Get us out of Afghanistan! - Letters to my Reps

To: Representative  Todd Russell Plats, Senator Pat Toomey, and Senator Bob Casey:
Following is a copy of an email that I sent to you in Oct 2009. Since that time over 1200 of our young people have died in Afghanistan & Iraq, many more have been horribly maimed and disfigured:
Oct. 2009:  "Bring the troops home from Afghanistan. It is unrealistic to believe that the current administration will do what is necessary to responsibly prosecute this military action. I understand that the complete destruction of the Taliban would be in the best security interests of this country; however, it is not realistic to believe that is going to happen under the current administration. Neither is the complete destruction of al Qaeda, which has havens and cells spread throughout the world. It is even unrealistic to believe that we can permanently deprive al Qaeda of Afghanistan as a launching ground or home base for terrorist attacks since that depends on wresting control of all territory in the region from the Taliban. I also understand how tempting it might be to some politicians to try and craft some politically advantageous half-measures that would leave our troops stranded in enemy territory (again) without a clear objective, exit strategy, or the absolute best support we can provide. To allow that to happen again, especially after what we learned in Vietnam, would be a tragedy and a moral outrage."
Today: Our troops can no longer call in close air support without getting it approved by higher-ups back at headquarters. Barack Obama has proposed requiring our special operations forces to conduct their ops only in daylight and his administration has leaked vital operational secrets to those who are trying to kill them. Iraq is helping fund Iran's nuclear program. Afghan troops and police are slaughtering our troops at will, troops that were unarmed while on base until just this week. The well-being of our troops has been subjugated to the ambitions of our politicians. Our calls to bring the troops home have been ignored and instead politicians have tied their hands and interfered with their attempts to employ tried and true combat techniques getting even more of our precious young people maimed and killed. Like I said: a tragedy and a moral outrage. We've got to stop this nation-building junk and get back to defending our country. Really, that's all we are able to do anyway. Focusing on anything else is recklessly dangerous and ridiculously naive.

Ethanol Sucks! - Letters to my Reps

June 30, 2008

I heard something on the radio yesterday that I just couldn’t believe.  I was listening to a “money” talk-show and the guy said that there is a 40% tariff on Brazilian ethanol.  Please tell me that you guys aren’t taxing the best and least expensive ethanol in the world at an additional rate of 40% after MANDATING that at least 10% of our fuel be ethanol at a time when gas prices are approaching $4.00 per gallon and our economy is grinding to a halt!

If you are, then I’ve got to ask, WHY?! 

Who is this supposed to help?  You mandate ethanol use and then you turn right around and effectively prohibit the sale of the least expensive and highest quality ethanol in the world here in the US?

Again, who is this ethanol initiative supposed to help?  It sure doesn’t help me at the gas pump.  Turning a staple food source into fuel sure isn’t good for the starving children of the world.  It’s not even good for the environment!  (US ethanol production actually increases our total CO2 output and even our total fossil fuel consumption.)

OK, I know who it’s supposed to help.  There is only one group in this country that benefits from this and that’s the ethanol producers and, by extension, corn farmers. 

Please repeal this unethical tariff. 

Better yet, reverse course on this whole immoral ethanol initiative.


August 25, 2012

Today was a good day.  I found a new source for ethanol-free gas.  Now I can buy that chainsaw that I’ve been wanting.  You see, I decided not to buy any more gasoline powered tools until I found a source for ethanol-free gas because I knew that the ethanol that’s in the gas now would just eat them up.  I’ve lost 3 lawn mowers, 2 line trimmers and a chainsaw to that junk!  I wonder if all the environmentalists figured all that smoke that billowed out of each of these tools as they burned up into their fancy equations?

What am I saying?  Everyone knows that ethanol isn’t really being produced and mixed into the nation’s fuel supply for environmental reasons.  There are no sound environmental reasons to do that.  Everyone knows that  it takes more fuel and produces more pollution to produce a gallon of ethanol than is saved by it’s use at its eventual destination.  Even the environmentalists have moved on. We all know why we are being forced to sacrifice our lawn equipment and pay higher food prices at the grocery store:  It is called corruption.

Come on guys!  I’d be embarrassed if I was you.  This is not going unnoticed.  It has become one of the most glaring signposts of the corrupt times in which we live.

Oh, what I’d give for the good old days when corruption was too complicated and obscure for us dummies back home to notice it. 

Screw you John Roberts!

07/07/12
Once again the media is all abuzz about something and almost everybody is totally missing the most important point.

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court, via John Roberts, ruled that The Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) was indeed constitutional under the 16^th Amendment, the Income Tax Amendment.
Now, everyone, is all worried about how this is going to impact their...fill in the blank: insurance, healthcare, taxes, candidate’s chances of winning in November…whatever. What everyone seems to be missing is the fact that this ruling has unleashed two completely new animals upon the land… the "tax-mandate" and the “tax-fine.”
 
This is nothing like a regular tax-penalty, you only incur a tax-penalty by doing something wrong that involves the reporting, filing, or paying of your income taxes regardless of how those taxes are incurred.

This new “tax-fine,” that Justice Roberts has created, on the other hand, is a penalty for violating some "tax-mandate" that does not need to be related to the reporting or collection of taxes at all. It could be anything. And, apparently, it doesn't need to comply with anything else in the constitution other than the 16^th Amendment.  As long as it is enforced by the Internal Revenue Service it is, by definition, constitutional.

In the good old days, if you didn’t make any money, or just a little money, then you didn’t have to pay the government anything. Those days are over. Now, every year, even before you’ve earned your first penny, you owe the federal government money and it’s up to you to do, or not do, what the federal government tells you to do, or not do, in order to avoid that tax-fine. Right now that just means that you have to buy a health insurance policy that meets the government’s standards. Well, ok, you also have to prove that you purchased that policy and that it meets all of those ever-changing government standards…, but that’s all…for now.

I say, “for now”, because anybody that thinks that the government is NOT going to use these brand new tools for a whole slew of initiatives, programs, enhancements, controls, and intrusions just as fast as they can get them down on paper and onto the legislative floor just doesn’t understand how our legislative system works. I’m sure lobbyists are already lining up at our legislators’ doors with all kinds of requests and huge campaign donations. Just think, the government can now tell you what to do and what to buy under the 16th Amendment without all those pesky constitutionality questions getting in the way! John Roberts and the Supreme Court have cleared the way, let the 21st Century Gold-Rush begin!

It will start with things we all agree on: Did you replace the batteries in your smoke detectors? Prove it or pay up! Did you recycle your recyclables? Prove it or pay up!  ...But it will eventually move into grayer areas like: Did you get your recommended health checkups? Prove it or pay up! Did you you get your regular dental cleanings & checkups? Prove it or pay up!  Did your children get their required vaccinations? Prove it or pay up! Did your pets get theirs? Prove it or pay up! Did you get the recommended maintenance on your vehicle? Prove it or pay up! Did you drive the speed limit? (thanks Progressive Insurance) Prove it or pay up! Did you change your furnace filter regularly? Prove it or pay up! Did you get to work on time? Prove it or pay up!

Some might say that we already have that. Their usual example is auto insurance: We are already required to provide proof of insurance to register our vehicles each year.  There is a difference, however: The IRS doesn’t come after you if you fail to buy auto insurance. You don’t automatically owe the government money if you choose not to buy auto insurance. If you are caught out on the roadways without insurance, then you are charged with a crime and provided with due process as detailed under the 5^th Amendment to the Constitution. (Look for an “auto insurance mandate” to be one of the first “tax-mandates” issued to remove this flaw from their example.)

And that brings up the 2^nd big change that the “Robert’s Ruling” has wrought in U.S. law: Forget about “innocent until proven guilty” or “the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury” or any other pesky “due process” rights. Now it’s, “guilty until you prove yourself innocent to some government bureaucrat”.

Since a tax-fine is a legal penalty for failing to comply with the law, will failure to pay this fine result in jail time like with all other fines? If you are late paying your tax bill and that bill includes a tax-fine, will they haul you off to jail rather than just send you a bill or, at worst, garnish your wages. like they do now? And, does a tax-mandate violation go on your permanent record? (You did break the law after all, even if you did pay the fine on time.) And, will you have to disclose all your past tax-mandate violations on employment and license applications? Will outstanding tax-fines come up on your credit report or on the computer screen of the police officer who just pulled you over?   And, can the IRS search your records to see if you are guilty of a tax-mandate violation without a warrant? I mean, they don’t need a warrant to conduct an audit, do they? So, if they suspect that you might be guilty of a tax-mandate violation, couldn’t they just demand to see all of your records at any time without showing any kind of probable cause? I know that they can do that now and get you for tax evasion but with tax-fines, if each “proof of compliance” doesn’t hold water, like a health insurance policy that doesn’t cover abortions for example, will that result in additional charges, fines and jail time or will they all just be prosecuted as tax evasion? …

So many questions!

Some would say that, as a practical matter, constitutional rights are a thing of the past anyway, that the 16th Amendment already took away most of those rights and that whatever rights we had left have long since been destroyed by the convoluted ”logic” of the judicial elite that have controlled our government since its early days (Google "Wickard v Filburn").

I don’t completely disagree, but still, I find the Roberts' Ruling remarkable. It is sad and tragic beyond words. This may be nothing less than the final nail in the coffin of what was a brief brilliant flash of human dignity and goodness in an otherwise relentless human saga of brutish oppression, slavery and suffering. That brief flash being a constitutional government that, for the first time in history, enshrined the ideals of individual liberty, equal human rights, and a free market; a country that made great and unprecedented strides towards achieving a better way of life for mankind; a time that spawned a truly miraculous, almost magical, explosion of innovation and wondrous technology.
Our Constitution now lies bleeding on the floor after a cowardly betrayal by utter fools who destroyed that which they swore to protect.

All the conservative pundits on TV and radio say that all we have to do to correct this injustice is to repeal Obamacare. Repealing Obamacare won’t do a thing to undo this new precedent, this brand new “tax-fine” that guts our Constitution and marks the end of the most glorious era in human history.

Re.: Act of Valor (the movie)

Scene where the SEALS caught the arms dealer on his yacht and then got him to spill his guts by simply appealing to his better nature could have come right out of a Saturday Night Live skit.  Really unexpected dose of satire in the middle of an otherwise serious movie that effectively highlighted the absurdity of the ban on water-boarding.

How times have changed since this story took place, back then we were  fighting against FARC (the Colombia based Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerilla organization).  Under Obama, in 2009, we supported a FARC-backed attempt to set up a Hugo Chavez-style dictatorship in Honduras.

(Yeah, I know, you never heard about that.  Long story short, Hugo Chavez buddy and FARC endorsed President Manuel Zelaya tried to declare himself perpetual dictator of Honduras in clear violation of the Honduran constitution.  That didn't go over so well with the Honduran legislature, court system or military who immediately united to remove this wannabe dictator from the country.  Well, constitutions don't carry too much weight with the Obama administration apparently and they immediately branded this a "coup" and took all available actions short of military intervention to compel the Honduran government to accept this Chavez puppet as their new dictator.  I know it's unbelievable.  I'll try and find my other post on this and re-post.)

College students are rioting in the streets; throwing rocks at police and overturning vehicles!

And I'm not talking abut the “Occupy Wall Street” protestors. No, there's actually something going on that makes the Occupy Wall Street “movement” look almost noble. You are not going to believe this but they are rioting at Penn State University because the head football coach got fired for failing to report an alleged homo-sexual rape of a 10 year old child that occurred in the showers of the Penn State football facilities.

For nine years Joe Paterno sat idly by with the knowledge that an alleged homosexual rape had never been reported to authorities, much less investigated. In Joe Paterno's mind he had effectively covered his ass by reporting this hideous offense to one of his co-workers who he considered to be a school authority. Sorry Joe, that does not cut it. You are fired!

Not only was Joe Paterno aware that a homosexual rape had probably occurred, he continued to allow access by that very same alleged homosexual rapist to those very same showers right up until this despicable cover-up was exposed by a grand jury investigation last week! That's nine years from the time Paterno found out about this rape until something was finally done about this!

I don't care if it turns out the accused rapist is innocent (though, with 8 victims & 40 counts against him...), Joe Paterno showed a complete lack of maturity, character, and morality by choosing to protect his friend and former employee and to avoid any personal inconvenience over protecting potential victims of a homosexual rapist; a reckless and irresponsible disregard for the safety and well-being of others.  A choice that, for me, completely defines this man's core character.  How can it not?

What I find more disturbing is the willingness of so many to run to the defense of this jerk. How can somebody be more worried about anything over and above the obvious problem here?  How can anybody put any consideration above the issue that is at the heart of this story: All those innocent children who were brutalized in the most unspeakable of ways?

Paterno was the one who Mike McQueary, who was a student at the time, went to with his eye-witness account of the homosexual rape of a 10 year old child in the shower-room of those above-mentioned football facilities. He was the first and only school authority to whom this was directly reported. I don't care how many people say he fulfilled his legal responsibility in this matter, he clearly did not.

Some are going so far as to praise Joe Paterno for being so honest to the grand jury that was finally investigating this. OK, so now the standard for praiseworthy behavior is NOT lying to a grand jury about something that should have been volunarily reported to police nine years earlier? If that's the case, we're in trouble gang.

As far as I'm concerned, Paterno should be arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy after the fact. Getting fired immediately should go without saying.  How many kids were raped while he waited for someone else to go to the police?  But, apparently in today's world, a lot of people think Joe Paterno didn't do anything wrong.

Makes me want to vomit!

"The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

 

CenturyLink Sucks! ...So I wrote my congressman about it.

11/10/11

Dear Representative Platts,

I hate to bother you about something so trivial when you are faced with so many serious problems in Washington today, but this has really become a bur under my saddle.
Back in July of 2010 I tried to “port” my home phone number from our local phone service provider, CenturyLink, to Vonage. Although I followed all instructions from both companies my original phone number was never “ported”.
Vonage informed me that they had done everything they could to get CenturyLink to release my phone number but that CenturyLink refused to do so. After getting nowhere with CenturyLink myself, despite several attempts, I became frustrated and threatened to file a complaint with the FCC. CenturyLink's response to that threat could best be described as taunting. They encouraged/dared me to file a complaint as they referred to the person I would be dealing with at the FCC by her first name, “Sharon”.
Sure enough, “Sharon” was less than sympathetic to my plight and took CenturyLink's side without any clear explanation of why CenturyLink should be exempt from the Phone Portability Act or why the provisions of said Act would not apply to me & my phone number.
I was provided with the option of taking this all to the next level which, Sharon informed me, would involve a filing fee. Well, I wish I had taken it to the next level but I didn't and now the time limit has expired on that option.
Now, to add insult to injury, I recently called CenturyLink to see about changing my phone service back to them because of problems with Vonage and they wanted $90 from me to “port” my current phone number back to them!
I've included letters I got from CenturyLink and the FCC for reference. They seem to assert that I didn't have a phone number with CenturyLink to be “ported”. That, of course, is absurd and can be quickly refuted by my own records (see included documentation).
Anyway, I just think that any money that we, the taxpayers, are spending on the enforcement of the Phone Portability Act is being wasted. The most disturbing element of this experience was the obviously cozy relationship between the people at CenturyLink and Sharon Bowers at the FCC. So, if you could possibly have her fired, that would be great and I will vote for you forever.

BTW: THE STREETS ARE FILLED WITH COMMUNIST PROTESTORS!!

I don't know if you've heard, but there is a communist uprising in the streets of America:

New York, Washington DC, Miami, Boston, Providence, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, “...the movement has spread to at least 147 cities in the U.S. and 28 overseas.”¹ They are called “Anti-Wall Street Protests” but they are nothing less than a communist uprising in the streets of America. All you have to do is look at their signs or listen to their rhetoric calling for an “End to Capitalism” and a “New Economic System.” They are now putting less effort than ever into disguising their true nature. In other words, the masks are coming off!

Personally, I live in a small town far removed from the city lights and I bet 9 out of 10  people around here haven't even heard about this. I watch FOX News, so I at least get the watered down version of the story.

Everybody thinks FOX News is some kind of front organization for the Tea Party or something. Truth is, FOX News is closer to the other end of the spectrum than they'd like you to believe. Listening to the bemused commentary on these “Anti-Wall Street Protests” you'd think they're no more sinister than a Cub Scout Jamboree.

The response is a little different overseas: From the publication In Defense of Marxism in London: USA: Wall Street rocked by anti-capitalist protests – time to build a labor party!:
“At least 39 unions and community organizations joined Wednesday's march in New York, including groups like MoveOn.org and the Coalition of the Homeless. But by far and away the most powerful were the unions: the United Federation of Teachers, the Communication Workers of America, the United Auto Workers, the United Healthcare Workers, the Public Employees Union DC37, and many others.”³ You can throw in: the Obama administration, George Soros, Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Jessie Jackson, Acorn, SEIU, and the Teamsters...kind of like a Who's Who of the far left.  Like Andy Stern, the head of the SEIU, said in June of 2007 during a television interview, "'Workers of the world unite' isn't just a slogan anymore, it's a way we're going to have to do our work."

Predators and disease always attack the weakest first. Communism infects our children, our poor, the mentally ill, the politicians and the artists in our society like a disease. Communism intends to leverage that influence into an authoritarian and oppressive “new economic system” where bureaucrats replace free-market forces as the final arbiters of success and failure. They infect and cripple the capitalist system with progressive programs and regulations and then claim that capitalism has failed because it is a flawed system. They complain about the corruption of capitalism and in the next breath propose a system that has corruption as its foundation. Just ask anybody who has ever had a business in a communist country, you cannot do one thing without paying off some public official. They are partners in every aspect of your business forever, contributing nothing but protection from the destructive power of the state.

Like Satan himself, Communism cloaks itself in harmless looking disguises so as to trick its way into the hearts and minds of the weakest and most gullible among us. Make no mistake, Communism desires nothing more than to completely separate us from God and send us all to straight to Hell. We ignore these "protests" at our peril.

“Marx's call to eliminate the next world by establishing a utopia on this one was taken up with a vengeance by Lenin and a host of communist leaders who followed him. These despots established atheism as state doctrine in the Soviet Union and other Marxist regimes around the world. In the last hundred years these regimes, led by people like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Nicolae Ceausescu, Enver Hoxha, Fidel Castro, Kim Jong-11, and others, have murdered more than 100 million people. Even Bin Laden, in his wildest dreams, doesn't come close.”²

More than 100 million people! More than the Civil War, both World Wars, the Korean War and Vietnam combined! Try to get your head around that!

Communism has robbed many more of the hope, dignity and freedom that true capitalism, not only affords, but requires. Instead of delivering on its promise to deliver Social Justice and enrich the poor, every time communism is tried, it leaves everybody, except a few of the ruling elite, worse off than before. 

The nature of communism is the nature of evil.  It seeks to trick us into believing that we are like gods and that we can control everything that affects us, that we can create a godless utopia on earth.  As with the abandonment of faith for atheism, only disaster and despair await those fools who abandon capitalism for the false promise of communism..

But, hey, it's just a bunch of innocent kids expressing themselves.  Isn't that cute.  (sarcasm)

"A man who rides on the back of a tiger will find it very difficult when he tries to dismount.”³ 

1) Esmé E. Deprez and Alison Vekshin "Anti-Wall Street Protesters March From NYC to San Francisco" October 06, 2011 Bloomberg Businessweek

2) Dinesh D'Souza. Life After Death: The Evidence (pp. 188-189). Kindle Edition.

3) Alan Woods Thursday, 06 October 2011 In Defense of Marxism, marxism.com