Saturday, April 5, 2008

Choices...

Just sittin here and thinkin...

George Jones has a record out about choices.

I've had choices
since the day I was born
there were voices
that taught me right from wrong.
If I'd have listened
I wouldn't be here today
living and dying
with the choices i've made.

I was tempted,
at an early age i foundthat I liked drinkin,
oh, and I never turned it down;
there were loved ones
but I turned them all away
now I'm livin and dyin
with the choices I've made.

Uh, art imitating life?

I resemble that remark.

I suppose there are a lot of us today who, in a moment of rare truth would say that we are a product of our choices.

The modern thought of the day wants us to believe that we are who the environment, and our family have made us to be, but deep down inside, each of know that we are who we are because of choices we have made.

Don't like the cold hearted truth?

Get over it, and get over yourself... life goes on, and at anytime, we can make the choice to be different, or to impact our life differently.

Don't have the guts to make the choice?

Truth is to not make a choice is to make a choice!

Now I'm livin and dyin with the choices I've made.

Love that lady

I do love Mamacita, and her blog http://weeklyscheiss.blogspot.com/.

If you haven't met her, or listened to her heart, better get on over there and see her.

She b the best.

Time flies, or time flys...

One day, many years ago, I made a comment that time was flying by so fast.

An octegenarian lady commented to me that I would learn, the older you get the faster time flies by.

Some time later, someone commented to me, that life is like a roll of toilet paper: the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.

And here, in my sixth decade, I am beginning to see the wisdom in both comments.

Friday, April 4, 2008

So, where were you?

All day long, I have listened to reports of events taking place in different cities, regarding the forty year anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Over the years, I have often wondered why I don't have any memory of the events surrounding his assassination. Today, I wonder no more.

I remember very vividly where I was when President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated that day in November of 1963. About the time he was shot, I had just finished firing the 500 yard line for rifle qualification in boot camp. At the time, I jumped up and shouted that I had qualified, and was immediately told to shut up because the President had just been shot. Yeah, I remember that very well.

Forty years ago, today, I was in the Republic of South Vietnam, and had been there for about a month. Our camp was located about four miles south of the demilitarized zone between north and south.

In those days, there was no 24/7/365 cable news networks, nor were there talk show hosts that were being beamed to us, in that far distant world. Except for the occasional mail that might come in from home, we were pretty ignorant about what was happening back in the world.

I think it is good that we remember this tragic event. But, deep within my being, I wonder how much we are really being true to Dr. King's speech. Seems to me he spoke of having a dream that one day all people would be able to live together in peace and harmony.

GUT CHECK!, where are we today?

Seems to me, we have progressed a long ways from those days in respect to Dr. King's dream. Yet, I still see people running around looking for the least bit of anything to scream racism about. How terrible was the Duke university lynching we watched recently?

Makes me wonder what Dr. King would say about how we look as a country today. I kinda believe he is turning over in his grave; just like the founders of this country, as they see what we have become.

Rest in peace, Doctor King. May your dream and prayer be answered before time ends.

May God have mercy on our souls.

"Poverty is less a matter of having few goods than having lots of problems"

The esteemed Dr. Helen at http://drhelen.blogspot.com/ has another superb observation on human behavior.

For some reason, was not able to post my comment today, so, I will post it here.

Not sure where I stand on this.

I have known people that raised three children, owned their own mobile home, had a boat, a pick-up truck, a van, and a car. They had all the current electronic paraphenalia, and were not employed, but instead were living off welfare, SSI and workman's comp.

On the other side, I have a son who is 100% disabled with the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. He is physically able to work, but when he applies for a job, and the employer learns of his disability, they will not hire him.

The field of psychology has valid arguments on all sides, as to whether or not he can be reclaimed from his disability.

But why attempt anything when we can give him money to live on, and continue his medication that he has been used to taking since his days in elementary school?

Self-defense?

Zendo Deb at http://wheelgun.blogspot.com/ has a good post up regarding Pizza Hut and Self-defense.

May be time to think and consider where we are heading in this country.

Shoot, she has lotsa good posts that just need to be read and digested... go give her a look.

Thinking again, when I don't get paid for it...

The prophet Jeremiah, back in his day, had some serious things to say, that could even be up to date today.

"So you shall say to them, 'This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.'" [Jer 7:28, NKJV]

This past six or seven years of presidential candidates jockeying to get their party's nomination has shown us just how much truth has been cut off from their mouth.

Though it has only been recently that we have truly been acquainted with the depth of their irascibility.

Of the people running for office, or even the media that play them up or down, how many can we truthfully say receive correction?

This country has been great, in the past, because we believed she was founded on Godly principles, especially truth and goodness.

Deception is the great step in a country's life, that marks the point of demarcation into oblivion, and the ash heap of destruction.

Jeremiah has some additional words that need to be paid attention to.

"Thus says the LORD: 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I AM the LORD, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight', says the LORD." [Jer 9: 23, 24, NKJV]

Wherein lies the difference between a wise man and a wise guy?

In this post-modern day of accepting no absolutes, what is available for us to base any amount of wisdom on? My subjective experience teaches me a lot, but when placed against objective observation, may very well not stand up.

Case in point: I survived a head-on motor vehicle accident, the police estimated at around eighty miles an hour. I did not have a seat belt on, and was pinned in the vehicle for around an hour.

Can we definitely state that anyone who is a passenger, in the front seat, will be able to survive the same type of accident?

We would not be very wise to make that determination, would we? I am going to go out on a limb here, and say, that facts accumulated in the forty years since that accident would point to out that I was lucky, or had in fact been protected by divine fiat.

So, what makes us so sure that our subjective impression is right? Well, again, right means there may be a wrong; and post-modern thought tells us there is no right or wrong, only what is right or wrong for each person.

And we are seeing the havoc being wreaked on our country by this philosophy of their being no absolutes.

May God Almighty have mercy on our souls.

Think about it...

What is more difficult to believe?

That Jonah spent three days in the belly of a giant fish; or that three men, having been thrown into a fiery furnace, walked out unburnt and without even the smell of fire or smoke on them?

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Friends?

For many years, I have believed that adage that a real friend is someone who comes in when everyone else is leaving. This adage gained some traction after 9/11 when we spoke about the heroes who were more than willing to give up their lives to save another.

And, I guess that where my mind is going with all this; is, why has it become so difficult to find a true friend?

All through my military career, we spoke of not having friends, but having military acquaintances. And it seems, that line of reasoning would go well with going into combat, and not knowing who will be coming out again.

For the most part, today, we see our military being committed to combat zones as complete units. Back when I went to Vietnam, we had gotten beyond sending complete units and were sending individual Marines, as they were coming available.

So, where does the rubber meet the road, when we are talking in terms of friends sticking closer than brothers?

My experience has been, the people who I have been closest with, are the ones who have made a commitment to themselves and to me, to be willing to go in when the rest of the world is going out. It seems, to my military mind, at least, that today, we have gotten so caught up in being highly mobile; we commute lengthy distances to and from work, we change residences and jobs on a regular basis, we are competing at work for better position and pay.

Have we really gotten to the point where we have become so self oriented, so self committed, that we no longer have time for someone else? Has the plethora and availability of therapists, and counselors robbed us of the desire to find someone who can be a friend and accept us just as we are? Warts, and spinach leaves on our front teeth, and all?

Or have we become so self-absorbed that we don't want anyone to know us deep down, so, we spend enormous amounts of money for therapists; so no one is able to see who we really are.

And, we spend a lot of money on pets, pets who can be there when we get home, who never castigate us when we tell a lie to someone on the phone, or curse someone in the comfort, and security of our home.

Have we effectively given up on having a real friend, and settled for simply having lots of acquaintances; perhaps for anonymity sake?

The Anchoress...

The Anchoress at http://theanchoressonline.com/ has a post up:

http://theanchoressonline.com/2008/04/03/what-do-you-think-re-operation-chaos/

As always, she looks at these things with a pretty clear head.

Go take a look, and let her know what you think...

Politics as usual

The Sioux Falls newspaper has an article on candidates for city council having broken the law at some time or another.

Sadly, politics have become almost criminal in and of itself. Politicians basically have to lie about what they want to do in office.

When politics becomes criminal, then only criminals will want to be a part of it. Someone said once, How can you tell if a politician is lying; his/her lips are moving.

Perhaps the biggest crime perpetrated by politicians is robbery. Seems like every politician has a remedy for any problem that may be thought up, and that is raise taxes, so we can throw money into it.

And how interesting is it that yesterday's paper ran an account of Sen Tim Johnson stepping down as leader of the Senate Ethics Committee?

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Johnson exits ethics panel post

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080402/NEWS/804020319
The Sioux Falls, SD newspaper is carrying an article that tells a lot about career politicians.

"On Monday, the two-term Democratic senator passed the duties to his stand-in, California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has headed the Senate Select Committee on Ethics since January 2007, one month after Johnson suffered a major brain hemorrhage.

"Bob Burns, a political science professor at South Dakota State University, said he's not surprised Johnson stepped down from the ethics post. Unlike Boxer, Johnson is up for re-election this year, Burns said."

The thought that comes into my military mind is: If Sen Johnson is up for reelection, why would he want to give up his position of leadership on the ethics committee?

Perhaps he recognizes that there is not a lot of ethical conduct going on in con-gress, and he wants to distance himself from a committee that is supposed to be policing ethics.

The past couple of years has seen a lot of unethical behavior in con-gress, and we the people do not see a lot being done to clean it up, or make it any better.

"When you've been gone nine months, it's hard to jump in midstream," begs the question that has been being asked, is Sen Johnson really capable of performing his duties in con-gress?

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Recollecting youthful thoughts

My parents started me early in school. My birthday is in November, and apparently placed me right on the deadline of whether to start early or late. Because I started early, I was seventeen when I graduated from high school. Which meant that I was usually the youngest, the smallest, and the slowest to mature.

I suppose Mamacita might have something to say about it, but that would be for another discussion.

My childhood, apparently was not very memorable, or else it was so traumatic, that my subconscious has totally blocked it out from my random access memory.

I had a friend who was older, and seemed to be more aware of what was going on. I definitely looked up to him, and in some ways I wanted to be like him. He was the scientific geek, that so many joke about. At a young age he was experimenting with chemicals, and knew so much more than I did.

I remember the logo on a pack of cigarettes had the words: "PER ASPRA AD ASTRA" and "IN HOC SIGNO VINCES". Without any doubt, I had not learned any foreign words or phrases, so, in effect I had never even thought about what the phrases meant. For some reason, one of the times we were together, my friend informed me the phrases meant "The stars through difficulty" and "In this sign conquer".

I recall how lofty those two terms sounded to me. I still don't know if he had the correct translation or not, but I remember how much those words affected me.

This was even before Sputnik and any space travel of any note. But in my youthful mind, I could understand the stars through difficulty. That was a deep thought, but it resonated with me. In some existential way, I understood the truth behind the phrase.

Add to that the phrase: In this sign conquer, and i had the motivational information I needed for me to dream the impossible dream. School frustrated me, and my home life was less than ideal, these phrases gave me a sense of hope. Today, fifty years later, I see how they were instrumental in giving me a ray of hope that I would one day get out of school and get out of my home.

What phrase or phrases, have given you some sense of hope, at some time in your life?

Health care myths

From Lt. James Tichacek, USN (Ret.)http://post_119_gulfport_ms.tripod.com/rao1.html

Health Care Myths: Fictions don't become facts through repetition. Keep that in mind next time you hear a politician breathlessly decry the horrors of the American health-care system and then explain how he/she intends to fix it. Some of the most popular talking points in the health-care debate pass as the gospel truth simply because, well, they're popular - not because they're true. Granted, statistics and surveys can substantiate most anything you want them to just by the way you ask the question or collect the information. However, the following five items you should take with a grain of salt the next time they are discussed:

(1) Forty-seven million Americans do not have health insurance. This figure comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. What most people don't know, however, is that the Bureau counts anyone who went without health insurance during any part of the previous year as "uninsured." So if you weren't covered for just one day in 2007, you're one of the 47 million. That also includes 10.2 million illegal immigrants, and about 14 million people who are eligible for public health-care programs like Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program but have yet to enroll. And nearly 10 million of the uninsured have household incomes of more than $75,000 - so they can probably afford to buy health insurance but choose not to.

(2) Universal health-care coverage can be achieved via "individual mandate." According to the federal census, nearly two-thirds of the uninsured are aged 18 to 34. This makes sense - healthy people aren't going to pay for expensive insurance they'll never use. Those who support an "individual mandate" believe by legally requiring all Americans to buy health insurance the young and the healthy will increase the size of the risk pool and therefore lower premiums for everyone. As a way to enforce an individual mandate, some suggest garnishing wages. But many states require insurers to charge everyone the same rate. So, young people would end up paying far more in premiums than they should - or could - pay. It's patently unfair to force people to purchase insurance they can't afford. Even in Massachusetts, which offers substantial premium subsidies for low-income residents, the government had to exempt a fifth of Bay Staters from the individual mandate because insurance was still so expensive. And, the plan is already $147 million over budget. The real way to attract young adults into the insurance market is to lower premiums - not to impose draconian sanctions.

(3) Expensive prescription drugs are a big reason health-care costs increase. The real price of prescription drugs is actually decreasing. In 2007, inflation rose more than 4%, while drug prices increased just 1%. So in real terms, drugs were 3% cheaper last year than in 2006, on average. What's more, drug spending is but a small slice of total health-care spending - less than 11 cents out of every health-care dollar goes to prescription meds. And drugs actually reduce health-care costs in the long-term. Medicare, for instance, saves $2.06 for every additional dollar it spends on pharmaceutical drugs, according to a paper recently published by the National Bureau for Economic Research. Prescription drugs often obviate the need for expensive surgeries and hospital stays.

(4) Drug importation will save patients a fortune. At most, according to the Congressional Budget Office, foreign drug importation would save Americans 1% over the next decade. Brand-name drugs are cheaper in foreign countries because their governments impose price controls. Drug-makers can only afford to sell pills at cut-rate, controlled prices in Europe and Canada because Americans pay full price. If American politicians allow foreign drugs to enter the U.S. market, they'll in effect import price controls too. Such action will not only create practical problems, like shortages but also deny firms the return on investment necessary to plunge into the next round of research and development into new cures. It takes nearly $1 billion to bring a new drug to market. Investors are willing to make such a risky investment because the rewards of developing a cure for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, AIDS or diabetes are considerable. If the profit motive vanishes, the miracle cures for which America's drug industry is responsible would vanish.

(5) The state-run health-care systems in Canada and Europe are better and cheaper than America's. Those who make this claim usually note that life expectancy is higher in Canada and Europe. But life expectancy is influenced by a number of variables aside from the quality of a country's health-care system - like diet, genetics, exercise, smoking, pollution and even marital status. A study published last year in the British medical journal the Lancet suggests America is much better at treating cancer than Europe or Canada. Researchers found Americans have a better survival rate for 13 of the 16 most prominent cancers. An American man has nearly a20 % better chance of living for five years after being diagnosed with cancer than his European counterpart. This study's findings tell us a lot more about the quality of a health-care system than life expectancy rates do, because the relationship between treatment and outcomes is tighter, clearer and more direct. [Source: Washington Times 21 Mar 08 ++]

How has state run health care become such a huge item on the airwaves?

I don't go back to the horse and buggy days, but I can vividly remember the family doctor coming to the house to check up on patients. Now, we have to wait up to an hour in the examining room before we see the doctor.

To be honest, I am concerned that we are going to bring socialized health care into being in this country. Folks, that would be a major mistake!

Recently I read a news item that Canada was telling people if they are pregnant, don't bother coming to the hospital to have the baby, because they would not have beds available. That really sounds like superior health care to what we currently have, does it not?

Then another recent news article out of England advised that health care would no longer be provided to people whose lives were not considered health wise. So, being overweight would prevent you from seeing a doctor, for any reason. Now that sounds like health care really superior to what we have in this country. I wonder if that means, that you are born with a genetic problem that you would not be able to have medical care.

It is well known that "social" anything depends upon society's ability to pay for it. Will socialized medicine bring us to the point where elder retired people will not be afforded medical care because they are no longer working and providing into the social coffers?

There is so much that really needs to be discussed and researched in social medicine, and it seems only smoke and mirrors are presenting anything to us.

God help us.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Coffee break

So many of the blogs I visit have at least a token word regarding the coffee they love to drink.

So, I thought I would add my two cents.

http://www.maikaihawaii.com/hawaiian_islands_coffees.htm has this super spiffy Hawaiian Coffee "Toasted Coconut": Light medium gourmet roasted toasted coconut flavored coffee.

Delightful flavors of toasted coconut dancing in mellow coffee. Yummy!

I am not making an advertisement out of this, just saying I really love this coffee!

Not as lean, still a Marine

Sister Toldjah at http://www.sistertoldjah.com/ is passen the word regarding another octogenarian Marine getten some.

Go and take a look, and enjoy http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2008/03/30/84-year-old-multiple-war-veteran-smacks-down-teen-who-attempts-to-rob-him/.

As we used to say, you picked the wrong person, there will be two hits and this will be all over; one when I hit you, and one when you hit the ground...

(The great cloud of witnesses stands and cheers!)

Reality... what a concept

Zendo Deb at http://wheelgun.blogspot.com/ has a super post http://wheelgun.blogspot.com/2008/03/reality-sets-in-people-react.html that every good peace loving, taking care of yourself and family good citizen needs to read.

Go there, now, and read and digest...

Sunny South Dakota redux

Ahhhh, tis the last day of March, one week after Easter, and the snow is coming down. At times the wind picks up, and looks very much like a white out.

At the least, it looks like the farmers are getting a lot of the moisture they like to see before spring planting.

Now I remember, April showers bring May flowers...

Not a word about the snows of March. Tho I have often heard about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb; or vice versa, however, have not heard much about it coming in like a lion and going out like a lion.

Must be that cotton-pikken global warming.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Revisiting an old Dr. Helen post

Some time ago, Dr. Helen (http://drhelen.blogspot.com/search?q=divorce+suicide) wrote a post entitled "Sudden Divorce Syndrome" about the high incidence of suicide among divorced men.

I have no stats to confirm or dispute her post, however, I do have some experience in this area. As her t-shirt shows, "been there, done that" only I haven't found the t-shirt yet.

After two divorces, a person might validly think it would become easier. Don't they say "third time's the charm?"

First marriage encompassed a lot of ingredients that individually, prolly would not have led to divorce, but put together, they were overwhelming.

We met at a party with a lot of adult beverages. We became a couple, while still involved with adult beverages and parties. Adult beverages were involved in the motor vehicle accident that claimed the life of our baby daughter.

The accident apparently identified a point of separation, as she reduced intake of adult beverages while I increased.

Thrown into the mix was her disobeying doctor's orders to stay on birth control so not to get pregnant. The pregnancy complicated the injuries from the accident requiring every other day doctor visits, and new prescriptions almost every day.

Working as a laborer, was not the most money making position, and with serious medical problems excaserbating the situation, I reenlisted in the Marine Corps.

Almost immediately, I was sent to Vietnam for thirteen months, while she stayed with my parents, through the pregnancy and delivery.

After a year in a combat zone, sending all of my pay home except the twenty dollars a month I needed for cigarettes and soap, I thought we would have a pretty good nest egg. Didn't happen, there was nothing when I got home.

Because of the accident and loss of our daughter, she placed total blame on me, and from the time I returned from SE Asia, we were fighting every time we were together.

I started spending more time in the club, and civilian bars rather than going home, and facing the constant bitter battle.

I guess the divorce was a lot like a husband who watches his wife die from a disease over a period of time. When the divorce came, there was no remorse, only relief.

The second marriage was also centered around alcohol and parties, and primarily bars.
This one was perhaps most better referred to as a marriage of convenience. Two can live as cheeply as one, and two pay checks are always better than one, etc...

Lasted about four months, and we were not seeing eye to eye, and again the divorce court came into view.

This divorce involved a lot of anger on both sides and a lot of miscommunication on her side. She thought since I was on active duty, the Marine Corps would take care of living arrangements for me, and transportation. She thought she could file and get alimony, my car, and just about anything else I had.

No remorse at the end, again just relief.

You would think I would learn by now.

The third marriage came as a result of my accepting Jesus Christ into my life, and my life being changed by God removing alcohol and tobacco hungers from my life.

Through prayer, and searching the Scriptures, I determined God had a ministry designed for my and a woman I had met. Her sister had been instrumental in bringing my life to the cathartic event.

We married, and through seventeen years of military life and transfers we raised two beautiful children, who are upstanding members of society.

After retiring from the military I began another career as a pastor in a rural church; and this seems to be where everything began going downhill; though there had been hints of problems earlier.

All during our married life we had been in and out of counseling, including alcohol rehab and a stint in primal rebirthing for me.

The loss of career as a pastor and the loss of the marriage was devastating to me. I suppose some might say, about time you got your comeuppance.

But did it really have to be that way? Is it possible that there was just too much basic difference in our makeup that we couldn't work it out?

I don't know. I do know it was the worst blow I have ever faced.

Dr. James Dobson once stated that a man goes through mid-life crisis about the time his father dies. At that time he realizes his dad died without realizing his dream, and reality smacks that he will not live long enough to realize his dreams.

Perhaps that was part of the devastation; not being able to fulfil my dreams.

I do know that I loved her, and don't really understand what happened.

Oh, yes, lots of follow up therapy with a retired military chaplain PhD.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Katherine at http://smokymountaincafe.blogspot.com/ has posted a scrumpdileiscious recipe for sawmill gravy and biscuits.

Go and see, and if you choose to try the recipe, you can invite me over; when it comes to biscuits and gravy, i am shameless.

Insanity at its finest

Dr. Sanity at http://drsanity.blogspot.com/ has the latest "Carnival of the Insanities" up.

If u haven't perused her weekly listing, u have missed a lot.

Go there, and read, and be informed.

I AM TIRED

I woke up this morning with the intense realization that I have not really addressed the title of this blog. So, I sense I need to spend a little time speaking to being tired and retired...

I AM TIRED of hearing elected officials (spelled politicians) telling us that they are Robin Hood, taking from the rich and giving to the poor. As I recall the story of Robin Hood, the cast of characters were the king, the Sherrif of Notingham, and Robin Hood. To place this in perspective, the king is the government, the sherrif is con-gress.

In the story I grew up with, the king was taking money from the people. The sherrif was the medium by which the money was extorted from the common people, to be placed in the king's coffers. Do we need a road map to see the similarity? Robin Hood stepped in to stop the sherrif from taking what rightfully belonged to the people.

We made a Declaration of Independence from the King of England, primarily because we were tired of the king taking everything and leaving us with nothing. And today, we find the king once again relegating to the sherrif the task of taking the property of the people. So, where is the modern day Robin Hood? It definitely is not the con-gress, because it is as greedy and uncaring as the Sherrif of Notingham

I AM TIRED of hearing about the inequality of wealth in this country. This is just another tact of the king and the sherrif to extort the property of the people.Where did we ever come up with the"death tax"? I am sure it was not in force when Ted Kennedy, or Mrs. John Kerry inherited the estate of their deceased relative. If we are attempting to gain equity, should not the death tax be retroactive to include all inheritances?

I AM TIRED of hearing wailing willies cry about guns killing people. In all my sixty-two years I have yet to see an inanimate object take someone's life. I can sit here in my apartment for hours on end, staring at my guns, and they don't do anything but lie there where I put them.

If you are too lazy, or ignorant to learn gun safety, and teach it to your children; then you have no grounds on which to demand that I give up any right to own a gun. And, going out on a limb here, I resent the American medical association encouraging doctors and health care officials enquiring of children whether or not there are guns in the home; it ain't none of their business!

I AM TIRED of hearing about the war on terror. There is a lot of terrorism going on within the shores of this great country, that nothing is being done about. Whether it be the whackos from code pinko, the church in Kansas, or environmentalists, it needs to S.T.O.P.

This would be a good place to insert a question: Can someone explain to me the difference between vigilantes and a citizen militia?If I observe some stupid person bombing a recruiting station, why can I not provide some protection and take the person out?

How long would it take to get the word out to these mavericks that want to destroy the life we enjoy, that their days are numbered?

I AM TIRED of hearing that we are destroying this planet. There is no proof that "man" is destroying this terrestrial globe. If what "scientists" have determined this earth has gone through within its billions of years has not destroyed her, who do we think we are, that we could even make a dent?Those who demand that we remove all mankind from parts of the earth, in order to restore her to her pristine past, should step up, and show their loyalty to their agenda by removing theirself first.

I AM TIRED of hearing about the scarcity of fossil fuels, and how we need to identify alternate means of fuel to save the planet. Well, guess what? This is just an additional layer of the environmentalists' plan to rid the earth of as many people as possible.

"How can that be?" you ask? Well, I am glad you asked.

The current mad rush for alternate fuels is utilizing small grain crops. We are talking about corn and wheat. Where do corn and wheat fit into the world scheme? That's right! They are the basic food items. And when the government buys into the panic to locate alternate fuels and takes the money from the people, in order to subsidize the growth of corn and wheat for the express purpose of making alternate fuels, we have a problem.

When a farmer can get a set amount of money from the government for his/her crop, they no longer have to be concerned about what prices the market carries. Ergo, more corn goes into the production of alternate fuel, and less is available to the world at large. With less being available, and government providing subsidies, the price of any remaining corn, soon skyrockets. The end result being, less people can afford the food they need, because it isn't available or is out of their price range.

I AM TIRED of ranting about being tired; so for now, I will leave it at this point.

What has happened to the mindset of this country? Is it the country at large, or only a small, yet vocal, portion that are dictating how government should lead us, and in what direction this country should go?

Many of our ancestors left europe to go to the New World, braving unbelievable dangers, to escape from over-intrusive government.

They fought a bloody war against the king of England to escape from over-intrusive government.

They formed a compact for the New World that would prevent over-intrusive government.

And today, with our nuanced politicians, we have come full-circle to where we are once again finding ourself under over-intrusive government.

Don't panic if you feel the ground moving, its really not an earthquake, it is our ancestors, turning over in their graves as they see what has happened to the country they swore a sacred oath for.