Bigger and Better Things

I have decided that Mexico isn't where I want to be, so after careful deliberation, I have decided to launch an investigatory commitee into my possible candidacy for President of the United States of America (Estados Unidos de America)!

I know, its exciting.

Anyway, here's how this is going to work...We'll need to decide what the issues actually are. I'll need your help with that. Then, we'll come up with a plan of action, like who is going to rob a bank to help finance this thing or whatever. We'll decide who gets what cushy cabinet post (no, G. Dockins is NOT the SecDef, he's Homeland Security and Mutant Affairs), and then we'll go public.

On a serious note, I need feedback, folks. We need to decide what the issues are. Post comments detailing what you see as the real set of issues that must be addressed by American politicians. We gotta get together on a platform, then we'll try to get their attention. Tell your friends, tell your coworkers, tell your classmates, whatever. Let me hear what you think about the current state of the Union...

Place Your T-Shirt Orders Here...

I, Bulldog23A, am officially announcing my candidacy for president...of Mexico.

I'm gonna need a little help. I'll need about 500 thousand people (consequently, I'll need 500k M16s and boxes of ammo), around $85 Billion (that's what it costs to spread democracy or freedom or whatever), and a new suit.

To place your order for the official "Bulldog23A for President" t-shirts, just click on the ad below...

I need help with a campaign slogan. So far I've got "Free Money!", and "Don't be part of The Castrated Nation!"

Gimme some campaign pointers, folks. Also, send money...

Take a Ride...

Check out the headlines...

The system is broken. Our government is almost completely made up of crooks and corporate puppets. The security and safety of our people has been traded for a few dollars and some creature comforts. Children are thrown to the wolves (or turned into them) in the name of parental convenience and justice. Pedophiles roam the streets while lawmen sit in prison.

The must be a new movement among the people. We cannot sit still anymore. We absolutely must resist that which would destroy us as a nation and as a people. I refuse to be politically correct. I refuse to avoid the truth. For the sake of our posterity, we must raise hell and rail against the selling of our American dream. Write your congressman and let him know that you are angry. Tell him or her that Mexico has no right or place to force the prosecution of our citizens. Tell them that our jobs belong here, and nowhere else. Next time you see a parent ignoring their kids, tell them that they are screwing up their children for life. Tell local law enforcement that you expect them to take dope dealers off the streets. Let local dope dealers know that they are being watched. All of us are responsible for each other. The reason that Congress is concerned about grass roots movement is because they know that we still have the power to run the show. We simply have to stop letting candidates pick the issues!

Maybe CNN and others own the flow of information. Maybe Fat-Cat congressmen do get to make the laws. We still have the right to assemble in protest. We still have the right to speak the truth. We still have the vote. As long as we can vote, we can get rid of politicians that do not look after our best interests. It will take a few years, to be sure, but if we were to vote out every incumbent at every election for the next six years, I think we would get our message across.

But we would actually have to get involved...

This Perfect Day...

Soon a new day will dawn. A day will come when strong words and ideas will be outlawed. Soon all will speak alike, and think alike, and even look alike. There will be a time when the powers that be will pour out their grace upon us, and we will be vaccinated for all kinds of illness, we will be protected from rabid speech, sheltered from revolutionary ideas. All cultures will be accepted, so that none will carry precedent over another. Religion will be abolished, having been the cause of so much pain and grief throughout history. All citizens will be moderately educated, in order to become productive. The working-class will be spared the burden of higher education, as there will be no need. Occupations will be determined by aptitude tests, and the responsibility of choice will be lifted from the shoulders of the weak and the poor. Only those with the best genes will be granted permission to produce offspring, saving all from the burden of over-population, releasing all but few from the burden of parenthood. The world will be beautiful, and at peace...

Recommended Reading: 1984, by Gearge Orwell, and This Perfect Day, by Ira Levin

Change of Heart

I've decided to embrace illegal immigration.

Why not? We obviously aren't going to repeal NAFTA or CAFTA, right? In the meantime, I can hire three times as many workers to do my landscaping and remodel work in and around the house. If they are happy working for $5.00/hr and I'm happy paying $5.00/hr, its like symbiosis or something...

Its as if my eyes are suddenly open. I can get cheap oranges without getting out of my car, I can hire a skilled and experienced bricklayer at one-third of the cost, I can even find a lady to clean my house for around $15.00 a day. Considering that the "booming" economy has yet to give me and mine an upgrade in lifestyle, I'm just going to start viewing the availability of cheap labor as a benefit of being a member of the often shat-upon middle class.

In the meantime, being a National Guardsman, if I can't find a decent job locally, I can always volunteer for duty on the border. The money is right and the work ain't hard.

I'm going to adopt this more tolerant view on a lot of issues. For instance, the lady that was doing Meth with her kids is doing me a service by making sure that my kids have less competition for those academic scholarships we'll be needing to pay for college in a few years.

This is fun. I'm starting to love everybody and forgive all of their infringements on my personal freedoms. I may turn into a left-wing liberal hippy by next week.

Taking A Break...

I have to take a break for the weekend, so I'll make this short. Here are some simple instructions for navigating this site.

The News stories at the top of the page are usually relevant to the subject of the most recent posts. Sometimes they are more personal in nature. for instance, I have a friend in Tyler, Texas (my only faithful reader lately) so I made sure she got the info on the peanut butter.

My profile has some personal info, so you can tell where I live and stalk me if you are a haji or an illegal immigrant or a dope fiend or whatever.

The "Best of" section is a list of reader's favorite posts. OK, "Free Money" is my favorite, but readers picked the others.

The Links section is a list of websites that I find informative, useful, and/or entertaining. I stringly recommend that parents check out the child molester stats and the "Protect Your Children" link.

The Terror Counter is also a link to one of the most informative sites that I have ever seen.

The Archive Section is not how I wanted it, but Blogger is free, so I shouldn't complain. Anyway, just click on the arrow by the month to see a list of posts from that month.

The Ad at the bottom is my attempt at community service. I'm working on a post on New Orleans, but it will be a week or two...

The map is supposed to show me where you are, but it only counts about a third of the people that come here. You can get your own map for your MySpace page or website for free. Just click on the map and follow the appropriate links.

There are labels at the bottom of every post, so you can see all posts on a particular topic. In order to see all of the comments on a post, just click on the title of the post, and you will be able to view that post and all of its comments.

To post a comment, just click the small blue link at the bottom of the post that says"Observations and Opinions".

Anyway, I hope you like this blog. I really do want to hear your opinions whether you agree with me or not, so post comments.

The War on Terror

Osama Bin Laden has been quoted as saying that the US does not have the stomach for a long, drawn out war. He may be right.

There is a flaw in the logic used by the world's most wanted POS: The statement implies that the war will continue long after we can stand it. If the war on terror is going to go on and on, whether we are in Iraq or not, where is our motivation to leave? Why leave their homeland and fight here?

I say we break all of the rules. Let's hold Iraq hostage. Let's airstrike Iran and Syria at random times and places. Let's put the fear into Islam. They whine because they are suspected of terrorism. They cry because we profile. The complain because we are in the Middle East.

Look at the picture.

If any nation has ever had a right to pitch a fit and break stuff, it is the United States of America. We have sacrificed our sons and daughters for the freedom of Europe (twice), The Phillipines, S. Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Lebenon, and many, many others. We have endured criticism from everywhere, even within. We are a target simply because we have power and wealth and freedom. We are a shining example of how good, bad, gluttonous, and enterprising a nation can be if the right elements are brought together. This scares the hell out of tyrants and crusaders everywhere.

I do not feel the need to justify my country's policies to common thugs and murderers. If liberals or conservatives, Republicans or Democrats, feel like they owe the world a damn thing at this point, they need to consider all that we have given and all that has been taken from us. We should be taking Iraqi oil money and financing the rebuilding of New Orleans. We should be smuggling opium from Afghanistan into Iran. We should be taking one dollar per month from every Afghani and Iraqi and paying out to orphans of 9-11.

As far as Congress goes, it really doesn't matter what they say. This Congress doesn't have any more balls than the last one did. For all of their posturing and pontificating, they are a group of people with little common sense, no practical work experience, and a work ethic that lacks both ethics and work.
We, the People, are in this for the long haul, and there won't be much of a choice in the matter. Terrorism will continue until Muslims dominate the world or we squash our enemies like the insects they are.

Half-assing a war in Iraq won't change that.

Here's Your Chance...

I have recently invited Tom Vilsack and Bill Richardson to read and respond to posts here at Solving America's Problems. Both are persuing the Democratic nomination for President in 2008, and both have a lot of good ideas. Post questions and concerns here and we will do our best to set up an interview or guest post in response.

Remember folks, be tactful, but don't be afraid to post REAL questions and concerns...

This Ain't Working...

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: “Census figures show the richest 20 percent of Americans earn more than half the income. The middle of the income scale earned less than 15 percent, a record low. The bottom 20 percent of workers have a record low share as well, barely topping three percent. It's best to be at the very top, where the top 10 percent controls more than two-thirds of the country's wealth.

Labor Department consumption data show living standards rising for the wealthiest, stagnant or falling for everyone else. Meanwhile, the gender gap has narrowed, not because women's pay is rising, but because men's earnings are falling.”

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: “Buffalo, New York lost 1,800 jobs in the private sector in the past year. Leading those losses; manufacturing jobs. Since 1990, the numbers of jobs in manufacturing have been cut by one third. While that pain is particularly sharp for Buffalo, it is not Buffalo's alone.

Nationally, we lost 3.6 million manufacturing jobs since 1990, a drop of more than 20 percent. U.S. manufacturing simply can't compete with the flood of cheaper imports, so job opportunities that could have been created for American workers have gone to other countries.”

Source: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/07/ldt.02.html

OK, here is where we apply a little common sense to politics (yeah, I'm a dreamer). We all need to write our congressmen and let them know that the current state of the American job market is unacceptable. There are four major factors to this particular problem: Illegal immigration, NAFTA and CAFTA, and outsourcing.

Illegal immigration must be addressed. The security issues aside, the economic effects can and will be devastating to the American economy. I see young men everyday who are willing to sign up for service and go to Iraq just so they can get a steady paycheck. There are two food processing plants here in my hometown that collectively employ over 1,600 workers, both of which are employing an estimated 80% illegal immigrants. That means that 1,260 out of 1,600 jobs are filled by people who are not citizens of this country. There have been no ICE or INS raids here yet.

NAFTA, North American Free Trade Agreement, is a treaty with Mexico that allows for less restricted shipping and commerce, and also allows American companies to open manufacturing plants in Mexico. The average manufacturing wage in the US is between $12 and $15 an hour. The average manufacturing wage in Mexico is 42 cents per hour. (I wonder who had that bright idea)

CAFTA, Central American Free Trade Agreement, allows for the same things in Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, etc. This is where the majority of manufacturing jobs have moved to in the last three years.

Outsourcing is simply moving service related jobs to foreign countries. Telemarketers, Customer service, and many other telephone and technical manufacturing jobs can now be moved to India, The Dominican Republic, and pretty much anywhere that Corporate America wants.

Do you, as an American, get the sense that someone is very concerned about you?(besides me)

All we have to do is raise hell. We don't have to agree about gay rights or abortion or the speed limit. All we have to do is get together on this one topic. Write your congressman and tell him/her that we want our jobs back. Call your governor and ask him what he is doing to fix this. Call your mayor and see what he/she is doing to bring new jobs to your community.

There is no sense in creating all these new small business incentive programs. We are just reinventing the wheel. The government signed off on some bad stuff. We need to let them know that we disapprove and tell them to correct it. So what if Mexico and Central America stay impoverished? They weren't making anybody rich at 42 cents an hour, I can assure you. These treaties aren't about helping the people of Mexico and CA any more than they are about helping you or me.

We need to toss a Bullshit Flag on this one. (you see, its like a flag on the play in football...oh, forget it)

This is America. This ain't some third world dictatorship where we just have to sit on our hands while injustice occurs all around us. We have the right, and I believe the outright duty, to fix this garbage without waiting around to see how bad it can get.

Yours, Mine, and That Other...

We, the People...we got problems.

John Edwards has no business being president. I like Hillary, but I don't know how much...
Obama has little experience, but he is smart. My favorite is Vilsack. (Who?) (look him up...)

Giuliani has a shot, but I don't think the Republicans want to give the Dems room for revenge for the whole Clinton scandal, so he probably won't get in. McCain is tough on the wrong stuff, but he might be in there.

Anyway, we have so many choices, and we obviously aren't any good at this stuff. So what is the problem?

We all live in different worlds. Don't get me wrong, there are similarities. I'm sure that folks in Los Fresnos, Texas can relate to my ranting about illegal immigration. The good people of Tyler, Texas probably wish that Crystal Meth would go away.
But do the people in Los Angeles see it the way I do? Does the soldier overseas imagine that America is really this insane ?(NO)

From Iowa to Oregon, there are many cultures and ways of life represented. From Maine to Arizona, we run a full spectrum of problems and solutions. From the far left to the extreme right, there are many, many schools of thought. How do we unite?

We sacrifice a little and tolerate a lot. We strip away the details and focus on the main idea. We all want the same things: Good job, retirement benefits, safe neighborhoods, good schools, etc.

I know that this sounds a bit oversimplified, but it is true. A right-wing religious fanatic just wants what is best for his/her family. A bleeding heart liberal wants the same thing. So why can't we agree on anything?

Because there's no profit for DC in that...

Here's my point- We used to work together a bit to keep it together. Now we get distracted by the left and the right and the middle, plus all those "special" groups out there. Are WE doing this? NO. The politicians are at least partially responsible. We need to start thinking about America and her future. We can strip away the racially motivated BS, we can get past religious differences, we can even meet in the middle when it comes to our kids. One would think that we could pick a president that we all like.

Handbasket Rides

If you need me to explain the title, you can ask.

A border patrol agent (Ignacio Ramos) who is in prison for shooting an illegal immigrant while on duty was beaten severely by other inmates. (pause for personal rage)

Ramos chose to be in the general population (before he knew which prison he was going to) in order to have regular contact with his family. There are currently 350 illegal immigrants in the facility where Ramos is currently incarcerated. The official White House response to requests for a pardon is that they "need to be careful when issuing pardons"(CNN File Video). An appeals court is still awaiting the official court transcript of the original trial so the appeals process can start.

Six days BEFORE being granted immunity, the "victim" of the shooting admitted that he was smuggling marijuana into the United States when he was shot. He admitted to belonging to a gang, and also told Border Patrol agents that the gang to which he belonged plans to "go hunting" for BP agents.

Two Border Patrol agents are in prison for shooting a drug smuggling illegal immigrant(who are we kidding? this guy is no immigrant, he is a drug dealer)who refused to cooperate with them, resisted arrest, and fled. The only reason that this dope dealer is in this country now to be granted immunity is because he was busted smuggling drugs into our country again shortly after the shooting.

This is just more of the same from the Justice Department and the White House. I am tired of Justice trying to be hard-core in the prosecution of police and law-enforcement agents. Convicts run the prison system, criminals run the courts, and now illegal dope peddling border jumping gang bangers are running investigations by Justice. The White House is so far up Felipe Caldoron's ass that we may never get anything done about the problems in Mexico. This is a big, incestuous fiasco, rooted in corporate interests and big money (and old money) families. I for one am sick to death of watching GW and his supporters kiss the ass of one of the most corrupt governments in the world. I am also sick to death of watching criminals and low-life scumbags get away with all of their crap while law enforcement officers are treated like the criminals SHOULD be treated.

Honest men and women are afraid to violate the "rights" of assholes all across the nation. We can't say or do anything about illegal immigration, lest we be accused of "hate crimes" or racism. We can't run off crack dealers and meth-heads because we might get shot. We can't shoot pedophiles, we can't pray, we can't say "Merry Christmas", we can't refer to the Ten Commandments in court, we can't put up a cross. We can't make fun of primitive cultures (one of my favorite past-times). We can't use common sense in Law-Enforcement because "profiling" is a bad word.

We are about a nuclear blast away from being tree-hanging crap-flinging monkeys.

No Info

" 1. The information we have is not what we want.
2. The information we want is not what we need.
3. The information we need is not available. "-FINAGLE'S NEW LAWS OF INFORMATION, by John Peers, 1979

As I flip through the channels on my TV, I am flabbergasted by the amount of information spin that goes on. Cop dramas have underlying political themes. Comedies point out the humor in political situations. The news is either to the left or to the right.

You see, we all (including me) depend on the media for information. We form opinions and approaches to problems based on that information. As we get new information, our opinions change. Sometimes, when we look back, we see that we strongly disagree with our former opinions. I remember sending out an e-mail strongly supporting the invasion of Iraq. A few months back, I stated that we should pull out of Iraq. More recently, I have advocated a stronger presence in Iraq. I pose very convincing arguments for each opinion. So what do I really believe?

I believe that at some point I made a mistake. This mistake may or may not have been based on information that I got from the media. So here is my stance on Iraq:

I believe that we should win in Iraq, based on the situation in the Middle East today, because the way that we are viewed in the Middle East has a direcdt effect on our future and the future of terrorism. I believe that if the government of our country does not support an all-out effort, then we should pull out of Iraq. We shouldn't keep fighting now just to quit later.

That's a simply as I can put it.

I have made other contradictory statements in the past. In the now missing post on gay marriage, I seemed to have one opinion, yet in a later post, I seemed to take a more conservative view. Here is my actual stance on gay marriage:

I don't care.

Your government has contradicted itself, also. Congress (most of them) voted to support the invasion in Iraq. Now many congressmen are against continuation of efforts in Iraq. It happens.
Many congressmen supported gay marriage until it came time to vote for it. This happens, too.

There is one question that bothers me. I don't hear a lot of support for actually securing our Southern border. I hear "immigration reform" talked about. I see gestures being made to appease the people, like sending the National Guard down to the border. But still, no realistic efforts are being made to secure the border between the US and Mexico. Why not?

I was reading the Patriot Act earlier (link to your right), and I noticed something that I found bizarre: In the section entitled "Securing the Border", there is a section on securing the Northern border, then several sections on preserving the rights of immigrants. Never once does the Patriot Act mention our Southern border. For all the gesturing and posturing by Congress, no true effort has been made on their part to secure our boundary with Mexico. For all the media's criticism of our government, there have been no investigative reports on the lack of real security on the Mexican border. It took me three days to find a reliable story on the January 3rd incident in Arizona. Why are we ignoring this problem?

Yugo and Dinner Jacket

We really, really need to secure our Southern Border. Venezuela is in South America, right? Venezuela's president (Hugo Chavez) and Iran's president (Mahmoud Ahmedinejad) are good buddies. They both hate the United States. They both deny the holocaust. They both advocate the ruination of our country and our way of life. Chavez has warned the US not to take military action against Iran. Are we all tracking so far?

Hypothetical scenario: Iran sends "Diplomatic Envoys" with special training in languages and explosives to Venezuela, and these guys disappear. They turn up in Pheonix, Arizona and detonate a dirty bomb (or even a regular one) and fade back into the illegal immigrant underground. They repeat this process in three or four places across the country.

Maybe this is a worst-case scenario. So? The Department of Homeland Security loves to spew these worst case scenarios at us all the time. They love to preach that duct tape and bisquine will keep out mustard gas (it won't), but no one wants to talk about real security issues. Our jobs are being taken, our social services are being stolen, and now a very real threat to our way of life exists and still the Democrats and Republicans alike want to ignore the Border Security Issue. Why? Is there money in it? Is it some left-wing bleeding-heart humanitarian cause?

We sent a bunch of National Guardsmen down to the border to do very little. They have been probed, and now the State of Arizona is putting together a commitee to investigate whether or not the National Guard can do more...it could take years for a decision, and even then the Federal government has to make their decision.

What kind of sense does this make? Are we all blind? We have got to militarize our Southern Border. We must do so in order to prevent criminals with guns and drugs from coming into our country. We must do so in order to prevent another deadly terrorist attack on US soil. We must do so in order to preserve our way of life.

If you can't think of anything to say about this to your congressman, e-mail him/her this blog and tell them you agree with me. Do something. Say something. Don't just sit there.