Solving America's Problems

Itr's been a long time . . .

2011-01-15T16:58:00.000-06:00

. . . in fact, I seem to recall sitting in a motel room somewhere in Northern Virginia last time I checked in, and the Bulldog had just commented on the Fed and wondering what I had to say about it. It was weird because I hadn't been to the site in months.
Aah, yes; there it is - first of April, 2008. My, how time crawls.
Well, I'm not going to tackle the Fed now. It's a horribly dreary subject, and I'm tired of it. They're traitors and enemies, those international bankers. What else needs to be said . . .

Rather, I find myself concerned about my friend, and wonder why it has been so long since we've heard from him. I think it might be a good idea to go looking for him . . .

Lunch Break Rant

2008-09-12T05:21:00.000-05:00

OK, just a few quick thoughts, here (I’m on my lunch break).

If I say “I’m a maverick”, that only means I want you to think I’m a maverick. Odds are I’ve been part of the problem for twenty plus years.

If I say “I am for change”, and I am new and different, odds are I’m telling the truth.

The difference: We have to make a choice soon, between the same old same old or something new. Will Barrack Obama make all of the ludicrous changes he says he means to? I sincerely doubt it.

Just like John McCain won’t reverse Roe v. Wade (which I don’t think the president can do anyway).

I must clarify-I’m not really a liberal, just like I’m not really a conservative. I’m a blue-collar middle-class American. I’m a Soldier, a father, a taxpayer. I believe that Sarah Palin is a gimmick. I believe that Barrack Obama is sincere, even if I don’t agree with everything he says. I believe that we could use some sincerity in the White House, because there hasn’t been much since I’ve been alive.

The race for the White House isn’t as important this year as the race for the Senate and the House. I would love to see every incumbent thrown out, but a good ten percent or so is more realistic.

Just for kicks (and a change), I’m voting for the next non-homo Independent Presidential Candidate. I’m doubtful whether I’m impressed enough by Obama to re-elect him. I doubt McCain will win.

So I’m going to go on with my life and enjoy this, the most entertaining of elections. In the end, I’ll still be a taxpayer, I’ll still be pissed about the price of gas, and I’ll still have kids to feed and send to college.

Because no matter who says they are going to change the world, some things will continue as they have always been.

Burn the World

2008-08-01T07:19:00.001-05:00

So I watch this election from my secluded viewpoint in Iraq, and I gotta say, what the hell were we thinking?

Why is it that the citizens of the United States are so divided? Were we just too different from the rest of the world? Do we really want to be like Mexico, or Iraq, or Norway?

Barack Obama is indeed a strange candidate for me to endorse, but there is a method to my madness….just follow me, and I’ll take you there…

So first, ask yourself what John McCain is willing to do to make a positive change. Are you fanatically following White Bread America because the idea of a black man in the White House scares you? Do you really believe the easily refuted rumors about Obama’s ties to Islam? Are you worried that he’s a liberal?

OK, he’s a liberal pinko commie fag, I cannot dispute that. He’s also committed to changing America…tell me we couldn’t use a change….

He’s not a Muslim, and I’m tired of saying it, so look him up on Snopes, or better yet, actually read his damn books. Either way, stop forwarding me asinine e-mails that have been created by political opposition and not genuinely concerned citizens. Its stupid, its juvenile, and it’s a waste of freaking time.

I think most of you are afraid that a black man might be dangerous just because he’s black. Well, I can’t exactly explain this on intellectual terms, but I doubt that Barack Obama is any more black than say, Tiger Woods. Enough small minded BS, down to bidness…

John McCain represents how it has always been, and how we really expected it to always be. White people run shit, right? He represents the corporate America that has stripped us of our idealism, our sense of pride and accomplishment, our Industrial strength, our sense of Nationalism.

Will Barack Obama fix all of that? Certainly not. Will he be a great president? I doubt it. Does he represent that America of old that we reminisce about? Nope.

What then does Barack Obama represent to Bulldog23A? Why I’ll tell you….

If we elect Barack Obama, in itself, the action means nothing…but, if we vote out every incumbent on the Congressional level at the same time (that’s right, there are Congressional seats up for grabs this year, too) we send a message that will reverberate for generations….we send the message to Corporate Fat Cat America that we run this machine. We let all of the politicians know that we are tired of the devil we know, and that we are perfectly willing to spend four years rolling our eyes at some hippie asshole, as long as power changes hands. Obama represents absolutely nothing to me other than the fact that power in America must change hands. We, the people still have the ability to take back our voice, our say-so, our power in America….

All we have to do is continue to use our vote.

Think about this-Whoever came before, Republicans, Democrats, White Folks, Black Folks, whoever…they got us where we are…

American Citizens are protesting other Americans who guard our borders…they carry signs picturing Che Guevara, one of the most bloodthirsty Communist Revolutionaries to have ever packed an AK47.

American Citizens are protesting our Soldiers, calling them murderers and thieves, even spitting on them in airports and grocery stores

More Americans have lost their jobs due to piss poor government in the past 15 years than in the entire history of our nation before that.

We are fighting two wars, have tension on another front, and Russia is trying to put nuke capable bombers in Cuba.

We are broke, losing homes to rip-off mortgage companies at a rate of 1300 a week.

Violent crime is at an all-time high.

Crimes against children are at an all-time high.

I could go on (and I often do…), but you get the point.

Barack Obama is not the answer to a single one of the problems. John McCain represents the causes of the aforementioned problems however, and so now we remove him and his kind from power. We get rid of the problematic and unproductive Congress, we choose the idiot over the asshole, as it were, and we GET INVOLVED IN THE OPERATION OF OUR NATION…

If you truly believe that Barack Obama will lead our country straight to hell, you haven’t been paying attention…we are already there.

Why Johnny Can't Come Home Just Yet

2008-05-23T06:30:00.000-05:00

You know, America is a funny kind of animal.

I spent my childhood listening to people talk about how we ought to kick the Soviet's asses, or how we should blow the Middle East off the map. After our involvment in the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, we bailed on the Afghan people.

Do you know why we did that?

Because building a nation is not glorious, it is expensive, and it is hard work...

Which leads me to today's post.

America, for the most part, wants to be done with Iraq, and probably Afghanistan as well. I hear arguments about how we never had any buisiness going into Iraq...OK, so what? Maybe we had no buisiness invading Iraq, there were no WMDs, roger, I get it. We are in Iraq. Hell, I'm posting from Iraq right now.

This is my second tour over here. Things have changed. This country is getting better. I spent quality time dealing with IEDs and RPGs last time. Lots of small arms fire, too.
These days, not so much. I spoke to Iraqis last time who believed that Arab culture could never assimilate Democracy. Yesterday I had a long discussion with a young Iraqi man about how to select a candidate.

Don't get me wrong, there is still an armed insurgency out there, trying to kill off the Democratic process as much as they are trying to kill Americans. But this place is better than it was.

After WWII, we occupied Germany and Japan and reeducated folks. We rebuilt hospitals and schools and roads. The post-war mission was as successful as the war itself.
With Iraq and Afghanistan, we are not only rebuilding roads and schools and hospitals, but in some regions, we are introducing the very concept of infrastructure to the citizens...

We have an obligation to finish what we have started. We don't just owe the Iraqis and Afghanis this, but we owe our posterity.

Pay attention, here's the important part:

Our actions (or lack thereof) after the Soviet War in Afghanistan directly contributed to the events of September 11th, 2001. We had an opportunity to expend a few resources and a little time back then to help a nation get on its feet and join the modern world. We did not take advantage of that, and now we are paying the price. Almost every terrorist organization in the world at this time has had training in Afghanistan. The deadliest terrorist attacks all started in Afghanistan. We could have prevented it.

I'm not just bitching about the past, I am explaining how we need to look at the future. We have got to start learning these lessons from history, folks, or we will repeat them until we are all dead and our way of life a forgotten dream.

There are history lessons that are relevant to any number of our modern day issues.

Wanna know about the economy? Study the economic practices and policies that led to the Great Depression.

Wanna know about immigration reform? Read a history of India, Pakistan, Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Congo, or even Israel.

The information is available for us to know and understand what not to do. In most cases, it isn't too difficult to figure out what should have been done.

But screw it...we got commitees full of congressmen to do that stuff...

Recommended Viewing: Charlie Wilson's War

Integrity, and other stuff

2008-05-01T13:14:00.000-05:00

I set aside trifling poitical contests and media enhanced strife to teach a lesson in ethics and humanity.

First of all, let us define integrity-recently I have heard integrity defined as "Doing what is right, even when no one is looking."

This is a pathetic attempt at a sound bite. It is also easy to regurgitate, in the fashion of the American Education System.

It is not, however, the right way to view integrity.

Integrity is not, as suggested, an external force, nor is it easily influenced by external forces. Integrity is the choosing, of one's own free will, to be consistent in choices and actions, so as to maintain self-respect. It means there are lines that you will not cross, no matter what the choice may cost you. I know men with real integrity, and they often miss out on opportunities, simply because they cannot be dishonest, or disloyal, or immoral. These men understand that one does not consider whether anyone is watching, they consider only that they will always know and understand what they have done.

Because at the end of the day, they are the men who have to live with their actions.

I wish so deeply that this country was full of men like this, but it is not. We have all become comfortable with the lie, or with the occasional disloyalty. You have to screw your buddy to get ahead, right? Its just business, right? Everybody else does it, I may as well get mine, right?

All men fail. Every man falls short some time. People disappoint.

Heroes get up again and continue to struggle with their nature, continue to fight to change the world.

Being the best is a work ethic, not an image. Being brave means not that you are unafraid, but that you walk into the fire with your fear under control. Bluster in peace doesn't prepare you for war.

We have churned out generation after generation of boys who think that they are men. A hypercompetitive state exists in these boys, which encourages only more bluster, which leads to emotionally charged decision making. I guess that's OK if you are a ditch-digger, I don't know.

It doesn't work in the Army, and it doesn't work in the media, and it certainly doesn't work in politics.

I hate to think that a man's ingrained insecurities would cause a shift in National Foreign Policy. It seems to me that a man or woman with integrity would avoid such a thing.

Empire's End??

2008-04-28T12:51:00.000-05:00

The following was e-mailed to me today by a friend of mine. I'm not sure if I buy it, but I would love to hear what all of you think about it:

The signs are everywhere. It will be interesting how this plays itself out.
HOW LONG DOES THE USA HAVE?

This is the most interesting thing I've read in a long time. The sad
thing about it, you can see it coming.
pathy
I have always heard about this democracy countdown. It is interesting
to see it in print. God help us, not that we deserve it.

How Long Do We Have?

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new
constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at
the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the
Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

'A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as
a permanent form of government.'

'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters
discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public
treasury.'

'From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who
promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result
that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy,
which is always followed by a dictatorship.'

'The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the
beginning of history, has been about 200 years'

'During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the
following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;

2. From spiritual faith to great courage;

3. From courage to liberty;

4 From liberty to abundance;

5. From abundance to complacency;

6. From complacency to apathy;

7. From apathy to dependence;

8. From dependence back into bondage'

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul,
Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000
Presidential election:

Number of States won by:

Gore: 19

Bush: 29

Square miles of land won by:

Gore: 580,000

Bush: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by:

Gore: 127 million

Bush: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:

Gore: 13.2

Bush: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: 'In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won
was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great
country.

Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in
government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government
welfare...' Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between
the 'complacency and apathy' phase of Professor Tyler's definition of
democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already
having reached the 'governmental dependency' phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal
invaders called illegal and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the
USA in fewer than five years.-Joyce Ahlquist

This is interesting. What do you think?-Bulldog23A

This is My Soapbox

2008-04-24T12:43:00.001-05:00

So greetings from Sunny Al Asad, Iraq!

I watched Lou Dobbs today so, of course, I am angry.

Not at Lou Dobbs. Rich media guru he may once have been, but Lou Dobbs is just about the only political entity in the nation right now that is still on your side. 'nuff about Lou.

So the grand virtual fence (which translates in English to not a fence) on our Southern border is a complete failure. Actually the media was calling it a "real failure". At first I thought that this was piss poor use of the language, but now I see more clearly (accidental Marley reference-neato).

The use of the word Real in media these days signifies that they are not at that very moment in time blowing smoke straight up your wazoo. For instance-The Virtual Border Fence that cost taxpayers $20,000,000 has been discovered to be a real failure. As opposed to-The older gentleman in the blue suit and red tie is a true conservative.

Did everybody catch the difference, there? Good. Moving on.

So what else did I see today? Why, I'll tell you!

Today, on the Capitol Hill Pundit's Blog, a guy claimed that if you want the war in Iraq to be over, you are a traitor to our fine and glorious country. The guy is a die hard Republican, and he is a real conservative, so I try not to mess with the guy too much, but this has gone far enough.

So now I'm gonna 'splain it to ya:

When political opposition has created such a gap in culture between rights, lefts, conservatives, or liberals, it is time to stop and take a good look around. Go to a shopping center near your home and take a look at the multitudes gathered there. I'm sure that a freak or two will stand out, but honestly, can you tell the difference between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats?
Nope.
All that you will see are Americans (well, mostly). Now, I ask you-How did we get convinced that we are all so different? Was it Congress? Was it the media? Was it the angry naked guy next door swinging a chain saw and smoking a hookah?
Nope. Its our fault.
We have let these people take control of our perception of America. We allowed them to come into our homes and bombard us with hate and discontent.

Everyone in the country is waiting for Hillary to bring out the big guns on Obama. We wait with baited breath to find out about that one big scandalous thing he did.
The guy probably smoked a few too many hooters in college. Who gives a rat's ass? We have been convinced that there is a pending doom on the Obama campaign, when in reality, we are all curious to see what happens with this guy. You know some dumbass redneck is gonna try to kill him or something. You know that he will be one of the most scrutinized presidents in history, if elected. Why not give the guy a shot? At least he will be more interesting than John freaking McCain going on with the status quo like nothing is wrong. Its gotta be better than Yoko or Hillary or whatever with her multitude of personalities.

And in the meantime, just maybe, he attacks the NAFTA issue. You can't name one thing that Hillary or McCain even want to do that is as important or worthy of a president to undertake.

As for the guy who wants us to stay in Iraq, guess what, jackass? We don't really even have a choice. We'll be here for another fifty years, no matter who becomes President. If we left now it would be like throwing an infant to sharks. And even I wouldn't throw a baby Haji to a shark.

This is My Soapbox

2008-04-24T12:43:00.000-05:00

The Fed got new Powers...

2008-03-31T12:53:00.000-05:00

OK, Jeff, I just read in the Stars and Stripes (best paper in the world) that the Fed is getting sweeping new powers.

I know that you have something to say about that...

Greetings from Sunny (or is that Sunni?) Kuwait

2008-03-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

OK, I am gona be quick and painless here. I'm good, we're going North from here sooner or later.

For right now, we are busy convincing ourselves that this is just the World's largest beach.

Later....Bulldog23A

Immigration Reform

2008-03-07T15:57:00.000-06:00

This was sent to me via e-mail, and I thought it warranted a little more exposure:

Just a couple of days ago, eight U.S. Senators rolled out eleven bills designed to solve our immigration problems, once and for all. Unlike the huge omnibus bill crafted by Senators McCain and Kennedy that hid amnesty provisions and other rewards for illegal aliens deep within its hundreds of pages, each of the bills introduced by these Senators tackles a specific objective and leaves little room for bad amendments to be tacked on.

This is the kind of legislation our organization has wanted for years. And now it is here for all of us to support. (see details below)

Unfortunately, a number of immigration reform groups have decided to back legislation by Congressman Heath Shuler, a Democrat from North Carolina. I can understand their enthusiasm. When I first learned of HR 4088, the SAVE Act, I was excited. It was about time Democrats found the courage to step up and address these immigration problems that affect American workers who are the core of their political base.

But a closer look quickly revealed that the Shuler bill, while it does contain some real immigration reforms, cannot compare to the House bill offered by former Judiciary Chair Jim Sensenbrenner (HR 4065) which really does it all.

Perhaps, the thinking of those supporting the Shuler bill is that half a loaf is better than none. I disagree. This is no time for compromise. Here's why: First, the Democrats control the House and the Senate. That means whatever bill is selected for debate will be torn to shreds when it goes to conference. The good language will be stripped out and replaced with amnesty language, 5-year "temporary" visas for illegal aliens and "pathways" to citizenship. And all those Republicans who are now being pressured into supporting the Shuler bill, will likely vote for it, even though it has been transformed beyond recognition.

Another reason for not accepting "half a loaf" is that we will get one shot at immigration reform. Once an immigration bill is passed, neither party will ever revisit this issue again for 20 years! So what is passed had better be able to solve ALL of our immigration problems or we will have to live with serious problems for decades.

I hope the Shuler bill is a sincere effort by Democrats to get on the right side of this issue. But it is also possible that this bill is merely a political stunt designed to give cover to Democrats in tight races this November.

Democrats aren't fools and they can read polling data as good as Republicans can. By signing on to this bill, they can now tell their constituents they have cosponsored a tough, no amnesty, immigration reform bill.

So ... instead of spending our time, money and energy on a bill that is, at best, a half a loaf and, at worst, a stunt to elect Democrats that may vote for amnesty, I believe that each of us needs to get out and support those Senators who have stuck their necks way out to give America the kind of immigration reforms necessary to protect the people and preserve our language, culture and heritage for the next generations.

Here are excerpts of what these new Senate bills will do, if we can get them passed:

* Manadatory minimum sentences for illegal entry
* Mandatory electronic employment verification system
* The entire fence must be completed by 2010
* Major funding cuts for sanctuary cities
* Stop banks from accepting Matricula Consular cards
* Establish English as our national language
* Stop the phaseout of the National Guard on our borders.
* Utilize state and local police forces to assist with immigration enforcement
* States that give licenses to illegal aliens will lose highay funds
* Makes drunk driving among illegal aliens a deportable offense
* Nations must repatriate their illegal aliens or lose aid and visas.
* Repeals presidential order that requires federal agencies to be multilingual

What would you rather support? A weak bill that is silent on some critical enforcement issues or a host of excellent bills, in both the House and Senate, that cut right to the heart of our immmigration crisis.

Here are the Senators who deserve our appreciation for their efforts. If you are one of their constituents, let them hear from you: Jeff Sessions - AL, Jim DeMint - SC, David Vitter-LA, James inhofe-OK, Pete Domenici-NM, Saxby Chambilss-GA, John Barrasso-WY, Elizabeth Dole-NC.

Please make a note to visit our website in 2-3 days when these bills have been numbered so you can have to opportunity to ask your Senators to become cosponsors to these powerful and effective Senate bills

Sincerely,
Edward I. Nelson, Chairman
U.S. Border Control (http://www.usbc.org/)
U.S. Border Control Foundation (http://www.usbcf.org/)
USBC Blog (must reading!) http://bordercontrol.blogspot.com/
Ramos-Compean Blog http://ramos-compean.blogspot.com/

Some of my favorite things...

2008-03-02T22:00:00.000-06:00

Here are some of my favorite things:

I love the Arkansas countryside in the fall. There are colors there that cannot be reproduced by man. I have the most beautiful drive home from work that a man could ask for.

I love the desert down Highway 10 in Arizona, right before you get into Texas Canyon (Stop and see The Thing!). There is so much life out there in the late spring and early summer.

I love the King's Highway, down the coast from Maine to the Carolinas. The people are so full of life, and you can actually smell the history...

I love Gorman Falls down in Texas, just down the road from San Saba. There may not be a more beautiful place on Earth.

I love Los Angeles. Its so dirty that it has to be interesting...

I love Memphis. No city on Earth has had more influence on modern music than Memphis, TN.

I love that place behind the front door where my youngest daughter hides and tries to scare me.

I love that spot on the couch that makes my wife instantly put her head on my shoulder while we watch a movie.

I love standing in the door of my oldest daughter's bedroom while she plays her trumpet.

I love picking my middle daughter up from school. She always seems excited about what she has learned today.

I love that sand bar down on the White River where we hang out in the summer.

I love to stand in front of my aquarium and watch the turtles eat minnows.

I love to wake up in the night and rush to a Humvee, knowing that I am surrounded by the toughest bastards a guy could ever have on his side.

I love to stand in a public place when the National Anthem plays. It amazes me that we can forget all about race and religion and political party right before a ball game.

I love these United States, truly and deeply. I will go where I must to defend her interests, and learn and grow from the experience. I only hope that we can hang on to what we love about this country long enough to fix all that has been broken.

Here it Gets Ugly

2008-03-01T21:33:00.000-06:00

Got My Chemical Romance cranked up, name of the song is The Sharpest Lives, and its got a nice angry beat.

I'm eating Pringles and looking for my Mountain Dew...Found it!
Here we go...

I am going to take the blame. That's right America, good ol' Bulldog two-three alpha is gonna take the blame for everything that has gone wrong in the past thirty-five years. Now that we have that out of the way, let's fix something. Hell, let's fix anything. I'm tired of listening to people spend all of their time and energy trying to figure out who is to blame. From now on you can tell 'em all that it's my fault. Moving on...

I am about to officially endorse a freaking candidate, and I'm afraid that there will be no end to the madness once I do so, so I'm going to do some 'splaining first. Maybe I'll throw out a few disclaimers and such, too. Anyway, if you will follow my logic, and actually listen to the damn plan, just maybe I can convince you that this is the right choice.

First of all, I want you all to remember that one person is never going to have enough power in this country to take away your guns (unless you give them that power).

Second, I want you to remember that, as far as conservatism goes, we have really screwed the pooch lately on so many levels that we may never be a conservative nation again.

Next I want you to consider what the two largest threats are to you and me and folks like us...

OK, I'll tell you- NAFTA and border security. Why yes, I will explain.

NAFTA (and other free trade agreements) has been the cause of the majority of lost jobs in the United States in the past few years. NAFTA has also been the cause of a lot of illegal immigration. NAFTA has prevented any real economic growth in Mexico, thus causing people who were already sick of poverty to move North. I could explain it more fully, but I already have, and there's a link to the damn thing around here somewhere...

Nobody has a viable plan to secure the border (except me). Nobody has anything to say about NAFTA at all...

Well there is that one candidate.

One candidate has publicly pledged to withdraw from NAFTA if Mexico and Canada will not renegotiate the treaty. Now, this candidate is not exactly who you would expect me to endorse, and, well, I expect to catch a rash for doing so.

The problem is this- I'm a tired little man with stuff to do. I can theorize and pontificate all I want about changing things, but until I do something to initiate said change, I'm just another asshole on the internet. There is one candidate that has actually even mentioned one freaking thing that we, the People, see as the actual issue. One stinking thing...

One politician in the entire time that I have been writing this little blog has admitted that NAFTA may need to be repealed. They posture and gesture about gay marriage, they talk about exit plans for Iraq, knowing that there is no viable plan. They talk and talk and talk about stabilizing the economy, all the while you pay more for milk and gas and smokes and sodas (seriously, $1.49 for a freaking Mt. Dew?). One guy has said one thing that I agree with. I gotta hang on to hope, don't I?

So here we go folks. Figure out who that candidate is, and tell your friends that its all Bulldog23A's fault.

I'm never gonna hear the end of it...

Life, the Universe, and All That Jazz...

2008-03-01T05:29:00.001-06:00

In the grand scheme of things, this blog is just a drop in the bucket. There are men and women far more knowledgable than myself out there trying to get a message across, and most of them disagree with me, or seem to. I read the Capitol Hill Pundits Blog daily, and the things I see as issues are hardly ever touched on. The Congressional Blog is much the same. This leads me to believe that either I am delusional (and that IS an option), or that noone in DC is in touch with my world. So I'm going to give you guys a picture of my little bubble.

I grew up in a small town and went to a tiny public school. I graduated salutatorian in a class of six people. My father was a truck driver, and was often a guest speaker at churches across Texas. I was raised in a VERY strict environment-what we would call an ultra-conservative household these days. We were as far to the right politically as we could be.

My father died when I was 16 years old, and I went buck wild. I eventually joined a band, and even made a little money playing music. I did odd jobs, drank a lot, and expirimented with all the drugs I could get my hands on. All I knew about dope was that it was bad. I blew through relationships and friends and jobs like most people change socks. I lived in a moral vacuum for several years.

When I started having children, I had to grow up. There was no other option. I worked construction, and eventually joined the Army National Guard. I did my weekend drills, busted my back at work, and made a fair living. I was terrible with my money and my credit, so I worked all the overtime that I could to make ends meet. There was no health insurance, no vacation (just the yearly lay-off), and no retirement. I traveled to where the work was and came home when I could.

Then one day I got a factory job. It was like I had joined a whole new society. I still worked overtime (as much as the union would allow). We had health insurance. I earned vacation days. I felt like a successful man.

The deployments started for us in 1999. I did not go on the first one, so I kept working at the factory. Immediately after 911, we were sent overseas for several months. After that little adventure, I was not about to go back to factory work or construction, so I went to school. We got sent to Iraq a year later. After Iraq there was some college and then Operation Katrina Relief. After katrina, there was some college and then Recruiting. Last year I hired on full timefor the National Guard. I make about twice the median income for the county I live in, my health insurance is fairly affordable and really good, and my education benfits are still available.

My career is not exactly on the fastest track, but I have opportunities from time to time to advance myself, and I plan to. I will retire a little early and be comfortable in my old age.

None of my friends outside of the military have a plan right now. All of my former co-workers at the factory are out of a job. All of my former co-workers with the construction company are out of a job. NAFTA and CAFTA have cost the Batesville, Arkansas area somewhere around 1800 jobs in 10 years. The only people who seem to give a damn are people like me who could never run for office, never mind the affordability of it, we couldn't bear the scrutiny. I bet you could find a hundred people that would claim to have done drugs with me.

You see, I'm no worse than say, Teddy Kennedy, but I want to buck the system, so I would be crucified in that environment. So would many of my readers. So who can represent us? Who can make the changes that we need here in real America?

I do not regret too many of my choices. I am the man I am today because of my history. I cannot imagine that I would have given a rat's ass about any of you if I had gone to law school and then into politics when I was younger.

But I bet I would have been electable...

May You Live in Interesting Times...

2008-02-29T04:15:00.000-06:00

OK, I look at the candidates, and I got nothing. Then I get this e-mail, telling me how evil liberals are and how righteous conservatives are. The e-mail gives me a list of issues and how each of the "big three" voted on said issues.

Here is what it says about Obama on NAFTA:
Wants to amend NAFTA and other trade agreements to impose "strong labor and environmental standards"
Publically pledged to withdraw from NAFTA unless Canada and Mexico agree to renegotiate

On Free trade Agreements:
Opposes such agreements
Has consistently voted against FTAs, agreements that give American companies the ability to compete for market access abroad
Voted against CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement), opposes recently signed FTAs yet to be voted on by Congress (e.g., Korean FTA, Columbian FTA, etc)

John McCain on NAFTA:
Supports NAFTA and other FTAs

On Free Trade Agreements;
Supports free trade – believes the U.S. should "engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade"
Has consistently supported FTAs

Now, I ask you, who is being liberal now?

Now I don't agree with much that any politician says or does these days, but if I were going to vote based on any one issue, this would be the issue. Barack Obama is the first candidate to even put the idea that we should repeal NAFTA on the table (besides me, of course). Why is that a "Liberal" stance?

How is it "Conservative" to ship our freaking livelyhood to Jakarta, or Seoul?

How about we stop looking at Liberal or Conservative, and start looking at what we can do to save our freaking economy. If we continue to send our manufacturing jobs outside of our borders, we will become a nation with no backbone of industry. Being the most technologically advanced society won't mean squat when we can't build a fucking automobile. We aren't improving the "Global Economy" one bit with our free trade agreements, either. We are keeping third world nations under Corporate America's thumb, just like they like to keep us.

This is the most rediculous thing I have ever had to argue about. Why does anyone think that a blanket "Free" trade agreement is a good idea? Why can't we negotiate specific trade agreements with nations, one at a time? Is Congress too busy? Is there some other influence on the situation? You bet there is, from the World Bank to the WTO, there are foreign investors who are influencing our government. There are Arab Muslims who are influencing your Congresman to give your job to some shmuck in Thailand.

There will always be too much money floating around DC, and there will always be special interest influence. Why can't we be an interest group? I know! We'll call ourselves the rightful citizens and voters of this country!

Maybe Barack Obama is no answer, OK, I'll grant you that. Just remember that the Bush and Clinton cycle got us where we are, John McCain thinks things are peachy all over, and Ralph Nader is worried that we aren't safe enough as consumers.

The most expediant concern in this country right now is border security and Free Trade (specifically the getting rid of). Not a candidate one has a border security plan. Only one has a plan to renegotiate NAFTA.

Insanity

2008-02-26T06:28:00.000-06:00

I have heard that repetitive behavior with the expectation of new results is the definition of insanity.

Every election, we discuss abortion-knowing fully that it will remain legal.

Every election, we discuss illegal immigration-knowing fully that know real measures are being taken to secure our borders.

Every election, we discuss the job market-knowing fully that our jobs are being sent overseas and that this will continue.

I could go on and on about this, and probably will.

My point is simple, as always: If we continue to reward the bad behavior of our elected officials with continued employment, nothing will ever change.

Chicken A La King or Poached Fish?

2008-02-24T16:00:00.000-06:00

Did you ever think about what would happen if Barack Obama became President?

I'll tell you-Not much. He's no different from any other candidate.

Let's illustrate-What legislation has he pushed through that was of any import?

What is his voting record on the issues that count?

Now let's talk about John McCain...

He has been in Congress for so long that I would be willing to bet that he has voted either way on almost any issue...

Hillary is the only candidate that I can name that has actually done anything tangible of late, and she only did that in anticipation of running for President.

But wait, what's that on the horizon? Is that a new hope? Is there a hero in shining armor riding forth?...

Nope, its Ralph Nader. This is a guy that, while he IS capable of getting stuff done, is also responsible for a large number of the consumer safety requirements that have become a pain in our asses for the last two generations. This is the jackass that got Congress to require that automobile manufacturers put seatbelts in all of their products.

Hmmm...

OK, why not. This is a guy that almost single-handedly reduced traffic fatalities in this country by 35% over 30 years. I can't compare any other candidates accomplishments to that...

The Angry Bulldog

2008-02-22T10:37:00.001-06:00

I was having a conversation about the lack of response on my blog, and someone pointed out that people are upset because they don't have anyone to vote for. Apparently none of the candidates are quite what people want.

I have to say America, that's just BS.

If you want to sit and watch the continuing downward spiral, so be it. If you think that having crappy choices for candidates in this election is an excuse not to get involved, you are just being lazy. There hasn't been a decent choice for president or any other office in generations. These people are not now-nor have they ever been-your champions.

If there were decent people running for office in the past few elections, don't you think that we would have chosen one? Don't you feel like that would have become the trend? I know that Rush Limbaugh has all of you convinced that liberals are evil, and I know that CNN has you all convinced that conservatives are primitive, but let's face reality-THE IMAGES THAT WE HOLD IN OUR MINDS OF WHAT WE CONSIDER OUR OPPOSITION IN POLITICS HAVE BEEN CREATED ENTIRELY BY THE POLITICAL MACHINE WE HAVE COME TO HATE.

People are just people. even those Americans with which I disagree have the same basic goals and desires for this country that I do. The idea of "ultra-conservative" or the "extreme left" has been presented to us all as a truth, and it is the ultimate lie. John McCain is a self-serving prick who does not care one wit about the Constitution or your freedom. Barack Obama is an apologist twit with no clear understanding of the "change" he preaches. They are all the worst kinds of people, because they assume to know what's best for all of us with no regard for what we really want or need.

I'm voting for the Democratic candidate, because I want to see things change, not because I believe they have a clue. In four years I will vote Republican, because I hope to have convinced some of you, any of you, to do so with me. Not in support of a political party, but in the hopes that we may somehow get their attention and take back our country.

No incumbent will get my vote for the next six years, and neither will their political party. If I can't vote for a good candidate, then I will spend all my time taking power from those who have used theirs unwisely.

Jundi

2008-02-20T23:17:00.000-06:00

I sit here at my desk at 11:18pm, somewhere in Mississippi. I am still in uniform, as my duty day just ended. I have not showered in three days. My hands are covered in grit and grime from the past week's training and the oil and carbon from cleaning my weapon. I am by far the least exhausted of all the Soldiers in my unit. I am the Admin NCO, or pay clerk to use the old term.

Sixty percent of the Soldiers in my unit are on their second tour to Iraq. Nine of us are on our 3rd or 4th deployment since September 11th, 2001. Eighty-six wives and over 150 children wait for our safe return. We are carpenters, school teachers, corrections officers, cops, firemen, truck drivers, students, and factory workers. We are America.

In Iraq, they call us "Jundi"(joon-dee), which is arabic for Soldier. We may get painted as villains at times by CNN and the like, but the Iraqis knew that we were trying to help for the most part. We look forward to feeling like that again.

You see, when we were over there last time, we felt very powerful. Sure, we had a license to kill (when needed), but more importantly, we had the ability to make a change. We kept people safe in a very tangible way. We were defenders of the weak, and the poor, and the downtrodden. We fed children and secured schools. We got the damn water turned back on. We empowered the Iraqi people to vote, for the first time in generations.

We come home, and the ability to make a tangible positive change goes away. Everything gets bogged down by the machine. All things difficult are argued into the impossible, and America feels stale and sickly. Television is mindless distraction, work is monotonous and boring.

Some of us discovered that being a good husband and father is satisfying. Others just waited for the next opportunity to feel that power. You see, the ideology that made America great is still new to Iraqis. The war in Iraq is being won, slowly and surely. More and more the people of Iraq are seeing that they have the power. They need the Jundi less and less as time passes. Soon they will fight political battles in the halls of the capitol instead of on the streets of Baghdad.

Many of us are saddened as we watch this process. Where will we find the power to make a change now? Some will find a voice in politics. Some will become community organizers of some sort or another. A die-hard few of us will still be in boots for the next opportunity to make a change that can be seen and felt for the unfortunate and oppressed.

Do us a favor-Vote to make a change. Let us know that you understand and feel what it is that we represent. I promise you that once you make a difference it is nearly impossible to stop doing so.

An Article by Charley Reese

2008-02-20T22:36:00.000-06:00

I usually think that Charley Reese is an insufferable gasbag, but I just got this article e-mailed to me, and I like it, so here you go.-Bulldog23A

Charley Reese, a writer with the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper has offered a rather fresh look at the national leaders who are responsible for most of the mess we find our nation in.

THE 545 PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR AMERICA'S WOES!!
BY CHARLEY REESE

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy. Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court Justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton- picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a SPEAKER, who stood up and criticized G.W. BUSH for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto.

REPLACE THE SCOUNDRELS

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.

There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation" or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess.

I would like to point out that while I like the general idea behind this article, I do not place the blame solely on the heads of politicians. This is my fault and your fault, too. We have failed to actively participate in our own governance for far too long.-Bulldog23A

Straight to Hell in a Handbasket

2008-02-14T17:05:00.001-06:00

First, I just want to say that I have no clear idea what a handbasket is.

Next, I want to wish everyone a happy holiday...hey, wait a minute, this ain't no freaking holiday. Never mind.

Now, down to bidness.

What the hell are people thinking. We have got a serious problem here in America when the most incompetent people in the country are running the show. We are so lazy and unambitious anymore that we would rather sit around and whine about things that are wrong than actually risk a little change and see how it works out. I got an e-mail explaining to me that Barak Obama is black and that Hillary Clinton is a woman, like that would convince me to vote for John McCain or Mike Huckabee.

Let me clear it up for you-IT DOESN'T MATTER ONE TINY LITTLE SLIVER WHO WE ELECT THIS TIME, AS LONG AS WE FIRE THEM NEXT CHANCE WE GET!

I'm sick to death of everyone acting like Barak is a Muslim, or Hillary is a Liberal. The truth is that you and I will never know what they are really all about because they are politicians, which makes them exactly like John McCain or Mike Huckabee. What they are hiding is probably a lot like what Pres Bush was hiding from us back in the day-a political agenda that had little to do with the truth, or what's right, or justice, or the overall betterment of the United States of America.

The sad truth is quite simple-We are running out of time to make a difference. We absolutely have to start the changes soon, or it will all go right down the toilet. Some would argue that it has, and my answer is take a vacation in Beruit if you want to see what it could be like.

Vote against every incumbent Senator and Representative. In two years, do it again. Next presidential election, Vote out the incumbent. In two more years, vote out the Congressional incumbents one more time.

If we do this, they will start to make positive changes for our benefit. They will start to earn their living. They will start to listen.

Alfred E. Neumann for President

2008-02-08T18:13:00.000-06:00

And just why the hell not?...

I Know What You Want

2008-02-01T21:54:00.000-06:00

I feel your frustration. I see the wariness in the eyes of working-class people across the country. We are not fooled by the pompous promises and hints of a better world. Republicans are self-righteous pigs, and Democrats are whores.

Our nation is being sold to the highest bidder, and the buyers hate us for our low-level morality and our spoiled sense of comfort. We are the rich bully to most of the world, and half the politicians are happy with that. The other half want us to apologize for having anything.

Even in America, we are simple. We, the People just want a few things.

I want to be able to earn a living.

I want my children to get the best available education.

I want to raise my family in a safe environment.

I want to someday live in reasonable comfort based on what I have earned.

Am I different from you? I doubt it. You may not have children yet, but I bet you want those things, too. You may want more than I do, but I seriously doubt that you want less.

Do any of your Congressmen act like they are interested in this list? Do any of the current presidential candidates? Is this the life that the media presents as attractive?

We will have to make choices in the next few years that will have serious consequences for America in the future. Quite simply, we need to take our nation back. Not with any violence, but with the simple act of voting out the petty criminals and low-lifes that currently populate our government. We must vote against whoever is in office, simply to make a change. They act as if our voice is inneffective, let us force them to hear us again. Let us ensure that no single political party and no single individual in Congress or any other branch has any effect whatsoever. Vote in a new Congressman, and as soon as opportunity rises, vote him or her out again. It will only take a few years for them to understand that we still run this show.

Maybe I'm raging against the machine too quietly or too late. Maybe nobody cares.

If you do, convince someone else.

Up Late For No Good Reason

2008-01-24T22:15:00.000-06:00

Well here we go.

I'm sitting here listening to Bette Midler do pretty rockin' version of the Stone's "Beast of Burden", got a bottle of water on one side and a pack of smokes on the other. So far so good.

I've had very little time lately to follow the goings on of the world outside. We are in training here at beautiful Camp Shelby, Mississippi, soon to be heading back to the giant litter box. I have had a little bit of time to observe human nature of late, and so we may not solve any problems tonight, but we shall certainly make fun of some folks.

I listen to people talk about the upcoming election, and I understand why we are in the shape that we are in. I keep getting e-mails about Obama's Muslim background, about how McCain didn't really serve in the military, or how Hillary is really a liberal extremist. Depending on the source, these people are all our saviours or the Devil's right hand.

They are all just people. Most of them have an agenda that has more to do with ego and personal profit than the ruination of your way of life. Some truly believe the stupid crap that comes out of their mouths. Don't vote for a True Believer if you can help it, they start wars and dictate morality and such. I'll dictate my own morality, thank you very much.

Let's talk about the True Believer. He or she is usually intelligent (not always), confident, and annoyingly righteous. A few True Believers in History: Genghis Khan, The Grand Inquisitor, any Conquistador, Osama Bin Hiding, John Wilkes Booth, Al Zakhari, etc.

True Believers think that they are realists. They take an extreme viewpoint of the world, be they influnced by religion, power, justice, whatever. They are dangerous to America, because they do not compromise. See my post on divorce for a lesson in Conflict Resolution.

The great thing about this election is that there are no obvious True Believers. Of course, there are no obvious choices either. And even if you do pick one guy, what about the Vice Presidential Candidate?

At this point, I'm gravitating toward the biggest change. I figure we have little left to lose as far as political esteem, so why not just make a random change?

Just a thought...

Last Snow for a While

2007-12-26T23:00:00.000-06:00

Its snowing out right now, and it has occured to me that this will most likely be the last snow I see for a year. Snow is not exactly a common phenomenon in the part of Iraq I will be in, so now of course I am feeling nostalgic about snow. Go figure-I usually hate the stuff.

Anyhoo, I will be blogging from Iraq (nothing too sensitive-OPSEC and all). I think I'll actually start a new blog and just keep an online journal. I'll have to be careful about what I say and such, but it should be fine. More on that later.

I've got plenty of movies and video games to take with me, but more importantly, I've got some good books.

These are the books I got for Christmas:

The Things They Carried-by Tim O'Brien

Flyboys-by James Bradley

The World's Most dangerous Places-by Robert Young Pelton (5th edition)

Dr Seuss Goes to War- The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodore Suess Geisel-by Richard H. Minear

I'm looking forward to reading them all, and if I remain shut off from the world of news media like I have been for the past 3 months, don't be surprised if you read a book review or two.

Anyway, I'm kind of out of the loop right now on so much that I think I need some help.

You tell me what topic I should address, and I'll do a little research and post my opinion here.

Pick something interesting for crying out loud...

Holiday23A

2007-12-21T21:16:00.000-06:00

I'm kind of an asshole. I'm cranky with most folks that I know. I say rude things to make people go away. Sometimes I even humiliate people so they will think before they speak in my presence. Sometimes I come across like an angry little man with a mental disorder.

I'm comfortable being me, though, so it all evens out.

Anyway, around the end of November every year, the local battered women shelter asks me to be Santa Claus for their Christmas party. They ask me because I am the greatest Santa ever. (they gave me a certificate that says so)

I don't know all the stories behind these women and kids that end up at the shelter, but I know that they have all had rough lives. One kid in particular this year got my attention. He had that hollow-eyed ghost gaze that people get when they probably don't need anymore stress. He was doing his best to have a good time with his mom, and she was doing her best to be a good parent, but you could tell that they were both in new territory.

So anyway, I'm sitting on my Santa chair, doing Santa stuff, when this kid I'm talking about gets a turn to sit in my lap. I did the usual "Ho Ho Ho" thing and asked his name, and asked if he was good, and then I asked what he wanted for Christmas. He looked me dead in the eye, and with all hope and honesty he said, "I just want to have a good Christmas."

I had to struggle for almost a minute not to lose my composure.

Sometimes I lose my way, just like anyone. This blog started as something very real to me, and then for awhile it became an extension of my ego. I had become an entertainer, and my serious ideas weren't as fun as the asshole stuff.

Then this sweet little kid comes along and ruins it for me.

I'm kind of funny, and I will probably continue to be, but that stuff really isn't what this blog is about. The point here is that we need to work toward a better life-for ourselves and our children and our communities and our country and our neighbors, etc., etc.

If you're into resolutions, try this one: I am going to do my best to improve the world in some small way over the next year.

While you are going through your daily life and pissing and moaning about your daily stresses, maybe you could take the time to write a letter to Congress suggesting that they secure the border, or open more US oil wells, or put strict conditions on monetary aid to Mexico (or anywhere else).

Lots of families will spend the next year missing Daddy while he goes off to Iraq to fight the fight and represent our country. The very least that we can do in return is give a shit about the state of our nation.

New Army Divisions

2007-12-18T20:43:00.000-06:00

So here's the plan: When I'm King, we are invading Mexico!

After 12 years in the service, I have decided that we shouldn't have any more wars outside of driving distance. We will have to modify Army policy a bit, because right now the Army says that 50 miles is normal commuting distance. We'll have to expand that. Think about it! We can invade Mexico and eventually Honduras (we'll think of a reason later), and husbands and fathers can still be home on the weekends! It will be great for morale!

Once we set up a good, working occupation, we will move the Presidential vacation house from Camp David to Cozumel. All Mexican citizens will become US Citizens, and the world will be a wonderful place.

As for the War in Iraq, our troops there now will be replaced by Mexican draftees. Our new Special Forces Group, consisting of imprisoned pedophiles and other sex offenders will immediately begin to infiltrate Iran via Air Drop! All "White Collar" criminals will hold positions as officers in the Mexican and SO (Sex Offender) Divisions. All dealings in the Middle East will be done through these two special units.

After 5 years on the front lines, these Mexican and Honduran troops will be sent to Venezuela to look for work. All SOs will be forgiven and granted an honerable discharge as soon as they are killed in action.

What do you think America?

Goodbye GDX, Felize Navidad

2007-12-17T21:57:00.000-06:00

I've been busy. Moving on...

GDX Automotive Sealing Division, formerly of Batesville, Arkansas, has moved on. It turns out that the foreign investors who bought the place in 1999 weren't turning much of a profit anymore (only $13million first quarter), so they didn't bid on any new contracts and defaulted on a few old jobs. They almost stiffed the local school district, but after a month of intense negotiations, they setled their local tax debt for $455 thousand.

Now 745 local factory workers are going back to school. For two years. If they can't find a job with comperable benefits.

Batesville has a population of about 10,000. The surrounding area houses roughly 24,000 more. This means that a little over 2% of our local workforce just went looking for a job.

No big deal, right?

Of course, 16% of the local pop was already unemployed, but we'll get to that.

There are two more factories in town of any size: ConAgra Foods (Banquet), and Townsend's.

Interestingly enough, both have had their average wage decrease by about $3 per hour over the past 3 years. ConAgra pays about $10/hr, and Townsend's pays around $8/hr. ConAgra employs roughly 600 personnel. Townsends has about 400 employees. Both have recently initiated a policy that requires all supervisors to speak Spanish.

WalMart is the next largest employer in town, providing around 125 to 130 jobs.

Home Depot employs roughly 80 people.

Bad Boy Mowers is the next best thing, but I think they only have about 40 employees.

Everything else is Burger King, Blockbuster, or Construction.

Interestingly enough, about three years ago we began to see a growth in the non-English speaking population around here. Crime is up, Employment is down. The drugs are cheap and easy to get. STDs are up (a lot). Real Estate sales are down, reposessions and foreclosures are up.

Is this picture too bleak for the holidays?

I'm sorry.

This Holiday Season, I want you to thank an American factory worker (if you can find one). They stand for long hours and endure extreme temps, and put up with a lot of crap. They live with the constant threat of losing their jobs to Mexico, and now they don't even have to pack up the plant to do so.

Foreign involvement in our economy has taken a serious toll on our way of life. Illegal Immigration has added to the damage.

A lack of action on the part of every American is the root of the problem.

So next time you think that Hometown America is still doing fine, you come on up and see us.

...and Have a Merry Christmas

The King Cometh...

2007-12-13T21:38:00.000-06:00

I have returned from fair Fortress Chaffee, and with me I bring rants, both great and small.

Or in Army terms, I gotta case o' ass and I'm gettin' ready to tell you all about it.

Saturday. I'm completely exhausted right now, and tomorrow is the Christmas party.

Dumb is a Lifestyle Choice

2007-09-25T20:10:00.000-05:00

I'm tired and cranky. My blood pressure is probably up, and I can't seem to lose any weight. My job, while complex, is only difficult when the powers that be try to "improve" things. I have also discovered in recent months that I secrete a pheremone that attracts conversation with unintelligent people. This biochemical is apparently able to transmit over the phone or even the internet. Weird, isn't it?

Does this sound familiar? Probably.

While Jeff has been giving us insight into a less commercial but certainly more accurate version of our nation's history, I have been stressing about remodeling my house and getting ready to go back to Iraq. I have seen and heard several things lately that probably warrented a post or two, but I have very little energy left to spend once my workday is done and the kids are asleep. I usually spend this particular piece of my day hanging out with my wife, and bitching about my day or listening to her do the same. We both deal with other people's problems (more or less), and we have both come to the conclusion that most people are completely incapable of dealing with life without serious coaching. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that people are stupid, but I do think that people are definately lacking when it comes to certain life skills.

For instance, I had a woman call me the other day to complain about one of my Soldiers. He rents a house from her. She told me that she had called the police, and that they had referred her to me. It turns out that my young friend does not mow his yard as often as she would like. During the entire (long) conversation, I kept getting a mental picture of several cops chuckling together in a squad room.

This is only funny the first few times that it happens. At some point, I actually become willing to mow lawns for Soldiers in order to avoid extended conversations with people who can't cope with everyday issues.

I have an aquaintance who firmly believes that his girlfriend has murdered her last three boyfriends. Apparently, her boyfriends in Oregon, Maryland, and Arizona respectively all had heart-attacks under the age of thirty. He is worried that he will be next. I tried to explain to him that his heart-attack would probably be more about meth and less about her, at which time he decided that we couldn't be friends anymore (breaks my freaking heart). Before the conversation ended, he told me that while he feared for his life, he couldn't leave her because they had bought an RV together.

huh?

So, Faithful Reader, when you run across an idiot or two while going about your business tomorrow, remember that I am busy mowing lawns for extra cash to make RV payments, not because I care, but because I just really need the peace and quiet.

Useless employees, large and small Part 9

2007-09-19T21:39:00.000-05:00

So then, the war was over, the Treaty of Paris was a done deal, and George Washington was back in Mount Vernon. But there was still a lot to be done.
Why, you ask? Well, silly, it was because nobody was at work finding a way to tax every result of every synaptic operation occurring in the heads of every person in the several states, of course. What are you, some kind of tax rebel?
And it is that one thing, my friends, which you will ever and always find as the unquestioned assumption on the part of those who rule, from legitimate representatives with genuinely high ideals to murdering despots that get a kick out of feeding their enemies to brush chippers: people must be taxed in order to pay for the necessary means to rule them. And implicit in the means to rule are the means to control, manipulate, punish, socially engineer, harass, and threaten with unanswerable deadly force the general population - and maybe fix the potholes.

Mr. Benjamin Franklin told us “ Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” I don’t know if Mr. Franklin realized that the latter could only be escaped by the former or that the former is often the result of the latter.
Why in the world he and a group of otherwise intelligent men chose to put the boot of taxation on the throat of their fellow countrymen the way they did way back in 1787 is something I will never understand…

1777 was winding down and the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union had been adopted. Article 2 of said document reads as follows:

Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

Personally, I think is the best part of the whole document, and it reflects the real attitudes of the people of the several states at the time. While they had all been subject to the authority of the Crown throughout their existence, the colonies were separate entities, and until now, the idea of creating a union had never occurred to any of them. Folks in Virginia might have thought that the people of, say, Massachusetts were okay (George Washington not being among them), but as the old saying goes, “Good fences make good neighbors.” A union was not something to be entered into lightly, because it meant giving up some degree of autonomy, and that is something free people do with great reluctance. Ask any guy who's 4 drinks into his stag party…

It was this natural guardedness that proved to be one of the thornier issues to face the Founders. It is a common trait in humanity: once we get done fighting a common enemy, we usually start fighting each other. Oddly, though, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that the idea of remaining independent nations ever crossed the minds of the movers and shakers of the day. The closest thing I’ve found is the desire on the part of the Anti-Federalists to copy the type of government that Switzerland had had in place for about 700 years by the time all this was going on, and is still in place there today with a few modifications. (Not bad; I suppose if I ever start my own country, I might have to take a closer look at that outfit…) Certainly, the Prohibitory Act that created these 13 nations had no magic spell that created a union out of thin air. It was the thinking of the leaders of the day that put forth the idea of a joining together for the common benefit.
The other part I like about the Articles was its virtual impotence in forcing the states to pay taxes. And from 1783 to 1788, the states paid very little. The result was a wealthy population, stable politics, and poor politicians. That last part was no big deal to these guys; they actually worked for a living back then. Besides, Article V of document said they couldn’t get paid for being a delegate anyway. What a concept!
But before it sneaks away, let me grab that little fact by the neck that I just mentioned a bit ago and hold it up so you can get a good look at it. Article VIII says:
All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States in proportion to the value of all land within each State, granted or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled, shall from time to time direct and appoint.

The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several States within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled.

If you like, read it again and see if you get the idea. If not, here it is: the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union did not give the United States government the power to tax individuals. It could only require – actually, in reality, beg for – taxes from the States. The boys in Congress couldn’t tax a farmer in Virginia; they directed the Virginia legislature to tax him, with the caveat that the Feds could determine the actual value of the land and property in the states. (So what’s a little fascism among friends, hunh?)
At this juncture, I want to bring a couple of thoughts together so that we can get back to the point of this whole exercise and wrap it up in the next installment.
1. When anything happened of political import back then, it was carried out by delegates representing their entire state as a single entity.
2. The sates ceded an absolute minimum of sovereignty to the United States government, giving up only as much as necessary to accomplish the goals of common defense and general welfare.
3. As might be expected, given the previous two points, nothing in the initial formation of the United States of America indicated that the Founders ever envisioned or even thought of the idea of the citizens of the several states having any direct relationship with the government of the United States. That came much later, and has been perpetrated and perpetuated by an increasingly treasonous federal legislature.

I promise to do my best to wrap this up next time with some comments, and actually talk about what those guys did in Philly.

Useless employees, large and small Part 8

2007-09-15T17:13:00.000-05:00

What a nice vacation! Too bad I had to work the whole time…

As I recall (after having reviewed my last post), I left off with a promise to talk about taxation and its application, so let’s start there.
Imagine living in a society that has 6 adult members, of which you are one.
Fortunately for everyone concerned, you and your fellow adults are both intelligent and realistic. You’d realize that in such a small group, having an occasional dinner together would provide the opportunity to work out issues like security, food and shelter concerns, relations with other societies, economics, emergency services, and so forth. You could get it all done yourselves without any need to farm it out. Over coffee and desert, you’d determine how much each would have to contribute in the forms of time and money for the sake of the commonweal. You would all go home with a clear understanding of what you were getting for what you were giving. You would be giving up some specific items of value in exchange for services that would benefit you both individually and collectively, and you would realize that the sacrifices you made would result in larger returns due to the benefits that come with combining forces. Does any of this sound familiar?
Although it should go without saying, I will say it anyway: Your involvement in any and all of these activities would be entirely voluntary. Being reasonable adults – admittedly something of a rarity in our day – no one in the group would hold a gun to the head of any other member and force them to be a part of the plans. And being reasonable adults, no one who decided not to participate would expect to reap any benefits that came from the arrangement. They’d be on their own as far as receiving any services that came from the operations to which all the rest contributed. House on fire? Well, I hope you’ve got a lot of water handy. Need a driver’s license? Sorry, you didn’t contribute to the fund that built the roads, so you can’t use ‘em.
Need protection from incursions by an enemy society? Hope you have lots of guns and people to pull the triggers, because you didn’t contribute to the arming of the militia, or volunteer for duty.
A reasonable person would easily see the benefit of participation; but a reasonable person would also see the folly of being forced to pay for benefits that he didn’t receive, or being forced to pay more for the same benefits than others, or being forced to pay for another member's benefits. If any of these conditions cropped up, a reasonable person would say “No” when told he must pay for their perpetuation, up to and including the use of deadly force to prevent the plunder of his property.
As the years pass, our little society would grow to the point where sitting around the dinner table to discuss matters of state would grow impractical. Instead of patrolling their land on their own, the citizens would establish a police force, and hire officers to perform this duty for them. And so it would go for emergency services, and public utilities, and so forth – and eventually, they would establish a governing body in which to vest these interests, which would – horrors! – include a legislature.

I have a question: at what point would this society be justified in violating the principles laid out when it consisted of only 6 adults? When would it become acceptable for the legislature to pass laws requiring the citizenry to do exactly those things they were previously willing to die to prevent from occurring?

I will close with a few pertinent quotations. The last one represents the only proper understanding of the issue of taxation…

A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. – Thomas Jefferson (1801)

There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him. – Robert Heinlein

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. – H.L. Mencken

No man's life, liberty, or property (is) safe while the legislature is in session. – Mark Twain (1866)

It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve. – Henry George

All taxation that is not voluntary is theft. – Jeff Hoyt

Next: what they did in Philly…

Fish Don't Fry in the Kitchen...

2007-09-10T20:35:00.000-05:00

Well, the website should be up in a day or two (I hired a really smart guy to work all the bells and whistles), so I may be preoccupied with that for awhile. I'm gonna try to class it up a bit, mostly so little old ladies won't get hurt feelings and such. Don't worry, this blog is still my baby. It turns out that I'm "Insensitive to Muslim Culture" and "unfriendly to Hispanic immigrants".

Let me clear that up a bit. I am disconcerted by the level of illegal immigration that his been allowed by our government and even encouraged by Mexico. I am no less insensitive to Muslim Culture than I should be, as I am an Infidel, an American, and a Christian, thus thrice sentenced to death by any true and faithful Muslim.

I am a Citizen-Soldier, a middle-class American, and a patriot. I believe that our country is sinking quickly into a cesspool, and that partisan party politics and a general apathy are the two leading causes of the current trouble in these United States.

The blog, and now the website, are all about touching off that spark, getting people talking not about the problems, but the solutions. Sometimes I rant and rave, sometimes I'm just bitching, but always I am thinking that there IS a better way.

Here is that better way: Get involved, raise hell, and take action. We don't have rant and scream in the streets (that's for hippies and young rubber people who don't shave yet). All we have to do is remind our elected government that we still vote, we still produce, we still own this country.

The website will be less opinion and more fact. There will be times when I get aggravated, I'm sure, but I'm going to try (and try, and try) to be intelligent and adult about it all...come to think of it, that might get boring.

I guess we'll just see what happens...

Double Standards in Religious Freedom

2007-09-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

Warren Jeffs is an asshole.

I just wanted to be clear on that right up front. I'm watching Anderson Cooper 360, and they are going on and on about how evil the FLDS is. Don't get me wrong, I agree whole heartedly. For those of you who don't know, let me describe the FLDS to you:

1. They are polygamists.

2. They bear no allegiance to the United States, only their prophet.

3. They treat women like cattle, forcing servitude and even under-age marriages.

4. They recognize only the Law of the Prophet, and do not suffer the law of the land (unless they get caught, I guess).

5. They are rife with corruption and justification of heinous behavior.

Does this sound familiar?

If we can persecute these people (and I believe that we should), then why is it wrong to treat Muslims like ass?

Just a little food for thought...

Useless employees, large and small, Part 7

2007-09-01T21:41:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know; I'm early. Sue me.
Okay, then. Having begun to lay some marvelous plans to attend the Blackmore’s Night concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, I’m feeling inspired. Let’s see if it helps any…
(Yeah, I know; I wish I could tell you more about the plans, too. Sorry.
Tell you what, though, if you make it to the show, look for us 3rd row, center stage. You’ve all looked at my profile; do you think you could miss that face? I don’t think so, either…)

So we ended up last time by mentioning something most of you have never heard before – perhaps inciting a fresh desire to write demeaning emails to your history teachers. But there it is. Those marvelous men that met in Pennsylvania back in 1787 didn’t do what the people - those who gave them their positions, their pay, and their marching orders - told them to do. And you thought it was a contemporary phenomenon.
But a little history within the history lesson is in order here.
Remember the illustration of the BB rolling down the highway? The allegory finds its justification in the fact that the total tax burden imposed on the colonies by the British Empire was approximately 1% in the North and 2 ½ % in the South. Zoundz! Against this “tax tyranny”, the fledgling nations fought a war that lasted about 6 years and, for whatever reason you want to credit it to, won.
When the French fleet gained the attention of the British warships in a surprise attack on September 5th, 1781, and proceeded to spend the next 4 days ventilating their gunwales, Cornwallis knew the jig was up. No more crumpets – or bullets, powder, and stuff like that - would be forthcoming from ol’ Mother England. Maybe because of a lack of proper tea times due to the fog of war, General Cornwallis didn’t attend the surrender ceremony; said he wasn’t feeling well. That much was probably true. He sent his guy Friday, General O’Hara, with the sword. O’Hara, evidently in a fit of pique, tried to give it to Comte de Rochambeau, who in turn gave him the tenir a l’ecart and pointed him to General Washington. In the background, not missing the chance to add their own Bronx cheer to the proceedings, the British band played “The World Turned Upside Down”. The nerve! 2 years later, FedEx and Boeing being a few years off yet, the Treaty of Paris was signed. Those 13 newly-born countries had rid themselves of their oppressors. You know, the ones who had burdened them with that staggering 1% tax rate.
I think they did the right thing. I think it was right because the propriety of a thing is not determined by the impact it has on your pocketbook. If a thief breaks into my place and only steals one CD, it is still stealing – especially if he makes off with my new copy of Beyond the Sunset. He doesn’t have to take 34 of them to qualify for a free trip to the pokey.
Likewise, a 1% tax burden is just as wrong as 60% burden - which is what the average, middle-class American is now paying when the total effect of federal, state, and local taxation is added up - if that taxation is improperly applied…
…the definition of which I’ll offer next time, as well as a different look at what happened at Independence Hall in 1787.

Oh, and just ‘cause I’m such a swell guy, I’ll save you the trouble; it means “cold shoulder”.

Useless employees, large and small Part 6

2007-08-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

Well, the French had cut off the Redcoat’s re-supply line and that was pretty much the end of it. Truth is, the Colonials didn’t so much win the war as the British were prevented from winning it. So who cares?
The shame of it all is the fact that the conflict was completely unnecessary. It resulted in absolutely no fundamental political change whatsoever, for, as we have already noted, the colonies had already become independent, sovereign nations by royal fiat.
So we can make the whole point of this exercise clear, let’s dwell on that point for a moment…
Some people believe that God was directly involved in the founding of this country; others scoff at the idea. I don’t know exactly where I stand on the issue. I’m satisfied to know that when my tour in this life is up, I’ll get the straight story on the matter, just like I will on such things as where the dinosaurs went, UFO’s, and what would have happened if Steve Bartman had been sitting in front of his TV instead of aisle 4, row 8, seat 113.
But no matter where you stand on the issue, there is no denying that the founding of The United States of America is absolutely unique in the world’s history. Never before, or since, has the world seen the sudden, simultaneous appearance of 13 sovereign nations, complete with functioning infrastructures and sharing a common language.
At the risk of making you want to put a different finger in the path of the hammer I keep swinging, you must hang on to that sovereignty bit. That’s the point we’re dwelling on: we didn’t go from being British colonies to being the good ol’ US of A; we went from being different British colonies to being different countries, just like, say, France, Spain, and the Switzerland. And that’s where the fun really began.
Even though the populations of these countries produced some excellent thinkers and people of remarkable character, no one had ever had such an opportunity laid at their feet as the Founders. The stakes were beyond comprehension. The colonies had a standard of living that was unheard of in most of the world – funny what real freedom does in that regard – and the new nations that replaced them weren’t about to give it up. All they had to do now was rid themselves of an occupying army under the command of the kind of people we used to call Indian-givers when I was a kid. (I sure wish I knew what that expression meant…)
To that end, during the fight, The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was adopted by The Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777. It created, among other things, a mutual defense confederation.
As is commonly known, it was this political union that was replaced by the Constitution for the United States of America – in spite of the express orders by the several states to their delegates not to replace it.
Break time; see you next week sometime…

Useless employee's, large and small Part 5

2007-08-27T20:46:00.000-05:00

A long time ago, in a country that now seems far, far away, I used to go to schools that largely taught the same things when it came to colonial American history. King George was a loon, Parliament was a gaggle of boobs that sat around dreaming up new taxes for the colonies, and everybody in America got fed up with it. Dressing up like fans of Cleveland’s baseball team, they turned Boston Harbor into a very large but poorly-brewed cup of tea, rowed across the Delaware and ruined the Hessian’s post-Christmas hangover, and finally wound up at Yorktown where the Redcoats said “Uncle”. Not too far off, but as any decent chef will tell you, small changes in ingredients make big changes in taste. And so with history, small changes in the story make big changes in perception.
Let’s dispose one of the more common misperceptions about this period, the one that makes us think that most all of the colonists supported a break with Mother England. Not so. Had you lived in those days, you would have seen a population divided on the issue in about the same ratio as we see in our day with Democrats and Republicans. After the British fleet recovered from the humiliation that occurred in Boston Harbor after John Knox finished his ski-trip back from Fort Ticonderoga, they sailed into New York to a very warm welcome at the hands of a large segment of the population, and proceeded to route the colonial army, eventually chasing them into New Jersey. The Tories that had been evacuated the previous winter from the tiny island that constituted Boston thought this was just swell.
Let us also dispel the myth that Parliament consisted exclusively of an oppressive batch of tyrants, hell-bent on taxing the colonies into the proverbial poor-house. Not so. A number of them argued against the coming war, and some even called for granting the colonies independence. In a way, this last group got their wish, but not in the way they would have liked. Certainly, many of them thought the colonies had a lot of cheek, but to put it simply, the amount of oppression visited on the colonies by Parliament would look like a BB rolling down a four-lane highway as opposed to the convoy of double-wides D.C. is sending against us today.
But unlike the majority of the population that has inherited the political entity they created, these men knew that freedom wasn’t measured by what you had left by the time you got your check. They knew that freedom was a clearly defined set of principles, and that infringement upon any one of them was an assault on all of them, and any such assault was properly repulsed by the threat, or the reluctant use, of deadly force until the assault was called off, or the would-be oppressors were all dead.
I don’t know about you, but I like these guys.

Useless employees, large and small Part 4

2007-08-26T19:48:00.000-05:00

I remember this guy that I used to hang out with several hundred years ago named David Hughes, although nobody knew his name was David. Everybody called him Buddy. Buddy was one of those guys that you wanted to hang around with because you knew that cool would rub off him and stick to you.
He was the first person I heard use the expression “Opinions are like ^#(&%@’s; everybody’s got one.” I’ve heard other people use it, and I’ve even tried to clean it up using “noses” instead of “^#(&%@’s”, but somehow it doesn’t have the same wallop.
Well, I have an opinion on the subject of early American history: If you can read the events of those years without a sense of awe and excitement, you need to see a doctor, or at least turn the television off for a few months.
And if you can read the events of those years without wishing you’d see the face of virtually every American politician on a milk carton, you need a one-way ticket to Botswana.
So, why do I have these opinions? Because not a single federal politician, with the apparent exception of Ron Paul, knows what their job is. I do, so over the next few days, I’ll illustrate not only what their job is, but why it is what it is, and why Bulldog Two Three Alpha’s objectives are essential components of good citizenship…
Years ago, I used to work for an appliance outfit. Unlike the corporate whores that run places like Circus City and Beast Buy, the owner of this business was actually a businessman. He understood that goods going out the door were being purchased by human beings that populated the same planet he lived on. He actually cared about both them and their experience. This concern motivated him to join a buying group.
A buying group consists of different businesses owners who provide similar services and who join together to combine their purchasing power. When the storeowners decide they need to buy a supply of, say, washing machines, they are able to approach a manufacturer with larger unit purchases, which results in a lower per-unit price. This results in lower prices for inventory and higher profits for the business. When they consist of honorable businessmen, buying groups result in better services for the consumer, as lowered costs are passed on in the form of reduced selling prices, no-cost extras, free delivery, or other benefits. In all, it’s a win-win situation.
And it’s also a simple concept, so hang onto it as we go along – you’ll need it later: Combining forces provides benefits for all involved, but it must be done with integrity and an understanding that a small sacrifice of self-interest results in greater gain for everyone. Most reasonable folks would call this a no-brainer.
Next time, we’ll get back to the immediate aftermath of the British government’s decision to create thirteen sovereign nations out of what were previously thirteen colonies, and the results of their silly attempt to put the genie back in the bottle. Then we’ll talk about what happens when the buying group goes off the deep end, and why useless employees need to be fired.

A Challenge

2007-08-19T11:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry to interrupt, Jeff, but I have a challenge for all of you.

OK, People, the time has come to spread the word. If you like what we say here, then tell at least one friend about us every day for two weeks. We have posted a lot of articles about a few issues here, but the message is almost always the same: Get involved!

My website is about to launch. The website is going to be similar to the blog, hopefully with more features. The problem is that I have to pay to have this website. Don't worry, I'm not asking for money, I'm just getting to my point. I have to be able to justify the expenditure. You see, when I first proposed the website, I was getting close to a hundred hits a day. Now, not so much. Either I have lost my mojo, or you guys aren't telling folks about us any more.

The main focus of the website will be the Anti-Incumbent campaign and the day off on October 22nd. I want to spread the message of voter empowerment to as many people as I can.

You see, I don't mind if people don't like what I have to say. I don't really even mind that some people hate me. It drives me crazy to think that there are people out there who would listen, but they don't know we are here...

Useless employees, large and small Part 3

2007-08-15T12:45:00.000-05:00

So we were talking about the Prohibitory Act, and how neat a thing it was.
Much more notable in the Act than the economic brainlessness we mentioned before was a passage that is probably the single-most important piece of writing in the history of America’s founding. In it, the King declares the colonies out of his protection. Six months later, Thomas Jefferson would acknowledge this decision in a little piece called the Declaration of Independence: “He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection, and waging War against us…”

Read, then re-read, the reaction of John Adams to the passage:

“It throws thirteen colonies out of the royal protection, levels all distinctions, and makes us independent in spite of our supplications and entreaties...It may be fortunate that the act of independency should come from the British Parliament rather than the American Congress.”

If you’re paying attention, you should be shocked, as well as disgusted with your history teachers. Contrary to everything you’ve ever been taught, American independence was not achieved by The Revolutionary War, but by an Act of Parliament.

Fact: Seven months before the American Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776, Parliament had affected the independence of the Colonies.

Fact: Many of the “revolutionary leaders” of the Colonies were, right up to the point of independence, trying to avoid it.

Fact: The British Army was emplaced on American soil at the time the Prohibitory Act was passed and had already prosecuted military action earlier that year at Concord and Lexington.

Conclusion: There is no such thing as “The Revolutionary War”. It was a war against an occupying army, fought to maintain a state of political independence that had been created by the very powers commanding the occupiers.

What we know as The Revolutionary War would be better known as The War of Separation.
At least in my opinion.

So, what does that have to do with all of us today? Everything, my hard-working friends, everything…
See you again in a week or three.

Useless employees, large and small - Part 2

2007-08-13T18:27:00.000-05:00

July 5th, 1775 saw the Second Continental Congress making what was to be the final attempt at reconciling with the mother country. Penned by John Dickenson, who thought Thomas Jefferson’s original draft was too aggressive, the Olive Branch Petition was the second attempt on the part of the Congress to head off all-out war. King George III, being the thoughtful fellow he was, wouldn’t even read it, although a private letter from John Adams to a friend that had been confiscated and delivered to the King didn’t help any. In it, Mr. Adams said that war was inevitable, and that the colonies should have already raised a Navy and begun capturing British officers. This put something of a negative spin on the Petition…
As history shows, and the cliché declares, things got worse before they got better.
History also shows something else, although you would spend a long time waiting to hear about it in a government-school history class. In December of the same year, Parliament, King George agreeing, passed what was known as the Prohibitory Act. Foolishly intending to bring the Colonies to their knees by imposing economic sanctions, the Act was meant to hit the troublemakers where Parliament thought it would hurt the most: the pocketbook. Didn’t work, though. You’d think those jokers would have figured that out after the tea party, but then politicians usually do their best work as pictures beside the word “obtuse” in the dictionary. There’s something about true freedom and prosperity that make people thumb their noses at folks who want to oppress them, a simple truth that proves we are no longer truly free or prosperous; we let D.C. oppress us quite regularly.
When next we meet, we’ll talk about something else the Act accomplished, and boy, is it a doozy.

Useless employees, large and small Part 1

2007-08-11T07:58:00.000-05:00

I found out earlier today that the business where I do most of my free-lancing fired a guy that had only worked there for about two months. It was a sound business decision. The fellow had no value as a worker in the low-voltage industry. This says nothing about his personal character, which was good, or his personality, which was incommodious. He was simply useless as a worker. It being a common objective of a business owner to make a profit by reselling an employee’s labor, it made no sense to continue employing someone whose labor produced nothing to resell. I point this fellow out because he serves as an object lesson. He lost his job because he repeatedly spent absurd lengths of time doing things he was not told to do in an attempt to do what he was told to do. And even those things he did, he did badly. I know of only one way he could have made himself more of a liability: if he had a company credit card and was actually spending the company’s money instead of just not producing any. Which brings me to the United States government…

If I were asked to find a common thread that runs through all the news articles I read, it would be a simple task…especially since I’ve already found it: There is a nearly universal ignorance of the governmental and political foundations of the United States among their citizens. See? If you had written that last sentence, you would have used the word “its” (or “it’s”, if you make the common error) instead of “their”. By the time we’re done, you’ll see why it should be written as I did.

But do me a favor, and don’t get anxious. I’m very busy traveling about, creating the impression I don’t have to work for a living. It’s back to Illinois soon, and the kids there will keep me happily occupied between packing my stuff to haul it all back to the East coast. In other words, don’t rush me… We’ll get there, eventually.

Tell Your Friends!

2007-08-04T19:21:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling under-appreciated again. I refuse to post another thing until I get seven (7) comments from seven (7) different readers.

Have a nice day!

The Doom and Gloom Party

2007-08-02T23:00:00.000-05:00

OK, now to bash the Republicans...

1. The government of the United States is not supposed to be a monarchy.

2. The scary people (read: Chaney, Rove, etc.) are supposed to stay behind the scenes. We all know they exist, but it shouldn't be so obvious.

3. Don't have just one gimmick. For instance, if you plan to be known for waging war, be good at it, otherwise you will need to deversify.

4. Never, never pick a fall guy unless you are willing to let him actually do the time.

OK, enough wise-assing, here's the real deal:

The Republicans became the Conservatives at some point, which is fine. The problem is that many well-known Republicans don't have the slightest idea what that means. Flag waving does not make one a patriot. "Trickle Down Economics" does not actually need to involve pissing on the middle class. To quote Stan Lee, "With great power comes great responsibility".

And for all of you who still haven't got Iraq figured out, here you go- Most big money oil from the Middle-East comes from Saudi. If the market gets flooded, the power base is removed from Saudi and the region gets truly destabilized. What nation has the oil fields capable of flooding the market? Iraq. If we plan to be that transparent, why don't we just go ahead and be the bad guys and take the oil fields from the Iraqis?

I am pretty conservative. I like to believe in conservative politicians. Unfortunately, recent history shows that I cannot trust those in power to leave me to my conservative lifestyle. When those in power don't care that I pay $3.75 for a gallon of milk, and $2.94 for a gallon of gas, I have to believe that they must be taught a lesson.

Here's the plan: We vote out every incumbent next election. The Republicans get the wrong idea and think that they have been rewarded for their recent behavior. Things get a little worse. Then, next election, we vote out every incumbent. The Democrats get the wrong idea and think that they are being rewarded for recaent behavior. Things get a little worse. Then, next election, we vote out every incumbent, and politicians start to get nervous. All of a sudden, there are no near-retirement Senators or Representatives. Congress starts to work really hard to impress the people. Better candidate choices are made available. Then, next election, we vote out every incumbent. Suddenly, the ear of every congressman is turned to his/her constituants. This particular Congress will go down in history as the hardest-working government that the United States has ever seen. From here, we vote carefully (and so do they), and things start getting better.

You see, I don't care what political party you belong to, as long as the best interests of the United States of America are of utmost concern to you. No honest citizen can say that either party has been an example of this so far. We actually have the power to make a difference. Instead of listening to what the politicians say, we need to make them listen to us.

I am in the process of getting a genuine website going, mostly so people will stop flagging my posts for offensive material. But also so I can try to get this message to a wider audience. You don't have to agree with me (sometimes its fun when you don't), but I still want to hear what you think.

Happy Shiny People

2007-08-01T20:03:00.000-05:00

Why do liberals seem so happy and hopeful (unless they are speaking of Pres. Bush)?

Because being stupid is a lot like being high...

Don't worry, I'm doing a piece on the Republicans/conservatives next. Right now I want to talk about the mindless drivel I've been reading on the Capitol Hill Pundits' Blog (Commentary in D.C. link to your right). This blog has conservative and liberal bloggers, and they get pretty wound up at times. Its worth a read if you have the time.

Anyway, several liberals are proclaiming a new and glorious world when the Democrats win the next elections. I believe that they are either stupid, or just so hopeful that they refuse to see the truth. I am not currently afflicted with either of these conditions, so here I go...

Here are a few simple things to keep in mind...
1. We will not solve the problems of AIDS, poverty, war, famine, or crime by voting for a man or woman who claims to be able to solve these problems. Politicians make promises in order to get elected. I make a lot of claims here, but in reality I lay the solutions back on to you, Faithful Reader. Any jackass who claims that he/she or their political party can solve these problems for you is full of bovine droppings.

2. Democrats have no platform, and are running on the sole idea that they are not the Republicans. (Don't worry, I plan to give the republicans a fine analysis later.)

3. They all made the same promises last time. (and the time before that, and the time before that)

You see, any group that proclaims that they can bring about a great new world is blowing smoke straight up your...
Well, you get the idea. Here's part of the problem-The government wants us to be dependent on them. This feeds the current cycle. You know, they get to keep a fairly easy job (maybe not easy, but a nice job with perks), they get to line their pockets in roundabout ways, and they get power, a thing as addictive as crystal meth or heroin.

As I've often said, the glorious new world is up to us. We have to take action to stop the things that are going wrong with America. The first step is to take back our power-the power of the vote. The only solution that I can think of ( and I certainly didn't think of it first) is to vote out the incumbents at every election until they get the idea. Once we have made ourselves clear, once they get the message that we won't tolerate anymore of this corruption, partisanship, or just plain idiocy, then and only then will they start to do what we want them to. I truly believe that it would only take about six years for the United States to turn around if we simply voted out every incumbent at every election.

One thing is for sure- Neither the republicans or the Democrats are going to change their behavior without intervention.

Social Security, Corruption, and My Lack of Readers

2007-07-30T22:21:00.000-05:00

Two freakin' comments? Really, America?

OK.

1. Social Security. Not an easy fix. On the one hand, yes, give us our money back and let us have it to do with as we please...On the other hand, what happens when my generation gets old? They freaking starve, man. Social Security isn't really working, but it will be enough to keep me and the wife in cat food (so we don't starve) in case our kids are too poor, busy, or mean to take care of us when we're old.

I am still researching this issue, so I'm going to wait until I have an intelligent piece to present before I take it too far.

2. Corruption. Simple solution-Hanging...

Corruption in Congress is equal to treason, and so justifies the Death Penalty.

If we pay Congress the median income for a family of four for each district, outlaw lobbyists, and publicly execute those found guilty of treason, to include the taking of bribes, etc., lots of American problems would fix themselves.

This country is rife with corruption. Cops, Judges, Soldiers, reporters, Congressmen, Teachers-You name it. The problem is that there are no set values anymore. Everything is to be tolerated and accepted. Any intolerance is considered "judgmental" or "prejudice". America is turning a blind eye to the worst kind of behavior, all in the name of tolerance. People no longer take the law into their own hands because we believe it to be wrong. In the meantime, in communities like the one I live in, the local political and corporate corruption becomes a sad joke, due largely to the fact that no one feels like they can do anything about it.

So, Anonymous, here's your answer-If you want to stop corruption, you have to stand up to it. Vote out corrupt persons, call the proper authorities, do what has to be done. Looking to politicians ( or self-inflated bloggers) to stop corruption is counter-productive.

The only way to stop something from happening is to take action. Anything else is just a complaint after the fact.

And, see, once again the solution to one of Americas problems is for citizens to get involved and to take action.

...probably too much to ask...

Shooby Dooby Doo...

2007-07-25T22:31:00.000-05:00

Tonight I resume my candidacy for King of North America.

I shall prove my worth to you, my potential subjects, by allowing you to ask of me anything that you wish. Present to me a problem that this great nation faces, and I will give you a practical and economically sound solution.

I dare you...

From Deep Inside the Mind of Bulldog23A...

2007-07-22T18:35:00.000-05:00

OK, this may disturb you...

Today we are going to talk about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

PTSD isn't so much about combat as one might think. PTSD is more about what happens after combat. Put a guy in a high-stress, life-threatening situation, and something like 99.1% of all men will respond with the appropriate action. After the battle, when the guys have time to think about things, they often go one of two ways. Some guys will shut down and stop functioning in a normal manner. They won't eat, they won't sleep, and they won't be able to go back into battle. It happens to good guys all the time. The other group will get off on it so much that they will begin to thrive on violence. This is not bad behavior until they get home and continue to act in this manner.

You see, the hardest part of combat is coming home.

I'll use me as an example: I was a fire-team leader in Iraq. I had to supervise three guys in a combat environment. I had to be an example to them, and had to be sure that they would follow me into any situation. At times, I had to maintain my composure even when that was the last thing that I wanted to do...

Anyway, my days went like this:
1. Get out of bed (hopefully not in a hurry).

2. Tell my team to get up.

3. Eat.

4. Go on patrol. Maybe get shot at. Shoot back. Kick in doors. Search houses. Ask questions. Get answers.

5. Go back to base.

6. Clean weapons and equipment.

7. Get ready for next patrol.

8. Play Football on PS2 to unwind.

9. Go to sleep.

You see, my life was very simple over there, and I had the tough job. (Yes, Fire Team Leader is the toughest job, in my opinion). When I was on the street in Iraq, violence of some kind was the answer to every problem that arose. We were the all-powerful presence of the United States. I never had to sweat the light bill, the length of the grass, or the house payment. I never once took out the trash. I just had to keep from getting shot or blown up. It was easy.

Then I came home. Violence was no longer an acceptable answer to every problem. I became the paranoid guy that would snap for no reason. I still felt like I was ten feet tall and bulletproof ('cause I am), but I wasn't allowed to act like it.I had to be tolerant of people. I had to be patient with my wife and kids. I couldn't carry my weapon in the car. No one was trying to kill me. It was just strange. I also had to keep up with a whole lot of stuff, like the house payment, the yard (which I still let go at times), I even had to take out the trash. I wanted to be back in Iraq.

It took me about four months to stop wishing I was in Iraq. It took me about a year to stop jumping at loud noises. I still get paranoid in a crowd. I still have nightmares (the life-long curse of the Infantry Soldier). But I function at a relatively normal level.

Here's the thing; I don't have PTSD. I may have had a lot of the symptoms for awhile, but I don't feel like a victim of the war or anything. I'm not quite right, but then, I never really was.

A guy I know volunteered to go back with another unit. He was buried today. I wish I had the words to convey how strange that I feel about this. I'm sad for his family, but I think he died doing what he wanted to do. We weren't close, but he was a Soldier, so there was a bond. I wish that he had been more comfortable at home. I wish that he had had more time with his children.

On to my point. I've said it before, and I'll say again, I'm sure- Let's kick the crap out of these miscreants or get out. There can be no justifiable compromise at this point. Either we made mistakes and people died, or we plan to win something.

Don't get me wrong, when it comes down to it, Soldiers are in it for their buddies, and the politics don't really matter. But those of you who are "too smart for the Infantry" can surely see why we should end this one way or another.

Its A Freak Country

2007-07-16T22:10:00.000-05:00

I am looking at the Sunday paper, and I gotta say, "What the hell?...

One story tells how Nuri Al-Maliki, the president of Iraq, says that we can go home or to hell, or whatever. Another tells of a recent surge in Air Force bombing missions over Iraq.

If they don't want us there, and we don't want to be there, and we have to keep dropping expensive bombs and shooting expensive bullets (and we Soldiers ain't cheap, either, no matter what you may have heard), why don't we just leave Iraq?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking a political side here, because I don't really believe that Congress or the President give a rat's ass what I think, anyway. What I am saying is that, at this point, how can we possibly benefit from continuing in Iraq? What are our long-term goals? We aren't exactly making the world a better place (aside from killing a few wannabe martyrs). We aren't stealing oil (which, I must add, is an exeptionally poor policy). We are just there...

So screw 'em. Let's pull out, let the civil war run hot and heavy, and get on with the business of giving our country to Mexico (is that the plan?) and Ecuador. These nutjob ragheads will get done killing each other (eventually), and then we can bomb the shit out of their terrorist training camps and go back to life as it should be.

In the meantime, I'm watching Congress make a big show of voting for an exit plan, knowing all the while that the Commander-in-Chief gets to make that call. People are on the edge of their seats while yet again our illustrious fat-ass three-piece leaders pontificate and posture their way toward the fantastic day of choice that always ends up about as satisfying as a tiny fart on the toilet after a mad dash to the john due to an anticipated intestinal nuclear event.

I love America. Stupid sells, and, by God, we got plenty. Fags and freaks, wetbacks and dope fiends, we have it all! Yes, sir. Step right up, we'll entertain you with our every move, motive, and attitude! We'll overstate the obvious, understate the extreme, over do and under sell every domestic product, and we'll even dumb down the next generation so you get more long-term stupidity for your hard-earned nine-dollars-an-hour minimum fucking wage!

We have turned America into a sad, stupid clown, and while it may be inconvenient for the likes of you, faithful reader, the whole world is laughing at us, so we can at least go to our grave knowing that we have been, as always, a beacon to the world.

Things That Don't Exist

2007-07-11T20:46:00.000-05:00

I keep hearing about tolerance and peace and blah, blah, blah.

In the words of Fire Marshall Bill, "Let me tell ya sumthin!"

There is no denying that the world is on the fast track to worse than it already is. This great nation, while still the best, is being chauffeured straight to hades by a handful of mental midgets and a cargo-hold full of "tolerant" people.

Tolerance means I should be accepting that not everyone votes the same way I do (I protest!) or goes to the same church.

Tolerance has been redefined of late as something less benign.

Let's take a look at Islam:

Islamic Fundamentalists are all about killing people. Hard line "moderate" Muslims still treat women like cattle. The religion is spreading like a case of the clap in an Alabama frat house. Anywhere that Muhammed goes, problems are sure to follow. Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway, and Brittain are all dealing with civil unrest in their Muslim communities, they are all having to revamp their legal systems, and all have suffered some sort of terrorist attacks from within. But we should be "tolerant" of Islam.

Screw That.

The moderate Muslims aren't burying their heads in the sand...

They don't exist.

Every Soldier A Rifleman

2007-07-08T22:21:00.000-05:00

I'm watching CNN...

A bunch of Soldiers are whining...

Let me say two things here:

1. I lost friends in Iraq, so understand that this is no easy topic for me. I feel for every Soldier that falls. I feel for every family that loses a loved one. But remember, there are no draftees in Iraq.

2. I just listened to a guy talk about how all these commo and artillery pukes are being "dumbed down" to be Infantry troops. Let me give you a brief job description:

An Infantry Soldier must know all of the "Skill Level 1 and 2" Warrior tasks. These are common tasks that every Soldier in the Army is required to know. An Infantry Soldier also has to know how to maintain and operate all communication equipment, vehicles, weapons systems, and just about anything else that could be considered "Mission Essential". Every Soldier, be they admin clerks, medics, or mechanics, should be proficient at basic combat skills. The job of the Army is, after all, to fight wars.

There is no "Dumbing Down" to Infantry level. Be aware, if you are considering enlistment, that all Soldiers have the potential to be assigned to an "Infantry" type mission. That's just how it is.

That being said, I do want to say "Thank You" to all of the non-infantry troops who are out there fighting the fight without whining to the press every chance they get. Thanks to the Airmen and the Squids who are out there, too.

CNN paints a picture of an incapable Army. That's just not true. What makes us incapable is the presence of TV cameras and reporters with an urge to make Soldiers look like assholes. I say again, War is an ugly thing, and as long as civilized people are watching from civilized places with civilized comforts and civilized ideas in their heads, and as long as those same people have influence on the laws and regulations that guide Soldiers in their fight, Soldiers will seem a little less capable, because we are not nation builders. We are destroyers of armies and killers of men.

By the way, I have a couple of friends who seem to think that they are somehow less worthy of citizenship because they never served in the Armed Forces of these United States. Stop that. Being politically involved makes you more than worthy. We all serve our society in our own way. Some of us are just dumb enough to be in the Infantry.

Things You Can't Pick in Public

2007-06-28T14:05:00.000-05:00

Have you noticed lately that people are as guarded with their politics as they are with their religion when it comes to public conversation? We have all been given the impression that the whole world is full of Sodomites and flakes, so we don't want anyone to know that we are just normal, hard-working citizens.

There are rules, it seems, to the American Political Theatre. I feel that the rules are kind of stupid, so I am going to now list the rules and suggest some revisions. As candidate for King of the United States, I feel that this is not at all presumptuous.

Rule # 1. The stupid people get to talk the loudest.

Revision- The stupid people get to sweep gutters and dig ditches. (all apologies to my strong ditch-digger fan base)

Rule # 2. The media is always liberal and controls information in order to spin the truth into political ammunition against conservatives.

Revision- The media broadcasts facts, and politicians do the necessary spinning. (Get yer own Ammo, Bub)

Rule # 3. It isn't socially acceptable to point out obvious flaws in logic, whether that logic comes from a politician or a real person.

Revision-It is socially unacceptable to not point out stupid shit, especially when said stupid shit is being spoken/broadcast via a public forum.

Rule # 4. We are required to flee from any conversation concerning race, unless all parties involved are discussing how bad white people are.

Revision-We are required to discuss race, and how race plays a part in our collective manipulation by the media and politicians.

Rule # 5. We are required to accept that things are just getting worse, because there is nothing we can do about it.

Revision-We will make the world a better place or die trying.

If you have a rule and a revision, or you just want to comment on these, please feel free to do so. If you are an idiot, please expect that I will point out your idiocy if you post a comment.

I Could Be King of Iraq

2007-06-13T22:26:00.000-05:00

I'm back.

Anyway, I keep hearing politicians and newspeople whining about there being no plan for Iraq.

???

HELLOOO, people! I've got a plan right here!

That's right, folks, your friend, good-ol Bulldog two-three alpha (that is the proper way to say it, by the way) has a plan to win in Iraq!

First, we disarm the Iraqi people. Novel concept, I know. We take away their weapons so we can control them without getting shot. Then we ship a butt-load of hippies over there to start talking about how cool it is to love everybody and smoke dope and such. While they are busy mauling the hippies, we pounce!

I know, I know, I'm a genius. Enough with the praise, read on!

I say we just bomb the shit out of Iran and Syria. Everytime something blows up in Iraq, we should drop about twenty tons of TNT on Tehran or Damascus, and maybe the capitol of Venezuela, too, whatever it may be named.

Has anybody else noticed that the people who don't want us to disarm the Iraqi people are the same hippie fags that want to disarm Americans?

Does anyone else think that arming insurgents against AlQaida is kind of stupid?

Does anybody feel like we are being led into Armaggeddon by two monkeys, a peacock, and a donkey...? Sorry, I had waaaaaay too much fun in the eighties. Anyway, I really do think that the people of these United States should make me King of Iraq. I will turn Iraq into a Kurdish paradise, where it will be illegal to be anything other than Kurdish (unless, of course, one is King). For some reason, I just like those people.

Here's the real deal: We are just grasping at straws in Iraq. We should either bow out and call it a loss (which sucks, but saves a few lives and a lot of resources), or we should bring the ever-lovin' mountain to Muhammed. I'm game, either way. If the rich folks want to have a war for entertainment, we have the opportunity to provide one of the bloodiest and most one-sided of all games ever played. If they want to keep evening the odds so Haji has a fair shake, I would rather stay stateside and watch my kids play in the yard. Call me crazy, but I don't get the feeling that anyone in any position of power right at this very moment knows a damn thing about waging war.

Put me in charge. I'll run out the media, kill the bad guys, restore order in Iraq, grant Kurdistan their much-deserved independence, and sell oil to the United States for three dollars a barrel.

Let's try This Again...

2007-06-02T10:23:00.000-05:00

here's the thing-Nobody really listens to you or me anymore. When's the last time a cop or a judge wanted your opinion? When's the last time a poll showed a public opinion that you thought was a realistic view of American Public Opinion?

I just want to do a little experiment. This is as much to prove something to me as to you.

I want you to imagine that we all took an unannounced day off. Every cop, every fireman, every truck driver, factory worker, CNA, CPA, social worker, grocery store clerk, construction worker, etc. If every working-class American just sat down one day and refused to participate, what kind of effect would that have on the economy? On international trade? On the media and our government?

Who runs this country? Who takes out the trash, cooks our meals, guards us in our sleep? (sorry, had to throw a little fight club in there)

We do.

Who votes, pays taxes, keeps the country running?

We do.

In order to remind the powers-that-be that we are, indeed, still running the show, we should stop doing what we do for one day. All of us.

Impossible, you say? Not at all. Unlikely? That all depends on how many people get convinced that it is a good idea.

So now we get down to details.

We want to take the day off on Friday, October 22nd, 2010. We want no legislators or government officials involved in this campaign. This is a holiday in protest of crooked government policy and corruption in the United States Congress. This is neither a conservative or liberal act. This is not a Republican or Democrat plan. This is an attempt at a united protest of our failing government.

Pass it on...

My Smart-Ass Attempt at Activism

2007-05-31T21:10:00.000-05:00

OK, let's see how far we can push the envelope...

I, the Great and Wise King Bulldog23A, being bored with the status quo, and having nothing else worthwhile to do at this very moment, do officially declare that on October 22nd, 2011 no person who is a citizen of the United States, and who has been dissatisfied with the government of the United States, will show up to nor call in to work.

This I decree in the name of all smart-ass Americans, and also my wife, the aforementioned newly declared holiday being our 17th wedding anniversary.

Somebody write this up in nice talk and e-mail it around. If we get three hundred thousand people to commit to it, I'll actually run for Governor of Arkansas on my own dime.

Pursuit

2007-05-30T20:40:00.000-05:00

I just watched The Pursuit of Happiness starring Will Smith. The film is based on a true story, and I highly recommend that all of you watch it. The story embodies all that was once great(and still can be) about this country. The idea is that if you work hard, you can accomplish anything. If you have ever felt the pressure of trying to keep a family afloat, you will be touched by this movie.

I grew up poor, and as an adult I have very rarely felt like I was on top of things financially. I have often wondered if I would ever get it together, whatever "it" is. I am happy to say that I am finally doing fine, and thanks to God and a good woman for that.

So my interests have turned outward, to see what other evils I might rail against for the sake of God and Country and, of course, my children. I am afraid that my worries have only grown...

The word is insidious. The foolish pride on which most of us base our sense of America is shadowed only by our idiotic and repetitious political failure. We are allowing the most amoral and incompetent group of people on the planet to run our government right into the ground. We allow ourselves to be seduced by the idea of security, while we are really just being inconvenienced by the appearance of said security.

For instance: Have you heard about the guy with the drug resistant tuberculosis whose picture has been posted at every point of entry into the United States? This guy has flown into, out of, and back into the United States before being caught. Turns out your Homeland Security force was too busy catching a case of ass over your hair gel to identify this disease-ridden asshole. In the meantime, the most drug resistant strain of tuberculosis so far has taken a joy ride on three (count 'em-3) international flights. Good job Homeland Security, I bet his fucking hair gel was in a two-quart ziplock.

Let's talk about securing our borders for a minute (again, Randy). Does this really seem like such a difficult issue? We have somewhere between 9 and 12 million illegal immigrants in this country. Do we act on this info? No. We start calling them "Undocumented Workers" so it doesn't sound like an invasion. Then we let four pinkos and a bunch of fags start talking about tolerance. In the meantime, Blue Collar Joe gets the shaft. While all of the American working class is trying to figure out the health-care situation, the wetbacks get pretty much any care they need for free.

Let's talk about our presidential hopefuls for a moment. Are any of them worth voting for, or do they just look good standing next to Bush? Have you heard the stupid shit that rolls out of their mouths? Obama wants to increase the quality and affordability of health care in this country by increasing the availability of aparticular type (or should I say brand?) of insurance. He also wants to increase the stats kept by hospitals. Two issues-1. The insurance company in question has a very strong lobby. 2. Asking hospitals to report their "quality stats" is only going to lead to deception for the sake of a dollar.
Edwards wants to remove all of the "combat troops" from Iraq, leaving only the "support troops". Do I really have to go into that?
McCain is flip-flopping on almost every issue, and Huckabee wants to run your spiritual life much more than any government official should.
Hillary is leading the pack, not because of her great qualifications, but because she hasn't looked like a complete asshole so far.

Public opinion is spun and slanted by a (very small) group of liberal media fags, until it seems like everyone in America is a raving fruit-loop. The reality is that most of us are holed up in our respective castles thinking the rest of the country has gone nuts.

The problem with America is that We, the People, have been fooled into believing that we don't run this country. CNN, Fox News, Congress, the President, and even the Judicial branch need us much more than we need them.

There is no greater truth to America right now than this: We still hold the power to make changes here. Stop believing everything these idiots keep trying to sell you. Stand on your convictions, and I whole-heartedly believe that you will be surprised by those who will agree with you.

If I'm wrong, things will continue as they have. If I'm right, maybe things get better.

In other words, we got nothing left to lose, America...

Still Here

2007-05-29T08:39:00.000-05:00

Had a great weekend. Nursing wife and children with terrible sunburns. Will post new stuff around 9pm.

Later.

American Logic

2007-05-22T20:47:00.000-05:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again-

A choice between a Republican candidate and a Democratic candidate is as encouraging as the choice between Airline food and Hospital food.

I was wondering why we were so mired down in the immigration issue (sorry, Randy) when I read an article by a moron on the Capitol Hill Pundit's blog. He was suggesting that the Republicans should get behind amnesty so they could get the big Hispanic "swing vote" after they all get legalized.

Its about votes. Its about keeping a cushy ass job so they can keep on trucking with their failing fiscal policies and their out-of-touch approach to domestic issues. Our country is being handed over to a group of criminals in order to insure the job security of those whose job it is to secure the peace and insure domestic tranquility...(or is that ensure?)

I say we just embrace the change. Hell, my kids will all get pinatas for birthdays from here on out. In 2011, when I have to sneak into, say, China to make a living, I'll just promise to support whoever doesn't want to have me drawn and quartered, and I'm sure we can find someone who is perfectly willing to sell their country up the river.

I was going to say that perhaps Congress wanted some more idiots to vote for them, but we obviously already had enough suckers to get the job done.

Problem #1 Part II

2007-05-20T19:08:00.000-05:00

The irreconsilable differences divorce can be traced as the ultimate cause of the problems we face today in these United States.

First, let me define the irreconsilable differences divorce.

Basically, you have two people who won't stop fighting, who happen to be married. They decide that compromise and mutual respect is less important than having their own way, so they get divorced. If there are children in the picture, the fight continues, resulting in a court-enforced family schedule. Sometimes one person decides that it would be easier to just give up the children rather than deal with the other person's BS any longer.

This gives children the impression that convenience is more important than, well, just about anything. This leads to justification of heinous behavior, like abortion, all in the name of convenience.

You see, the real problem in America is the lack of conflict resolution. We learned from our parents (not all, but quite a few) that there really doesn't have to be any sort of conflict resolution, because if things get too difficult, we can just run away from the problem.

Now, I know, this is starting to sound all touchy-feely, but it isn't so.

We are OK with letting problems get out of control, because we have learned that we can simply turn away from a problem when it becomes uncomfortable or inconvenient. Divorce has also taught us to be uncompromising, because compromise is inconvenient, and we can't have that.

Let's apply this theory to, say, illegal immigration.

OK, on the one hand, you have people who are absolutely OK with letting illegal immigrants have amnesty, citizenship, free health care, whatever. On the other hand, you have people who are absolutely against illegals, because they are a burden on our economy, they bring in drugs, they segregate themselves culturally, whatever.

This is where we are on the problem, and it has been this way for decades, because people do not know how to resolve a conflict in this country.

Now, a quick lesson in conflict resolution.

Group A (the amnesty people) wants to give these people citizenship, or at least the right to be here. Why?
Because of cultural sensitivity, sympathy for the impoverished, and the need for cheap labor.

Group B (the anti-illegal immigration no matter what group) wants to send them all home and secure the border. Why?
Because of the burden on the taxpayer, concerns about security, and a sense of nationalism.

We could sit here for decades and argue over which side has more merit (and we have).

So we obviously need to try a different appraoch to the problem.

We ask ourselves a few questions...
What is the root cause of the problem?

What can be changed at the source in order to keep the problem from getting worse?

Can a solution at the source (ie remove the problem) be accomplished?

How much of a compromise on either side would be required to remove the problem altogether, and would that much compromise be practical to suggest to people on either side of the issue?

Now its test time...simply answer the questions honestly, without blaming the "other side" of the issue, and lets see what you can come up with.

Problem #1

2007-05-17T20:44:00.000-05:00

My brother-in-law is a pretty smart guy (for a youngster), and he once mentioned a theory to me, which I have developed into something worth stealing and at least partially taking credit for.

The end of America as we know it began with the widespread acceptance (by judges, etc.) of the irreconcilable differences divorce.

Just take a moment to think that over...

I can trace every one of the United States' current problems to the irreconcilable divorce.

Go ahead, test me...

Why Can't Johnny Read?

2007-05-15T16:52:00.000-05:00

Because Johnny's parents don't give a shit.

Because Johnny's teacher has been teaching for thirty years and she's jaded,

or

Because Johnny's teacher just graduated from college (657th in his/her class) and wants a job with summers off.

Because Johnny has an XBox, a GameBoy Advance, and 36 million dollars worth of electronic distraction in his home so he can't focus on homework.

If we aren't careful, we will raise a generation of morons who, while technologically advanced, will believe any damn thing their government tells them (like WMDs, Global Warming, immigration laws should be more liberal, etc.).

For the love of Mike (hi mike), teach your kids to think, and please take an interest in their education.

Fair Trade

2007-05-10T20:32:00.000-05:00

I was in Wal Mart the other day, when I saw a guy, obviously illegal, with his wife and kids. He was standing by a buggy full of groceries with this dumb look on his face. As I watched him, I realized that he was dumbfounded by the amount of food he was purchasing. He smiled this weird smile and put his hand on his kids' heads with tears in his eyes.

I felt guilty about my illegal immigration stance for about three minutes until some tweaked out wetback nearly ran me over in the parking lot.

You see, we miss a lot because the good and decent hard-working illegals are usually busy working when we run into their asshole counterparts. Imagine what it would take for you to sneak across our Northern border so you could provide for your family. Life here is way better for a working-class family man than it ever could be in Mexico.

No, I'm not getting soft, I'm getting pissed.

Why is it that we can condemn some Haji dictator for being a monster ten thousand miles away and at the same time support a political and economic totalitarianist regime right out our back door?

Because there's money in it.

There are lots of good and decent people in Mexico who deserve better than they are getting. Just like there are anywhere else. What I don't understand is why they don't do something about it.

While I am no pacifist, I am hesitant to promote violence as a means of political change. It doesn't usually work out like people hope that it will. But damn, how much are these people going to take?

Oh, wait, they don't have to, do they? They can just stroll across our border and get a decent job.

Let's make a deal...

Here's fair trade for you-I'll trade every POS drug dealer, dope feind, and pedophile to Mexico in exchange for all of their hard-working blue collar types. Better yet, I'll throw in Congress and almost all of the press, too. They can get together down in Mexico and throw a little chaos party, while we can hire a whole new breed of Spanish speaking Border Agents who have definately taken all of the crap they care to.

Just a Few Thoughts...

2007-05-02T20:46:00.000-05:00

First, that car is the new Shelby. It will run you about 60k, but it sho looks sweet.

Now to the wonderful lunatic fanaticism that you came for...

I was in Iraq for around nine months last time. I saw a lot of things that I had never seen before. I got to wade in sewage (good times!), some people tried to blow me up (repeatedly), I got shot at (once or twice), and I got to know the guys in my company better than we ever wanted to know each other.

I came home a little wigged out, and I still have nightmares on occasion. To the day I die, the sound of a car horn will piss me off (ask any OIF vet). I'm a little twitchy when it comes to unexpected loud noises, but I'm getting better every day.

I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

I feel like I came home with a new attitude towards the truth, and a very low tolerance for BS. Don't get me wrong, I'm still full of it. I just don't think that my president or congressman should be full of it.

You see, the word politician has become synonymous with liar, or disappointment. In the meantime the word citizen has become synonymous with fool, or sheep. I put up with it, you put up with it, it is just the way it is...

In Iraq, most of the civilians were kind of resigned to the fact that they had no control over what was happening around them. They had no pride in their national heritage. They had no faith in their government (past or present). They were caught up in silly tribal conflicts, wrapped up in differences of faith, and bogged down in the details of everyday life.

In other words, they are just like us.

The difference is that we still have the ability to make things change-without the use of RPGs and IEDs. We can raise hell, get involved, blah, blah, blah...

Here's the thing, though: most of us have limited our involvement to occasionally posting a comment on a blog like this, or just agreeing with some jerk who isn't being brilliant so much as he is pointing out what should be obvious. The time has come to stop acting like sheep. It is one thing to actually recognize the appropriate time to act, another entirely to take the necessary action.

At this point, the necessary action is mostly about sending the right message to our illustrious leaders.

I would love to hear what all (three) of you think about it.

Abortion Lunacy

2007-04-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

Damn, I wish I could write like Bulldog.

In lieu of that and to those of you who are “pro-choice” (whatever that means), let me offer this bit…

Wanting to actually see the information everybody on the “right-to-life” side of the issue was quoting, I started trolling around the individual state’s reports on abortion statistics. I stopped after 3 states; I figured that since all three were reporting essentially the same percentages as each other, and the same as the claims I’ve read, I was on pretty safe ground repeating them.
From this, I will offer the following as factual information: Approximately 3% of all abortions are performed for the sake of the mother’s health. Those performed as a result of rape or incest are vanishingly small. By all means, if you have information to the contrary that has nothing to do with your feelings on the matter - just the facts, ma’am – educate the rest of us.
The conclusion is inescapable: About 97% of all abortions carried out in this country are nothing more than birth control. So, what is it that is being terminated in these elective procedures? Rather than give you my answer, let me take you through a series of hypothetical scenarios.

1. You are 47 years old. Someone shoots you, while you are not a threat. Have you been murdered?
2. You are 10 years old. Someone shoots you. Have you been murdered?
3. You are 1 year old. Someone shoots you. Have you been murdered?
4. You have been out of the birth canal for 10 seconds. Someone shoots you. Have you been murdered?
5. You are 10 seconds away from birth. Someone shoots you through your mother’s body. She wanted you. Have you been murdered?
6. You are 3 months away from birth. Someone shoots you through your mother’s body. She wanted you. Have you been murdered?
7. You were conceived 14 days ago. Someone shoots you through your mother’s body. She wanted you. Have you been murdered?
8. You were conceived 1 minute ago. Someone shoots you through your mother’s body. She wanted you. Have you been murdered?

Presumably, you answered “yes” to at least the first 4 scenarios, because the life of a human being was taken. If you changed your answer at any point, you have made the decision that your status as a human being – and deserving the protection that we afford them - is determined by some event that can be predicated by the length of time that has passed since you were conceived. What is that event, and what empirical evidence do you have to support its occurrence? In other words, when did you change from being non-human to human, what occurred when you did, and how do you know it occurred? Fact is, you have no answer based on knowledge, only faith.
Remember this the next time you try to justify your position as “pro-choice”: you have exactly zero empirical evidence that a human being is anything other than a human being from the moment of conception. You may say I have no empirical evidence that we are humans from conception. Agreed. My position is also one of faith, but it has the advantage of logic, the support of Psalm 139 and the first chapter of Jeremiah, and the fact that the consequences of my being wrong don’t result in the murder of millions, as yours does if you are wrong.
Then, let’s change the last four scenarios by saying your mother didn’t want you. Do you agree that your worth at this moment is determined by whether anyone else, your mother included, wants you? If your mother changed her mind about it when you were 10, would it have been alright for her to have killed you? Would it be alright 12 weeks after conception? Oops, we’re back to that non-human/human thing you can’t answer.
I find it curious that any normal woman would be outraged at the idea that her worth is determined by whether or not a man wants her, and rightly so, but yet so many of these same women will say that an unborn baby’s worth is justifiably determined by whether the mother wants him, or her. Kind of reminds me of those loony broads who want to strike a blow at a patriarchal society by getting married and keeping their Daddy’s name…
Remember, 97%...
I’ll be back to debunk more abortion “facts”, and to talk about the remaining three percent.

Forcing the Issue

2007-04-27T22:57:00.000-05:00

Someone just pissed me off.

Everybody go to my Abortion post (find the link to your right, under the Terror Counter, in the Archives section) and post a comment. I'll not post again until I get a dialog going on the Abortion issue.

The North American Haji...

2007-04-26T19:50:00.000-05:00

I'm gonna do a combo post tonight, and I ain't even gonna charge extra...

First, I want to talk about the difference between compassion and stupidity.

Somalia is a war-torn nation. It has been since...well, I don't really even know. I never heard of it before the whole "Blackhawk Down" thing. People who get here from Somalia must think that America is paradise on Earth, and rightly so. I do have compassion for those people. A child should never have to deal with war. On the other hand, those who come here from Somalia, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Chechnia, Afghanistan, Iran, etc. need to perhaps humble themselves a bit. I know that when my life gets suddenly better, I try to be grateful.

What I'm trying to say is that even though it is rude to throw ham at Somalians, they of all people should know that it could be waaay worse.

This superintendent, while probably a well-meaning guy, is just a giant horse's ass. His over-apologetic, politically-correct reaction to an ultimately harmless gesture has led to an endless stream of diatribe from assholes like me.

Next, I want to talk about my favorite topic, which I like to call The Great Migration of the North American Haji. Once again, I have been offended by a third-world attitude about my first-rate country. A man who barely speaks English and goes by the name of Smith approached me and asked me where to get "work papers" (maybe because I'm a little brown guy, I don't know). I told him that they have a new Mexican Consulate in Little Rock, and that would be the most appropriate place to start. He asked me if I wanted him to kick my ass (I think). I became so amused by this that I really offended him. Now, I ask you, was there really any reason for him to be upset? He asked a question, I gave the right answer, and he threatened me. He didn't mean it, and there was no violence, but he walked away believing that I was the ill-mannered party involved. It reminded me of every Haji I ever met.

I have come to the realization that we have overcompensated for over two generations for some European attitude that we Americans are an arrogant bunch.

You know, back when we had just saved their asses from Hitler.

Eaters of Pig

2007-04-25T17:05:00.000-05:00

I eat pork. Not a lot, mind you, but I'm for pig-eating. Apparently, pigs are "unclean" to the culture that wipes its collective ass with its collective left hand. Go figure.

Disclaimer: Blogger and Google and any other corporate types related to this domain don't have any control over what I say or do here. Neither do any Political parties and/or candidates that I might endorse.

I am about to presume to know the mind of God here a little, so get ready to be educated/offended.

Here goes:

When Moses received the Law from God, the Hebrews were wandering around in the desert. God knew that the people were making a golden calf to pray to, and thus knew that the Hebrew people would be wondering in the desert for a while yet.

I have had the privilage(?) of living on the Sinai peninsula, and I know for a fact that there is no good firewood available there. Dry scrub brush will only burn so hot, and then it burns out. In order to cook a pig, one must get the pig very hot and cook thoroughly. If you cannot cook the pig at a high enough temperature, the pig will make you sick when you eat it. They got parasites and stuff, as my retarded friend Geoffrey K. would say.

Anyone who has ever raised pigs will tell you that pigs are naturally clean animals. They don't get nasty unless they are penned up together in a confined space. Their crap only smells so bad if they eat a lot of garbage and waste. God did not say that pigs were necessarily unclean, so much as they were, at the time, an unsafe option for consumption. This is why there is no mention of pork in the New Testament.

All of the Law of Islam is either stolen from the Hebrews (the favored sons) or just made up by that foul liar, Muhammed.

A young man was recently charged with a hate crime (whatever that means) for placing a pork steak wrapped in plastic on a table near some Somalian students. He did it just to mess with them, and sure, he meant to be offensive, but come on. There was no crime committed here.

I saw a guy in the park the other day with a shirt that said "Jesus is a Pussy". Several ways to react to this rolled through my head (some of which were definately not what Jesus would do), but it never occurred to me to have him arrested for a hate crime.

You see, there are two things going for T-shirt guy- First, he lives in America, where you can be unreligious if you choose. Second, and most importantly, he has God-given free will. He can make whatever idiotic choices he wants.

Muslims keep trying to take away both of these basic principles wherever they go.

But they still got poop on their hands...

Islamic Expansion in Europe, Australia, and Asia

2007-04-23T17:13:00.000-05:00

Pay attention, Grasshopper, I'm gonna learn you somethin.

In Asia, the Muslims are attacking the basic family unit. Daughters are being torn from their parents' homes and "converted" to Islam. Wives are being taken from non-Muslim husbands because they grew up in Muslim households. Judges and police are too afraid to enforce the local laws because violence against their families is always in the back of their minds. Muslim clerics have gone so far as to issue Fatwas against government officials in Pakistan, India, Thailand, and Tibet.

In Europe, they have taken a different approach. There they are attacking sovereignty. The trend in Europe has been to insist that Muslims be guided by and ruled with Sharia Law (Traditional Islamic Law), and therefore not be made to answer to local laws and courts. Women have been denied divorces because their husbands requested that the hearings be held under Sharia Law. Judges fear offending the Muslim populations, and so they allow the law to be taken from their hands. This has been going on in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain.

In Australia, several Muslim groups have openly declared their intent to "take over" the government. Certain clerics have denounced western culture and proclaimed Australia a new Muslim stronghold.

In America, we continue to play nice. It is rediculous to think that anyone is trying to take over the world in this day and age, right?

Nobody Rides for Free

2007-04-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

In December of '06, I posted an article entitled How to Destroy America. You will notice in the Headlines section near the top of the page that there is a link titled Islam's Twenty Year Plan for America. Read both and notice the similarities.

Then please, for the love of God, get freaked out.

I try to encourage involvement here. That's really the only solution to any of America's problems. But no matter how much I rant and rave, the People are ultimately going to pay the price.

You see, we pay no matter what. We can pay now by sacrificing a little free time and getting involved, or we can pay later when everything goes down the tubes. The unfortunate side of the credit approach is that our grandchildren are usually the people that get the "Past Due" notice on our crap. If you don't get it, here's an example: Social Security. ('nuff said)

The twenty year plan referenced above is a bit over-ambitious, but I am willing to bet my life that fifty years is a likely time-frame. Over the next few days, I will outline a simple plan to defeat the enemies within and without. The simplicity will amaze, astonish, or bore you. In any case, the Bulldog has a plan.

If you are at all interested in what I say here, please read the previously mentioned articles. The next few posts will be more or less a response to said articles.

Abortion

2007-04-18T18:27:00.000-05:00

Ok, here we go...

Abortion isn't right. It is legal. What does that say about our culture (or lack thereof)?

Abortion isn't a matter of a woman's right to do with her body as she pleases. Abortion is a matter of convenience.

If we claim that an unborn baby is as disposable as a plastic soda bottle , how can we expect anyone to accept that we are just, or moral, or even human?

I certainly don't know.

If you disagree, here is your opportunity to convince me.

ENOUGH

2007-04-16T21:15:00.000-05:00

First, I want to thank the eloquent King Jeff for his educational and well written assistance. I hope you learned a bit. I did.

Second, I want to mention the school shooting in Virginia. If there were armed citizens packing heat in the area, I don't think that the guy could have killed 32 people. He might have gone batshit and shot a few people, anyway, but even the best-trained soldier takes a few battles to rack up 32 bodies. Unless, of course, he is blazing away at an unarmed populace.

Now, down to bidness.

I had a three day drill this weekend out in the boonies, so I was out of town since Friday. My wife had our three girls and my 12yr old's BFF with her, and she decided to go to the local laundry facility to wash some blankets and things that are just too large for our washer. While the two twelve year old girls were doing twelve year old things, my wife overheard two illegals (wetback SOBs) talking about the very vulgar and very inappropriate things that they wanted to do to my 12yr old and her friend. My wife speaks Spanish (work related), so she jumped their asses.

The laundry was full of people, men and women alike. Some were Mexicans (not Americans), some were white folks, some were black folks. No one came over to help her as she had an altercation with two men who were being lewd with her children. Everyone else in the laundry studiously ignored the situation. The guys finally realized that my wife was not going to shut up until they went away, so they left.

As my wife became less angry, she began to get embarassed about her behavior. She became apologetic about it, even. Not to the creeps, mind you, but to me, hours later.

So I explained it to her. Now I'm going to explain to all (both) of you.

I have had enough of this crap. The next person, legal or not, that violates my sense of decency or civil liberty is going to get his ass beat. Do you know why I am so willing to resort to violence?

I'll tell you.

Most of the world only recognizes authority when it is backed by violence. Aggression and violence are the only true means of keeping people from acting like tree-hanging crap-flingers (monkeys). I will not be afraid in my own home, neighborhood, city, state or country.

I'm not saying that I will go walking around in Compton or anything, but I won't let thugs and low-lifes run the show on my watch. I will not let this country that I have dedicated myself to defending turn into any more of a den of wretched behavior than it has already become.

If you are one of those people who just watches it get worse and worse every year without ever stepping up, you had better grow up. Hanging on to the illusion that it "might get better" is a waste of time. Our country is spinning so fast down the toilet right now that we may never fix it.

I, for one, am going to rage against the dying of the light.

The Reign of King Jeff - Day 3

2007-04-12T06:16:00.000-05:00

The Reign of King Jeff – Day 3

Part 2

On second thought, maybe I’ll hold off the executions until tomorrow, and talk to the folks at home on TV about it first. The history of international bankers and their influence on world events is extremely complex, and could never be fully explained in a TV address. But, I suppose I might be able to squeeze in a little history before the general population falls asleep, or switches over to ‘Idol’.

Way back in 1743, one Mayer Amschel Rothschild set up shop as a coin dealer in Frankfurt, Germany. (Ever notice how much trouble seems to come out of that place?) Mayer’s last name used to be Bauer, but he adopted Rothschild because his business logo was an eagle with five arrows in its talons on a red background. Hence, “Red Shield”, or “Rothschild”. You have to admit, it does have a more chic ring than some character on a TV show or a clothes designer. After his financial success investing the money made by the Elector of Hesse when he was renting mercenaries to King George, Rothschild’s boys set up shop in five European cities. Daddy Rothschild bought a nice five-story house that he shared with Jacob Schiff, whose 20-million dollar “loan” financed the Bolsheviks, resulting in a little spat called the Cold War.

Probably the most pivotal point in the history of banking occurred when Nathan Mayer Rothschild, who wound up in London, went to Waterloo, site of Napoleon’s bad day, and realized that ol’ Nappy was on the ropes. He got back to Brussels as fast as he could, and tried to hire a boat back to England, insider trading on his mind. At Ostend, he found no boats were going out because of a raging storm, but he finally agreed to pay 2000 francs to some Indiana Jones-type that figured his widow would be taken care of, at least. Unfortunately for the rest of us, he made it, and so did Rothschild. Next day, manning his post at the London Exchange and looking like Ted Kennedy must have on the morning of July 19^th, 1969, Rothschild began dumping securities. A panic ensued, with securities being dumped at a frantic rate. Naturally, agents of Rothschild were buying them up, so when calm returned, he had made an unimaginable fortune.

Because of his monopolistic powers, Rothschild gained control of the Bank of England, a nice, quaint little operation that was set up by King William of Orange back in 1689. King Bill was put in power by a group of European bankers, and he paid them back by ordering the British Treasury to borrow 1,250,000 pounds from them. He also gave them a Royal Charter to create the Bank of England, and consolidate the national debt, most of which was created by the loan. They were allowed to directly tax the people for interest and principal, as well as forbid goldsmiths to store gold; they had to store it – Surprise! – in the Bank of England vaults. By 1815, through the miracle of compounding interest, the debt had grown to 885 million pounds. These types of people have retained their grip on the major banking houses in London ever since. Ask Herbert Hoover; he spent most of his life there. And a great lap dog he was. But hell, somebody buys you the Presidency, the least you can do…

They had a grip on things here until Andrew Jackson let the charter expire on the American central bank, but that just irritated them the more. They got their way with the creation of the Federal Reserve Board. No more “federal” than Federal Express, and having no reserves, it is the single-most vile example of treason in American history. Plainly and grossly unconstitutional, it has remained untouched because of the unimaginable consequences that would happen if the Fed pulled the plug on the economy. In spite of the fact that the Supreme Court reminded the clowns in Congress that they don’t have the authority to transfer a responsibility that was given to them by the Constitution to someone else, that is exactly what was done on December 23, 1913, when most of the Senate was out of town. Add the signature of a simpering President in the form of Woodrow Wilson, and here we are, enslaved to the whims of bankers. At least Wilson had the guts to later write that he had “destroyed (his) country”.

Now for the really fun part! When you manage to get yourself a bank like the Fed, you get to make money out of thin air. Somebody walks in the door, like, say, a batch of Democrats who tell you that the black race can’t survive without government-enforced “compassion”, or a batch of Republicans who tell you that backwater Arabs have managed to find a way to melt steel with kerosene, and they need 2 trillion dollars to fix it all. No problem; you open up your ledger, write down a 2 trillion dollar loan to the guv’mnt, and Presto! $2,000,000,000.00 appears out of nowhere. The people then owe you 2 trillion plus interest. Neat, hunh? Well, okay, it does cost you a little bit to get the Treasury Department to print it, but you gotta’ spend money to make money, don’t’cha?

I am so going to enjoy seeing these bastards go down, assuming they don’t get me first…

Greatly simplified, but that is essentially what’s going on today, and although the few who are willing to talk about it would like us to believe that the American economy is run out of the New York banking houses, following the money will still lead you back to London. And all this time, you thought we’d won the war…

And it is the reality of war-making that has me ready to punch the tickets of these unspeakably greedy, murderous bottom-feeders. Hundreds of millions have died as a result of their machinations, and don’t even think that they aren’t taking advantage of the hatred that we have generated through the exportation of American liberal “enlightenment”.

Also, I need to plan for dinner. I’ve never been to a Ruth’s Chris Steak House before; hell, I can barely pronounce it. I wonder if they deliver. (And no, that sentence doesn’t need a question mark; it’s declaratory.)

Hoping that I’ll last long enough to deliver on my promises, I am,

Almost finished,

King Jeff

Well, that’s it for me. I have to go back to being the real me now. No more being King Jeff. But the stuff I’ve talked about here is quite real, and most of it is readily available on the Net. In particular, the information about Jekyll Island and the Fed can be found in a book written by Eustace Mullins called “The Secrets of the Federal Reserve”. Google “Jekyll Island Federal Reserve”. You can read it online. There is also a book called “The Creature from Jekyll Island”, by G. Edward Griffin. Also, Google “the law that never was” for info on the 16^th Amendment. These are just places to begin; learn, learn, learn. You’ve been told that dictators love an unarmed populace. True, but forced to choose between unarmed and ignorant, they’ll choose ignorant. If you’re a dope, you can be talked out of your guns for the sake of “security”, and then talked into anything else.

A final thought: I am absolutely convinced that the only solution available to us is the same one that Founders were forced to use. We are going to have to fight, and die, in large numbers to defeat the international bankers that have us by the economic throat. Think for a moment. Why is the dollar in your pocket worth what it is worth? Can you directly exchange that dollar for a quantity of gold? No, you can’t. You can buy gold with it, but the amount you can get for that dollar is determined by a bank in London. Do your homework; find out which one. What if they decide it will take two dollars to buy that same amount, or five, or a hundred? When I was young, gold was $35.00 an ounce, and it was that way for years. Why is it $679.00 now? In WWII Germany, wives would go to their husband’s workplaces to pick up their paychecks as soon as possible and head straight to the bank, because inflation, which is nothing more than an increase in the “money” supply, meant they couldn’t buy as much with it by the end of the day. That wasn’t the result of sunspots, folks; it was the result of the decisions of men. Men who bleed and die when made to pay for their crimes, if the citizenry ever says, “Enough is enough!” Count on this, my friends: when it becomes sufficiently profitable to do so, and I believe it will be soon, the bankers are going to pull the plug on the American economy. It is only a matter of time.

The Reign of King Jeff - Day 3

2007-04-11T06:20:00.000-05:00

The Reign of King Jeff – Day 3

Part 1

My, how time flies. Here it is, day 3 of this impossible dream, and in just a few hours, I get to expose, dismantle, and eradicate the most insidious and destructive vehicle for treason and enslavement that any batch of moral lepers ever managed to dream up. The only thing I’m unsure of is whether I’ll be able to assemble a firing squad in time for the evening news.

But, before that bit of fun begins, I’ll take some time to rattle the cages that surround the minds of collectivists across the land. Sometime after a breakfast of chocolate-chip pancakes, slow-cooked bacon, and Hawaiian Kona, I’m going to disintegrate the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the OSHA. I’d get rid of some more, but there are only so many hours in a day. (You’d never know it to hear me talk, but I really am something of a health food nut. I just figure I don’t have much time left on the job, and I might as well ride all the rides I can before my pass expires.) Then I’m going to issue a Royal Edict that will require any and all conversations between lobbyists of any and all stripes and Congress members of any and all political philosophies to be carried out in front of cameras that are delivering a live feed to C-Span. You say the Executive Branch doesn’t have the Constitutional authority to do such a thing? You’re absolutely right; but it doesn’t allow for Kings either now, does it? Besides, with the fog created by about 13,000 other Royal(Executive) Edicts(Orders), who’s going to notice? On with the show.

After those little exercises, I’m going to sit and ponder the events that took place back in November, 1910, when a train with all its windows blacked out pulled out of the station in Hoboken. Hidden from the curious eyes of reporters were A. Piatt Andrew, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Paul Warburg, from the banking house of Kuhn, Loeb Company; Frank Vanderlip, president of National City Bank of New York; Senator Nelson Aldrich, head of the National Monetary Commission, created after the Panic of 1907; and a handful of other powerful bankers. The train’s destination was Brunswick, Georgia. From there, a small shuttle boat would ferry these traitors to Jekyll Island, an island enclave purchased in 1886 by men with names like Astor, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, and Gould, and where they would occasionally repair to disport themselves with fine food and spirits and a bit of duck-hunting.

This time, however, the regular staff had been dismissed, and a new, temporary group was put in place. The men they were to serve never referred to each other by their actual names. And it was there that they put together a plan that would change America from a place of relative freedom to a place of financial slavery, fulfilling the plans of London bankers that were frustrated by Andrew Jackson back in 1836, for the next 94 years.

That is, until King Jeff came along and had all their progeny and protégés lined up against a wall and summarily shot in front of a live audience for the crimes of mass murder and treason, which is exactly what they and their ilk have been doing for generations, through the financing of wars and market manipulations. The result of their treason was the Federal Reserve Board, and, indirectly, the 16^th Amendment. This amendment, never having been ratified by anywhere near the requisite number of 36 states, was made a part of the Constitution after then Secretary-of-State Philander Knox lied to the public by saying it had been. Maybe I’ll have time to talk to the folks in Peoria about that item before I get my walking papers.

Tomorrow's ravings will be kinda' long, so have your coffee ready.

The Reign of King Jeff - Day 2

2007-04-10T06:49:00.000-05:00

The Reign of King Jeff – Day 2

Part 2

Having dealt with the issue of Congressional salaries, my mind turns to foreign policy, which I would really rather just turn over to Colonel Hackworth, U.S. Army, Retired, but he’s passed on to his eternal retirement, and I am getting paid to deal with it. So here goes…

1. North Korea? Look, I don’t see where we have the right to tell another country that they can’t have any specific weapon, especially when we have them. I would, however, remind that pipsqueak with the severe case of small-man syndrome that no matter what they have, we have more. And should the day ever come where they think it worth the risk to launch an offensive attack against anyone, anywhere, with a non-conventional weapon, the first Trident II D-5 from the boomer we have permanently parked off their coast will reach Pyongyang in about 7 minutes.

2. Iraq? Well, if I had been around earlier, we wouldn’t be there, but now we are, so we have to have a plan. Here’s mine…

First, we start by making a worldwide show on YouTube and Google Video of just how well it’s going in Kurdish Iraq, where the people aren’t brain-dead morons who think smiling, eating regularly, loving children instead of shooting them in the back, and using toilet paper are sins. (With thanks to my brother Steve, who was the first to express this idea to me.)

Second, we tell the everyday, working Iraqis, as well as the Iraqi government, that they have exactly 90 days to roust out the troublemakers and publicly execute them, our troops assisting. At that point, if the job is not done, we will relocate to the oil fields and the Kurdish area and watch with complete dispassion as they destroy themselves. No more help with electricity, schools, hospitals, etc. My reason for this is simple: I would not be willing to risk the live of a single American serviceman for a million people who won’t take care of themselves. If they continue to display an unwillingness to throw off the shackles of mindless indolence created by hatred and an imbecilic religion that calls for the conversion, enslavement, or death of an “infidel”, fine. You love death? Have at it. You won’t be missed.

Third, when we leave, we leave. Everybody and everything. I told my sister before we ever got there that one of our reasons for going was to establish a permanent military presence in the region. I intend for us to fail at that. (While I’m at it, I’m also going to start reducing the number of foreign bases worldwide. There are about 185 countries in the world; we have bases in 130 of them.) With four times the known oil reserves of Saudi Arabia lying in oil shale in the Green River formation, we don’t need to keep sucking at the Middle East oil teat forever, and there damn sure isn’t anything else in those God-forsaken sand pits we need.

3. Europe? Frankly, I’m probably going to need some help on this one. Islam will have the entire continent by the throat in another 6-7 years, and while I don’t give a tinker’s damn about the socialist cowards that dominate the place, the development will have implications for us.

4. China? Thanks to a string of presidential failures all the way back to Nixon, keeping those people harmless would require a conventional military build-up that would make everything we have ever done look like a trip to The Dollar Store. If the boys from the Skunkworks don’t already have something in the pipeline, it will be time for another Manhattan Project. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want to hurt them. I just don’t intend to leave them the power to hurt us.

Well, that’s enough for one day, don’t you think?

…I can’t help but wonder how much longer I have before the bullet comes crashing into my skull. The Federal Reserve Board is, I’m sure, thinking they’re next, and rumor has it they were seriously put-out when Kennedy set up that short-lived silver standard. I can just imagine how they’re going to react when I tell the country the Fed is a group of privately owned banks controlled by a handful of families, especially when I find out who they are and start naming names. Talk about the fit hitting the shan…

With that thought in mind, I’m going down to see if Mr. Clancy’s description of Camp David is close to the mark. I understand the food down there is even better than the White House’s.

Oh, that pastrami sandwich was okay, but I’m still a sucker for roast turkey, bacon, Swiss, and horseradish on rye. The Guatemala-Antigua was righteous. Tonight, I’ll try the Jamaican Blue Mountain. Never could afford the stuff before I got this gig, but there was that time when my ex- brought some back from a mission trip. Despite all the things that really make this life miserable at times, there are also some delights; a good cup of joe, a little girl’s giggle, the front porch swing on a warm October evening, a friend you can bare your heart to; I recommend you enjoy them as you get the chance.

Genuinely wishing you had it even close to as good as I do, I am, most likely,

Your doomed servant,

King Jeff

The Reign of King Jeff - Day 2

2007-04-09T17:54:00.000-05:00

The Reign of King Jeff – Day 2

Part 1

After a decent night’s sleep, I’ve decided to upend the public tranquility again by offering another opinion. This time it will be my thoughts on male homosexuality, to wit: This kind of activity is not best described as two men sharing a meaningful relationship; any guy who has a friend he can trust has a meaningful relationship with another man. It is not best described as two men sharing a home and expenses; I did that with a buddy for a year and a half, and we’re both so straight you can draw a line with us. It is not best described as two men sharing a peck on the cheek; there are a number of cultures where this is normal, although I think it’s kind of weird. No, male homosexuality is best described as one man with an erect penis ejaculating into the anus or mouth of another man. My opinion? It’s indescribably disgusting and perverted. Don’t waste my time telling me it’s “just another lifestyle”. “Just another lifestyle” is choosing to eat your salad after the main course instead of before.

Now, on to the things I’m getting paid for.

I read something the other day by a fine fellow who suggested a Constitutional amendment that would reduce the salaries of Congress members to the average of a family of four in the region they serve. I like the principal, but not the method of execution. (Boy, now there’s a turn of the phrase when talking about Congress) Frankly, the idea of the current Congressional lineup getting their hands on the Constitution is a bit disconcerting. There’s no guarantee that that crowd wouldn’t call for a Constitutional Convention, and then we really would have to have an armed march on Washington. Instead, I think I’ll insist on some good ol’ legislation to accomplish the goal. Oh, by the way, contrary to a widely disseminated lie, Congress members don’t get a super-cushy retirement plan, wherein they continue getting paid their retiring salary for the rest of their lives; they just get a cushy retirement plan that pays them a lot more than you. (I would say you and me, but seeing how I’m King, that would require some real chutzpah.) They get a combination of Social Security, which they have been paying into since 1984, and membership in either the Civil Service Retirement System, or the Federal Employees Retirement System, depending on when they were elected. CSRS can be converted to FERS if the member so decides. In response to their query, the Congressional Research Service sent some answers on the subject to the Idaho Observer (observer@coldreams.com), including the following:

An example was given for a Rep. or Senator retiring after Dec., 2002, with 26 years of service (7 under CSRS, 19 under FERS). With an ending “high-3” salary of $138,233, their annual pension would be $72,442 per year.

As of 1999, the average SS retiree received $804 per month, or $9,648 annually after retiring at age 65.

Not bad work, if you can find it. No matter; I’m going to scuttle the entire Social Security program anyway, because the Constitution doesn’t give the United States government the authority to engage in any such activity. I’ll be calling the S.S.A. later today to tell them to start figuring out how much every living enrollee has paid into this Ponzi scheme, calculate the interest, and send a check for the total amount to the victims. As for those victims of this treasonous fraud who have passed away, the check will go to the heirs. At that point, the individuals will have to take the responsibility for their retirement upon themselves, much as they do when it comes to brushing their teeth.

The Reign of King Jeff - Day 1

2007-04-08T08:05:00.000-05:00

The Reign of King Jeff – Day 1

Part 3

First, the Bill of Rights, to what will undoubtedly be the great chagrin of conservative and liberal alike, was never intended by the Founders to restrict state activity. If the legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia had decided in 1803 to establish sun-worship as the state religion, they were perfectly free to do so. If the government of New Jersey, being the shining star of competence that it is, decides to completely ban gun-ownership, well then, James Madison would tell you they were fools to do so, but he’d also tell you the 2^nd Amendment should have nothing to do with it. This is why the first clause of the 14^th Amendment is such an abomination; it completely reverses this principal. When those fine gents all showed up in Pennsylvania those many years ago, they weren’t there to determine how their own state governments were going to do things. They have their own constitutions for that. (At this point, I might pause, look into the camera, and say, “By the way, you have read your state’s constitution, right?”) They were there to determine how the government of the United States was going to do things, the existing Articles of Confederation having been shown to be insufficient. The result was the Constitution of the United States of America, not the Constitution of All the States of America. Fortunately for us, the protections found in the Bill of Rights originated in the thinking that was already in place in the several states, so when, for example, the 2^nd Amendment was applied to the

United States

government, it was echoing the political thinking of the states. For example: Section 13 of the Bill of Rights adopted on June 12, 1776, for the Constitution of Virginia states: “That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free State; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.” Also, Section 17 of Part One of the Massuachusetts constitution: “The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence. And as, in time of peace, armies are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be maintained without the consent of the legislature; and the military power shall always be held in an exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it.” Oh, and simply to irritate those of you who think Christians shouldn’t be involved in politics, it was a Baptist preacher from Orange County, Virginia, who was a primary instrumentality in the adoption of the Bill of Rights. I learned about it; quit sitting there either doubting or believing me without checking it out for yourself.

Second, I would tell my fellow citizens to lose the idea that there is anything in the Constitution that protects anyone’s “right” to do wrong. As the old adage used to say, your right to free speech does not include the right to walk into a crowded theater and yell “Fire” when there is no fire.

Finally, I will contact the White House kitchen, and ask them to make a pastrami sandwich for me. I’ve tried one on a couple of occasions, and they were disgustingly fatty. Maybe the White House could do one up right. Oh, and a cup of Guatemala-Antigua coffee, too. Cream and sugar, please.

Soon, I will describe my second day in office. Until then, I am,

Your servant most unlikely to remain in office for long,

King Jeff

The Reign of King Jeff - Day 1

2007-04-07T09:20:00.000-05:00

The Reign of King Jeff – Day 1

Part 2

Later that day, in the interest of environmental-awareness, I will allow Congress to pass more than one item at a time, which will, presumably, save paper, but I will require them to adopt two of the plans put forth by DownsizeDC. The first requires members of Congress to actually work for their pay by writing the bills themselves, instead of farming it out to lobbyists and other tax-money interested parties. The other requires them to actually read the bills in their entirety before voting on them. Both of these measures will also save quite a few trees, it being my considered opinion that not even Joe Biden would want to hear himself talk long enough to read a 1300-page bill. Most importantly, however, I will require every bill proposed by Congress to cite the specific portion of the Constitution that gives them the authority to engage the issue in the first place, in keeping with the 10^th Amendment, which, by the way, is not trumped by the 14^th.

Not wanting to have to deal with the last-mentioned problem anymore, in addition to not liking the whole point of federalism being turned on its head, I will immediately repeal the 14^th Amendment. Then, having a desire to provide the several states with representation in Washington, D.C., such as, say, Botswana has, I will repeal the 17^th Amendment. The 16^th Amendment is next. Seeing that the Unites States Supreme Court has ruled on four separate occasions that it created no new power to tax anyway, why have it cluttering up the document at all? Besides, it was never properly ratified in the first place.

Before heading for the White House screening room, which I understand has an incredible surround-sound system employing Triad speakers, to watch ‘Casino Royale’ again, I will make a television appearance in which I will explain two things about the Constitution.

Tomorrow, I'll give you a sneak preview

The Reign of King Jeff - Day 1

2007-04-06T06:37:00.000-05:00

The Reign of King Jeff – Day 1

Part 1

For the last few months, I’ve had an interesting living arrangement: I’m residing with some close personal friends who thought it would be great idea for me to stay with them for an indefinite period. Leaving aside the questionable wisdom of such thinking, I made the move last September, with the intent of fulfilling their desire, which was to help influence their 13-year-old son whose brain-type is the same as mine. Several years ago, while speaking to his Dad on the phone, he told me of some characteristics the boy was displaying, such as taking things apart and putting them back together again, or fixing things that he had never seen before. Sure, we were both laughing after I said it, but I told him these were not good signs, because that’s the way I was when I was a kid.

Plainly digressing, I’ll mention that they also have a 7-year-old son, and an 11-year-old daughter, my view of the world usually coming from the vantage point of her little finger. In addition, there is an older daughter who has not yet left the nest.

We were sitting around the living room before heading off to church one morning, and the subject of gun-toting came up, followed by an animated discussion between Dad and my protégé, whose name is not John, but which I will use for him here. By the time we headed out the door, I was relieved to have gotten away with sitting there and saying nothing. This was unusual, because my opinion is usually actively sought, especially if John is involved with the matter. It was one of those “Phewww”, with-a-wipe-of-the-forehead situations, because I didn’t agree with Dad, and to make matters worse, I was quite capable of making my case based on the words of Jesus found in the gospel of Luke. (We’re all a bunch of nut-case Christians, you see) My relief at not being asked was due to the discomfort I would have felt Sidewinder-ing Dad’s reasoning out of the sky while living rent-free in his house. Can you imagine?

Well, having seen how awkward it can be for someone to ask you to go on record with your opinion, I am glad I don’t have to face that situation here. Having been invited to contribute to this fine effort, I have the good pleasure of being, largely, on the same page as the host.

So then, having wasted enough bandwidth, I will offer my intentions for the hypothetical time…

…When I am King –

I will, in all likelihood, not be able to resist the temptation to spend most of the first day expressing my opinions on various subjects. For example: hip-hop, Paris Hilton, American Idol, and Hillary Clinton for President are all positive indicators that the intelligence level in American society has achieved a point best described by the word “abysmal”. Another: It being one of the few things the United States (what most call “federal”) government is actually supposed to be involved with, $0.39 for some guy to pick up a letter at my house and drive it half way across the country isn’t really all that bad a deal. And so forth…

In Part 2, I really start to rock the boat...

The World is Nuts, As Usual...

2007-04-04T20:47:00.000-05:00

" Welcome to Cyprus..."-Will Shakespeare.

The first person to post the rest of the above quote gets to be my Secretary of State.

Anyhoo, this week has been interesting. I am learning about my new job, I have discovered that my Jeep needs something(?) done to the front end, and no matter how long I stay in the army, I still enjoy yelling at new guys.

OH, I'm trying to quit smoking. I am currently on a program right now that involves a lot of shame about sneaking a smike, a lot of fingernail chewing, and some God-awful gum that gives me the hiccups.

Iran released the Brits, Pelosi talked to Syria, and Keith Richards apparently snorted his dad.

I really can't add anything to that.

If I Were the King of the Forest...

2007-03-30T22:01:00.000-05:00

When I'm King, I'll make some changes.

Here's how I would do it:

Congress will only be able to pass one item at a time. There will be no unrelated attachments to any bill. In other words, "pork" is disallowed.

I would propose a constitutional amendment reducing Congressional salaries to the average income of a family of four within the state/territory/district that they respectively represent.
(see post titled "One Simple Solution", my very first post on this blog)

I would hire economists (is that a word?) to fix the budget.

We would do whatever it took to get those british sailors and marines back.

We would concentrate our military in Iraq on oil field security, and gas would be about $1.20 a gallon, because we would own it all.

Anyway, you get the picture.

Now, enough fantasy. Here is what we can do:

We really can get Congress to repeal NAFTA. We just need to get organized and raise hell.

We really can get the border secured. We just need to get organized and raise hell.

We really can get rid of crooked politicians. All we have to do is vote them out consistently. Eventually they would take the hint. If we got organized and raised hell they would get the message quicker.

Are you catching the recurring theme here?

Honest, hard working men and women in this country need to unite. If you don't think that we can make a difference, then they have us where they want us.

Look at America's Gay population. They got organized, I mean really organized in the late Seventies. They got a lobby together, they started pulling strings and greasing palms, and now they have a powerful voice in this country. Only 7% of the population claims to be gay.

All they did was get organized and raise hell.

More on New Orleans

2007-03-30T12:39:00.000-05:00

Here are some facts about New Orleans. I have tried to make comparisons between Pre and Post katrina New Orleans where I could find facts. If you wish to verify my figures, look it up (that's what I did).

Population

Pre Katrina: 484,674 in city limits, greater metropolitan area: 1,337,726

Post Katrina: Estimated 200,000 in city limits, greater metropolitan area: 760,000

Schools

76 schools remain closed

Infrastructure

Public Transit remains stagnant, with only 30% of all public transportation in operation.

No additional hospitals have been opened for four months, leaving 50% of hospital and medical facilities closed

While six new child-care centers opened in Feb2007, two closed due to higher pay for child-care workers in relation to high housing costs

Police and Fire Departments are still working out of FEMA trailers

Housing

There are currently over 13,000 homes for sale in New Orleans

Pre Katrina: 4,732 homes were for sale

Recovery Costs

Estimated Recovery Costs: $135 Billion

Charitable Donations; $3.5 billion

Federal Funding: Less than $20 Billion

State Funding: Approximately $3 Billion

Totals: $26.5 Billion spent, $ 108.5 Billion needed

Regardless of your opinion on New Orleans, these people are Americans, and should be treated as such...

The Shame of Our Nation...

2007-03-28T20:40:00.000-05:00

We give money to Mexico. We give money to Ecuador. We have spent billions on new construction and repairs in Iraq. A city in our own country is devastated, and they get about a third of the money we give to all of these foreign countries.

New Orleans is a very important city. We control the Gulf of Mexico because of New Orleans. The ports and refineries are invaluable assets.

We got the ports going. Refineries are back up to speed.

Neighborhoods, not so much.

Sure, there are criminals running wild in the streets. Who is going to stop them?
Not us. We don't care. We have made that abundantly clear.

We don't care that there are only five large grocery stores open in New Orleans. We don't care that every single property owner took a shafting from one insurance company or another. We don't care that we have rebuilt more schools in Baghdad than in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. We don't care that the police force in New Orleans is at about 30% of pre-Katrina strength. We don't care that some neighborhoods are still completely unlivable. We don't care that 30,000 people had to move away from their homes.

I had planned to go on and on about this, but I don't think I will. I only have one more thing to say.

We should be ashamed for abandoning our fellow countrymen in their time of need.

Coming Soon...

2007-03-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

I am working on a post about US Attorney Johnny Sutton (the Devil). Damn that Lou Dobbs, scooping me like that!

I am also working (still) on my Katrina post. I've almost got it right.

I have a friend that will be joining us soon (or late, no pressure) with a bit of an education on several matters.

Just to occupy my inbox, why don't you guys come up with a creative caption for the photo above...

British Sailors Captured by Iran

2007-03-24T20:39:00.000-05:00

A number of British sailors were taken by Iranian Soldiers from their boat in the Persian Gulf yesterday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad has announced on Iranian National Radio that these British sailors were caught in Iranian waters (a lie), and that they have been detained by the Iranian government as foreign spies.

If these men were Israelis, there would already be missiles in the air. As they are British, we shall see.

I am curious about the way that Britain will handle this. If it were our guys, Bush would be all about sending in the Teams (at a minimum) to rescue them. The Brits may or may not have the stomach for this situation at the moment.

From a soldier's standpoint, I feel for the British sailors. I hope that they are retrieved unharmed by whatever means necessary. I hope that the US military will help in any way possible.

You see, loyalty is a rare thing in government these days. I know that my guys would break some rules (and teeth) to try to rescue me. The reason that they would have to do this is that my government would probably "take the high road" and work on a diplomatic solution. Remember those soldiers who were captured in Bosnia a few years back? Jessie Jackson had to get those guys back. If I am a prisoner of war and they let Jessie freakin Jackson work out my release, I will crawl from Arkansas to DC on my hands and knees to tell the SecDef to kiss my brown ...well, you get the picture.

As a soldier, I will do things that I may disagree with, meaning that I will follow all of my lawful orders even if I do not agree with the politics behind the action. I will slog through mud, go without bathing, suffer as I must in order to accomplish the mission at hand. I will fight to my dying breath, if I must, because that is my job. My country owes me the training and equipment to do the job. And some support. If I am captured, I will do what I can to escape, withhold information, etc. I would ask, as a personal favor (and a show of respect for soldiers everywhere) that my government actually do something to come find me, time and resources permitting.

I would hate to be an infidel in Muslim hands, waiting for diplomacy to prevail...

Well, Its Not How I Would Do It, But OK...

2007-03-21T20:22:00.000-05:00

The Democrats are expected to pass a bill this week that will provide funding for the next year or so in Iraq...

Say what?!?

Yup. The Dems have got every angle covered this time. They have attached to this bill funding for Katrina Relief (about time), Drought Relief, Spinach Farmer relief (huh?), and lots of other stuff that has already been proposed but the Republicans couldn't pass.

How would you like to be the senator from Louisiana that voted no on Katrina money because you were against the war? How about the rabid anti-spinach guy who happens to be a Republican (I know, but I got nothing tonight)?

This is how the group of people that we elected to run our nation does business. Everybody gets what they want, but they gotta sell themselves out to do it. Would you let these people be around your kids?

I'm not saying that I disagree with passing any of these items. I would think that taking care of the citizenry of this nation would be, well, the actual job that we pay these people to do. Instead, they have to be manipulated, almost blackmailed, into actually doing anything at all.

I say we fire their butts next election. Every one of them. I say we vote out every incumbent across the nation for the next ten years. Just to flex our muscle.

But for now we gotta figure out how to manipulate them into securing the border and repealing NAFTA.

Four Simple Things

2007-03-18T21:23:00.000-05:00

"If shit was worth anything, poor people would be born without assholes..."-Eddie Murphy, 48 Hours

We all want the same things (more beer!, more meth!, more crack!, more money!).

No seriously, we all want the same four things.

1. We want to be able to earn a living for ourselves and our families.

2. We want to live in a safe place.

3. We want our children to get the best education possible.

4. We want to some day be able to rest and enjoy what we have earned.

This is what should be uniting us as a people. Instead we get distracted by skin color, or religion, even geographic location. We get distracted by "non-issues" that have more to do with personal religion than politics. We get wound up about silly nonsense that won't really make a difference in five years.

But Bulldog, what are you talking about?

Well here's an example off the top of my head. Abortion. A moral issue, yes. A legal issue (and therefore poltical), no. Got legalized back in the seventies. But I still know people on both sides of the issue that choose candidates based solely on the candidate's stance on abortion.

If you are a Christian, then you know that sin will be judged in the end. Muslim, Jew, same thing. If you think that a politician is going to put an end to abortion, you have been suckered by the system. Unless all of the people in this country who are against abortion actually get together, create a unified lobby, and push all the right buttons and grease all the right palms, abortion will remain legal.

In other words, people have been distracted by a non-issue for thirty some-odd years without ever noticing that nothing has been done.

People are so busy proclaiming their African-American, or Hispanic-American, or whatever-American heritage that they have failed to see that the real discrimination is on an economic level. People are so busy spewing their religion at each other that they haven't quite picked up on the fact that the most immoral group of people on the planet are running our country.

Its all because we are lazy. There can be no liberty or justice without responsibility. There can be no American Dream without responsibility. We are responsible for what our government does (its in the fine print). If you don't believe that, take a look at who pays the bills around here.

It just seems to be common sense to assume that since people like me are going to be held accountable for our government's actions, then we should do what it takes to keep our thumb on them. A little blogging and internet research can go a long way toward educating yourself about the actions of your government.

How many of you went to the link labeled "unconstitutional" at the top? What about the link to the right labeled "You Must Read This!!"? Why not? Because you come here for some entertainment. Sure, some folks like my ideas, but most of you are resigned to the fact that things will stay as they are. You are wrong. They will get worse, and keep getting worse until the whole thing goes into the crapper.

I've seen the crapper, baby. Just look at Beruit, or Baghdad, or Matamoros.

That isn't what we want for our future.

Dream a Bigger Dream

2007-03-16T18:59:00.000-05:00

I have stood on a dormant volcano in Guatemala, the only place in the world where you can see the Atlantic and the Pacific at the same time.

I have seen the Pyramids and the Sphinx in Egypt.

I have patrolled the villages and city streets of Iraq.

I have visited sixteen countries, some for the Army, some on my own, and I have seen incredible things. Still nothing compares to my home.

We have something here that can be found nowhere else on Earth. Call it pride, or spirit, or freedom. We are quick to jump into a discussion of right and wrong. We are quick to rebel against injustice. Even those who would not pick up a gun for this country will raise their voices in anger or defiance if they feel that they are being wronged.

I love this country. Its not the woods or mountains or praries. It isn't the grand landmarks or the beautiful views. I love the people of these United States.

There are problems here, and they must be addressed. Not by politicians, but by the people. So address them here. Here you have an open forum to complain or argue any and every point that could possibly be of any importance to the People of the United States of America. Maybe the President doesn't care what you have to say. Bill Richardson certainly doesn't. There may be few (if any) Congressmen left that care to hear what you have to say. I care. Tell me your side of it. Explain to me what it means to be an American in your bubble. Post what you think are the most important problems facing the next Administration. Post solutions to problems. I'll respond when I want to argue, or maybe just to clarify a point. I have an idea that the powers that be are about to start paying attention to little forums like this.

Fw: Great E-mail!

2007-03-14T18:03:00.000-05:00

I didn't write this, it was e-mailed to me. I cannot find the author, but this is fantastic.

Sixty-three years ago, Nazi Germany had overrun almost all of Europe and hammered England to the verge of bankruptcy and defeat, and had sunk more than four hundred British ships in their convoys between England and America for food and war materials.

At that time the U.S. was in an isolationist, pacifist mood, and most Americans wanted nothing to do with the European or the Asian war. Then along came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and in outraged Congress unanimously declared war on Japan, and the following day on Germany, which had not yet attacked us.

It was a dicey thing.

We had few allies.

France was not an ally, as the Vichy government of France quickly aligned itself with its German occupiers. Germany was certainly not an ally, as Hitler was intent on setting up a Thousand Year Reich in Europe. Japan was not an ally, as it was well on its way to owning and controlling all of Asia.

Together, Japan and Germany had long-range plans of invading Canada and Mexico, as launching pads to get into the United States over our northern and southern borders, after they finished gaining control of Asia and Europe. America's only allies then were England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and Russia. That was about it.

All of Europe, from Norway to Italy, except Russia in the East, was
already under the Nazi heel.

America was certainly not prepared for war. America had drastically downgraded most of its military forces after W.W.I and throughout the depression, so that at the outbreak of WW2, army units were training with broomsticks because they didn't have guns, and cars with "tank" painted on the doors because they didn't have real tanks.

And a huge chunk of our navy had just been sunk or damaged at Pearl
Harbor.

Britain had already gone bankrupt, saved only by the donation of $600 million in gold bullion in the Bank of England, which was actually the property of Belgium, given by Belgium to England to carry on the war when Belgium was overrun by Hitler (a little known fact).

Actually, Belgium surrendered on one day, because it was unable to oppose the German invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next day just to prove they could. Britain had already been holding out for two years in the face of staggering losses and the near decimation of its air force in the Battle of Britain, and was saved from being overrun by Germany only because Hitler made the mistake of thinking the Brits were a relatively minor threat that could be dealt with later, and first turning his attention to Russia, at a time when England was on the verge of collapse, in the late summer of 1940.

Ironically, Russia saved America's butt by putting up a desperate fight for two years, until the US got geared up to begin hammering away at Germany.

Russia lost something like 24 million people in the sieges of Stalingrad and Moscow alone... 90% of them from cold and starvation, mostly civilians, but also more than a 1,000,000 soldiers.

Had Russia surrendered, Hitler would have been able to focus his entire war effort against the Brits, then America, and the Nazis could possibly have won the war.

All of this is to illustrate that turning points in history are often dicey things. And now, we find ourselves at another one of those key moments in history !

There is a very dangerous minority in Islam that either has, or wants and may soon have, the ability to deliver small nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, almost anywhere in the world.

The Jihadis, the militant Muslims, are basically Nazis in Kaffiyahs -- they believe that Islam, a radically conservative form of Wahhabi Islam, should own and control the Middle East first, then Europe, then the world. And that all who do not bow to their will of thinking should be killed, enslaved, or subjugated. They want to finish the Holocaust, destroy Israel, and purge the world of Jews.

This is their mantra.

There is also a civil war raging in the Middle East -- for the most part not a hot war, but a war of ideas. Islam is having its Inquisition and its Reformation, but it is not known yet which will win -- the Inquisitors, or the Reformationists.

If the Inquisition wins, then the Wahhabis, the Jihadis, will control the Middle East, the OPEC oil, and the US, European, and Asian economies.

The techno-industrial economies will be at the mercy of OPEC -- not an OPEC dominated by the educated, rational Saudis of today, but an OPEC dominated by the Jihadis. You want gas in your car? You want heating oil next winter? You want the dollar to be worth anything? You better hope the Jihad, the Muslim Inquisition, loses, and the Islamic Reformation wins.

If the Reformation movement wins, that is, the moderate Muslims who believe that Islam can respect and tolerate other religions, and live in peace with the rest of the world, and move out of the 10th century into the 21st, then the troubles in the Middle East will eventually fade away, and a moderate and prosperous Middle East will emerge.

(The rational mind of today says this).

We have to help the Reformation win, and to do that we have to fight the Inquisition, i.e. the Wahhabi movement, the Jihad, Al Qaeda and the Islamic terrorist movements.

We have to do it somewhere. And we can't do it everywhere at once. We have created a focal point for the battle at a time and place of our choosing........in Iraq. Not in New York, not in London, or Paris or Berlin, but in Iraq, where we are doing two important things:

(1) We deposed Saddam Hussein. Whether Saddam Hussein was directly involved in 9/11 or not, it is undisputed that Saddam has been actively supporting the terrorist movement for decades. Saddam is a terrorist. Saddam is, or was, a weapon of mass destruction, who is responsible for the deaths of probably more than a million Iraqis and two million Iranians.

(2) We created a battle, a confrontation, a flash point, with Islamic terrorism in Iraq. We have focused the battle. We are killing bad people, and the ones we get there we won't have to get here. We also have a good shot at creating a democratic, peaceful Iraq, which will be a catalyst for democratic change in the rest of the Middle East, and an outpost for a stabilizing American military presence in the Middle East for as long as it is needed.

World War II, the war with the German and Japanese Nazis, really began with a "whimper" in 1928. It did not begin with Pearl Harbor. It began with the Japanese invasion of China. It was a war for fourteen years before America joined it. It officially ended in 1945 -- a 17 year war -- and was followed by another decade of US occupation in Germany and Japan to get those countries reconstructed and running on their own again .. a 27 year war.

World War II cost the United States an amount equal to approximately a full year's GDP -- adjusted for inflation, equal to about $12 trillion dollars.

W.W.II cost America more than 400,000 killed in action, and nearly 100,000 still missing in action.

The Iraq war has, so far, cost the US about $160 billion, which is roughly what 9/11 cost New York. It has also cost about 3,100 American lives, which is roughly the same amount of lives that the Jihad snuffed on 9/11. But the cost of not fighting and winning WWII would have been unimaginably greater -- a world dominated by German and Japanese Nazism.

This is not 60 minutes TV shows, and 2 hour movies in which everything comes out okay. The real world is not like that. It is messy, uncertain, and sometimes bloody and ugly.

Always has been, and probably always will be.

The bottom line is that we will have to deal with Islamic terrorism until we defeat it, whenever that is.

It will not go away if we ignore it.

If the US can create a reasonably democratic and stable Iraq, then we have an "England" in the Middle East, a platform, from which we can work to help modernize and moderate the Middle East. The history of the world is the clash between the forces of relative civility and civilization, and the barbarians clamoring at the gates. The Iraq war is merely another battle in this ancient and never ending war. And now, for the first time ever, the barbarians are about to get nuclear weapons. Unless somebody prevents them.

We have four options:

1. We can defeat the Jihad now, before it gets nuclear weapons.

2. We can fight the Jihad later, after it gets nuclear weapons (which may be as early as next year, if Iran's progress on nuclear weapons is what Iran claims it is)

3. We can surrender to the Jihad and accept its dominance in the Middle East, now, in Europe in the next few years or decades, and ultimately in America.

4. Or, we can stand down now, and pick up the fight later when the Jihad is more widespread and better armed, perhaps after the Jihad has dominated France and Germany and maybe most of the rest of Europe. It will, of course, be more dangerous, more expensive, and much bloodier.

If you oppose this war, I hope you like the idea that your children, or grandchildren, may live in an Islamic America under the Mullahs and the Sharia (Islamic law), an America that resembles Iran today.

The history of the world is the history of civilizational clashes, cultural clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determined always win. Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win. The pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them.

Remember, perspective is every thing, and America's schools teach too little history for perspective to be clear, especially in the young American mind.

The Cold war lasted from about 1947 at least until the Berlin Wall
came down in 1989. Forty-two years. Europe spent the first half of the
19th century fighting Napoleon, and from 1870 to 1945 fighting
Germany

World War II began in 1928, lasted 17 years, plus a ten year occupation, and the US still has troops in Germany and Japan. World War II resulted in the death of more than 50 million people, maybe more than 100 million people, depending on which estimates you accept.

The US has taken more than 3,000 killed in action in Iraq.

The US took more than 4,000 killed in action on ONE morning of June 6, 1944, the first day of the Normandy Invasion to rid Europe of Nazi Imperialism.

In W.W.II the US averaged 2,000 KIA a week -- for four years.

Most of the individual battles of WWII cost more Americans than the entire Iraq war has done so far.

But the stakes are at least as high ... A world dominated by representative governments with civil rights, human rights, and personal freedoms .. or a world dominated by a radical Islamic Wahhabi movement, by the Jihad, under the Mullahs and the Sharia (Islamic law).

Please send this to anyone who did not experience WW-II......and, ALSO, consider sending to those who did!

Kristul Mef

2007-03-11T09:38:00.000-05:00

What is Chrystal Meth made of?

I'm no expert, but I did watch someone cook a batch once. (Purely scientific curiosity on my part, I can assure you). They used "Heet"( that stuff that keeps Diesel from gelling in extreme cold conditions), Ether, Cold Medicine, and other stuff I don't remember.

I hear you can make it with Phosphorus fertilizer, Anhydrous Ammonia, Lithium (from batteries), and even Benzyne, all of which are highly flammable and poisonous to the human body.

Tell your kids.

How can you tell if someone is on it?

Common short-term signs include paranoia, inability to eat or sleep, and "Tweaking". Tweakers like to organize things, clean things, hunt for arrowheads, take stuff apart (like motorcycles and VCRs), and collect crap that no one else wants.

Long-term signs include premature aging, especially around the jawline and eyes (we call it Meth Face), bad teeth (Meth Mouth), and bizarre behavior commonly associated with mental disorders. The most common Psychiatric misdiagnosis in America of late has been the diagnosis of schizophrenia in Meth users. Meth users have a tendency to be delusional, and may even have psychotic episodes. Long-term Meth users have a tendency to have a rather large porn collection, much of it home made (males), or figurine collections, like glass unicorns and butterflies (females). This doesn't mean that Aunt Georgia is a tweaker because she has a shelf full of cat statues. The collection will usually reach bizarre proportions in a short amount of time, and will seem like an obsession.

How do we stop it?

Nobody wants to hear this one...We can't stop it. Its too easy to make and very addictive (a fact that only meth heads dispute).

So what can we do about it?

We can drive it back underground. Start pointing and laughing at tweakers in WalMart. I do this all the time myself. If they are hanging around in a public place, start asking lots of questions about law-enforcement activities and such. When you see someone exhibiting signs of use, or just really bizarre behavior, call the law. This last one is tricky.

You see, if We, the People don't get involved, nothing happens. Police are overloaded with BS calls all of the time. Most cops are to the poin of letting the bad neighborhoods stay bad. If no one in an area complains, they just kind of assume that most residents are OK with the deterioration of their neighborhood. So they focus on the areas where people still care. Have you ever noticed that cops work harder in nicer residential districts? That's because the people in those areas call the cops. If you are going to complain about crime, you gotta be willing to complain to the cops. If you are afraid, that's certainly understandable. Being brave doesn't mean you are unafraid, it means you do things even when you are afraid, because those things just have to be done.

I couldn't count the number of times recently that I was positive that I was about to receive a beating, but I stand up to dope fiends and dealers anyway, because this is my country, my neighborhood, etc. Paranoia makes a person a coward, remember that.

If you have a relative/friend who you believe is a user, confront them. Try to get them help. If they won't, well, at least you tried. Keep your stuff locked up if they know where you live.

Maybe no one will read this, and maybe no one will act on it, I don't know. There are "experts" who will dispute some of my facts. I know Meth, I've seen it destroy people very close to me. Since I have adopted my more aggressive approach, I can say that they at least avoid being around me, and they have stopped stealing my lawn-mower gas...

Teddy or Me

2007-03-09T21:01:00.000-06:00

"I want to know about the firefight at the border that is being kept so damn quiet. So tell me, what do you think really went on there? I would say it was a test to see if we really had the guts for a fight and it just proved that we did not. Thanks for putting the handcuffs on!! I understand that you may not want a bunch of loose cannons running around the border with automatic weapons but you had better start thinking about what you need to do. This was a test and we failed. BUT, let's make sure to give them boys a medal or two to
a) make sure they keep quiet about what really went on.
and b) to make all the other boys down there know what they need to do to protect the political bullshit that comes along with protecting our border. "-Anonymous Comment on my blog directed to Gov Bill richardson and Gov Tom Vilsack ( both presidential candidates at the time of the post, both potentially good candidates, and both too cowardly to respond to the questions posed by my readers...)

At least the T-shirt company was bold enough to talk directly to me. Richardson and Vilsack both just stopped responding to my e-mails.

Do you want a President who is afraid to respond to your tough questions? We need a president with balls that clank. That leaves you only two options. Me, or we dig up Teddy Roosevelt.

Reasons I'm better than Teddy Roosevelt:

1. I'm alive, he's not. Its unfair, but still an advantage.

2. well, #1 is really the only one I got.

Let's try a different approach.

Reasons I'm better than any politician running (arrogant, aren't I?):

1. I help to run a household, so I am already better at economics than anyone in the House or Senate.

2. I believe in screwing everyone else to take care of my people. The current (and past) administration(s) have a similar policy, which is to say they will screw everyone, including their own, to take care of their interests.

3. I don't believe in doing anything half-assed (that includes planning).

4. I like puppies.

5. I believe in helping neighbors.

6. I believe that the measure of a man should be more about work ethic and fatherhood than anything else.

7. I believe that war is ugly, and so should be fought and won with quick, decisive action. This leaves less room for political mucking, and also just gets the job done.

8. I believe that prison should suck worse than the Army.

9. I believe that the Army should suck worse than teaching at a public school.

10. I believe that Jerry Falwell is a sexual deviant and a moron.

11. I believe that I can make the world a better place for my children to live in.

12. I believe that we could grow enough corn in North America to end our dependence on foreign oil.

13. I'm funny (sometimes).

14. The anonymous comment above is just about my favorite comment on the entire illegal immigration situation. Whoever said that should e-mail me and let me know who to give proper credit.

So you see, I am the obvious choice. Not because I am a breath of fresh air, or new and shiny, but because I am a lot like you (only funny)...

Tell your friends.

Dear General Pelosi,

2007-03-09T19:47:00.000-06:00

Congress proposed a forced withdrawl from Iraq beginning in March of '08. Money is approved but redirected towards fighting the Taliban and Al Qaida in Afghanistan. Nancy Pelosi and other Dems are aimed at forcing Bush's policy toward their own agendas. Bush hasn't done a great job, but I'm not sure that Pelosi is the person we want in charge of military policy in the Middle East (or anywhere).

OK, we're all sick of Iraq. We would love for the US to be able to get out of Iraq. We want to stop blowing money, end world hunger, and stop violence in the Middle East. It would also be cool if I could get my six-year-old a unicorn for her birthday. It ain't gonna happen.

How do you justify being a liberal pacifist on one hand and then sentencing thousands more Iraqis to their death on the other? When we pull out of Iraq, total civil war breaks out, Al Qaida moves into their new home (including Bin Laden, if he's still alive), and we once again let a group of people who eat dirt and live in filth kick our asses.

I'm tired of saying that we need to win. I'm tired of hearing all of these "alternative" plans. We are fighting the war on terror in Iraq. Hell, we brought it to Iraq (which may not have been right, but Baghdad ain't New York, so screw 'em).

I will speak the Inconvenient Truth right here-

If we leave Iraq under any conditions other than an absolute resolution of violence, Al Qaida and all other Jihadists will view our leaving as a defeat of the United States. This will prolong the "War on Terror" and create a surge in new terrorist activities across the globe.

We do need to revamp strategies. We do need to initiate talks between warring factions. We do need to change our approach to Iraq.

But we cannot afford to leave these people believing that we can be defeated...

T-shirts are Too Respectable for Me...

2007-03-07T19:23:00.000-06:00

Let's talk about free speech in America.

I had an account with this T-Shirt company. I received an e-mail from them today declaring my blog "inappropriate and insensitive to Muslim culture, and racially agressive toward Hispanics"...

My Associate account has been cancelled, and my T-shirts will no longer be available for sale on their website. OK, we're talking about T-shirts here. The T-shirt has long been a forum for unpopular and inappropriate ideas and slogans. I used to own a T-shirt that delared "Assholes are People, Too". I was warned by my mother not to wear it or she would skin me, but I did anyway. Maybe I was expressing myself in an "inappropriate" manner. At least I wasn't strapping TNT to my torso and walking into a mini-mall.

This blog is all about my constitutional right to free speech. Nobody has to agree with me, and I even encourage those who don't agree with me to post comments. If you find me offensive, don't do business with me, that's OK. But I find it hard to believe that my blog is more offensive than anything available at an internet T-shirt site that allows people to design their own product lines.

Anyway, I'm still running for president. Somebody find me a T-shirt company willing to do business with me....

Reasons to Vote for Me

2007-03-01T20:30:00.000-06:00

When I'm King, I mean President, I will solve many of America's problems in the first year. Some of my solutions will seem harsh, but that is just because they are harsh.

NAFTA and CAFTA will be repealed. All US owned corporate entities will have 18 months to bring their assets back inside the United States. The first ten companies to reestablish US plants will get a 50% tax break for 4 years. All foreign-owned companies that wish to build manufacturing plants in the US will be given a 40% tax break for ten years.

Iraq- I'm tired of fooling with it. In order to avoid a non-binding resolution ( which is disapproval on paper, and a waste of time ), we will pull out of Iraq. Half of the troops in Iraq will be moved to Afghanistan, and the other half will be moved to the border between the United States and Mexico. The United States Air Force will begin strategic air strikes in Syria and Iran as punishment for their involvement in Iraq. In Afghanistan, all factions of Al Qaida and the Taliban will be hunted down and destroyed. I will allow raids into Pakistan under certain conditions.

The Army will use engineer assets to build a wall (where possible) along the border. Seasoned combat troops will patrol the more difficult terrain to prevent illegal border-crossings. The Border Patrol will be set up in 100 man teams and will go from city to city collecting illegal immigrants (with focus on drug dealers and gangs) and sending them back to Mexico. Mexico will be denied any foreign aid money until they have a workable plan for a public education system and a plan for industrialization. All US law-enforcement officials currently incarcerated for "civil rights violations" against illegal immigrants will be released, reimbursed for lost wages, and reinstated.

All Muslims who openly support jihadism will be deported from the US and sent to Syria and Iran. Any criminal act deemed an act of terrorism by a jury of US citizens will be punished by death. The only exception to this will be for terrorists who are willing to name no less than five other terrorists, and this information must lead to five arrests and convictions.

Convicted pedophiles will be deported to Iran and Syria.

Bigger and Better Things

2007-02-27T20:58:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-02-26T22:49:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-02-24T11:29:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-02-23T19:24:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-21T19:57:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-02-16T19:23:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-11T21:07:00.000-06:00

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.