9/11: Compassion Begins at Home

It is often said that a person can not truly love others unless they first learn to love their self.  They may go through the motions of love, and in fact will usually put themselves last in an effort to convince others of their love.  But this is not love.  And the object of this “affection” will not usually appreciate nor respect the desperate efforts to please, somehow sensing the emotion is not truly love.  This self-loathing placating kind of love and compassion has become an epidemic in America; and the issues surrounding the most senseless egregious act of terror against everyday American citizens proves it.

It is true that most Muslims are everyday citizens like the rest of us, worshiping quietly and living their lives productively.  It is also true that others of their faith have demonically hijacked the entire Muslim religion and interpreted it as a reason to demean and stone their women, judge and persecute others who were raised in different faiths or do things differently, and encourage their young ones to strap on bombs or board planes and kill as many innocent “infidels” as they can.

If it’s really true that Islam is a religion of compassion and peace, then why the desire to rub salt into the wounds of the families of the nearly 3000 American citizens who were murdered on September 11, 2001?  There are many other places to build a mosque or Muslim community center in New York so why the desire to build one on the ashes of the innocent Americans killed on that late summer day in the name of Allah?  No true Muslim of faith would find it in their heart to hurt and disrespect the memories of these victims.  No truly compassionate American citizen would think it is so important to not upset the architects of this building at the expense of the pain it will cause the friends and families of the people forever buried there.  I am not against anyone building a mosque in this country.  I am only questioning the motive as to why it must be built RIGHT THERE?!  Why do they refuse to back down?

Of course, anyone that questions the motives of imam Feisal Abdul Rauf or his adherents are immediately branded with the “intolerant” or perhaps even “racist” label that are the most common epithets of choice of the America-hating crowd.  Our country is one of the most tolerant diverse countries on the planet and most of us love it that way.  Christian churches, Jewish synagogues, and Muslim mosques stand together within walking distance in most cities.  Although there are some intolerant individuals in this country, the rule of law is that everyone is free to worship (or not worship) as they please without worrying that some government-sanctioned thought-police will force you to dress and pray like everyone else or suffer dire consequences.  Unlike many countries where people are imprisoned or even executed for practicing another religion or carrying the holy book of another faith, we work side by side and easily mingle with our fellow citizens of different religions and races.  Yet one sign of respect, one small concession asked of these “Muslim community center” proponents and the bleeding hearts are tossing insults.

Of course, Main Stream Media is mum on the possibility that this building could be a so-called victory mosque like the ones mentioned in this and other blog posts.  I personally have no way of knowing if this is why some people are so adamant about this “Muslim center” being built so close to Ground Zero.  But if I were truly a person of faith, I would not be fighting for something that is so disturbing to so many fellow American citizens that mourned the senseless loss of life of our Christian, Jewish, atheist, agnostic, Muslim, Hindu et al. countrymen nine years ago today.

Again: The Genius of Star Trek

If you don’t believe in the concept of time travel, you might want to start watching old reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  I’ve already posted on other episodes that clearly showed someone from the nineties was eerily scripting science fiction that could be based on life in America as we now live.  Big Daddy was amazed at the prescient irony he was watching and called me in to listen to this conversation between Hugh, a former member of the Borg collective who shun all individualism, and some of the officers of the star ship Enterprise (including the Klingon security officer Worf):

Hugh:  You probably can’t imagine what it is like to be so lost and frightened that you will listen to any voice that promises change.

Worf: Even if that voice insists on controlling you?

Hugh further expounds upon how the mastermind of the Borg creation “had no idea how to keep his promises.  He began talking about the need for us to make sacrifices.”

Eerie.  Creepy.  Sounds like now.

Unfortunately, I’m tired as death due to my work schedule and God knows what else.  I haven’t even had time to go over the new “health care” manifesto, so I can’t pick it apart yet like I know I should.  I did hear somewhere that any family making over something like $88,000 per year would be paying a 10% tax to help pay for this.  If this is true, you might as well say goodbye to the middle class of America.  I can only hope this isn’t true.

Same Goal, Different Path

Last night, after watching the phenomenal results of the Senate race in Massachusetts, I expressed my glimmer of hope in humanity with a quick comment on my Facebook profile about how the people there have spoken–loud and clear.  This was a big deal.  This state is the birthplace of the liberal Kennedy dynasty; voting Democrat is a way of life.  The people who voted yesterday put the well-being of their country ahead of their personal ideology.

In the privacy of the voting booth, the voice of the majority has been expressed.  But why is this growing majority not heard as often in the media, in the blogosphere, or even on the streets?  I can tell you.  You’re misunderstood.  You sound heartless and politically incorrect.  You feel like the “Ugly American.”

Some of the nicest people I know think this administration’s plans to completely turn this country upside down in the guise of “helping people” is the only way to go.  Some of them are victims of the bad economy and are searching for the short-term help that the government is promising.  Others are just caring people who have been trusting enough to believe that the government really just wants to help people with no ulterior motives in mind.  Making a deal with the devil never seems so bad in the beginning.

I can’t even begin to express all of my misgivings about the government’s race to take control of America’s health care (and banking, and media, and auto industry…).  Many younger people don’t fully understand that Socialism/Communism doesn’t work for anybody but the ones in charge because the education system started omitting the stories about the Soviet gulags, the killing fields of Cambodia and the violent suppression of Chinese dissidents from the curriculum in favor of stories about how bad it is to be successful, entrepreneurial or white.

All I can say is that what I want is what most rational Americans want.  I want our country to prosper and continue to be a place where persecuted foreigners can seek safe haven by legally entering our country and embracing and contributing to our culture.  I want our own citizens to be able to live the American dream and enjoy the fruits of their labor without worrying that a serious illness will put them out on the streets.  I just think there are better, cheaper, and less intrusive ways to get there.

If Only We Could Hope

I listened to the President’s speech on Tuesday concerning the plans for Afghanistan.  I wondered who had written this speech, and how President Obama could be reading it so convincingly.  His nose wasn’t even growing!

He is rightly listening to his military experts to send over more troops and resources.  He should send even more, and ASAP.  With two sons in the military, I don’t say this lightly.  But if we can’t support the troops we have over there right now, if we can’t go all out and finish the job we started instead of slowly chipping away and risking American and innocent Afghan lives, then pull out all of our troops immediately and try to find another way to defend our borders.  We can not play political games and worry about votes when our soldiers’ lives are at stake.

I wondered how he could mention how “Our prosperity provides a foundation for our power…It underwrites our diplomacy.  It taps the potential of our people, and allows investment in new industry.  And it will allow us to compete in this century as successfully as we did in the last…” while his policies are beliefs are so destructive to the free-market system that has allowed us to enjoy such freedom and prosperity.

I wish we could feel as safe as he seemed to want us to feel when he said “We have to invest in our homeland security…We have to improve and better coordinate our intelligence so that we stay one step ahead of shadowy networks” while remaining soft on illegal immigration, trying war criminals out to destroy our country in our federal courts and giving them the same rights as American citizens, and allowing political correctness and fear to hamper the work of intelligence investigators that should have foreseen acts of terrorism like the shootings at Fort Hood.

I felt proud when he mentioned that “…more than any other nation, the United States of America has underwritten global security for over six decades – a time that, for all its problems, has seen walls come down, markets open, billions lifted from poverty, unparalleled scientific progress, and advancing frontiers of human liberty.”  I truly feel this way.  We’ve made mistakes and we have some individuals that don’t live the “American way,” but the overall spirit of this country is freedom, tolerance, and generosity.

A lovely young woman I know still sees the world through idealistic eyes.  She believes these politicians really care about the “people” instead of the power they can garner through winning the votes of these people.  She calls President Obama “her president” with a dreamy look in her eyes.  If only I could believe some of the things he so eloquently reads from his teleprompter, he could be “my president” too.

Big Brother Is Watching Us

I remember when the HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was first enacted in 1996.  It must have cost the USA vast forests of trees.  Every time I took the kids to the doctors, I was handed a bunch of papers to read and sign to acknowledge I understood about the new HIPAA privacy rules.  After a while, the doctor’s offices got smart and asked if I knew about the HIPAA privacy rules and if I needed a copy.  Of course I would say no.  I had already received about a hundred copies.  No wonder health care is so expensive.  I can’t imagine how much these doctors had to spend on printer ink and paper.

Not only was I tired of signing all these waivers, I was annoyed by another provision.  Whenever the doctor’s office would call the house to inform my husband of the results of a medical test, they could not give me the message.  However, they would always call when he was at work.  He would list his cell phone number, but they would always call the house.  And even though he is busy during the day, and would often prefer that I take his messages, they were afraid to leave me the results of his tests.  I understand that some spouses prefer to keep all things private from each other; we are not like that and we were not given a choice.  Thankfully, things seem to have loosened up and I am now usually informed of hubby’s appointments and test results once they have established that I am the spouse.

Although this has nothing to do with health care, and so must be yet another government-mandated privacy provision, once the kids got to college we were informed that even though we still support our children, pay their bills and tuition, and claim them as dependents on our tax returns, we are in no way entitled to know anything about their college life.  We would not get a copy of their grades.  When we call the schools, even to ask about their financial aid or tuition accounts (which we frickin’ PAY), we are advised that they can only speak to the student about these private matters.  Never mind that for the most part, we don’t bother the kids with these details and they really don’t have much of a clue about them.  I’d rather they focus on their studies!

The private college did allow the student to sign a waiver allowing us parents access to information if we call for it.  Obviously, they’re smart enough to realize that these teenagers are not paying this substantial tuition on their own and it might be wise to let the parents in on important matters.  As expected, it took a little longer for the state university to come to grips with reality.  Do they know how difficult it is to get a hold of your busy young student during the week days (when the school offices are open) and explain to that student what you need to find out, and then have that student actually call themselves to straighten out the matter?  Government intervention always equals government-size headaches!

Why am I complaining about all this now, you might ask?  Well, even though I’m not entitled to know anything about the health care and academic life of my dependent sons, obviously we must provide all sorts of personal information to the school and some health insurance company that they must be getting kickbacks from.  And we are being threatened to comply!

After Middle Son J was already enrolled in classes, we got a form from his school here at the house saying that we must fill out and return before 9/30/09.  If we don’t, we would be charged a $112.00 fee.  Of course, this fee would be tacked on to son’s tuition, and there would be no way to avoid it.  The form that was sent was a health insurance enrollment/waiver form.  There were two choices:  Either provide proof (along with very private personal questions about the family health care coverage) that your dependent is covered by your health insurance, or face mandatory enrollment into their university-sponsored Accident and Health Plan!  The cost of this yearly plan ranges from $1108 to $2380 for one year of coverage.  This is on top of all the other costs (like tuition, books, and living expenses) most college students already pay.  Luckily, as a dependent student under the age of 24, Middle Son J is covered under our health insurance plan.  I wonder how many less fortunate students are wondering right now how they are going to come up with this extra money to be covered under a school medical plan that they never even heard of before and had no idea they would be required to have when they signed up for classes.  While they are trying to come up with a solution, these students who are probably least able to afford any of this will be hit with a penalty of  “at least $112” while they are trying to figure out what to do.

Meanwhile, I very grudgingly went online and filled out this form to let this insurance company know that we are not interested in their coverage.  I was forced to give them the name and address of our health insurance company, the policy number, group number, and phone numbers.  They insisted on knowing which medical services our plan covers.  And it’s not like the school or this company would ever be responsible for paying any medical bills our son would incur.  Many young people are temporarily without health insurance.  Like most things in life, it’s a gamble.  And the odds are in a young person’s favor.  If they do get sick, they’ll be treated and find a way to pay the bill.  It happened to me when I took that chance.  But that was back when Americans weren’t assumed to be incapable of making choices on their own, and we weren’t strong-armed into paying for coverage we neither needed nor wanted.

Please Don’t ASSume

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “Please don’t ASSUME.  It makes an ASS of U and ME.”  Lately, I’ve noticed an ugly trend by certain people to dismiss others with different political views with a variety of horrible labels.  These assumptions are totally untrue in my case, and I am willing to bet equally unfounded in the case of the majority of people that want to defend the American Constitution as written and do not believe that Capitalism is inherently evil.

Assumption #1:  Capitalists are racist. Because our current President is half black, all of a sudden anyone with a different ideology is racist.  Did we all change our beliefs because he became President?  I hardly think so.  The racist word is usually tossed out whenever it becomes too hard to defend an issue.  It’s a cop-out, and racist in itself.  I must admit, though, that while I’m no racist, I am prejudiced.  I’m prejudiced against racist idiots, and low-lifes that abuse the system.  And these idiots come in many shades and hues.

Assumption #2:  Capitalists are rich greedy pigs. Most of the people I know that believe in capitalism are ordinary middle-class citizens.  They get up and go to work, save for their kids’ education, and donate their time and money to good causes.  As a matter of fact, an overwhelming majority of  truly wealthy Americans, our Hollywood elite, are the ones most vocal against our capitalistic system which has made them so wealthy.  If they really feel so strongly about the evil of capitalism, why don’t they sell their multi-million dollar mansions, quit flying first class, and redistribute their wealth to people that actually get their hands dirty at work.

Assumption #3:  Capitalists are unfair. This is a ridiculous assumption.  The very premise of capitalism is fairness.  You reap what you sow.  If you work hard, you can better yourself.  You will be rewarded for your efforts.  What is unfair is taking from those that are willing to work hard and/or educate themselves, and giving the fruits of their labor to others that are not willing to contribute or work hard.  There will always be those that can’t take care of themselves; those are the only ones that should be taken care of.

Mulling Over The World’s Problems

“We always did feel the same, We just saw it from a different point of view…” – Bob Dylan from Tangled Up In Blue

I get so annoyed sometimes when people, often older people (like my mom), go on and on about how horrible the world is, and that things were never this bad before.  Like somehow, all of a sudden, human nature has mutated into some unrecognizably evil force.  Do these people forget their history lessons?  Eons of torture, human sacrifice, slavery, and subordination are part of human history.  It all still exists today, but this generation of humans didn’t invent it.

Then again, I look at things today and have to acknowledge that a lot of things really suck.  A lot of the problems in the United States today are due to the culture of irresponsibility.  Fathers (or mothers) don’t want to be burdened with child rearing, so they walk away.  People want instant gratification and rack up credit card bills they can’t ever afford to pay.  Criminals sometimes get away with their heinous crimes by blaming their sad upbringing; litigants often profit on their own carelessness by finding someone with deep pockets.  Meanwhile, the rest of us (and I hope we’re still the majority), are not rewarded for our devotion to our loved ones, our work ethic and self-control, or our honesty.  In fact, we’re left to foot the bill for the deadbeats.

For a while, I thought anyone left of center on the political spectrum was working toward the destruction of the American dream.  I still believe that the free market economy is the most efficient economy.  It rewards excellence, and allows those willing to work for their dream to reach it.  It lifts everyone up by encouraging production, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship rather than creating a disincentive for excellence by taking from the most productive citizens and rewarding those that would rather just have fun.

Many of the blogs I read and love are written by very intelligent people who also hate irresponsibility.  They care about our world and want what’s best for their kids.  Just like me.  But their politics are very different from mine.  I’ve come to realize that, except for the lunatic fringe on both sides of the spectrum, most of us are decent people.  Except for most politicians, we probably don’t have a hidden agenda.  We just want to live happy and productive lives.

Sometimes I hear people wondering what they can do to make things better.  From time to time, I’m probably going to offer my humble opinion on what we, as individuals, can do to counter this self-centered culture of irresponsibilty.  I see it as one of the biggest threats to life as we know it, and I need to speak out.   And I promise to do it in the most nonpartisan way.

Empathy For Whom?

The Sixth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution provides that  ” In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State…”  It only makes sense that the judge should be impartial also.

One of the most important qualities on President Obama’s wish list for the judge he plans to nominate to fill Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s position is empathy.  If you look up the word empathy in any dictionary, you will find a definition similar to this one from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:

Identification with and understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and motives.

What I want to know is, who should be the recipient of a judge’s empathy?  Should it be the victim that was wronged?  Or should it be the defendant, or the person accused of wrongdoing?  The defendant already has the presumption of innocence until found guilty.  So once the accused is found guilty, should a judge allow his/her personal feelings into the decision?  I thought justice was blind.

While campaigning last year, candidate Obama gave his thoughts on the law a la Obama:

“I want my justice to understand that part of the role of the court is to look out for the people who don’t have political power. The people who are on the outside. The people who aren’t represented. The people who don’t have a lot of money; who don’t have connections. That’s the role of the court.”

To me, a murder victim is a murder victim.  If my kid becomes a rich doctor through his hard work and is killed in a jealous rage by a poor crack addict who grew up with bad parents, my child is still dead.  Is the crime more or less reprehensible than the homeless man bludgeoned to death by a group of bored suburban kids?  A life is a life and a crime is a crime.

The most important legal decisions in the land should be determined fairly, by an impartial panel of judges who follow the law, and not their poor bleeding hearts.

Sanity Prevails Again ~ GW’s Goodbye Gift

Just last week, I posted about this travesty of justice, the plight of Border Patrol guards Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean who were imprisoned and sentenced for about 10 years just for doing their job and apprehending a drug smuggler.  In line with the way our back assward country has become, what with crooks and bums being rewarded and bailed out while the people that work hard, study, and save are forced to handover what they’ve earned to the irresponsible takers of the world, the drug smuggler was granted immunity while the guys doing their job were punished.  George Bush has not been as generous as his predecessors at handing out presidential pardons (maybe he’s not friends with as many thugs?), so even though to most fair-minded Americans this was a no-brainer, most people following the story thought there was a good chance these guys would be languishing in prison for many years.

Although he didn’t grant them an outright pardon, President Bush has commuted the sentences of these men.  These days, when the stories in the paper become more ludicrous and unbelievable than the ones you read the day before, it just gives one a glimmer of hope that maybe the earth will not spin off its axis tomorrow.  Maybe with these baby steps into the realm of common sense, we might be around a few more years.

I’m wishing the best for these guys and their families.