On Ignoring History

The greatest proof that politicians are a bit on the dim side, is that they ignore history. It is not that they don't know history, it is just that they refuse to learn from it. So we are forced to relive their clumsy mistakes.

In 1920 Congress passed the Volstead Act, commonly known as Prohibition. They had pressure from many groups like the Women's Christian Temperance Union to ban the production, importation, and the sale of alcoholic beverages. They had the good intentions to save America from the scourge of demon rum.

But America didn't want to be saved. They liked their booze and were going to get it, one way or another. This was a great opportunity for the "mob". Rum running and speakeasies became a way of life. Criminals got rich. Gangs grew larger. Turf wars started. Blood ran. Often, innocent blood.

In 1933, Prohibition was repealed.  But the damage was done.

In 1971, President Nixon declared a "War on Drugs". His intentions were good. Illegal drugs ruined many lives. New agencies were formed. Existing agencies were given a new direction. The Coast Guard was tasked with interdiction. The war was on.

The price of drugs increased. The mob got richer. They made their money wholesaling to new gangs, primarily in the black and Latino communities. Those gangs got bigger and stronger. Much more blood flowed.

Drug cartels formed in Mexico and South America growing, processing, and exporting drugs to the USA. The violence didn't just grow, it multiplied. And this damage still goes on.

So, once again, today, an ill advised part of our political scene claims a plan to save us from ourselves. They are doing everything in their power to ban firearms. It won't work, for oh so many reasons. Anything that the government tries to do on a large scale, they screw up. Look at the IRS, the EPA, the VA, Obamacare, take your choice.

We have over 300 million civilian firearms in this country owned by people who don't trust the government. The fools may try to take them but they won't succeed. These are the guns owned by honest citizens. Guns that will never be used in a crime by the owner. These people value their Second Amendment rights and would never jeopardize them.

Criminals don't go to gun shows or gun shops. They buy guns on the black market or, if they're in a gang, the import them like they do drugs. Some of them they get directly from government programs like "Fast and Furious".

Thanks to much of the governments mishandling of their duties, the world has become a far more dangerous place. We, as a free people, have the right to protect our families and ourselves. No country ever became more peaceful or safer by giving up their guns. One just needs to look at Europe today to see the folly of that path.

Random Thoughts - Seventy-Seven

Poor Donald. He can't handle Megyn Kelly, but would have us believe he is up to handling the likes of Vladmir Putin or the ayatollahs. 

Wouldn't you love to be in on the phone calls between the FBI and Loretta Lynch and the phone calls between Ms. Lynch and the White House, regarding indicting Hillary Clinton? It seems to me they are painted into a corner. I bet eventually Obama decides that she is not worth the brouhaha and tosses her under the bus.

Hillary thinks it a magnificent idea to appoint Barack Obama to the Supreme Court. Really? That is reason enough to reject her as a presidential candidate.

Does anyone that lives outside of California really care all that much about the Oscars? Or for that matter, any of these incessant shows where the "elites" in show bizz give awards to themselves. For the most part they are foolish little people striding about in their own self-importance.

I'm sorry that my Patriots wont be in the Super Bowl. It was a great season. They earned their shot. But, what it comes down to is that Denver out played them. It was a fun game to watch, but it hurt to be on the losing side.

To be honest, I picked wrong on both division championships. I guess that job in Las Vegas will not be forthcoming.

People are starting to talk about something that has been bothering me. There was something extremely odd about Iran taking two of our riverine command boats captive like they were a bunch of tenderfoot scouts in a canoe. There is way more to this story, and I doubt that we will like it.

A few weeks ago I wrote that I heard the hoof beats of a dark horse echoing off the canyon walls, coming to rescue the Democrat party when Hillary implodes. I still hear those hoof beats.

Integrity

The main thing that government is lacking today, is integrity. Mathew 7:16 say, "By their fruits you will recognize them". Far too many people in power today are willing to say the right words, but their deeds are far different and totally self serving. In a non-PC description, they are liars. 

We have seen this for the past seven years from our President, who promised much but delivered little. Almost every promise that he has made, both while campaigning and while in office, has been unfulfilled. In fact he has done the reverse. He was going to heal the world, control the climate, and provide inexpensive medical care. 

He was going to be a President for all Americans and have a totally transparent administration. He didn't want to take your guns. But suddenly he is writing executive orders to do just that. He tried to sell we, who knew better, that hundreds of thousands of un-vetted aliens coming into our country is a good thing. But what did they bring with them? They brought violence, diseases that have been eradicated for decades, and a lack of desire to integrate into American society.

And who are the Democrats touting as their next great candidate for President? Hillary Clinton. The same Hillary Clinton that, as part of the Hill Bill duo, sold overnight stays in the Lincoln bed room for campaign contributions. The same Hillary who tried to destroy the women that her husband took as playmates. The same Hillary that sold speeches for money and privilege, when she was Secretary of State. The same Hillary who endangered our countries security by her cavalier attitude about putting classified e-mail on an unsecured server.

That is a crime for which the FBI will, almost certainly, recommend charges be brought. At that point the administration will face another, and most important, test of their integrity. Will Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General, bring charges, or will she too "stand down". Whether on her own, or by instruction from the President, that would be a gross miscarriage of justice for political reasons. 

But that genie is out of the bottle. There is much information out there, and more will flow. The public, even the least informed, will be inundated with the evil tale. Integrity counts. And I see none in this sad story.

A Troll

This troll does not live under a bridge. In fact he lives the life of the super rich. But he does this at the expense of most of his fellow countrymen.  I speak of that short fat little boy-man with the bad haircut, the bad tailor, and the bad attitude. I am referring to Kim Jong Un, the despot of North Korea.

While his subjects eat grass and bark soup, he dines on the finest cuisine, drinks the most expensive brandies, rides around in Mercedes limos, and has a constant stream of young girls to feed his personal depravity.

Now Kim the younger demands attention. International attention. He sees himself as a major player on the international scene. In reality he is just a funny looking little man strutting and posturing on the world stage to an audience of practically no one.

So when his ego gets inflamed by being ignored, he feels compelled to do something to annoy his betters. Sometimes he will have his much overblown military, lob a few shells at some South Korean island. On occasion he will have missiles shot across the Sea of Japan.
A while back, he had a nuclear test and claimed it was a hydrogen bomb. It wasn't.

One of lil' Kim's favorite things is grabbing someone, preferably an American, from a tour and accuse that person of spying. Everyone knows that these charges are trumped up, but the little doofus has the power. Ultimately, the person will be repatriated and Kim will get something along with some headlines.

Kim knows one thing that I learned back in junior high school. People don't rebel against a totalitarian government unless they have hope. He has kept his civilian population without hope for years. 

The only hope for North Korea is a military coup. They have a huge military that could, with forward thinking leadership, oust and destroy the Kim legend forever. If North Korea is ever to become part of the civilized world, world shaking changes must occur.

Golems, Ogres, and Trolls

Back, many years ago, when I was a young child, there were stories of monsters. There were ogres living in the forest. Golems made of mud and enchanted. Nasty trolls, living under bridges. There were others. There was the Biblical Goliath of Gath and the mean giant from "Jack and the Beanstalk". There were also the Jinns of Arabic literature. And many more.

These were cautionary tales. Read by parents to both entertain children and to let them know that their world is never completely safe. Don't stray off. Listen to your parents. Do what you are told, and you will be safe. It didn't always work. More's the pity. 

I don't know if it was actually safer then, but children got their warnings and were sent out to play. We'd roam our neighborhoods rounding up our friends. We were very much unsupervised. Our stomachs told us when to go home for lunch or dinner. But also, neighbors took responsibility if things went wrong out of our parents sight.

Today there are more real monsters than ever. In most families both adults work so their children's time is regimented. There are nannies for those who have the means. After school child care for the younger ones. Play dates are organized. The children are sheltered from the evils of the world as best the parents can do it.

But, has this desire to shelter the children created another problem? So many college students today seem to require "safe areas" where speech is controlled lest they hear an opposing view. They seem to live in fear of something called a "micro-aggression". Contrary opinions are brought to the college administration and firing of controversial professors and ejection of intractable students is demanded.

They are being taught to live in a fools paradise. One day, supposedly, they will graduate. With their nice new degree in hand, they will hope for profitable employment. As an exercise, I suggest the first time they hear aggressive words or face a contrary opinion, they run to management and make the kind of demands that got such respect in college. Then they can start looking for their next job, as they are escorted out the door.

The world is tough. Teaching the young ones to be wimps is doing them no favor. Reality must be faced as it is. That's why they call it reality.

If You're A Hammer

As the old saying goes, "If you are a hammer, everything is a nail". And how true that is in this ridiculous age of political correctness. If one doesn't see things, or express themselves in the exact same way as the "in" crowd, they are castigated, hammered, lied about, and have their private lives shredded.

The Oscars are too white, says the know nothing movie maker Spike Lee. Agreed, screams someone named Jada Smith. You betcha shouts tubby Michael Moore. So the Oscars are no longer about quality of product or success at the box office. It is now about equality of outcome based on racial statistics. The PC know-nothings have deemed it so.

True confession, I watch Fox News. One of their main attractions is Geraldo Rivera. A man once famous for finding nothing in Al Capones safe. Everything to Geraldo is about race. We have a twice elected black President, but if you disagree with his policies, you are a racist. Want to stop illegal immigration? Racist. Feel the administration doesn't take the danger of radical Islam seriously enough? Racist and Islamaphobe.

In the House of Representatives, Elijah Cummings and John Lewis are always there to wield the cudgel of racism. Should a sharp question be asked in a hearing or a Democrat policy come up against naysayers, these two are always ready to lead the charge and belittle the intelligence, character, and morals of any in opposition.

Is it any wonder that race relations in this country continue to get worse. The Democrats have always claimed to be the great supporters of minorities. They really aren't. They just claim to be. But most in the minority community believe them. So when they see and hear their leaders blaming all of the country's ills on racism, they believe. This stokes the anger and exacerbates the problem.

We are a hurting country right now. We have to turn things around. Constantly waving the bloody shirt for political advantage is bad tactics. For any party. We have gotten ourselves too close to the edge.

Birthright

I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. But I believe that I have acquired a bit of common sense over the years. So, I am tired of politicians trying to stretch words and definitions to fit their devious schemes. I am referring to the made up controversy over whether Ted Cruz is able to hold the office of President because he was born on Canadian soil of an American mother.

Being born of an American mother, he was a citizen of the United States from birth. But, like many Americans born on foreign soil, he had a dual citizenship. That, in no way, dilutes his American citizenship. A single American parent makes one a citizen regardless of location.

It is obvious to anyone with a lick of good sense and not having a desire to create problems, the the phrase "natural born citizen" means to exclude naturalized citizens. Since Ted Cruz did not need to be naturalized, he is a natural born citizen. See how easy that was?

Natural American citizens give away none of their rights, regardless of location of birth. To argue otherwise is specious and asinine. 

We are surrounded by problems that need to be solved and issues that need public debate. We would all be far better off if our candidates could stick to the important stuff. We are not going to make this country great again by tearing down other candidates. It will be made great again by great ideas and great policies.

So let's stick to the important stuff and not act like a fourteen year old running for middle school class president.

Balderdash

I watched President Obama's final State of the Union speech last night. I wanted to comment on it today in my blog. He gave me little to comment on. It was mostly Mr. Obama looking at a "Magic Mirror", ala Snow White, through a rose colored tele-prompter. 

To give credit where little is due, he gives a great speech and you almost believe he is sincere. Maybe he is. Maybe he does believe that the world is just as he imagines it. Unfortunately, the rest of us have to deal with reality. 

I am still trying to figure out if he was making a sick joke when he put Joe Biden in charge of Mission Control to cure cancer. Really? With one year left? This made no sense at all. If he had started this seven years ago, yes. More pure symbolism.

As for his bragging about the military, just ask someone who is career military. Or, I guess you could ask the Iranian military that captured two of our naval vessels just hours before Mr. Obama spoke. That was never mentioned.

And we were assured that we are creating peace in Syria and ISIS, ISIL to Mr. Obama, is no existential threat. They may not threaten our existence as a nation, but they can sure hurt a lot of people and cause a lot of damage otherwise. 

Another high point was when the President commiserated with himself about the lack of collegiality between the two parties during his tenure. Of course, he blamed the Republicans. But we all remember when first elected he announced loudly. "I won. You lost. I'm in charge." We also remember during Obamacare negotiations, the Democrats went behind closed and guarded doors, keeping all others out.

Rumor has it that Mr. Obama has purchased, or had purchased for him, a seaside mansion in Dubai. When his term ends he can go there and live out his fantasy life listening to the Muezzin's call that he loves so much. Maybe they will supply him with seventy-five houris. Then he can finally pretend he is living in paradise. But last night was all balderdash.

Turn On A Dime

Yesterday, before the football games came on, of course, the were the usual talking heads on TV, commiserating about how low our country has come. Foreign relations are a disaster. The Middle East is on fire. But most of all the economy is plunging ever deeper into the porcelain facility.

The discussion centered around the American decline being inevitable, and the near impossibility that America will ever again be the financial and industrial powerhouse that it once was. Needless to say, these people are out of their ever-loving minds.

So, where are we and why are we here? Toward the end of the Bush 43 administration, the economy started to lag. It does that periodically as a natural part of economic adjustments. 

Then President Obama was elected promising to restore the economy. He proceeded to do exactly all of the wrong things. First, he went on an absolutely insane government spending binge, that being his Keynesian nature. Much was lost in Solyndra type bankruptcies. Much was given to car companies that should have been allowed to let the free market and the courts resolve their problems. All of this leaves our country with an 18 trillion dollar debt.

Then he shoved through a bollixed up government takeover of the health care industry that still is not working properly and is causing accelerating health care costs. The increasing costs and the reams of regulations have so scared employers that they are using fewer full time employees and more part time. Many small businesses have just gone under because of the financial pressure.

Also, the Presidents cadre of czars and agencies have been cranking out regulations affecting businesses at an overwhelming rate. CEOs did what they had to do. They laid off workers and shut down marginal operations to keep profitable.

To provide cover for bad economic policy, the FED started cutting interest rates until they could cut no more. This buoyed up the stock market and put a nice pretty lipstick on a pig of an economy.

So, that is how and why. The big question is, can it turn around. Contrary to the nay sayers. it can turn on a dime. A new administration with a better sense of what drives America financially and understands American business is necessary. A shutdown of Obamacare and a restoration of a sensible free market approach is required. A long trip out into the weeds of the huge volumes of anti-business regulations this administration has created and cutting those back is mandatory.

American corporate taxes are the highest in the industrial world. We cannot be competitive under that condition. Corporate taxes must be lowered. Stop the practice of double taxing money made abroad so corporations can bring that money back here and grow their American operations.

This is all basic stuff. Much more can be done to bring production home to America rather than shipping our jobs abroad. With the right President and Congress, it can be done.

Pavlov's People

Many of us that went to college took a course called "psych 101". In the text was a chapter about Pavlov's dogs. A whole lot about conditioning the anyone who ever owned a dog already knew. Run the electric can opener and the dog was in the kitchen like a shot, sitting over his bowl drooling.

It works for people too. You wake up two minutes before the alarm goes off on work days. You get hungry at the same time every day. Lots of little thing like that go on and suddenly you realize you have been conditioned.

Many other people have read the same book and more. Some spend their lives attempting to condition you. Advertising people, political spin doctors, charities, and it appears some in the Muslim community. The last is what concerns me.

Some time ago a group of men arrived at an airport waiting area, speaking Arabic and carrying prayer rugs. They intentionally made themselves the center of attention. They put down their rugs in the waiting area and prayed loudly. When the plane was loading they insisted on sitting as a group, but then started  moving about the cabin when the plane was in the air. Nothing came of it but those that took exception were branded islamophobic.

There have been other incidents over time. The latest was at the Mall of the America's. A group of Muslim young men went into a theater causing a ruckus. They all carried backpacks. They sat as a group and kept up a loud conversation over the movie.They had everyone's attention. Suddenly they went quiet and spread out around the theater encircling the crowd. In the "see something, say something", mode, some folks left and called the police.

After proclaiming their innocence and showing they had nothing in their packs they claimed the crowd was islamophobic. Whenever a Muslim behaves badly , those that object are painted with that same brush. 

The more we accept this conditioning and turn away, the worse the behavior will be. They know about Pavlov's dog too. And they are trying to turn us into Pavlov's people. 

Uncontrolled Gun Rules

Let me say, once again, I am tired of writing about President Obama, but his actions force me to do just that, in his ongoing imperial manner, he is taking "his pen and his phone" to control gun sales. He is, again, taking action that will not deliver the promised results. In fact, it will probably have the reverse effect.

Let's take the biggest reason first. There are two gun marketplaces in this country. There are the nice brightly lit stores, built like bank vaults, that have federal licenses and knowledgeable clerks that adhere to the law. This is where most law abiding citizens go to purchase a firearm.

Then there is the other marketplace. Sometimes it is out of the back door of a legal business with owners willing to cut corners for a higher profit. Sometimes it is out of the trunk of a car in a poorly lit parking lot behind a sleazy bar. It can be in someone's cellar where only certain people are admitted. Most of the guns sold in this venue are stolen or smuggled but always off the books.

Criminals, gang bangers, and those with other blemishes on their records don't go to the federally licensed stores, fill out all the paperwork, and take firearms safety courses. They go to the backroom dealers that take the extra profit and don't give a hoot for Mr. Obama's rules.

Mr.Obama wants to require every one that sells even one gun to get a federal license. So if I have a gun that I want to sell to my cousin or an old friend, I have to go through the long and expensive procedure of acquiring a license. There will be a lot of people ignoring that rule, I'm sure.

Then there is the most devious rule of all. If a doctor feels that a person has any sort of mental problem they are to notify the government so that any presently owned guns can be confiscated and their Second Amendment rights rescinded forever. So those aware of this will never go for grief counseling or for help with insomnia lest they face a government invasion.

While the level of threat to civilian firearms keeps increasing, the number of government employees that are armed and have police powers is also increasing. You have heard it before, "gun control is not about guns, it is about control". Another thought, these are rules Mr. Obama is creating not laws. Laws must be passed by Congress.

The Emir

America no longer has a President. We now have an Emir. A despot. Why an Emir rather than a king or a tsar? That is because he seems to have more concern for the Muslims of the world than American citizens. Even to the point of waxing poetic about the Muezzin's call to prayer as the most beautiful of sounds.

Why a despot of any stripe? Because he rules against the wishes of the American people. He has usurped the power of the Congress and they have allowed him to do it. Perhaps, even supported his power grab. 

He has then taken that power and put it in the hands of government agencies that wield it like a club stealing our freedoms and depriving us of control of our own possessions. A perfect example of this is the EPA taking control of virtually every drop of water in the country, including the water that runs down your driveway when you wash your car.

Almost every government agency now has armed agents with police powers including SWAT teams. Obama said that he wanted a domestic national police force. Now he has one. One quick Presidential order and all of these agents come together under the Department of Homeland Security. That makes me feel very insecure.

The poor and middle class are suffering economically. They claim that the jobless rate is down. That is only because the Participation Rate is worse. More and more people have given up trying to find work. Income levels continue to fall. The country is encumbered by massive debt. But our President continues to vacation with a "let them eat cake attitude".

We, as a nation, rebelled against George III. Now our President wants to take our guns so we won't do the same to Obama I or his ilk that may follow. Obviously Mr. Obama neither understands history or the American people. 

We as a country believe in "live and let live". Politicians forget, when they get power, that we have limits as to what we will accept. Our current crop of power grabbers are stretching that envelope to the breaking point. Emirs do not flourish in America.

Un-American

There has never been a country like the United States of America. Not today's America so much, but the America that I grew up in and love. The America that I grew up in, only went to war when our national interest was threatened, or when we or a sworn ally were attacked.

The last of these wars was the Korean War. Every war since then has been a political war, started by politicians for political purposes. Wars that they couldn't justify. Wars that these same politicians micro-managed. 

This micro-management cost good American lives and wasted American money with no hope of a good result. Especially since the fighting of these wars was taken out of the control of the military and put into the inept hands of lawyers.

And exactly where have these policies gotten us? We were driven out of Viet Nam. We have turned the Middle East into an explosive powder keg. Those that were our strongest allies no longer trust us. Russia is in resurgence. ISIS threatens us on our own soil. Meanwhile our President and Secretary of State tell us our biggest threat is "climate change". Through this, our President feels that his most important task is to disarm legal and honest gun owners.

There is a saying in sports. One should play within his game. In other words, do what you do well. Keep control of the situation. America's game has been strength and reliability. Today we have neither. The strength of our military has been downgraded in the vain hope that others would follow. Reality doesn't work that way.

There are those that would replace us as the premier world power and there are those that just plain hate us. We have given them control of the board, so to speak. This is foolish and dangerous. 

Teddy Roosevelt had it dead on right when he said, "walk softly and carry a big stick". Smart man that Teddy. We must get people back in charge that understand and love America as she really is. "Hope and change" has failed. Miserably and dangerously. We must go back to our roots. Anything less is un-American.