Patient Dumping - Cruel and Ugly

It has been in the news recently that a Nevada mental hospital has taken patients and put them on a bus with a one way ticket to a distant city to fend for themselves with no support structure. The report states that they have done this to one thousand five hundred patients. They have sent them to virtually every state. When these victims arrive, many times they have no money and have lost their medication. This is cruel, immoral, and I hope illegal. The people involved should serve jail time and lose all licenses for medical practice.

When I was very young, in the early fifties, we lived only a few miles from the state mental hospital. In those less sophisticated days it was more like a zoo filled with people that had varying degrees of medical problems. Inside the conditions were unsanitary. The staff was poorly trained. Care was haphazard at best. In the warm weather there were caged in areas where the patients could go outside and put their behavior problems on display for the general public. It was not unheard of for people to pack their families into the car and go park along the road where they could watch the "crazies" as an afternoons entertainment. Yes it was indeed sickening.

Starting in the sixties many felt long term institutional care deprived these people of their civil liberties. Lawyers went to court. Judges ruled. Patients were turned loose. They didn't consider it patient dumping then, but that is exactly what it was. They justified their actions by setting up out-patient care facilities to make sure those that needed them could get the drugs that kept them functional. Over time many of these ex-patients just disappeared into the cities and swelled the ranks of the homeless population. I suppose that living on the street was better to most of them than living in the terrible conditions in many of the old hospitals.

It might be time to re-examine those policies that put these people on the street. We have better drugs now. I like to think that patient care has become better and more sophisticated. The streets are a dangerous place to live. Personal care is non-existent.  Food is a sometimes thing. Winter nights can freeze them to death. Hot summer days can dehydrate them to death. We are a smarter and more caring population than we were back then. Maybe it is time to start over.

Chaos

There has always been turmoil in the world. Country A invades country B. Droughts, floods, hurricanes. But it seems lately that the United States is being hit with an increasing amount of turmoil to the point where barely a week goes by without some kind of major news story that attracts the full attention of the news for days on end.

On the other hand there are a bunch of news worthy stories that languish virtually unseen in most major news organizations. The abortion doctor trial was one such story. The liberal media ignored this gruesome story as if it were of no interest. People had to know the inhumanity that was being perpetrated in that so called clinic. Finally the story got so big that the media were forced to give it the attention that it deserved.

Even as far back as “Fast and Furious” the media was picking and choosing what they felt the country should hear and see. They are perfectly willing to print stories that support anti-gun legislation but are less willing to talk about the administration trafficking in arm even to those that hate us. I don’t think that most Americans agree with giving tanks and F-16s to Egypt at this point in history. How many times in recent years have American heavy weapons been used against American troops. They didn't come from gun shows. To continue, go to http://patriotupdate.com/articles/chaos/

The Zero Sum World Of The Liberal

The liberal brain just works different from real people. For one thing they tend to migrate to crowded dirty cities where real people are perfectly willing to let them live. For the most part, they seem to shun the center of the country, preferring the edges. I don't understand why, unless they feel the need for a quick escape, just in case the people in flyover country get unruly. They all seem to have great educations but few problem solving skills. Their most endearing quality is that they all agree.

About what, you ask. About almost everything, I answer. I mentioned the great education thing. Well if you get one of those fine educations, and start out with an empty mind seeking to be filled with knowledge, you will, very likely, come out with it filled with the homogenized gruel that passes for an education today. Finally, they all watch the same news on TV and read the same newspapers. The newspapers have different names but there is little difference in the big liberal broadsheets.

One thing that seems to have become ingrained in their mindset is that we live in a zero sum world. If I succeed, someone someplace must have failed. It had to be because both sides of life's ledger must balance.  The reason Bangladesh starves is because the United States lives well. If this country just weren't so darn rich and comfortable, Kim Jung Un and the Ayatollahs would like us a lot more and "the lion would lie down with the lamb. And a little child shall lead them".

There is a couple of things wrong with that theory. First, it is wrong. Second is that it is really really wrong. Success is a great thing. One of the best things about it is that it is contagious. I like to spend money. I'm a guy. I like stuff. If I have the loot to buy a lot of stuff, people that I do business with will also prosper. OK, so I'm only one person. Not much effect on the economy as a whole created there. But if a few big companies enjoy success the whole economy benefits. Not a loser in the bunch.

The difference between North Korea and South Korea is a perfect example. South Korea invests in success while North Korea seals it's borders and steals from it's people to support the political elite and the military. South Korea is booming with prosperity while North Korea falls deeper into the pit, ranting and screaming, as their failure deepens.

In spite of the efforts to bring the United State down to a level that will make us a more humble member of the international community, which I believe is a deeply founded wish of our President, it isn't going to happen. Americans won't allow it. Even the people that don't pay much attention are starting to catch on. The bombing in Boston was a huge wake up call. The new information that is coming out about Benghazi and being into our fifth year without jobs is beginning to prove the incompetence of our present administration. There will be more. There has to be more. Because the arrogance of our politicians knows no limit.

STOP Mr. President! An open letter.

Stop, Mr. President. Stop. You are out of control. You have no compass. You have lost your map. You know not where you are heading. First of all, that map you had led nowhere but into perdition. As has been said, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”. I will admit I am not sure that your intentions were always good.

You, Mr. President, have had over four years to set the economy on the right track. Sir, you have failed. You spend more and more, billing your spending as an investment. It is not an investment. You are wasting the financial strength of a great country because you do not have the knowledge, experience, or training to lead. 

Frankly sir, you are clueless. Mr. Bernanke is either clueless or incompetent. Both of you ignore anyone that has even the most basic understanding of economics and money policy. You have lost the war and are destroying the country. To continue go to http://patriotupdate.com/articles/stop-mr-president-an-open-letter/

Do You Believe In Evil?

I have lived most of my life not believing in evil. I knew that people did evil things, but I could not accept the concept of evil as an entity. The idea of Satan as  a fallen angel seemed so allegorical to me that it had no credence. I am beginning to think that I was wrong. I'm still not ready to accept a physical demon, more evil than all others. I am beginning to believe in evil as a force.

As I look at photographs of people like the Kims of North Korea, the two brothers that bombed the Boston marathon, the Fort Hood shooter, Hasan, there is an abnormal coldness in their. A lack of humanity. They seem to not care for anyone or any thing. Even their own lives have no value or joy. Hedonism seems to be their accepted method of justifying their existence.

I am reminded of the Shia concept of the hidden Imam. The world must devolve into chaos before the Imam will show himself to lead the way to truth and Sharia law where no woman will ever be safe again. There is no love or sense of peace there. There is not even a sense of human fulfillment. There is just a hollow feeling of apostasy.

Dante's Inferno and the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch tried to give the world a look at evil. But that was evil as conceived by man. It seems to me that the only way to understand true evil is in the deep dark recesses of the mind. All that can be shown by poet or artist is the physicality of evil. But true evil has no physicality, it has only force. 

I almost used the word power rather than force. But when someone is under the sway of power there has to be a certain acceptance and agreement. When under control of the force of evil, there is no acceptance, only compulsion without thought or remorse. 

It seems that the power of evil has grown in these past years. Is evil getting stronger or is man getting weaker. I know one thing. Man has gotten more careless in thought and deed in recent years. Morals, scruples, and standards are not as important to many as they once were. It just might be time to crawl back from the edge. I don't think we want to fall into that pit. 

Adding Something New

I am adding something new to my blog. I also write a twice weekly column for Patriot Update under my own name, Robert Owen. On days that my column appears I am going post the first paragraph or two on my blog along with a link to the balance of my article.

Anyone wishing to look at my past columns can click on Columns at the top of the page, then Authors, then on my name. I hope you enjoy this additional material.

The Inevitable Has Happened

All of America spent last week in front of TV set rapt in the terrible story coming out of Boston. Never has a news story had this amount of power. Full time coverage live and second by second, from Monday morning when the Boston Marathon started until Friday night when we heard the victorious shout “we got him”, nothing was missed. The cameras got it all. If the professionals missed a shot there were a dozen smart phones that didn’t.

There were faults in the coverage, certainly. That is to be expected. “Experts” with a point of view were interviewed. They tried Their very best to sell that point of view. Most were wrong. Many tried to deny the obvious conclusion that was reached by the average citizen that it was terrorism brought about by jihad. Those pundits were, as they so often are, wrong. Real Americans got it. To continue go to  http://patriotupdate.com/articles/the-inevitable-has-happened/

We Are Not Who You Think We Are

You little fools. You think that you know us. You think that you understand us. I will tell you right now, that your warped little minds are incapable of understanding us. Do you really think that your puny little bombs terrify us? Do you think that your feeble attacks drive us to our beds to hide under the covers? Do you really think that we are shallow little people who will never strike back? You are wrong. I tell you that you are wrong and history will tell you, if you ever deigned to read any, that you are wrong. Read the words of Admiral Yamamoto after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

We are a friendly, caring, and forgiving people. We are not a weak people. We do not go insane and parade in the streets screaming like little children because of some perceived insult. We do not shred the flesh of innocent women and children under any circumstances.

We are a great country both in size and in presence. We are the giant that tolerates the gnat. So take your peace in that. Be assured that our tolerance has it’s limits. You are fortunate. Right now this country is run by those who haven’t the stomach to right wrongs as they should be. We are in the thrall of people that live by political correctness and fear strong action. This will not be forever.

On Patriots Day, Boston was subject to a cowardly attack. Some died, many  were harmed. Go to Boston today and talk to the people on the street. Ask them about their fear. They will laugh in your face. Boston is not a city that fears. Boston is a city that never forgets. Boston is a city that seeks retribution.

We know your name. We know where you were born. We will know where you are now. We will know the name of the person or government, that financed your operation. So start looking over your shoulder. Start now. Maybe you will know that retribution has arrived. Or maybe retribution will arrive in the form of an explosion larger than you can conceive of. You may hear it coming or it may arrive silently in the night. Is that a hawk over head or a drone? You never know.

You go to your training camps, a few hundred at a time, at most. You run around for a few months waiving pitiful excuses for weapons and describe yourselves as warriors. You are not warriors. You are pale shadows of fighting men and will never understand the mind of a true warrior. You are thugs, gangsters, and miscreants. You are a sorry pitiful lot with little pride and no honorable standards.

So, you have been warned. I know that you do not take this warning seriously. Your type never does. But be aware, soon we will have serious people in place to correct these wrongs. For your comfort, you probably will not suffer. You will just no longer be.

Boston - Revisited

Those of you that read my blog regularly know that I am a Red Sox fan and have a lifelong connection with Boston. Some of my oldest memories are of my Grandmother taking to Boston to ride the Swan Boats. As an adult, I worked there for a number of years. It is a great city with a great history. Monday morning I sent off an article that I had written for another venue. Coincidentally, it was about hatred. Then I settled in to watch the 11 am Patriot Day Sox game. The Boston Marathon goes right by Fenway Park. That is why the game is so early. Get the fans in before the marathon crowd shows up. It is a tradition and works well.

After the game I turned to the news to see pictures of the marathon and catch up with the rest of the world. At 2:50 pm insanity struck. Since then I have been watching and listening. I have been reading articles on the computer trying to make some sense where no sense can ever be made.

Terrorism is the stuff of cowards. Many, if not most, wrap themselves in the cloth of religion. Any religion that would encourage such vile and immoral behavior is a religion of the devil. Religion is love and support of your fellow man. Trying to improve the world for all to live in. Anything less is a mockery of religion and is base human behavior.

The courage of the people of Boston in the immediate aftermath was something that should make all Americans proud. People who had never been exposed to anything like this in their lives ran to the explosions, waded into the carnage, and helped those that were incapable of helping themselves. Bostonians are tough hard headed people that will not be pushed around. They will take care of themselves and their own. Having spent years among them, I know this to be true. Monday proved it to the world.

I have heard people on TV making a big deal that the FBI is asking for help, requesting that people send them their photos and videos. They seem to think that this means that the FBI is stymied. I seriously doubt the validity of that idea. Doesn't it just make sense with all of those people with visual records of that time and space, that the FBI would want to revue as much of this as they can? Guaranteed, the cowards that did this were photographed, probably, a number of times. Will this help? It may and most likely will. The more evidence, the better the case.

It will be long days yet before this is over. I saw piles of bags of evidence that all has to be sorted and examined. Unless there is an unexpected break, it will be months, if not years before this is finished. I have no doubt that it will be finished in a manner satisfactory to all.

Jobs - Jobs - Jobs

A note to our somewhat disconnected President. It is not about gun control. It is not about immigration. It is not about raising taxes. It is not about Obamacare. I know you wish it were about all those things. But it is about jobs. Just in case no that is allowed in your tight little Presidential bubble has informed you, about one third of the American population that wants to work is either unemployed or radically under employed. Young people and minorities, the people you owe your job to, are at the highest percentage of those affected.

You have had over four year where you threw blame at everyone around and never understood that you, your focus, and your programs are stifling the economy. Businesses have pared down, and are sitting on a reservoir of cash. The only thing preventing the economy from burgeoning is you. The people that run successful businesses are smart. They see an unsure future under an erratic President not seen as having a plan. A speech is not a plan. Your tendency for saying one thing  in your endless lectures then doing something totally different does not imbue businessmen with confidence.

Perhaps even more stifling, is the penchant for agencies under your administration to pile on regulation after regulation. To be compliant to these regulations is time consuming and expensive. Many businesses that operate with small margins just die under the weight. You may not understand but government cannot do what free enterprise can. Open up the economy and get out of the way. It will make you a hero.

But then maybe you don't want to be a hero. I will admit to serious doubts as to your aims. As I recommend to others, I don't listen to your words. I watch what you do. I see you argue against "straw men" of your own creation as if it were a real debate. I see you publicly denigrate good people to your own ends. I see you turn your back on our strongest allies and bow to those that despise us.

No one can know what is truly in your mind. It is my nature to give anyone the benefit of  the doubt. But now I doubt how much longer I can give you that benefit.



On another subject; Those that have read my blog know that I am a long time Red Sox fan. I want to congratulate Clay Buchholz on a great game. I'm sorry that he didn't get his second no-hitter. But what a great game to watch.

Hide Your Money and Guns

In case you hadn't noticed, it has started. Obama has nothing to lose and the liberals are on the warpath. States, cities, prosecutors, and even some individual police officers are confiscating the guns of honest peaceful citizens even when they are within the law. A couple of Texas cops stopped a veteran who was out in the woods with his son. They had a legal firearm and were acting legally. The cops stopped them, confiscated the gun, and arrested the veteran. When he tried to explain the law to the two cops, he was told "we don't care about the law".

The State of New York is confiscating guns based on supposed mental problems. It's spreading like wild fire. Little events here and there. But it will not be easily stopped. Those that want honest citizens disarmed have their foot in the door and they are pushing hard. They will not relent until they are forced to pay a price. I am not sure the courts are willing to hand them that bill. And make no mistake, most are not gun haters. Most of them want the American public disarmed just like England.

There are a few misguided souls that think removing guns will end crimes of violence. That will not happen. Crimes of violence will get worse, as they did in England if anyone would take the time to check. And if one takes another moment to check facts, crimes with firearms are recently on the increase in Great Britain. So it is that  we will be forced to pay the penalty of unintended results as we so often do when politicians think they know a better way.

But even worse are those that want us to be disarmed so that we may be brought to leash and be controlled by our betters. Our betters, of course, being the liberal intelligentsia. They know that if they were given, or can take, complete control, they could create a true utopia. It may be a utopia for them but it would be hell for the rest of us. 

Also consider what is going through the minds of these same liberals when they heard that Cyprus is confiscating bank accounts or at least portions thereof. You could almost sense or Presidents mouth start watering. The other day he stated that no one needs more than three million dollars in a retirement account. Gee, I wonder what he was thinking.

The Presidents minions at the Fed already have interest rates forced to impossibly low rates so to give some cover to the over spending by the Obama administration. So money in your savings just doesn't grow anymore. This is particularly hard on seniors with very little in savings. The policies of this administration make it very hard to outlive your money. 

But the Pols don't care, as long as they get more and more money out of this pitiful economy so they can waste it on weird theories and to fill their friends coffers. So protect yourself against a government gone wild. Hide your guns and money.

The Machinery Cares Not About the Operator

I spent many years of my life in the automation business, either designing control systems or consulting with others that did similar work. It is interesting work. What is really fun is watching a big automatic machines, with all sorts of complicated things happening, while it is running. Everything seems to be happening at once, often, to fast for the eye to follow. Then out pops a stream of finished products. Anything from dashboards to fish hooks.

These machines all have "operators". They, pretty much, hang around the machine waiting for a red light to flash or an alarm bell to ring. When this happens, they check the supply of raw material or do what ever action the alarm tells them to do. Make no mistake, these machines are autonomous. If the "operator" was not there they would still run. If there was a problem, they would shut themselves down. The term used in industry is "fail safe".

The United States is like a big machine. It just keeps running. We elect new operators periodically. They effect the immediate area around the machine of state. Some of these "operators" keep the machine in good operating condition. They check the lubrication and the hydraulics, so to speak, and all goes well. Others are less diligent about the common good and things break down more often. Sometimes very badly.

But behind the operator, who has limited skills, there are people with great skill that monitor the machine and repair it as needed. They keep it running even with a poor "operator". OK, enough analogy. I believe there are long term permanent employees in our government that keep a low profile, understand their jobs, and have worked their way up through the system. They are our countries maintenance crew. Sometimes they do the dirty work that needs to be done. Sometimes they keep communications open with those allies that our elected officials have spurned and denigrated. Sometimes they keep the military strong even with leadership that has gone political.

You or I will never know who these people are. I suspect that most politicians don't know who most of these people are. I am sure that there are some that even the President is unaware of. And that is good because politicians never see anything that they don't want to control or take credit for. 

It only makes sense that this is true. With all of the fumbling, inept, and wobbly politicians we have elected over the years, I don't think that our country could have survived without a cadre of dedicated professionals ranged across the whole of government. That is our fail safe system. That is why our greatest machine doesn't care about the operator.

Benghazi - Seventh Update

I have made a change of format. In the past I have carried along all previous updates. That got a little unwieldy. In the future I will leave past updates behind. The fifth has all of the originals should anyone care to look back. They can pick up this and all future ones from there. I do intend to update periodically to remind readers that we must get the whole story. The story the administration is hiding. I will continue posting this until we have all the answers.

Seventh Update

I was reading the comments on a news article the other day. The respondent was concerned that people would forget the Benghazi scandal. I responded to him about my  blog and my intentions to periodically update until we learn the truth or have a new administration. There is new hope. We are not alone in our caring. A group called "Special Operations Speaks" has sent a letter to Congress signed by more than 700 Special Operations veterans. They are asking Congress to form a special committee to focus on Benghazi. The full article is on Fox News .com. I think we all support their efforts.

Remember Benghazi - the original article

The holidays are here and everyone is busy with their preparations. The newspaper, if they report at all, are reporting the crisis of the day. The president is heading to Hawaii in a week. Most politicians have lost interest in anything that matters. There are distractions galore. But through all this, we must remember Benghazi.

The administration, every person in it, hopes that the American people will just move on and call it done. Over. Old history. We must not do that. Benghazi is a big deal. Benghazi is not just one scandal. It is four separate scandals. Every one of them deserves our close attention.

The first scandal is that Ambassador Stevens called for more security and it was denied him. That is unheard of. An ambassador is the highest ranking American in any foreign country. He is the direct representative of the President. Normally when an ambassador makes a request it is granted without question. There are only two people in government with the power to deny an ambassador. That would be the Secretary of State and the President. So who made that decision and why? Was it made on political grounds? Was it made to appease someone in the Libyan government? After all this consulate had been attacked before. Weren't there enough warning flags up? Why was the Ambassador even there? Was he sent there secretly for a meeting? Why was he sent with insufficient personal security?

The second scandal is the attack on the consulate itself. This was an attack on sovereign American soil. When the consulate came under fire they called out for help. None was forthcoming. The people calling for help were experienced military. They had a drone overhead monitoring the situation. The battle lasted over seven hours. Help was available. Even a single C-130A sent from Italy could have been there in an hour. Four honorable Americans lost their lives while serving their country. Why? Was this also a political decision? Do we now sacrifice our people for political reasons? Who was monitoring the feed from the drone? Who did they report to? We need answers. We deserve answers. Whatever was or was not done occurred in our name.

The third scandal, of course, is the pack of lies that the administration put out to cover this debacle. The stories had not even a bit of truth to them. It was not about some movie upsetting a flash mob. Any person with more than two active brain cells knew they were lies. But for weeks after, coincidentally right through the presidential debates, the administration stuck with the story. Week after week, on the Sunday talk shows and in the news papers the media allowed this story when they must have known it was a fabrication. A man in California was jailed for his part in inciting a riot that never happened. In America? Please. That is just wrong. When did our country come to this?

The fourth scandal is a little more difficult for me.  I have a tendency to accept the military as straight forward and honorable under any and all pressure. As back in Caesar's day, they would fall on their sword rather than dishonor their uniform. General Petraeus initially mouthed the party line as to the cause of the attack on Benghazi. He reiterated the obvious lies that were played to protect the administration. It is my opinion, and mine alone, that he wanted to tell the truth. Again, my opinion, he was told that if he went public, his private misfeasance would be made public. Being an honorable man who made a mistake, he did the right thing and resigned. We, as American citizens, need his testimony as to what transpired throughout this whole mess.

I am writing this piece on the evening of December 9, 2012. I plan to publish it tomorrow. I feel it is so important that I will republish this essay periodically as a reminder to those that read my blog that the administration has not answered our questions, until we finally are told the truth or have a new administration.

The Man Who Would Be King

In my lifetime, (a considerable number of years) I have never heard a President of the United States use the words king or dictator in reference to himself. Not even in a negative way. Not even Richard Nixon. That is until now. The President seems to bemoan the fact that his power is limited. Mr. President, there is a reason for that. We free citizens do not trust politicians with too much power.

The problem here is that we seem to have a President that, when coming up against limits of his constitutional powers, ignores them or goes around them. He does not protect our borders. He welcomes illegals. He creates law by presidential action that should go through Congress. Now he is attempting to erode the strength of the second amendment. 

The language of the second amendment is quite clear. "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." There are no exceptions listed. I think that most reasonable people will accept some reasonable limits, like team fired weapons, tanks, RPGs, even fully automatic weapons. But beyond that, any weapon that can be carried and used by a single person should remain untouched by our politicians. Especially those that have a knee jerk solutions to every problem involving violence. Politicians like simple solutions that even they can understand. Those simple solutions seldom work as intended.

The problem surrounding firearms is not the guns themselves, but the people with sick ideas and insane agendas. If a madman can't attack his target with a gun, he'll use a Molotov cocktail, or home made explosives. Look at the rest of the world,especially the middle east, and see the destruction that has been caused and the lives that have been lost with no guns involved. Fire and explosives in crowded spaces wreak terrible havoc.

What it comes down to is that everyone from the left side of the aisle, except Democrat politicians from red states, has an agenda to eliminate legal fire arms. I just watched the President deny this in a speech with a backdrop of about fifty law officers in uniform. Now, we all know, that the President says a lot of things in a lot of speeches. He does not actually support many of the things that he says. That should be obvious to even the most casual observer. I believe, that if he could make it happen, the President would disarm honest Americans in a second.

When a person starts using words like king and dictator in reference to himself, they are trying them on for size. Like a pair of shoes. I believe that the Presidents considerable ego drives him to believe that he should have complete and ultimate power. The only question left is will he try to act on this?

Illegal Secrets

There has been a great deal of chatter about illegal aliens of late. And yes, I know I’m being politically incorrect. The latest new name for them that I saw was “neighbors without social security numbers”. I kind of like that. But, as usual, the politicians all have their own reasons and strategy regarding our permanent visitors from foreign climes. The talking heads all have their own, often strange, point of view. The media, as usual, stands on the sidelines and cheers.

The secret is that it is going to happen. One way or another, they will be welcomed as the newest citizens of the United States of America. I have been convinced of this for a couple of years now, and have been sitting back and watching the evolution.

It is going to happen because a lot of politicians want it to happen. Many additional politicians think it needs to happen. And very few politicians are truly against it happening in spite of their public posturing. There are two over-riding reasons that our elected officials are willing to support amnesty in the face of a great deal of public negativity.

The first, and most obvious reason, is that new citizens tend to vote Democrat. They have been sold the bill of goods that the Democrats are the caring party. That they love these newcomers to our country and want to take care of them. The Democrats will see that they get food stamps and healthcare and welfare. They will be offered a virtual treasure trove of public services.

At least it will seem like a treasure trove, if you haven’t been exposed to the potential that America allows free citizens. The largesse that they are offered is aimed to keep them from roaming off the Democrat plantation, to use another politically incorrect phrase. The idea is, keep voting the Democrat and you keep getting the goodies. And, by the way, make sure you understand that those evil Republicans will take it all away, round you up, and ship you back across the border given the chance.

There is another reason that is not much talked about. This is the reason the Republicans will not fight all that hard against amnesty. The reason is social security and Medicare. Back in the good old days there were, probably, ten or more workers paying taxes for every recipient of these programs. By 2030 it will be down close to two. That is untenable. We simply need to, either, pare back entitlements, or get a surge in workers to support the programs.

As it is distasteful in the extreme for politicians to cut entitlement programs, considering it to be political suicide, they much prefer the surge in workers. Frankly, the people coming over the border from Mexico, for the most part, seem to be hard working family oriented people with a strong religious background. So from that point of view we could do worse. But somehow there needs to be a filter so that we know who is crossing our borders and why. They are not all good people. It is ludicrous that the countries that treat us with disdain, including Mexico, would not allow the same freedom at their own borders.

But it would appear to me that this process will be brought to, what seems to be, an inevitable conclusion. The major difficulty being that we presently do not have jobs enough for our existing population. We have an administration that seems to have no idea how to correct that situation. A President that periodically gives lip service to unemployment during a speech, promises not to rest until the problem is rectified, then heads for the golf course.

Our country is in a mess, friends. The mess is getting worse in spite of what you see when you look at the stock market reports. Our economy is floating on a financial bubble created by confused ideologues. It may burst, or we may get lucky, but we will eventually get past this. I am truly convinced of that. But we need adults in control with knowledge, training , and experience. Until then, hang on, the ride is going to get bumpier.

Yuan To Get Rich

I saw a headline last night that stated that the Chinese yuan is strong against the dollar. That came as absolutely no surprise to me. I have written both here and on Patriot Update about what I call the "Bernanke Bubble". Part of that bubble is the printing of dollars about as fast as they can be printed. This has the effect of diluting the value of every dollar out there. I think it is a bad policy being used to cover for other bad policies.

In the long run, it is bad for our country and weakens our dollar against those with a strong money policy. The Chinese are probably foremost among strong currency advocates. They prop up the value of the yuan even through times when it should be devalued. While this sometimes angers the international financial community, it pays dividends for them.

The United States is at a disadvantage against a country like China. Sometimes the strength of our political system can be it's weakness. We, particularly now, because of ineptness and political disputations cannot even put together a two year plan. The present administration flies by the seat of it's pants based on ideology.

China, on the other hand, while even more immersed in ideology, has the ability to put together a ten or even a twenty year plan. They can do this very effectively now for a number of reasons. The first reason is that they hold the United States in thrall because of the amount of money we have borrowed from them to support our profligate spending.

In fifty years they have remade themselves from a weak agrarian economy into a vital manufacturing economy. There are a number of factors that allowed this to happen. They were able to bring people to manufacturing centers and supply a cheap labor force. The government could build these manufacturing centers with the latest imported technology using public money. The Chinese sent their young people abroad, many to the United States, to get a modern education in business, science, and engineering. 

When these young people returned home they were able to train the inexpensive labor force on the modern technology and techniques to create first rate manufacturing capabilities. As foreign companies migrated their manufacturing to China they supplemented this training with additional product specific training to even enhance China's capabilities.

One other advantage that brought many dollars out of the consumer marketplace into Chinese coffers is their penchant to use other countries intellectual properties without bothering about royalties and such. So those Gucci and Rolex knockoffs may have been helping to finance China.

Are we in a trade war that we are destined to lose? First, we are not in a trade war. We are in world class competition. And we are not destined to lose. We may lose, but it is not a forgone conclusion. Free up the economy. Turn American companies loose. Cut back on both the spending and the regulations. America will grow, prosper, and be even greater than we ever have been. A runner can't run with lead shoes. Believe me, this country can run like no other.

The Vanishing Middle Class

I was a child of the nineteen fifties. Families that went off to war were regrouping. Those that stayed behind to produce the materiel that was needed to wage war were adjusting to a peace time society. The people that went to work in factories right out of high school were talking about college for their offspring. Hope was springing eternal.

With all of the GIs coming back home it was a consumer economy. People didn't want to live in walk up flats any more. They wanted to be homeowners. And they deserved to be. They paid their dues. Starter homes shot up everywhere. They were generally little five room ranches or four room capes. They were small but affordable and sold like penny candy. Owners were no longer subject to the whims of a landlord. They were HOMEOWNERS.

Each and every one of these houses needed a stove, a refrigerator, washer dryer, furniture. The economy boomed. Those old pre-war cars needed to be replaced. The new cars were big and comfortable. They were painted in bright two-toned colors. Life was good. Business boomed. Anyone who wanted work got a job. Jobs started paying better. All of a sudden we had a middle class.

Most of the work was still in factories because we had to make all the things that were being sold. "Made in America" was a guarantee that you were buying a quality product. Salaries went up. The best and the brightest got promoted. And their kids did go off to college. They became teachers and engineers and doctors. And we, as a country, stopped encouraging manufacturing. We could do the brainwork and pass off the dirty parts of the job to others.

That worked for a while. After all you can make more money with your brain than your hands. Maybe! But we had a real middle class. You could tell because most people took their showers before work rather than after. That went well for over three decades. Then we had the dot com bubble and the housing bubble twice. Now we're being set up for the Bernanke bubble.

Much of that middle class money evaporated. Many of those really great jobs disappeared. While taxpayers suffered, banks and unions were bailed out. Net worth went down. Prices went up. Fuel alone doubled. Unemployment went up to the point where people were falling off the back end of the unemployment numbers because they were no longer counted. Salaries dropped by over ten percent.

With the increase in the cost of health care and a continuous surge in government regulations, is it possible for a strong middle class to survive? Not without the recognition, by government, that the ship is sailing down a whirlpool. We have a President that cares only for his own agenda. Either he does not recognize the harm he is doing or he doesn't care.
I don't know which but I don't care. But I know it must stop or we will be generations in recovery.