My wife and IFiled under: Happening Now, Politics | Tags: effeciency, Government, Health Care, hellfire missiles, Post Office, protection, Safety
The latest wonderful reward offered for the killing of Americans is 3 Kilograms of Gold for killing the US Ambassador to Yemen. You can find the story here. Of course they are just looking for publicity, after all unless we do something to provoke them they won’t do anything. It was just a demonstration in Libya they really didn’t mean to kill anyone, did they? I mean it was just over some stupid YouTube video wasn’t it?
We keep hearing how Al-Qaeda is dead, because our President killed Osama bin Laden, that is what he said on the campaign trail while running for re-election. Of course the whole thing is over now, the Taliban are no real problem, we can leave Afghanistan and they will be able to take care of themselves. Our government is ready to take care of us too, now that they don’t have to worry about wars overseas they can tackle the big problems here at home and get us back on solid footing, they just need another stimulus package. A few trillion more dollars and everything will be just fine.
I do hope y’all will wake up soon to the truth of what is really happening in our nation. Between the TSA, the Patriot Act and the new Drone program in this country, well we are assured that our government is going to keep us safe. Right after they ban any and all guns. That will make sure that crime will not be possible because criminals will not be armed anymore.
Getting back to Al-Qaeda in Yemen, we will of course be safer if we just pull out of Yemen and let them fight with themselves. As a matter of fact, maybe we should just shut down all those bases we have in the world, and bring our men and women home, they could protect our borders instead of trying to build democracies in the rest of the world. Then we would really be safe, wouldn’t we? After all we could just kill them all with our Drones and Hellfire missiles and that would surely keep us safe, wouldn’t it? While we are at it why not get rid of the leaders of Iran, North Korea, Yemen and any other place that threatens our peaceful existence. We can just go spend our food stamp dollars at the super market, and if we are lucky enough to live where we can get a prescription for Marijuana, well we can really be happy then, can’t we?
Time for tongue to come out of cheek, because the truth is, we cannot be safe, we really can’t stop every crazy who wants to kill and maim, we can’t destroy all the people in the world who want to destroy us or Israel. I see that Israel has a great antimissile system, but it can’t stop them all so they try to make sure they get the ones that would cause the most death and destruction and hope that the others will really hit outside of towns and villages. If you are one of those who wants the government to take care of you, remember Benghazi, the government was supposed to protect our ambassador, instead he died along with 3 others who were with him. If you really think that the government can take care of you, look at the Post Office, that is a very efficient money hole, and how about the TSA, do you really want the government grabbing your private parts, just to make sure you have signed up for Obamacare, and have purchased Federal Health Insurance, or paid the fine for not buying it.
Federal Spending by the Numbers – 2012.
Filed under: Happening Now, Politics | Tags: children, emotions, Guns, logic, National Guard, Police, Politicians, protection, schools, volunteers
The more I see and hear about the conversation on guns and gun control issues, the more I see that emotion has taken charge. When a Senator says that we should put the National Guard in our schools, I know that she is not thinking, she is reacting emotionally to what has happened. Of course there are also the folks who say that NRA members should be shot, or they are the new KKK, which is patently outrageous, and of course there are also the folks who are saying that all guns should be taken away and no one should have a gun for any reason at all.
Somewhere in the middle of all the rhetoric, is where we need to be. Now let me say this, as a rancher in South Central Texas, just a few miles from the Mexican border and the violence that happens there on a regular basis, when I go out to feed our deer and other animals I go armed. We have had illegal persons caught on our ranch by the border patrol, some were armed some not, but the ones that were armed were smuggling drugs. They were more than willing to exchange bullets with the agents chasing them. The other side of that coin is wild animals that we may run into. Namely wild boar, Mexican Mountain lion, and of course the ubiquitous rattle snakes. So please get real about taking away my guns thank you.
So now that we have established a place where conversation can be held, let us look at what is going on here. A person who, legally could not own a firearm, stole them from his mother, killing her in the process. He then went to the school, shot out a window in order to bypass the security of the locked door, once inside he went to the school office where he killed the women inside, before going to the classroom. He then killed 20 children and their teacher, finally, killing himself.
Had there been just one person in that building who was armed, the picture might very well have been very different. I do not suggest that we put the Army or the National Guard in our schools, nor a police presence per se. What I do suggest is that we have those folks who are retired police/sheriff deputies/military who know about guns and how to safely use them. I would think that at least some of these are also grandparents of young kids and would be glad to volunteer to guard the schools that those children are in, even the schools that other children are in. I know that many teachers do not like or want to handle firearms, I don’t see why they should have to do so if that is their feeling in the matter. I know that I would be glad to volunteer my time one or two days a week to help protect our local schools. Of course you might want us to have an authority to answer to, say the local sheriff or Police Dept.
I think that would solve the problem, while costing next to nothing, you might want to feed us lunch, and of course you want to do a background check to be sure that none of those folks have any problems around children. Of course concealed carry, requires a background check, as does the purchase of a firearm. Let us understand too that we cannot stop people from doing crazy or stupid things, but we can stop them from doing these things in our schools.
One other thing I have heard a great deal about is the gun show loophole, supposedly you don’t have to have a background check if you buy a gun at a gun show. I have purchased guns at gun shows, every time I did I had to give ID and they did a background check on me. It is a requirement if you want to purchase a gun. What do you think about all this? Leave a comment, join the conversation, become a part of the solution, because our politicians seem to thinking emotionally, not logically. The sad part is that as a member of the NRA, I am disappointed in Wayne La Pierre. His statements about placing police persons in the schools, does not take into account the reality of how thinly our Police Departments are already, and the cost of doing so is prohibitive for any Government entity to do. You are talking many millions, if not billions of dollars to accomplish this.
So lets hear what you have to say, thank you for reading this blog of mine, I hope it has been helpful in the midst of a difficult time in our nation.
Filed under: Happening Now, Politics | Tags: bankruptcy, budgeting, debt, millionaires, Politicians, Spending, Taxes
That seems to be the Presidents plan, raise taxes and spending which is of course self-defeating. If you continue spending more than you take in, you will eventually go bankrupt, we realize that in our own homes because we see what overextension has done to our friends and neighbors. In my own case, it took me 8 years to pay off all my debts. I have friends that have had to declare bankruptcy, and they are still in a credit problem. Yet the Federal Government seems to think they can continue to spend more than they take in. If we don’t quit the spending, the country will find itself being cut again by the rating agencies. I cannot fathom why the President and the Democrats continue to insist on more spending and taxing people at the $250,000 per year income rate. They also keep saying these folks are millionaires. 1/4 of a million is not a million, I don’t know why the Administration continues to call them millionaires.
The other reality is that even if they do tax these “millionaires” they will only have enough money to cover 8 days of the gov’t operations. So when does the Federal Government get real and begin to actually tighten their own belts. Of course if they do, then they can’t offer all those handouts to all those who are now on the gov’t dole. I am not saying that folks really want to get on the payroll, but, some do and that means that they want to continue to get paid. Politicians want to get re-elected, ever notice that as soon as they get elected the cycle begins again, they are already running for the next election. The Senators actually make more money than you or I and they give themselves raises every couple of years. Most of these people leave the Senate or the House as millionaires themselves. Does that happen to you or me in our jobs? NO WAY! Can we spend money that we don’t have? Sure we can use our charge cards, but, how long can we go before it catches up to us and puts us in the midst of financial trouble.
So what do you think it should be, cut spending or raise taxes?politic
Filed under: Happening Now, Politics | Tags: Guns, legislation, Politicians, politics, School, Vets
I keep hearing these talking heads discussing how you can make schools safe, and how can we stop people from doing this again. We have the same discussion every time someone does something evil, and it always seems to devolve to the choice of tool not the person.
We always want to do away with the tool, in this case guns, but there are those who then ask the obvious question, since more people are killed by drunk drivers than are killed by guns, should we then get rid of cars, or alcohol, or drugs. You see it is a vicious circle, the tool, is just that a tool. In the hands of a stable law-abiding citizen, the car, the drink, the gun are used properly. Let me say that I am an instructor in handgun use, and the first thing I teach is that we have to watch what we are doing with any tool. The handgun being a tool. 1. The gun is always loaded, do not pick up a gun thinking it is unloaded, please be sure that it is indeed not loaded. If you don’t know how to do this, DO NOT PICK UP THE GUN. 2. Never point a gun at anything you are not willing to shoot at, (some would say, destroy). If you have a gun in your hand make sure it is pointed downrange, or in a safe direction. Better yet, put it down or put it in your holster.
I was reading a piece earlier today that spoke about getting retired first responders, Police officers, Military personnel or others who have experience with firearms, to volunteer at your local school. Of course these would be armed persons, that would be able to at the very least slow down the assailant, and at the best stop that person before they could harm anyone inside the building or grounds. I would add persons who have qualified for concealed carry license, they have learned how to use a gun, they are licensed to carry and they have no criminal record. I know of a couple of people who would be glad to volunteer to protect the teachers and the especially the children in schools. It is a shame that there is a need to protect children in what should be the safe place for them, but our society has become somewhat coarsened over the last 50 years or so.
New gun laws, banning this or that gun, I note that a number of politicians and pundits keep referring to automatic weapons, these have been illegal for almost 50 years, what they are actually talking about are semi-automatic guns. You fire only one bullet when you pull the trigger, not a burst of bullets, just one. If you want to fire another you must pull the trigger again. Another thing that the politicians want to ban is the magazine that holds more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The problem there is simple, if I am out on my ranch, which just happens to be very close to the southern border of the USA, with Mexico. You don’t know what you will run into while feeding cattle or goats, or whatever it is you are raising. There can be anything out there from poachers, to human traffickers, to drug runners. All of them armed, now in the case of poachers, you probably will not have any real problem, but with the drug runners and human traffickers, you will be dealing with a number of guns looking back at you. I want to be able to protect myself with a decent amount of bullets that I can return fire with.
Some of these guys do have true assault weapons, so they can fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger. I can only hope that I can stop them before they end my life. So there are those of us who actually do need larger magazines. So let’s have a discussion that is not governed by emotion, or politics, but rather by common sense. First, lets talk about enforcing the law on the books now. Second, if you are going to have a school or place of business go into lockdown, then make sure that the bad guys can’t get past the locked door by shooting out a window and climbing in. Common Sense is a wonderful thing, and usually helps to being some decent ideas to the table.
What kind of ideas to you have about all this craziness? Add your comments to the discussion, I’d love to hear from you.
Filed under: God, Happening Now | Tags: encyclopedia britannica, end times, good-will, Hatred, henry wadsworth longfellow, murder, peace, terrorism, violence, war
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – 1863
Encyclopedia Britannica
This poem was written on Christmas 1863, it was a lament by Longfellow, in regard to what he saw as a pacifist, the War between the States had been raging for about 2 years. His son had been badly wounded in one of the battles and he thought that his son would die. The verses here are the last two of the poem, there are two others which are cut out of the song “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” because they speak to the great despair of the poet. Here are those two verses:
“Then from each black accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Wadsworth is not speaking of black persons, but of souls blackened by hatred, he speaks of the beginning of that which killed and maimed so many between 1861 and 1865. Yet these words that were written so long ago, can be applied to the world in which we live today. Hatred is rampant in our world, we see death and destruction all around the globe. We want to stop it but there is no way, short of becoming a part of the destruction. If we want to stop dictators from killing their own people, we must enter the fray, we have done so in Iraq, and in Afghanistan, and yet the killing and hatred still exist.
We have seen another senseless act of violence in our own nation, in a place where there were safeguards. A school, with locked doors, you had to ring a buzzer in order to be seen and allowed to enter, so the killer broke a window and climbed into the building. You have to know that someone bent on murder, is not going to be stopped by a locked door, nor by an unarmed person who he or she confronts, witness the death of 6 adults along with the 20 children. There are laws against murder, yet that did not stop this violence. In the state of CT where this act happened, there are strict gun laws, this man could not buy a gun legally, it is my understanding that he stole the guns after he killed his mother with one of them.
So, what is the answer to this senseless violence? This evil that infects our society. First it means we must recognize that evil exists, it is not the opposite of good, it is rather the complete and utter disdain, and hatred of God. I fully believe that God wants only good for God’s people, that means those who have repented of their sinfulness and turned their lives toward God. I want people to understand that this is what must happen, you must repent of your actions against God, turn your life around and begin to walk in the paths that God has set out for mankind. I know that so-called Christian people have perpetrated horrific crimes in the past, but were these really Christian people or just people who called themselves Christian?
God does not countenance hatred, or murder. We all like to quote the commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” However the actual word is, murder, not kill. Making the commandment say not kill, makes it a bit milder, and easier to call down wrath on those who shoot a deer, or catch a fish for dinner. The word murder however, is one we don’t really like, we try to avoid this word, because it means, killing a defenseless fellow human being. That is what happens, when a terrorist kills innocent people in a town square, a shopping mall, a restaurant. That is what happens when a person takes a gun and shoots children enjoying a birthday party, or when a gang of people do the same thing, such as happened in Mexico a while back. It is what happens when a Muslim terrorist takes a machete to a young girl because she is going to school to become educated. When a woman can be stoned to death because she allowed an ankle to be seen in public, or when hatred of one group by another leads to killing and destruction because they are not like the ones doing the killing.
I see this as our living in what the scriptures refer to as the end times, we have been living in the end times since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Messiah, Lord, over 2,000 years ago. God will return to this earth and will set things right, when I don’t know, but I do believe that it will happen, and that we are getting closer to that time. Hatred shall increase, against those who follow YHWH, God, Jehovah, many more will die, probably thousands, before all this is finished. According to scripture, millions will perish in the last years called the tribulation period, so, it is really just moving in that direction. We who call ourselves Christians, need to look at what we do in our everyday lives, if it does not comport with what God has taught us, “Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor as yourself” then we need to change our ways.
What do you think? Is there a different way to change things? Can you take the place of God? I hope and pray that we will make a difference, but I know that hatred and avarice will continue and get worse as the years go by. Join the conversation, help to make a difference in your own community, help others to find the right path for eternity is reality.
Filed under: Happening Now, Politics | Tags: Baseline, Budget, Constitution, Democrats, Economics, Fiscal Cliff, Government, lies, Republicans
I was reading today about the Fiscal Cliff discussions and I realized that this whole thing is a lie. Now lets look at all this nonsense that keeps coming out. The President says he wants to work with the Republicans to make sure the country will not go over the cliff, the Speaker of the House says he has offered increased revenue from the “rich” but wants reductions in spending to go along with this before he will agree to it. The Majority leader in the Senate, who will not even consider any bills passed by Republicans in the House, says, no income, no changes to entitlements, and give us the increased taxes and next year we will talk about reducing spending.
Doesn’t sound like there is much room for compromise between the factions. Of course even if they came out today and said that they had an agreement, an agreement that would reduce spending by 1.5 trillion dollars, it would not be true. It wouldn’t be true because of the way the Federal Gov’t figures out its budgets. They start with a baseline, say 20 billion for Department X, then they add 10% to that for inflation then they cut spending by 5% so they actually raise spending by 5% over last year. They never cut spending, they just cut how much it will increase.
Of course they say it will be cut by 1.5 trillion dollars, but the truth is that is over a 10 year period. It is also not possible for them to force future Representatives, Senators and Presidents to stop spending or even to cut their budget by 5%, this Congress doesn’t have that authority, therefore the 10 year figure is a lie. Also if we assume that the 10 year figure is true, we have to understand that there are a number of assumptions in that calculation. For one thing the assumption is that nothing will happen to change the baseline figures, they don’t build in inflation, nor do they have a crystal ball that would show them the next recession that might come along, so the figures get skewed by greater or lesser amounts over the course of the 10 year period.
They also don’t have the ability to build in changes in the marketplace, such as the EPA deciding that air pollution is a problem in one or another industry so they pass aq regulation that says they have to cut back emissions by 25%. Well that means an increase in the costs that the industry has to absorb, that gets passed on to the consumer, the problem though is that some of the smaller businesses in that industry, cannot make a profit and go under, that cuts the tax base that is a part of the assumption for the 10 year figure.
Basic Economics should have taught them a lesson or two over the years. Lets face it, if we figured our household budget the way the Federal Gov’t figures theirs, we would be bankrupt real quick. So when you hear all the talk, about this one or that one being responsible for sending us over the cliff, remember that both the Republicans and the Democrats are responsible, because they all spend more than they take in. They all use the same baseline plus 10% figures, and they all listen to the CBO tell them that everything will be fine over the next 10 years – MALARKY, it will not be fine, it will get us bigger and bigger deficits, until eventually we will not be able to finance our deficit spending and will have to declare bankruptcy. Talk about too big to fail!! With the Government we have now, a government that ignores the Constitution, spends like they never have to worry because the rich can pay the bills, sets standards that cannot be met because the science doesn’t exist, and basically promises the moon and can’t deliver even one job. we will be facing massive debt for the forseeable future.
We really need to begin to bring people into the government who are willing to say NO, to more spending, who are willing to actually work within the confines of the Constitution. We also need states to step up and begin to work within the confines of that Constitution, the 10th Amendment reads: “Amendment 10 – Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to
the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
We can stop this, but we have to be willing to stand up and bring the power back to where it belongs with WE THE PEOPLE. So, are you willing to make things change? Are you willing to suffer the consequences if we don’t? What do you think about all this?
Filed under: Church Stuff, Politics | Tags: 10th Amendment, 1st Amendment, Atheists, Christians, Nullification, States Rights
In Congress there are a group of men and women who have formed themselves into what is known as the Congressional Prayer Group. A group calling itself the “American Humanist Association”, has sent a letter to incoming freshman congresspersons to not join with the prayer group.
I find myself quite annoyed because this group wants to censor Christians, but wants to be able to use their own first amendment rights to say what they please. I think it is high time that the Courts stop playing footsie with these haters, and begin to actually read the Constitution rather than using some letter that Jefferson sent to a State Baptist Association. The 1st Amendment is very clear, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to a group of Baptists who were afraid that the Federal Gov’t would pass a law outlawing their church. There were two reasons that Jefferson said what he did. One: the First Amendment says that Congress may not pass any law of the sort. Two This was a States Rights issue since we also have another amendment – the 10th which says that if the Constitution does not give the Federal Gov’t the power to regulate, that power belongs to the States or to the people.
Amendment 10 – Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Actually many of the States kept their “State” churches well into the 1800’s and that was their right to do so. They did not however stop people from worshipping as they wished, in most cases. So here we are with a States Rights issue that the courts have perverted and made into a Federal issue with a ruling based on a letter written by a man who had nothing to do with writing the Constitution in the first place. The states have the right to nullify Federal actions which are unconstitutional, including this idiocy about religion and whether or not it can be practiced in public or not.
What do you think? Should the states begin using the power of nullification to right the ship of state?
texasjq2 