Character or Charisma ?

Unless you have had your head stuck in the sand (or in the case of Liberals, up your anal orifice), election season is upon us. Throughout the swell of debates and 10 second sound bites, one thing is becoming increasingly clear, some of the candidates have a lot of character, some have a lot of charisma, many of the candidates have some of both and some of the candidates have neither. Dennis Kucinich immediately springs to mind as a candidate who has neither.

When thinking about this topic, I decided on the name of this post when I heard the recent news that "Bubba", stumping for Hillary, declared that he was against the Iraq War from the beginning. Not exactly what he was saying back when we were getting ready to invade Iraq, but when did the truth ever matter to "Bubba" when he wanted to make a point??? The man is a convicted perjurer (NO, his lies then were NOT just about sex, but about denying another citizen their Constitutional Rights in a court of law), which is a legal term for LIAR !!!! And just to set the record straight, s-e-x is an integral part of the term "oral sex", which basically means that oral sex IS sex. It doesn't matter what the definition if "is" is.

I digressed, but during Bubba's speech that was supposed to be about Hillary's qualifications to be president, he referred to himself (and his legacy) 94 times and mentioned Hillary ONLY 7 times. So the BIG QUESTION IS --- who is running for President. Was He trying to tell us that we should vote for Hillary so she can be his "Puppet President" so he can really serve another two terms?

When I thought of this, I immediately thought of this post title, "Character or Charisma?". Anyone who has studied Bubba knows that you DO NOT NEED CHARACTER TO BE POTUS, JUST CHARISMA. And what about President Bush? Well, I still believe that President Bush is a man of character and honesty, but I have to say that after Bubba, we were overloaded with charisma, and President Bush just can't compete with Bubba in the charisma department. Oh, by the way, let me clarify by saying that charisma is just a fancy way of saying "Bullshit Artist", so give me a President with CHARACTER any day.

The "Supremes" Will Rule on the 2nd Amendment

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The 2nd Amendment has always been controversial because of the first 13 words: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,". Liberals claim that the only right to keep and bear arms is linked to state militias and is not an "individual" right. This fits in with their Marxist Agenda to ensure the general populace is unarmed, educated by the state and that the citizens have a progressive income tax levied upon them among other tenets.

Let's look at why this amendment included the first 13 words. Right after the Revolutionary War, while the Constitution was being drafted, our treasury was depleted and most of our Army disbanded and went home. Without money, the Founding Fathers realized that maintaining a standing Army was virtually impossible, and they wanted to ensure that individual citizens would never lose their individual right to keep and bear arms, so that in the event of a future national emergency, the states could have a militia armed and ready to respond without the huge cost of initial outfitting for weapons.

How can I be so sure of this theory? Why would the Founding Fathers write 9 Amendments aimed specifically at the individual citizen and only 1 amendment written NOT for the individual, but for the state? This just does NOT make sense based on the document as a whole. Since we now have a HUGE treasury and a HUGE military, the strongest in the world, it is time to ignore the explanatory first 13 words and take the 2nd Amendment as it was originally intended by the Founding Fathers: "...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The reason the "Supremes" are finally going to look into this is the challenge to Washington, DC's Gun Control Law. A typical attempt by the liberals to restrict freedom for law abiding citizens while not enforcing the laws on the criminals (similar to illegal immigration). Gun control laws in general cause crime to increase, not decrease because the criminals know that law abiding citizens pose NO THREAT because they are unarmed. When guns are outlawed, ONLY OUTLAWS will have guns. Crime drops everywhere that concealed carry permits are encouraged because the criminals don' know who is and isn't armed.

I BELIEVE IN ONE KIND OF GUN CONTROL. HOLD YOUR HANDGUN WITH TWO HANDS AND ALWAYS SHOOT WHAT YOU ARE AIMING AT.

I earned the U.S. Navy Expert Pistol Medal by shooting a perfect score. That's Gun Control!

I have provided a link to the National Archives web site to reference the Bill of Rights as written by the Founding Fathers.

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, it is time for the annual obligatory reflection on our lives and to enumerate the things for which we are thankful. As with almost everyone, I am thankful for my family, my country, my health, etc., etc. But this year, I want to challenge you to be creative with your thankfulness.

Yes, I am thankful for my wife. Don't let her read this, but she is the love of my life but more importantly, she is my best friend and my confidant. She is always my sanity check and the one I can count on for encouragement and advice and the one I can rely on to tell me when I am heading down the wrong road.

I am thankful for both of my sons. They are total opposites of the other. Each in his own way makes me very proud. When you raise your children as a conscientious parent, you try to instill your morals and values, and then pray they "got it" and then you have to let go, sit back, and watch what they do with "IT". Each of my sons, in their own unique way, did get it, and each in their own unique way make me proud every day. They make me feel like I did the parenting thing right.

I am thankful for my beautiful daughter-in-law, the love of my eldest sons life and mother of my beautiful grand-daughters who are the greatest blessing of my life. Grandchildren are the blessing we receive for the love we have shared.

I am thankful for this great nation that I have been blessed to live in and to serve. The great experiment of our founding fathers is a success and will continue to be successful as long as we follow their road map for success, my favorite document, The Constitution of the United States. I have quoted the constitution in previous posts and will quote it on a regular basis. We must remain diligent to ensure that forces of Marxism, Communism and Socialism are not permitted to transform our constitution into a meaningless document by putting their interpretations of our rights into law and moving us to place our founding fathers never envisioned.

I now want to challenge you to consider things that most would not consider to be a blessing. How about: I am thankful for Rosie O'Donnell and The Dixie Chicks. NO SERIOUSLY !!!! I find them to be ignorant, loud-mouth, stupid b#$%*es. But I am thankful for them because they remind me that freedom of speech is a two-way street, and that although I find what they are saying to be annoying, obnoxious and offensive, THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAY WHAT THEY THINK JUST LIKE I DO. If they offend me, I have the problem, not them.

Now that I have fired the spark, what are you thankful for today that you never really thought about before?

Hillary Knows How to Fix the Economy

Hillary is worried that President Bush has ruined the economy just like his Dad did and she knows how to fix a "Bush" economy (I guess because she was Bill's Co-President). Apparently, Hillary feels we are about to suffer another Great Depression. Unfortunately, although the Dow Jones is down over 10,000 points from it's recent high, even at the current low, it has still shown an overall approximate 4% gain this year. Hardly a stock market CRASH. Guess it's really more like a big correction. Unemployment remains in the 4% range, still very near an all time low. Also, there is the problem of "record" numbers of foreclosures in the Mortgage Markets but home ownership is at an ALL TIME HIGH and 95% of ALL mortgages in the country are being paid on-time, so 5% doesn't really seem like such a big crisis. Yes, we are experiencing some minor economic problems, but no where near the crisis reported by the media and the Democrats. THE ECONOMY ISN'T BROKEN!!!!

Guess we don't need Hillary to rescue us. Apparently what we are facing is another Liberal Scare Tactic to convince us how badly we need an Uber-Liberal like Hillary to step in with more BIG Government to Save All of Us Poor Wretches from OURSELVES. Nobody can spend our money for us better than a Liberal Government Spending Program

The amazing thing is that Hillary claims she doesn't want to raise taxes!! At least until she is sworn in. She is apparently learning that many of us don't want to pay higher taxes so why would she advertise before the swearing in that she is just another tax and spend Liberal. As I said in my last post:

If you vote Democrat, you are stuck on STUPID!!!!

Happy Holidays to the Troops from the "Defeatocrats"

Is anyone surprised that the "Defeatocrat Party" aided and abetted by 4 RINO's (Republicans In Name ONLY) have decided leave Washington to celebrate the holidays without passing a defense spending bill to support troops in every corner of the world, including those in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. This simply means that our troops are in jeopardy of waging war WITHOUT ammunition and supplies until at least January.

This move by these politicians is unconscionable and possibly treasonous. To think that ANY elected official would jeopardize National Security to make a lame political statement is outrageous. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the other members of the Democrat Party are so obsessed with defeating President Bush's successes in Iraq at the cost of our troops, they are actually risking more troops lives than they might save by their "Rapid Surrender" plans they are trying to enact.

We must make a national effort to remove these fools from office. They are: ALL DEMOCRAT SENATORS plus, Susan Collins (R) ME, Chuck Hagel (R) NE, Gordon Smith (R) OR, and Olympia Snow (R) ME. Senator Chris Dodd (D) CT, voted with most Republicans except his reasoning was that the measure didn't go far enough to end the war, so he does NOT get a pass on this one.

IF YOU ARE STILL VOTING DEMOCRAT:

YOU ARE "STUCK ON STUPID" !!!

Illegal Immigrants

N.Y. governor abandons driver's licenses for illegal immigrants

Spanish-Language Radio Station Slams Police for Describing Suspect as 'Hispanic'

These were the headlines yesterday and today as they appeared on Fox.com and CNN.com. I know, I know, this subject is taboo and I am about to be labeled a RACIST !!!!!!. Nothing could be further from the truth but I won't shy away from hot topics because I am afraid what someone who doesn't even know me might think. REMEMBER: "Freedom of Speech" in the Constitution / Freedom from being offended NOT in the Constitution.

A few days ago, a local Knoxville man complained on TV about how the local Hispanic community is being discriminated against by Racists. He acknowledged that the problem stems from the RACISTS not distinguishing between American Citizens of Hispanic heritage and illegal immigrants. He is absolutely right on one count only: we don't know who is a citizen and who is an illegal immigrant. My suggestion to him is to recognize that these people are NOT "Undocumented Workers", they are criminals. They have broken the law to enter this country and need to go back where they came from. NO AMNESTY !!!

This same gentleman also said that we are supposed to be famous for Southern Hospitality but he hasn't experienced it. My suggestion is to do something about it and help to solve the problem instead of just tagging complainers with the "Racist" label. When the criminals are all deported, we will welcome citizens of Hispanic descent with open arms. Many of us don't feel that it is appropriate to aid criminals and since we have no way to determine who is who, we tend to ignore citizen's of Hispanic heritage. To overcome this, become a part of the solution instead of sitting back complaining about racists and hoping name calling will solve the problem.

It appears that our government is finally starting to get the message that roughly 70% of us want the borders with Mexico closed, illegal immigrants deported and we don't want them to get any form of government identification that may give them easier access to any social or welfare coverage.

Continuing the Veteran's SALUTE!

Since yesterday was the "official" Federal Veteran's Day Holiday, I was looking for an inspiration after yesterday's post. Luckily, I found it on HBO late last night. I watched James Gandolfini's "Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq", and yes, I shed a tear or two listening to the stories told by the Iraq War Veterans who were seriously wounded and lived to tell about.

Each of these heroes shared their "Alive Day Memories". Their individual "Alive Days" were the date they suffered their debilitating injuries and lived to tell about it. Each had a slightly different story, but most involved either IED's or RPG's blowing up the vehicle they were in. Each had slightly different life altering injuries from amputated arms, double amputees, triple amputees and one gentleman who lost his sight in both eyes. He wore a glass eye in one eye socket but the other eye socket was so badly damaged he couldn't get a glass eye to stay in. Because of his injuries, his wife divorced him (nice lady, NOT!). Many suffered hearing loss from the proximity of the explosions in addition to the amputations. Each of these HEROES have suffered more than we could ever ask, much less expect.

Most of us would respond immediately that we must end this war and pull out of Iraq because the cost in lives of our military personnel is just too high. However, nearly all of the heroes telling there stories indicated a desire to go back to Iraq with their comrades in arms and finish what they started by winning this war. Their was no hint of surrender in their stories. They have witnessed the war first hand and believe in what the United States is trying to do there.

Whether you believe in winning or surrendering, one thing is for certain, many of our heroes want to stay. I believe that we had a legal and moral justification for invading Iraq. Yes I am aware of recent news that Saddam told an FBI agent that he never had WMD's. With his history of lies, deceit, murder, torture, etc., why would anyone believe that all of a sudden Saddam was now telling the truth in this report. I believe his statement was nothing more than a last ditch attempt to try to avoid the hangman's noose.

The latest news from Iraq shows that we are finally starting to get a handle on the fighting after our "Troop Surge" and we are actually showing signs that we may be winning. Why would we want to dishonor all those who sacrificed so much for us by just "giving up" and "pulling out". Victory is just around the corner and we need to stay and see this through.

If you don't get HBO, you can go to HBO.com and order the DVD for this "MUST SEE" documentary.

Veteran's Day Salute

As you may have noticed elsewhere in this blog, I proudly served this great nation in the United States Navy for over 23 years. While I am justifiably proud of my service, I wish to recognize a more deserving group of Active Duty Personnel and Veterans and those are our former and present Combat Veterans. They are the individuals, men and women who have gone in harm's way to defend our freedoms. Some have lost limbs, vision, hearing and yes, even their lives. They are the true heroes that deserve to be honored on Veteran's Day.

My intent is NOT to lessen the impact of all of the veteran's, like myself, who have served honorably, albeit quietly in the back ground performing often thankless tasks that allow the Combat Veteran's to do their jobs and not have to worry about logistics, supplies and the myriad support functions necessary to be a fully effective fighting force on the field of battle.

ALL military personnel make some truly unbelievable sacrifices in order to serve this country. While I was serving at my first overseas duty station, my take home pay was less than $200 per month, my rent was $125 per month plus utilities and I had to carry 5 gallon jugs of water to my off-base apartment because the "running water" in the apartment was untreated brackish water that was unsafe to drink. In the end, I had roughly $50 to spend on groceries and essentials. Money for fun??? I don't remember much of that. ALL MILITARY PERSONNEL have made sacrifices not unlike mine in the course of their service.

And while I am offering salutes, we should also salute the FAMILIES of the active duty and reserve military personnel for their sacrifices. Nothing is more heartbreaking than watching the tears stream down the faces of the little children who can't understand why Mommy or Daddy are leaving. The wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers. They all sacrifice for this country when their loved ones are deployed. The spouses, who raise the kids ALONE, maintain the household ALONE, and wait faithfully ALONE for their military member to return deserve our THANKS and PRAISE for theirs is the most thankless job of all.

While trying to wax eloquent for this post, I decided to use the words of one of our statesmen. These words were spoken by Senator Zell Miller, Democrat from Georgia:

"Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more of the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And our soldiers don't just see freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home. It has been said truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. [cheers] It is the soldier, not the poet who has given us the freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives that protester the freedom he abuses to burn that flag. [cheers] No one should dare to even think about being the commander in chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home. [cheers] But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of my party today. In their warped way of thinking, America is the problem, not the solution. They don't believe there's any real danger in the world except that which America brings upon itself through our clumsy and misguided foreign policy. It is not their patriotism, it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking. They claimed Carter’s pacifism would lead to peace; they were wrong. They claimed Reagan’s defense buildup would lead to war; they were wrong. "

Getting Started

Welcome to my New Blog. Let me start by saying I proudly served this Great Nation for over 23 years helping to ensure the continuation of the ideals expressed in our Constitution. In general, I am a strong believer in the Rights and Freedoms granted to ALL CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. I do NOT believe in Political Correctness nor do I believe in extending our constitutional rights and freedoms to individuals who ARE NOT U.S. Citizens because they are criminals who entered this country illegally.

Furthermore, as a retired member of the military who served during Viet Nam and the "Cold War", I am FULLY AWARE of the tenets expressed in the Geneva Conventions. Despite the musings and opinions of some of our more liberal (or as they now call themselves, "Progressive") national leaders and judges, Islamic Terrorists are NOT uniformed combatants and are NOT protected by the Geneva Conventions. They should be tortured to any extent necessary to obtain the vital information necessary to disrupt their plans and save the lives of our Military personnel and citizens.

If you are offended by my opinions, I refer you to the Constitution, my favorite document. It does grant me "Freedom of Speech". However, I still have not been able to find the part where it gives you the freedom from being offended. If you find my musings offensive, perhaps you shouldn't read them. It matters not to me, because I will continue to write what I believe whether you are offended or not. However, even if you are offended, if you keep reading, you just might learn something.

Future posts will expand on the above topics and branch out to all of the newsworthy topics that "Tickle My Fancy".