Thank You To All

On this Memorial Day, I pause to say thank you to all who have served,
especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. It is because of
you that we are free today. Those who went to war did so out of a sense of
patriotism and a call to serve their country. They did so because there was
a danger to our country and our way of life.

This Memorial Day I am reminded of the Greatest Generation, the men and
women who served in WWII. They came home and quietly assimilated back into
society. At the time, they were not properly thanked. Thanks to the Honor
Flights, they are finally getting the thanks they truly deserve for what
they did. So many never made it home either. It is these men and women
whom we remember this weekend.

Please take a moment out of your busy day to remember these men and women
from all wars who gave the ultimate sacrifice. To very loosely quote a Toby
Keith song, Courtesy of the Red, White and blue, " When you see Old Glory
fly, there's a lot of men dead so we can live happy and free..." Please
remember that as you go about your day today.

Reflections on local news

Yesterday was certainly a busy day in local news rooms. You had two big
stories happen at once with no rhyme or reason to either one of them. These
two big stories happened within a half hour of each other which I'll bet is
a nightmare for any news room.

The first story was the death of Metra's Executive Director and the other
was the shooting at the Old Navy store in Chicago's loop.

The shooting , while sensless, was easier to explain but difficult to
swallow. The reason is that an innocent woman was taken down with the guy
who didn't want the relationship to end. There are better ways to handle
that situation than to murder someone and then take one's own life.

The Metra story however gives me the creeps as I have had interaction with
the Executive Director in the past when transportation issues were hot in
the early to mid 1990s. He was one who got it where disability access was
concerned and that was saying a lot for the Executives at that time. The
waythis gentleman chose to end it was what makes this so creepy as he no
doubt saw reports and handled incidents of this type while employed at
Metra. Why would you use a train, something you were in charge of running
the service of, to take your own life? There were obviously more problems
here than we will ever know because the taking of money inquestionable
fashion should not alone be a cause for taking one's own life.

Will I ever look at getting on a Metra train or any other type of diesel
train the same again? Probably not because I knew this person
professionally and that's the creepy side of this story. My condolances to
the family who is left wondering why. May the good Lord give them the
strength to get through this crisis in their lives.

November we need you now

The title says it all. We need November and it can't get here fast enough
for me. I say this for a number of reasons.

First of all, the Democrats so-called health care reform will be the death
of this economy if it isn't repealed and replaced. However, we need
Republicans in office in order to make this happen. Small business, which
is the lifeblood of our economy, will be hurt or even killed if this
so-called reform is allowed to stand. What small business will be able to
afford to open its doors given that its health care costs will go through
the roof and they'll have to hire someone just to keep up with all of the
mandates. Small business' who can afford to do so will choose to drop
their employees into the exchange and pay the penalty rather than deal with
the headaches of this travesty that calls itself reform but is really part
of the democrats plan to create a single payer system by gutting the private
insurance companies.

You also have legislators who want reform of the financial system but who
won't deal with the root cause of the problem which is Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, the two mortgage lending giants who are being bailed out by the
taxpayers because they made loans to people who couldn't afford them. The
Democrats don't want to deal with reform of these two entities because they
don't want to deal with the fact that some people just can't afford a home.

Then there's the issue of terrorism which was brought into sharp focus last
week. You had the Time Square bomber who nearly made it out of the country
and should never have gotten that close. You have the fact that the
administration still feels that this is a criminal justice rather than a
military matter. Something unfortunately is going to happen; it's only a
matter of time. Two close calls should tell you all you need to know.

Now we get to the issue of immigration. The Democrats clearly don't want to
deal with this one as they support open boarders. What else can you say
when they deem a state potentially racist because that state wants
immigration laws enforced. I'm talking about Arizona who has a real problem
with a porous border and the feds aren't doing a damn thing abobut it so
they sent a message. Obama's response is to have the Justice Department
look at it because people's rights might be violated or there might be
racial profiling. Give me a freaking break. Then there's the whole issue
of the border and federal land. That's another matter all together. Not to
metion the fact that theliberals don't even talk about the requirement, on
the books since the 1940s, that aliens carry their paperwork on their person
in orer to prove their status and that they are here legally. Why not
enforce that law while we're at it and the liberals don't need to give any
crap about violation or rights because we would e expected to have our
papers on our person if we were traveling abroad.

Porkulus and the health care debacle have only seved to raise the national
debt. These liberals who are spending like drunken sailors and worse need
to be stopped before we wind up in the same shape that Greece now finds
itself in. We're not going to spend our way out of the recession which is
something the liberals don't understand. And you can't even have a civil
debate about this without being called a racist or anything else. Just
watch how the liberals marginalize he tea party movement which is a
cross-section of America. It's not just Republican but Democrats and
independents as well. It's people who want their country back as I do.

As you can see November can't get here fast enough and we need it now before
the liberals inflict more damage on this country. I want my country back
and I will do what I can to see that this happens.

More like Europe Not Here

Obama has said more than once that we need to become more like Europe. My
answer is no we don't. We don't need the out of control spending that they
are now having to wrestle with. We don't need the regulation of every facet
of our lives and we don't need the debt crisis that is sure to come our way
by spending like Europe has spent and taxed too for that matter.

Spain was the third country to have its debt downgraded by Standard and
Poors or Moody's. I'm not sure which one but it's one of those two big bond
houses. Greece was downgraded to junk status. Portugal was downgraded
yesterday from what to what I'm not sure; but it wasn't good. Now we have
Spain; and I hear this may not be the last one either. Italy is on the list
as well. Where will this stop and when will people see that you can't spend
yourself into oblivion nor can you spend your way out of aneconomic crisis.
I don't care what country we're talking about.

My fear is that the U.S. could be next down the line. I say this because
the debt is going up, up and away. We can't afford to keep doing this; and
I certainly don't want to see us end up like any of the countries listed
above. As it is, foreign powers control our debt which isn't good either.
This is especially true when you consider that these countries have leverage
over us; and China is the biggest among these countries. Scary stuff to say
the least.

Just one more reason we need to take our country back and gridlock Obama
until we can get him out of office. My nieces and nephews and their
children don' t need to be dealing with this crisis and explosion of
spending. We've got to control spending. If we don't, we'll end up like
Greece, Portugal and Spain and likely Italy. The debt virus is one virus
that doesn't need to make its way to U.S. shores.

My message for the Dems is to stop spending like drunken sailors. The GOP
needs to stop enabling it too. This fall should prove to be the first step
in stopping this out-of-control spending. God I hope so for the sake of
this country. I can't say this enough. I want my country back.

What will they regulate next

The question has to be asked with the Democrats in power. Santa Clara
County is regulating the offering of toys in children's meals under the
guise of combating childhood obesity and Sen Charles Schumer D-NY) wants
Facebook and other social networking sites regulated with regards to
privacy.

With regard to the Santa Clara county regulations, since when was it the
government's job to regulate what children can eat? It's not. What
children eat is up to the parents and they need to say no if they don't want
their children eating the happy meals because they are fattening. Next
thing you know, we will all be told what we can eat and when we can eat it.
The liberals don't trust the people to do what the liberals think we ought
to do. They believe that the government is more capable than the
individual. I believe quite the opposite, that the individual is quite
capable of deciding what is best for them or their family; and certainly
much more capable than the government. Remember that requirements for
listing calorie counts on restaurant food are hidden in the massive health
care debacle known as Obama Care. What else is hidden in that monster of a
piece of legislation? Who knows? Only the Dems do but the Republicans are
pointing it out too.

Now on to Facebook and other social networking sites. Sen. Schumer who
likely has never held a real job in his life wants to regulate something he
does not understand at all. First of all, Facebook is a global site which
means that it would be difficult to regulate for that very reason. If it
were to be regulated, there would have to be tracking of people so that the
necessary regulations could be applied to U.S. users, something which
Schumer doesn't understand even if he were to object to it which he likely
would. But wait! The government knows best. Schumer doesn't understand
that when you go on-line you are taking a risk in the first place. That's
the nature of the beast.

Just two more examples of why the Dems need to be driven out of office and
Obama gridlocked for the last two years of his administration so he can't do
any more damage than he's already done; and he's done quite enough already.
I want my country back and I hope you do too.

Have they no brains

The title is the question for the Obama administration today. Regulations
take affect which will add to the cost of a home remodeling job. The
contractor will now have to prove that they have the EPA's stamp of approval
to do the work which will add cost to the job. This involves homes built
prior to 1978 which is the year that lead paint was banned. It's designed
to, in the minds of the liberals, combat lead poisoning, but in reality
sticks it to the construction industry in a down economy. Once again I ask
has this administration no brains?

All this regulation will do is kill jobs as people forgo remodeling in order
not to pay the additional cost which will be incurred as a result of this
regulation. The EPA in an article I saw in the Washington Post said that
this will add something like $80 to $167 to the cost of a job. Contractors
tell a different story, saying it will add at least $500, if not more, to
the cost of a job. There's the cost of training employees and also the cost
of God knows how much paperwork which likely will have to be done as a
result of this one.

I tend to agree with the contractors on this one. This is kicking an
industry when it's down. It's about policies that kill jobs while
satisfying the liberal agenda; and to roll this out on Earth Day is the
bitterest of ironies too.

One more example of why this administration needs to be gridlocked until we
can get it out of office.

I want some sanity back and my country as well

The last couple of days, or should I say the last couple of months or more,
have been totally insane when it comes to politics in this country. You
have the Democrats at both the state and federal level on a spending orgy
that has no end. You have Democrats like President Obama and House Speaker
Pelosi and others shoving health care reform down our collective throats and
the people gagging on that one. You have terrorism cases being handled as
criminal matters rather than military ones. You have Democrats who have no
clue as some in the state of Illinois want to cut spending, or at least
pretend that this is what they want. You have state Democrats who are
proposing their favorite solution to the problem of the spending orgy,, that
being a tax in crease in a bad economy. It won't fly and they are clueless
to that as it is their only solution. You have programs all over the place
who are getting hurt as a result of this; and you have the federal
government, through the recently-passed health care monstrosity, dumping
people on to the state Medicaid system which is in trouble already. What
more could go wrong? Plenty if these idiots aren't stopped.

The liberals have wanted to shove their agenda down our collective throats
for a long, long, long, long time; and now it appears that they will succeed
if they aren't stopped. These people are so arrogant that they think they
can do whatever they want. They have no clue about the outrage of the
people nor do they have any clue about what will happen this November.

What needs to happen is a /Republican revolution that makes 1994 look like
child's play. What needs to happen is that the Democrats need to be told
that they are absolutely and completely out of touch with the people. It
doesn't help that the majority of the media is in bed with these idiots
either. Fox and maybe the Wall Street Journal are two of the better outlets
for news as they aren't biased. The mainstream media, on the other hand, is
and they've been losing audience share because of it as people have other
options and are using those options.

I have never given to a campaign nor worked on one in the past but that
might change if the right situation presents itself because I want my
country back. I don't recognize what this country is fast becoming, a
country where the government takes care of your every want and need rather
than the individual making his or her own choices and controlling their own
lives. It used to be that we had statesmen who would step up in tough times
and do what was right. I'm not sure we have that anymore. Instead we have
Chicago-style politics at the national level. It's the politics of
coercion, thuggery and arrogance. I don't want that. People like the late
Sens. Simon and Kennedy were partisan to the core but each knew when to
reach across the aisle. The same can't be said about today's so-called
leaders. Those like Pelosi, Reed, and Obama lead by intimidation and
they'll do anything to get what they want, including buying votes with
sweetheart deals. This occurred so many times on the health care
monstrosity, it's not funny. There's the Stupak sellout, the cornhusker
kickback, the Louisiana purchase, Gatorade and more. It all stinks and I
can't take the stench anymore. I want my country back.

We all need to do whatever we can to take our country back from these
idiots. I plan to check some things out and see where I go from here but
taking no action is not an option. Only time will tell what action I will
take.