IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

For more than two years now I’ve listened to people complain about everything from the economy to the state of American Society, and more than 90% of that talk has been negative.  Every day, our politicians, news people and even the man on the street don’t seem to see the glass as being half full, but totally empty with no hope of being refilled, so I thought I would examine a couple of the things that so many seem to think is so bad.

Jobs – While the politicians and news guys all seem to think that everyone in America is unemployed, someone should remind them that in a country of more than 350 million people, if 23 million are unemployed, that means that 92% of the country is employed.  In Northern Virginia where I live, that percentage is probably closer to 96 or 97% and frankly I don’t know a single person who is either unemployed or under employed.     If you consider that many unemployed people have specific criteria that need to be met before they will even consider taking a job, the unemployment rate is significantly lower than advertised.  Let’s take a look at some of those criteria and possible solutions.  I can’t take that job, it doesn’t pay enough.  Really, if it doesn’t pay enough, then get a second job to help get by until you can do better, myself and many others I know have worked two jobs and it didn’t kill us, there’s no reason to think it will hurt you.  That job’s in another state, I can’t move.  Why the hell not?  Let’s see, you’re unemployed and someone is willing to give you a job, but you can’t move?  I know, your family is in that crappy town that you grew up in and you just can’t bring yourself to leave.  Not to worry, the Greyhound will bring you back for a visit once you make some money at that new JOB!  My favorite excuse is the person who says “I make more by collecting unemployment”.  My solution for you is get a job you @!#$% A-Hole.  Do you have any idea what the employment rate would be if we all thought like these dumb asses? 

Americas Greatness – The other area where I constantly hear folks complain is about the greatness that is America is in decline.  Clearly these people live in a different America than I do.  If you think that America is in decline, ask any immigrant from anywhere in the world who has come here for economic freedom and opportunity.  When people come here from other countries, they recognize the greatness that is America, they love the fact that in this country you always have the opportunity to succeed if you’re just willing to sacrifice and work hard enough.  Those folks aren’t worried about who the president is, or what a bunch of A-Holes we have in the congress, their focused on achieving the American dream.  I hear people say things like “Obama is ruining the country, or the Republicans are driving us over a cliff and both groups know that their statements aren’t true, yet they continue to spout their quackery in an effort to impress and confuse the ignorant and misinformed.   According to people like Rush Limbaugh, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Sean Hannity and the rest of the left/right talking heads, not only is America in decline, it’s totally the fault of anyone who doesn’t think or look like they do!  I sometimes find it hard to believe that not only do people listen to such idiots they actually believe what they hear and walk around spouting the same nonsense in public.  The truth is that most of the people following this line of thinking identify themselves by who they voted for in the last election or who they plan to vote for in November.  The problem with that kind of thinking is that it’s closed minded which leaves little room for reason or alternative thought.  If you’re one of these people I suggest that you consider the following, “Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow”.  What this quote means to you Mr.& Mrs. Democrat and Republican is open your mind to some alternative thought, perhaps you’ll find that your party isn’t right all of the time, there may actually be alternatives to what the radical left and right have to say.  America is not be perfect, it never has been and never will be, but this is still a great country that isn’t in decline, but rather is being destroyed from within by the very people who claim to care the most about its success.   Maybe rather than following the politicians, talking heads and news media down the negative path, perhaps we should push those idiots aside take this great country back for the sane amongst us and head down a more positive road. 

I’m Just Sayin

A LETTER TO MY MOTHER

Dear mom, as we approach our 58^th Mother’s Day together, I hope that you won’t mind that I am sharing this letter with those who read my Blog in the hope that they will share it with everyone they know.  You see, after more than 58 years I can’t count the number of times I’ve told you that I love you however there are a number of things that I want you to know while you’re still here and in good health to hear them.

Most people don’t know that you didn’t start out as my mother, but rather that you took that job on when no one else wanted it.  I don’t remember being three months old, but I do know that’s how old I was when you agreed to babysit me for a friend who would never return to pick me up.  I know that it would have been much easier for a poor family with no children of their own at the time to turn me over to some social services agency where I would have probably been placed in Foster Care, but you didn’t do that.  Not only did you not turn me in to Social Services, at some point, you decided that if no one else wanted me, that you would take me in and raise me as your own child.  That is and always will be the luckiest day of my life! 

In the years after you took me in, you gave birth to four more children, and I had to share you with two brothers and two sisters, but I was always the special one, because I was your oldest.  I can still remember the day when I was 12 and another kid wanted to hurt my feelings and blurted out “your momma ain’t your momma, you’re adopted”.  Evidently she had overheard an adult conversation about me and couldn’t resist the opportunity to try and use it against me.  Not only did you not allow that to be used against me, or allow me to feel sorry for myself, I remember like yesterday the conversation that we had about what it means to be a parent.  I remember you explaining to me that mothers and fathers are the people who love you and provide for you, parents are the people who teach you right from wrong, and they’re not always the ones who give birth to you.  

Mom, I am who I am today in large part because of the lessons you taught me all those years ago.  You were the person who taught me to believe in myself, to have confidence and not allow anyone to discourage or tell me what I couldn’t do in life.  You were the person who taught me that education was essential to success in America and that learning to read and write well would serve me well throughout life.   You were the person who told me that there is no substitute for hard work and determination, that quitting could never be an option if I really wanted to be successful.  When the bullies tried to push me around because I was small and skinny, you were the person who made me stand up to them, who wouldn’t let me back down even if I had to pick up a stick or a brick to defend myselfJ  You were the person who taught me that it wasn’t enough to just defend myself, but to stand up for those who were too weak to stand for themselves, to assist those less fortunate than I and never forget where I started in life.  You were the first person to tell me that I should always strive to be the very best at everything I do, to work especially hard at the things I was weak on, and work while my competition slept if necessary.  When others complained about the disadvantages of color or other obstacles, you taught me that the only person who could ever really hold me back would be looking back at me in the mirror every morning and to this day, I consider that one of my most important lessons ever. 

I can know of no one with more strength and courage than you!  Over the years you’ve lost a husband, two sons and several sisters, but you always stayed strong.  Despite a stroke, the loss of one leg and numerous other ailments, you have always remained upbeat, positive and strong.  I have no doubt that like most of us you have bad days, but frankly I’ve never seen you on those days, so for me they don’t exist. 

You used to say that God takes care of children and fools, but I think that God puts people like you in the lives of children and fools to ensure our growth.  You took care of me when I couldn’t take care of myself, and every time that I’ve come to you with a problem or question you had the answer.  Even though I sometimes didn’t like your answers, one thing remained constant, you were always proved to be right. 

God has blessed me with many gifts throughout my life, but nothing compares to the gift of bringing you into my life.  You’re the best mother that any child could ever have, and I just want you to know how much I admire and love you.  Thank you for the sacrifices that you made for me, for the love you’ve always shown me and for being my mother all these years. 

Happy Mothers Day!

Sincerely,

Your eldest son
Charles

WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

The six words in the heading of this article represent the final six words of the US Pledge of Allegiance, words that most of us learned in the 1^st grade as children.  These are words that I’ve repeated at least 1000 times throughout the course of my life, they are words that both my parents taught me to believe in because, as they put it, as a child born in America, you’re entitled to all of the benefits that being an American entails.  For most of my life, I rarely questioned my place in America because deep down I know that this really is one of the greatest countries ever; however, I have also come to know that we have some truly hateful people in this country and unless the rest of us stand up to the haters, the day is not far off when we’ll rip this country apart at the seams. 

One month ago today, a young black man was gunned down by a Neighborhood Watch person as he walked home from the store in a neighborhood where he was visiting with his father and once again we were all reminded that  if you’re black in America, “Liberty and Justice for All” cannot be taken literally.  Ask anyone black about justice, and they’ll tell you that when looking for justice in America, you’ll find “Just US”.  Does anyone believe that had a 16 year old Caucasian child been murdered by a person of any race under these circumstances that the person would not have been arrested?  Not only would that person be arrested, he would most certainly be found guilty of murder and sent to Death Row, and God help the poor bastard if his face is black!

 As tragic as the Treyvon Marshall murder is, I submit that there is a much larger issue surrounding this tragedy that needs to be examined.

As much as we hate to talk about race in this country, the situation that led to Treyvon’s murder was clearly racially motivated.  I’m not saying that George Zimmerman is a racist, because I’ve never met the man, but we all know that he reacted the way that he did because he stereotyped a young black man as being out of place in his neighborhood and, thus, he had to be up to no good.  This is not something, however, that’s unique to this case.  Black men of all ages are singled out in this way all across America every single day, and now it appears that it’s no longer enough for a black man to be harassed by the police if he appears out of place, now ordinary citizens have that right as well. 

All of my life, our government has gone all around the world telling others about basic human and civil rights.  We’ve condemned other countries for the persecution of their citizens and told them how they should be more like America.  It’s long past time that we take our own advice and live up to those final six words of the Pledge of Allegiance.  Since the very start of our country, black people have served this country in every capacity, and made un-measurable contributions to the society as a whole.  Yet, there are those who refuse to live by six simple words written in 1892 and recited by every American school child for more than a century. 
 I believe in America and its justice system, so I am hopeful that George Zimmerman will get (legally) what he’s got coming.  I find it hard to believe that a person who goes out of his way to initiate a confrontation with someone, even after he is warned not to, by the police, could then kill someone’s child and get away with it.  No matter what happened once he confronted Treyvon Martin, had he stayed in his car and allowed the police to get there and handle things, Treyvon Martin would be alive today. 

It is important that we all live by those final six words of the pledge, and encourage others to do so as well.  I am fortunate enough to have many friends both black and white who treat everyone they encounter with dignity and respect, but we all know people who don’t.  We all know who the haters in our world are and it’s time that we stop ignoring their behavior.  It’s time for the sane among us to “Take Our Country Back” from the hate mongers and idiots who have hijacked civility and common decency in America. 

I’m just sayin

IS OBAMA NOW RUNNING THE NFL?

We all know that president Obama and his democrat friends are for wealth redistribution, but until yesterday I didn’t know that they had taken over the National Football League (NFL).  The league yesterday issued a statement saying that the Cowboys were being assessed ten million against the salary cap while the Redskins would be assessed Thirty-Six million for violating some unwritten rule against paying players too much money in 2010 which was supposed to be a uncapped year.  Two other teams were also hit with minor (about 1.5 million) in fines for the same violation.  While fans of the other 28 teams might view this as justice, Redskins and Cowboys fans now have something in common in that we see it as Wealth Redistribution.  That’s right; it’s redistribution of wealth in its ugliest form.

The Cowboys and Redskins are the NFL’s two most valuable franchises, and their owners have bucked the system over the years to find ways of find ways to pay their players more than anyone else.  Now it seems that the other owners have decided that it’s not fair to have the rich teams be able to afford the best players.  Jerry Jones spent a billion dollars to build the new Cowboy’s stadium, and trust me, having seen it, it was worth every penny; and despite whatever faults one can find with Dan Schneider, the one that can’t be said about him is that he hasn’t spent like a mad man to try and make his team better.  These two owners (of the two premiere teams in the NFL) have done more in the last 10 years to make the league great than the rest of the owners combined, now find themselves the victims of the kind of jealousy that is running amuck in our country. 

Just to make sure I’ve got this right, we now have rules in our country that say that if I can afford a BMW, Mercedes or Cadillac, and my neighbor drives a Hyundai or Yugo, I should drive one of those as well?  I think not; I earned my BMW and dammit I’m going to drive it.  Truth be told, if my neighbor is walking I don’t really care, but  Of course if he needs a ride, I’ll give him a ride, but I’m not giving up my Beamer for him.  If your coworker can only afford to live in apartment, does that now mean that you should sell your nice single family home in the burbs so that your coworker doesn’t feel bad?    

I’m sure that you get the idea by now but just in case let me spell it out.  I like many people who are a little better off than most feel for people who are not and thus I give lots to my church and to charity, but it is neither, fair or reasonable that you should take what I’ve worked hard for and give it to someone else.  I’m not saying that poor people don’t work hard, but I am saying that I’m not responsible for their lot in life!  If you want more out of life, educate yourself and do what most wealthy people do, work harder, give up the luxuries early in life so that you can have more later in life.  Learn to save and invest and believe in Life Long Learning.

The Obama administration’s theory of Tax the Rich makes no more sense than the NFL’s punishment of the Cowboys and Redskins. 

No matter how you slice it, you can’t make life equal by punishing those who work hard, study hard and do better in life or sports!

I’M JUST SAYIN

AMERICA’S PERMENANT CRIMINAL UNDERCLASS

When I was growing up, we were taught that sometimes decent people make mistakes and commit crimes.  We were also taught that if you make that mistake, or commit a crime that once you paid your debt to society, all was forgiven and you could once again be considered a good citizen.  I remember the days when criminals went to jail and came out in a few years with a GED and if they were there long enough possibly even a college degree.  I’m not really sure how long ago the things that I was taught and observed changed, but they definitely have and we need to to ask ourselves is our society better off today than we were all those years ago?  Our justice system has been converted from a place to rehabilitate criminals to a for profit institution in which there is no incentive to rehabilitate those caught up in the system. 

In my view, we put people in jail and make every effort to ensure that they come out worse off than the day they went in, their only education opportunity these days is in how to come out a better criminal.  In most cases their right to vote is revoked, ensuring that they have no chance of participating in our democracy, yet they have paid their debt.  After we make sure that these folks can’t vote, we have to make sure they continue to commit crimes, so that we continue to feed our for profit justice system by asking if they’ve ever committed a crime on every job application.  If a person has been convicted of a crime they have virtually no chance of finding a decent job once released; so what do they do? They return to a life of crime and continue to feed the monster that is our for profit justice system.

Please understand that I am not now, nor have I ever been soft on crime.  I just think that if we continue to create this permanent criminal underclass, our country will continue to become less and less safe.  While some don’t worry because they see this underclass as mostly minorities of various races, nothing could be further from the truth.  Today the underclass comes in all races, sexes, shapes, and sizes and they are getting younger and younger by the day.  How many times have you watched the news and seen a criminal who looks like he or she should be at a pajama party or ice cream social rather than taking a gun to school or shooting a classmate or perhaps even committing a robbery of some sort? 

For those who think I’ve lost my mind, consider the following; it cost us over 30K per year to keep someone in prison, while the average cost to educate someone is around 9K, so even in the short term, it’s less costly to educate someone than it is to keep them locked up.  There are people that deserve to be locked up and never let out, but more than half of the people labeled felons in our country are low level drug dealers and petty thieves who’ve committed what are widely considered non- violent crimes by law enforcement.

 Given the cost, it makes no sense to continue to punish people like this once they’ve served their time and repaid their debt to society.

I’M JUST SAYIN

PAIN AT PEBBLE BEACH

On Sunday afternoon I was watching a golf tournament when a good old fashion Butt Kicking broke out.  Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods were paired in the next to final group at the Pebble Beach Pro AM and I was determined not to miss what I thought would be two great rounds of golf.  It happens that I did get to see at least one exceptional round from Phil who clearly was charged and ready to roll when he stepped onto the first tee.  Tiger was another story altogether as he proceeded to shoot a 3 over par 75 and was even beat by his amateur partner in the Pro AM Tony (I can’t win a playoff game) Romo. 

This round of golf was a classic example of how easy or tough golf can be on a given day.  Phil made it look easy as he not only came from six shots back to win, but in the process, he walked the dog on Woods and the rest of the field.  I’ve always enjoyed watching Phil play, mostly because his mind seems to work more like an amateur than a professional when it comes to going for shots that seem impossible.  The truth is that in all the years I’ve seen Phil play, Sunday may have been the best I’ve ever seen him play, and when he decided to go with 4 Iron on the 18^th tee, I found myself thinking wow he’s going to play smart.  There was no question watching him play that Phil was better prepared mentally and had the confidence needed to not only beat Tiger Woods, but the rest of the field as well.

Tiger was completely over matched on Sunday afternoon, and it was clear by the end of the day that his mental state seems to be very fragile.  Golf is a game that no matter how physically talented you are, if you lose your mental edge your game will suffer.   When he lost to Robert Rock in Dubai it didn’t seem to be that big a deal, but watching his melt down on Sunday seems to be a clear indication that while the physical part of his game may be solid, his mental state is lacking.  Tiger seems to now lack the mental toughness that made him one of the best golfers ever to play the game.   I remember the days when it seemed like he couldn’t miss a putt inside 8 or 10 feet, yet on Sunday he putted like a robot whose program was malfunctioning.  To see anyone stab at and miss two footers over and over again is painful enough, but when it’s a guy with 14 major championships, it’s even more painful.  I think that even those who don’t like Tiger couldn’t help but feel bad for him on Sunday.

The talking heads continue to say that golf needs Tiger and while I don’t disagree with that thinking; one has to wonder how long the casual fan will continue tuning in if Tiger melts down a few more times?  So for the good of the game, here’s hoping that Tiger get’s his mojo back and that the next time he and Phil tee it up on a Sunday we’ll see two great rounds of golf!

I’m Just Sayin

WE'RE ALL MIXED UP

Has anyone noticed that both as individuals and as a government, we can’t seem to get out of debt?  Well if you agree with that, perhaps I can help us all figure out why.  You see, we’ve got saving and investment all wrong and quite frankly we have it completely backward.  Don’t believe me, consider the following.

Yesterday I took my granddaughter to purchase a winter coat and as we were checking out, this very nice young lady offered me a credit card saying that if I took it that we would save an additional 30%.  When I explained that I didn’t want the card, she continued to ring up the coat, and as she handed me the receipt she politely said thank you sir, your coat was $83.45 and you saved $91.00 today by shopping at Kohl’s.  As we were leaving the store, my granddaughter said wow papa, you saved almost a hundred dollars, to which I replied “honey when you spend money, no matter what they say, you didn’t save”.  I remember several years ago a couple of friends  went shopping on a Saturday morning and when they returned shopping bags in hand, I asked  them, “exactly how much did you guys spend”; to which one of them replied I spent $800.00, but I saved $500.00 because it was all on sale.  Now I don’t know about you, but to my way of thinking if you spend $800 to save $500 that’s not saving.  Hopefully if you use this logic, you’re purchasing things that you need and not just your wants, but either way, you’re not saving!

Our government is no better!  Has anyone besides me noticed that when the government talks about saving money, they really mean that if they had planned a spending increase of 3% and they reduce that percentage to 2%, they say their saving us money.  Now once again, I don’t know about you but a saving would actually be spending less, not spending more and passing off a slight reduction in the increase as a savings.  If you have folks who don’t know a true savings from a reduction in spending, is there any wonder that our budget never gets close to balanced? 

For years I’ve heard people say that their home is their largest asset.  Now let me see if I’ve got this straight, I own a house that let’s say I agree to purchase for $500,000.  I put down $100,000 and the bank agrees to lend me the remaining $400,000 if I agree to pay them 5% interest for the next 30 years.   If I stay in the house for 30 years, I’ll pay the bank $772,920 which comes to almost double what I borrowed 30 years earlier.   Some asset!  If mobsters were charging that kind of interest they would be convicted of racketeering and put in jail for 30 years.  Now I’m not saying that a bank lending money to people who want to buy homes is a bad thing, I’m simply saying that people need to see their homes for what they are, and that’s a Liability, not an asset!  Unless we can figure out how to get income from our homes, we need to stop calling them investments!

I’m Just Sayin