100 Days of Obama

Back on February 22, I posed the concept of a revolution in my column, and since then the concept of Texas seceding has popped out from no less than the governor.

This tells me that the fears for our country are not only grounded in the economy but other areas as well.

Now the administration is coming up on 100 days old.

My political philosophy is by no means related to the Democrats or Republicans and in fact I see little difference between them in their quest to build an ever larger government to better exercise control of “The Folks”.

We Libertarians believe in personal freedom while maintaining personal responsibility, and strongly oppose any government interfering in personal, family and business decisions.   

Essentially, we believe all Americans should be free to live their lives and pursue their interests as they see fit as long as they do no harm to another.
We are advocates for a smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

Back in 2004, I suggested that Mr. Obama was a rising star when he delivered such a stellar speech at the Democratic National Convention that year.

He has demonstrated himself to be a great communicator with powerful skills of persuasion that he uses to great advantage.

Much of his success is the direct result of these skills.

Properly used President Obama could lead the country and even the world out of the malaise of the current economic crisis but he could also lead our “nation of the free” into the slavery of socialism.

Initially, the big issues are related to the control of our economy through the banks and investment firms which is well on the way, with further controls on our educational system, and means of productivity and the financial rewards for being productive.

The claws of this control are poised –

The federal government begins by taking money from us in the form of Taxes and then returns it to us in the form of school aid providing that our children are taught in the schools that they direct they must go to, and where they learn the information as specified and presented in the proscribed manner. This influence continues on to universities as well. Perhaps we can remember threatening removal of federal funds for reasons like the removal of military recruiters.

If we look at the causes of our financial maladies, we see banks encouraged to push government backed mortgages to folks whose assets and income did not support the payments just to guarantee government goals of social engineering.

On the horizon we see shadows of socialized medicine for all.

Health care workers in Canada and England confirm reports of delayed access to many services because of long lines.  In some cases like nursing homes the wait of as long as two years effectively makes it unavailable. It appears that the tax system is having difficulty supporting the English system which is substantially reducing staff. In Canada many are getting U.S. Health insurance so as to have reliable health care available when needed and in Europe many are taking medical vacations to places like India and the Philippines for what they need. Is it any wonder that we hear reports that the cost of Medicare is creating more and more financial problems for the budget? We do not need to be further enslaved with government run health care that may decide that some services are too costly to be provided to the old or mentally infirm!

Could our president be moving our world step by step in particular our nation towards a socialist domination of the politicos supported by the religion of the state as was hinted at in the election rhetoric.

One only has to look at the candidates’ speeches related to experience such as perceiving folks in small towns as leaning on religion or their firearms as a crutch. That comes with a Marxist “elite” tome. In the same vein we cannot forget the excessive legal challenges to the way some celebrate the joy of their religions publically to get a sense of the prevailing directions. 

I personally like President Obama as I perceive him in his public appearances and his beliefs in being open and clear with regard to the operations of his administration.

Which way will the president lead and will we follow? Will it be towards the government control of a Socialist Government or will it be towards a more genuinely representative, republican form of government which might result government interfering less in my personal, family and business decisions.

On last Friday the 13^th of March, the Fox News Channel and commentator Glen Beck launched what could only be called a political support group, The912Project. The supporting Web site “The912Project.com” was overwhelmed from the giant deluge of supporters and had to be rescued by mirror Web sites for some time. I was only able to log on without trouble on Sunday.

I had noted the promotion but didn’t think the response would be that big a deal.

Mr. Beck is a conservative idealist that claims to be Libertarian in thought.

He claims the movement is in response to a failure of the government to adhere to the traditional constitutional principals and that much of the populace was loosing the ideals that have made our country great.

It seems that whenever we are told there is a crisis we give the government more authority to increase control to confiscate money and resources from some to pay support of others, This control has now reached to the schools as they now limit what schools are to be attended by not allowing the less affluent of us choose better schools. The government through the various grants and benefit programs now dictates what we think and what and how children are are taught even to the point schools may keep their activities secret from the parents.

It wasn’t long ago here in Texas that a community would choose to build a school and hire a teacher that would provide an education for their children. In fact it was so important that that was one of the named reasons for the fight for Texas Independence.

It now seems that folks are willing to give up their liberties to entrust that government with unlimited power to dictate how we should think and act in return for money that is confiscated from others. Just a few short years ago folks would go to great lengths to become self sufficient and in times of need the neighbors and religious communities would discretely help them through the rough times.

I am saddened when I see people use the resources given to them to become successful, have the benefits of their successes confiscated by the government to give them to others with no input. I know many families that take pleasure in discretely helping those in need through donations through the church which is more aware of the needs and is much more efficient than the government.

Now we have a crisis where the fine machinations of government control of banking, social engineering of housing and production have gone haywire. The response has been to identify a few crooks and keep them in the media to divert interest in the governmental screw-up. Then they borrow astronomical sums to spend and socially engineer even more. Then they promise to raise taxes ever higher to confiscate even more from the folks that would provide the jobs that we need. Then they seize control of banks and the means of production (cars) with the stimulus program. Worse yet China and the UN accuses our government of being a deadbeat.

Perhaps it is that bad that the government is now so out of control that our representatives rule us by giving out trinkets to keep us quiet.

Mr Beck and his associates thinks that a ground roots movement can bring about change by encouraging more interest and focus on what our rulers are doing to us. It might just help. The same thoughts and concerns have been raised before.

Periodically, the classic movie channels have shown the 1941 Classic “Meet John Doe” with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.

This appeal for grass roots interest in the government and your fellow neighbors, was released in 1940, when Nazi sympathizers were gaining a potent voice in America, just prior to our involvement in WWII. Could it be we now have a home induced leaning for National Socialism.
The principal character, ‘Long John’ Willoughby (played by Gary Cooper), has fallen on hard times.

In his public speaking he says that he intends to commit suicide, giving as his reason, ‘I protest against the state of civilization.’ He first explains who a typical Mr. John Doe is - the average little man:

He goes on to say ” I am the man you all know as John Doe. I took that name because it seems to describe…the average man - and that’s me.  And that’s me. Well, it was me before I said I was going to jump off the City Hall roof at midnight on Christmas Eve. Now I guess I’m not average anymore. Now I’m getting all sorts of attention, from big shots too, the mayor and the governor, for instance. They don’t like those articles…”

The premise of the story is further described in his speech more earnest and effective as his own feelings come to the forefront, that it is necessary to get up on their feet and pull together as a team. He talks of his faith in the basic goodness of the common man and promotes brotherly love with one’s neighbor (the guy next door, one’s teammate):

John Doe goes on and says “They’ve started a lot of talk about free people goin’ soft, that we can’t take it. That’s a lot of hooey! A free people can beat the world at anything, from war to tiddlywinks, if we all pull in the same direction.
I know a lot of you are saying, ‘What can I do? I’m just a little punk. I don’t count. Well, you’re dead wrong. The little punks have always counted because in the long run, the character of a country is the sum total of the character of its little punks.
But we’ve all got to get in there and pitch. We can’t win the old ball game unless we have teamwork. And that’s where every John Doe comes in. It’s up to him to get together with his teammate, and your teammate, my friends, is the guy next door to ya. Your neighbor - he’s a terribly important guy, that guy next door. You’re gonna need him and he’s gonna need you, so look him up. If he’s sick, call on him. If he’s hungry, feed him. If he’s out of a job, find him one. To most of you, your neighbor is a stranger, a guy with a barkin’ dog and a high fence around him. Now you can’t be a stranger to any guy that’s on your own team. So tear down the fence that separates you. Tear down the fence and you’ll tear down a lot of hates and prejudices. Tear down all the fences in the country and you’ll really have teamwork.. Wake up, John Doe, you’re the hope of the world.”

What we really need in the here and now as we are faced with serious infringement on our liberty and way of life, is work as a team like our John Doe.

It seems that Mr. Beck may have a good idea because it may just be that bad. I for one will be following the Project and its successes.

On Tuesday, March 7, Texas celebrated the adoption of the Declaration of Independence at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836.

The basis for this revolution and cry for independence was similar to that of the United States and memorialized in part by excerpts from that declaration that passionately state that Texans felt most important that Mexico:

‘has failed and refused to secure, on a firm basis, the right of trial by jury, that palladium of civil liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, liberty, and property of the citizen.’

‘has failed to establish any public system of education’

‘denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a national religion, calculated to promote the temporal interest of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God’

‘has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defence, the rightful property of freemen, and formidable only to tyrannical governments’

I was surprised to find little mention in the media in remembrance of the ideals of freedom and liberty that provide the opportunities for us all. No where is there a promise of great success, just a guarantee of the opportunity to pursue them.  That was enough for those brave men at the Alamo and San Jacinto to give up their lives. That is still enough for our sons and daughters to do the same today but unfortunately we don’t remember what we have won and how we secured it.

It also seems that some of us are willing to give up these hard won freedoms and return to an imperial master to tell us what we need and provide it.

One only need look around to see our precious religious beliefs publically scorned as unimportant and ridiculous to follow. Similarly, almost daily there are attacks by the intelligencia and some government entities that would remove our right to possess and bear arms.

All we seem to do is wait for the government rulers to tell us what we need next and promise us that they will give it to us by taking the resources away from someone else.

A system where resources are forced to be provided according to ability and given to those according to need (except when they are the rulers and get what they want first), without regard to the individual ingenuity and labor has been labeled socialism in the past and failed miserably.

Like so many others, I grew up in less than affluent circumstances and still had many opportunities for great success but chose directions that were counterproductive sometimes so I achieved the level of success that I earned. Even at this time in my life, somewhat passing middle age, I still aspire to more achievement and work towards those goals. To me that is what life is about!

Our rulers, it seems, in order to stay in power, is trying to exercise control over our lives.

Even now in this time of economic hardship, and international upheaval they are trying to cause even more fear and despondency so that we will grant them even more power over us. If we continue with the politics of large imperial policies of the past Republocrat/Demopublican administrations and the royal bureaucrats that are supposed to represent us we are begging to return to times that brought on the Texas revolution.

I have belonged to and supported both the Republican and Democrat Parties but the Democrats ceased being the party of the common man and graduated into imperial socialists with policies dictated the “Royalcrats” the Republicans have ceased being the party of small government and become “Royalcrats” as well. In both cases many of the basic tenets provide the foundations of a Marxist Classless society where resources are supplied according to ability and dispensed according to need by the government.

The past election appears to have been a referendum on the amount of socialism and government control that we can tolerate. We are now watching trillions of dollars in payoffs that we can ill afford. While some handouts will find a way to those in need mostly the rulers and their supporters will be enriched and become stimulation from the stimulation packages.

Back in November I didn’t see many candidates, that would demand that the federal government act within the bounds of the authority granted to it by the individual states in the Constitution. There are now fewer representatives who will stand up for what is right and lead our people back to our roots of liberty?

It seems if one remains politically correct it only invites further transgressions against our liberty.
At election time, Natalia Garcia wrote a letter to the editor referring to the Democratic Party primary election system where “Super Delegates” crowned that party’s nomination for President with little consideration of the votes at the primary election. How much more imperial can we get!

It is no crucial that we as a people reject the politics of derision and embrace the mutual goal of returning our nation to its roots of individual liberty and personal responsibility. On this anniversary of the founding of our State, I ask you to join me in this.

Get involved and make a difference. Encourage new candidates with a passion for liberty run for office and challenge those who would rule over us as opposed to representing the interests of the people.

Begin by helping clean our own city and county and rejecting those moneyed politicians who place the profits of their special interest benefactors above the rights of the people. Look beyond parties and follow the money. Further, help elect a new Congress next year as well.

Become an informed citizen, for only an informed electorate can be the guardian of liberty.

Most of all support your candidates and then vote. If we can revive some of the passion of our founders, we may then deserve to be free.

I am usually optimistic but of late the storm of trials that has fallen upon us is getting to me. The Democratic machine of Illinois that gave us President Obama continues to demonstrate what politics today is really like and the credibility of our supposed representatives with the new revelations of Senator Roland Burris in the “Blago Chronicles.” Is this politics as usual today?
The recent Mallard Fillmore cartoon caption said, “I must be getting old.”
I remember when I could tell the Republicans from the Democrats.
It shows us that even the conservative commentary is losing confidence in the here and now of the traditional alternative.
Then to top it all off and in vindication of my tirades of the last year, the current Newsweek blasts out, “We are all Socialists Now!”
Who brought us to the door of socialism with the “buying and exercising ownership control of our banks, effectively nationalizing them? The Republican administration.
That same “conservative” administration that enacted the largest expansion of the welfare state in 30 years with prescription drugs for the elderly. People on the both the left and right want government to put our tax money in alternative energies in order to break our addiction to foreign oil. And it is unlikely that even the most self-reliant of states will decline federal money for infrastructure improvements.
As the current administration passes the largest money bill in American history, caps the salaries of executives at institutions receiving federal aid, and introduces a new plan to rescue the banking industry, the unemployment rate is rising to its highest in 16 years. The stock tickers have slumped to 1998 levels, and last year mortgage foreclosures went up more than 80 percent.
All of this is evolving in an economy that can no longer be understood. Whether we like it or not, the numbers clearly suggest that we are headed in a more European direction. Ten years ago government spending was 34 percent of our gross domestic product, compared with 48.2 percent in Europe, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In 2010 U.S. spending is expected to be 39.9 percent of GDP, compared with 47.1 percent in the Euro zone.
We now expect entitlement spending to rise over the next decade; we will become even more European!
Americans are not socialists. And most of us don’t want to be. But the media continue to bulldoze us with their fear that private ownership of property is somehow more dangerous than the government’s seizure of what he does not understand, cannot operate, and has not earned.
Unless we want to give up our traditions like those won at the Alamo.
A theme that rings so clear is that the only thing the folks wanted was the freedom from an interfering national government.
When the U.S. Constitution was being written, In the debate it was very clear that the framers of the Constitution wanted the same thing.
The major contentions were how best to protect the people from the government. Contentions surrounding the Bill of Rights demonstrate it well. The Federalists contended that a bill of rights was not necessary as the federal government did not have the authority or power to do any of the things mentioned and that the mandates contained in Article 2 Section 9 were sufficient. Many also asserted that if they were specifically mentioned in the Constitution, it would be inferred that the federal government did have that power and that an activist court would take advantage of them.
The opposition was so afraid of the power of an interfering central government they insisted on the Bill of Rights to protect them and possibly to even delay the approval of the new Constitution. Further, the founders specifically described those powers the several states could not exercise in Article 1 Sec 10.
It would appear that the fears of the anti-Federalists have been well founded, as the national government now interferes with nearly every aspect in our lives, either to protect us from terrorism or the misdeeds of others, or as a condition of the financial supports that have become part of daily life.
It is time for a revolution, a revolution of ideals we need to look back to our roots and elect representatives who really don’t want to be powerful but just want the best for our country. We want citizen statesmen to go to Washington to save us. We want to entreat folks like our brave soldiers and sailors who have proven their honor on a field of battle to go to Washington and defend us again. I remember such a fine young man who wrote describing the war in The Brownsville Herald. I know I would have no problem nominating and voting for Ben Christensen or someone like him to represent us in Congress. The incumbents, whose excesses have gotten us into this peril, must be replaced in the next election.

Recently, As a representative of the Libertarian Party, I was invited by Sergio Sanchez to join him on his “Open Phones” Radio Show, to comment on the Economy Stimulus Package.

The turn in discussion was quite critical and gave support to the idea that it was mostly a spending package designed to repay the political idealists for the votes in the last election.

The discussion substantially focused my previous concern at the impact of the package in specific and the trends towards socialist cultural engineering they portend.

I have long thought that helping our sick and poor neighbors was primarily the responsibility of their neighbors usually through local religious institutions. I believe that time and resources I provide are best and most efficiently managed locally and by the church or charitable organizations that are most knowledgeable about the real needs. The elites and rulers in Washington do not care as much for the people as they do about getting reelected where the charity only cares about satisfying all the needs.

Currently, the United States Government is the largest charitable organization in the World with the Catholic Church in second place.

It would seem that the government is trying to displace religion in our culture and the churches are even helping by begging the government to send checks and supporting the political agendas that would absolve their responsibilities to their flocks.

Many of the recipients of the government largess see the checks as payments due them not as charity designed to help the real impoverished and those temporarily disadvantaged. In fact the government is becoming the religion of socialism, seizing resources from those who have been more successful, to pay their constituency, with the goal being to remain in power.

The founders of our country designed the nation to prevent the government from becoming and specified limitations to the government so that we would not again be controlled by the imperial government we are supporting today.

The solution is coming in just over a year and one-half when the members of the House of Representatives will be up for election. All we need is to, not elect any incumbents!

My Libertarian political beliefs are being proven to me more and more every day as I see this group or that placing all their hopes in getting that government check that will make the world, as they see it, well again.

Then the political players say “if you do this or pay this we will get you that. We only have to look to the debacle with the governor of Illinois to see the world as those in the halls of power see it. If the bribe for a seat in the National Senate is worth $1,000,000 what would you think the Senator can expect as a result of his office? Perhaps the tax issues of Senator Daschle, which resulted in the disclosure of millions of dollars earned in just a few years after his last public office, will give a hint of the payback.

This is what happens when being a representative of the people becomes a profit making business.

The offices should all have term limits of no more than two tours and the pension benefits should be limited to social security.

Consider; What is the administration’s view of bi-partisanship? Several nominees for office with specific issues that prevented approval of officials in previous administrations are being approved. Somehow the rues have changed = I wonder why!

Some actions are leading me to believe our rulers are trusting our enemies more than each other.

Others try to convince me that the government can run business better than businessmen; when people who have proven to be of questionable trust are placed at the highest positions – Sec of Treasury didn’t pay self employment tax and then accepted reimbursement for it. He blamed TurboTax software for not warning him and got off without even a penalty. I have used Turbo Tax since the first issue and have found that self employment tax is automatically computed, you have to override the situation to avoid payment.

The folks are becoming more and more discouraged with their current political leadership, which has resulted in more media interest in alternate political thinking. Just in the last few weeks Libertarians like Vice-President candidate Wayne Allyn Root,  Ron Paul and Penn Jillette were interviewed  on the mainstream media for Libertarian views.

2008 was arecord-breaking year for the Texas Libertarian Party.  Not only did two candidates break the million-vote mark, it was also the first time in the Party’s history that our presidential vote total went up in three consecutive presidential elections.
Indeed, the foundation is set for the Libertarian Party to become the nation’s leading political party fully dedicated to the principles of the Constitution, and the philosophy of liberty.
One of the core victories for the Libertarian Party in 2008 was the retention of ballot access status in Texas.  Instead of the thousands of signatures to get Libertarians on the ballot; in 2012, it will take 0. 

Renewals on membership are up 108 percent compared to the same time period in 2004 election period.

People are looking for an alternate to the current missrun government.

I join the Libertarians and ask Congress to give everyone a “Tim Geithner tax break”

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a good premise to live by but unfortunately does not have the same result, everywhere.

In the case of religious choice the hate because of a supposed different, in fact not trusting or liking someone that is somehow different than your self is bigotry.

This bigotry is very evident when it erupts into hostility which has become very evident in the Middle East in the last few years.

In earlier years the Inquisition looked very similar.

Even within the different religious groups many segments have split off the original Christian Church and still bear some hostility.

Currently, the most dangerous conflict relates to what is being referred to as Fundamentalist or Radical Islam. In her book “They Must be stopped” best selling writer Brigitte Gabriel states that all non-Muslims are regarded as enemies worthy of death. They also believe that since any treaties are not valid they can treat them merely as tools to permit rearming. That seems to agree with the activities that we now see in regard to Iran backed Hamas.

I don’t know whether that is the case all the time but certainly worth being taken into consideration.

In the press lately, a discussion of the diplomacy being considered by the incoming President advanced carrots and sticks as motivations. The result was a rebuttal that the terms used were insults and referred to animals.

I am wondering at what the success of the U.S. diplomacy will be like with the promised policy changes in our intelligence methodology in place.

The TV Show 24 came on and Jack Bauer was being questioned by Congress about Super Secret CTU and extraordinary measures used to gather information. Then memories of the Carter Administration destruction of human intelligence activities. As many of America’s best became contractors available at the best price the administration lost much of the verifiable information in the middle east.

It would appear that the customary motivations may just not work. The idea of adopting Sharia law, which may ultimately be the only solution that these folks could accept; though certainly could not be considered in the U.S.

It might that be the politically correct position, and treating military enemies as simple criminals could again put us at risk without real intelligence. Let us consider to many of our enemies world destruction is not a bad thing and will result in the better place in the hereafter.

The Washington politicians that now deem themselves as the all knowing and most powerful genies that would decide exactly what we all need and give us exactly that.

The Congress that proudly claimed popularity in the low teens even worse than President Bush, is mostly still there. The Congresspersons whose party dominated Congress and the economy in the last two years still determine the direction of the nation. The Congress that determined to provide housing to folks, without adequate credit, at the cost of our banking system is still there.

The Republican administration, though they were not responsible for all the ills that are befalling us, certainly made a number of mistakes. Many of which were discussed by President Bush in recent interviews.

In spite of more than enough problems on all the political sides, the rhetoric and hate for all things Bush continues unabated by the same folks that determine what is politically correct for the rest of us. I would think now is the time to move on with the new administration and hopefully a more optimistic attitude of change that was promised by Candidate Obama.

At home the world we thought we could count on is no longer there. The realities of life have been revised by what is defined as political correctness. A few folks decide how we all must live and talk so that another would not become uncomfortable. Frequently, the activity may only not agree with another’s perception of truth or reality and interfere with the following an accepted practice of Religion in violation of another Constitutional Amendment. The actual change is accomplished by the threat of an expensive court action or damaging public promotion.

The traditions and practices of traditional Christianity have appeared to change and lose consistency so that many followers in Europe where secularism has bloomed now leave the churches nearly empty. Not unrelated in these countries unrest in the streets is becoming commonplace, the economies in good times is weakening. At home the same problems are popping up in the larger cities where the rules are blurring and becoming ignored more and more.

Here in Texas the elite state rulers are even trying to keep new fresh ideas from being heard by limiting those who can run for election to those anointed by the “bosses”.

Texas Representative Robert Alonzo (D-Dallas) has introduced HB 246. It would move primary elections from early March to early February, in all election years. Because the date of the Texas primary is tied to the deadline for petitions for both new political parties and for independent candidates (for office other than president) to submit petitions, those deadlines would become even earlier.

Existing law puts the new party deadline in late May, and the non-presidential independent candidate deadline in early May. If the bill is passed, those deadlines would be in April. That would give Texas the 2nd earliest petition deadline for new parties (except for states in which new parties must nominate by primary) in the nation. Only New Mexico, which has an early April deadline for new parties, would be earlier (again, except for states in which new parties nominate by primary)

A local blogger attributed the following to a prominent politician that I voted for.

“Our country requires a moderate third voice–fiscally conservative but socially liberal–because the either/or approach of the Democrats and Republicans is failing us as a nation.”

Locally, our BISD rulers are in the news. We now have a different power center so it must be time to gain influence over one cash cow or other so they have to get rid of the other guys influence in the Superintendent.

Rumor has it that the battle may be over procedural matters at special education hearings or approving the acquisition of insurance policies. I don’t know for sure but it only matters at this point that there is a battle going on that distracts from the possibility of effective education which did not seem to be a problem with any of our past Superintendants. I believe we need a stable committed leadership in BISD and feel that any Board that wants to change the Superintendent should have to have it approved at a public election vote before effective. It would seem that we can not trust the board after being influenced in the BISD Coliseum; an opinion shared in recent letters to the editor.

The Holiday Season is behind us now the strains of Christmas music are fading and that warmth and optimism that only this season can engender seem to be fading. The realities of the New Year portending the weakening economy and the daily grind are becoming stronger. Still to come is the New Year’s celebration and the look back at what has gone into the past and the resolutions to improve ourselves for 2009.

The War in Iraq seems to be slowing and reaching a tentative solution but the War in Afghanistan is becoming more tentative and touchy. The pressures in the area are creating stability problems in Pakistan which has overflowed into India. The fact that both countries have nuclear weapons, and also have social and religious passions that make the concept of mutual destruction an effective deterrent, much less valid. The likelihood that Iran may also join the nuclear club as well makes “the end of days” even more possible.

Closer to our daily lives the optimism and confidence we normally have in the future has led to a weakening of the economy of the world. We are seeing the firstly in the lack of confidence the banks have in future business which has shown itself in the retreating from extending credit except to only the solid gold that do not need it. The result is that business that depends on credit such as larger valued transactions like houses, cars and appliances to decline.

Businesses now must compete harder for the business that are there taking every opportunity to do more to satisfy the customer. The product must be more useful and the service must be better.

With the Christmas shopping behind us, I am sure that each one of us can think of a ales person that could have been more considerate and gotten the sale that we look elsewhere.

We can look forward to more difficult times and I expect that others will be watching their money just as our family will to assure we get good value for the fewer resources we have.

Not long ago we purchased a new car and within months a panel underneath the engine compartment came loose and fell off while driving from a scheduled dealer checkup. We notified the dealer who advised that the situation was indeed a recall and would be repaired at no cost when they received one. They repaired it as promised several weeks later but it again fell off. This is not just a case of poor dealer service but also caused us to loose confidence in that make of vehicle for a future purchase.

On another occasion we had purchased a used GM car from a new car dealer only to find that the battery went dead a few weeks later and resulted in engine lights too turn on which only the dealer could satisfy at a charge of $100. We also found that an extra ignition key would cost $70. These surprises were indeed unpleasant and even though valid because of the security involved caused us to remove that dealer from consideration when the next purchase comes along.

I know over the years I have continued to support those providers that have been courteous and considerate even though more expensive.

Probably the biggest problem is when the company gets too large that they forget to provide the service that supported their growth. The most common of these are telephone and cable services.

Some years ago my South Western Bell phone service developed a terrible static that affected my service every time it rained. After repeated attempts to correct the situation over the period of a year the company determined that it was in the house and not their problem. I shortly thereafter secured service with Time Warner who was just beginning to provide those services. I liked the quality so much I soon purchased the internet and television services as well. The static problem went away and as Time Warner had local technical support, the eventual problems were quickly and courteously corrected.

Time has passed and I have found that technical support for this area is now in El Paso. The problems now often require a thirty minute wait to talk to someone who cannot help and refers you to a higher level of support. On several occasions I have reached level 3 with fifteen to thirty minute waits in between.

As you might guess the eventual horror story came about. Just prior to Christmas I thought I might give myself the present of a faster internet connection. I called and inquired only to be told that in order to receive the benefit my bundling of services would have to be changed which could result in spending more than the additional price of the product desired. The sales person said that because I have been a customer of long standing that it would be worked out however. I was also informed that if the product was not as I expected I could cancel within two months. Within one day I found that the increased speed did not justify the change so I called and cancelled. I was again told that the further re-bundeling of my services would be required and would be more expensive than previous. I acquiesced and services were restored or so I thought. I soon found that in the process my phone service had been terminated and restored resulting in a change in my phone number. I was not informed until a relative advised me that from the caller ID he did not recognize the number from Friday until Monday I called the different levels of technical support with the extensive wait times in between. I was told different descriptions of what happened at every call from different people. I finally reached a young lady support person at the El Paso center that despite previous information that it was not possible to retrieve my former phone number, advised me that the number would be restored in four days. On subsequent call the technical people advised that the number would be restored on Dec 31 and on the latest call I was advised that I would have my number restored on January 8. Lastly, we were promised a phone credit for the month. As of press time there has been no resolution with the phone issue for 16 days.

I was very tempted to change services because of the deteriorating service but because I am physically incapacitated and need the services badly, I chose not to change. We will see if the services are restored properly this time and whether there has been an increase in charges on December 30. How nice it would have been to have explained the problem only once and to have the support person actually support the service.

How similar to politics this is becoming where those that is supposed to help us just become too important to do it.

I saw a terrific movie lately that described the problem and the solution. “Meet John Doe” – a1941 movie starring a bashful Gary Cooper with the famous unassuming attitude, and Barbara Stanwyck.

Infuriated at being laid off from her job as a newspaper columnist from The New Bulletin, Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from the unemployed “John Doe,” threatening suicide in protest of society’s ills. When the note causes a sensation, the newspaper is forced to rehire Mitchell. After reviewing a number of derelicts who have shown up at the paper claiming to have penned the original suicide letter, Ann and Henry Connell decide to hire John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a former baseball player and tramp who is in need of money to repair his injured arm, to play John Doe.

The Doe philosophy spreads across the country, developing into a political movement, with financial support from the newspaper’s publisher, D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold), who plans to channel the support for Doe into support for his own political ambitions.

This movie focuses on the idea that most people are decent idealists who actually want to help the neighbor, but don’t want to admit it. They want to appear cool with whatever the popular thoughts are being advanced by their friends not what they have thought for themselves.

The bottom line was that we “the folks” are the powerful and are the only ones who know what is good for us John Does.

When we get tired of being mis-used by those that are supposed to work for us we will start electing competent representatives to government and avoid wars and other crises. We need to start in the local elections as we already have too many less than greats there now.

]]> http://www.the-drews.com/2008/12/28/looking-back-and-then-to-2009/feed/ http://www.the-drews.com/2008/12/14/the-annual-reflection/ http://www.the-drews.com/2008/12/14/the-annual-reflection/#comments Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:36:29 +0000 Fred http://www.the-drews.com/?p=374 Published Brownsville Herald December 14, 2008

The Christmas Season is upon us again! Strains of “Peace to men of good will” are in the air and the three Magi are about to present gifts.

Thanksgiving is now a warm memory of family around the table and the tastes and smells of turkey and fixins’.

I had many ‘thanks’ to remember, in that my health continues to improve, and that we were blessed with our first grandchild; a gorgeous little girl named Rowan.

To top it off, my son even found time to visit us from New York, for two weeks as well.

The times have changed enormously in how we all think of things; perhaps for the better perhaps not.

There seems that there are more different approaches to the prominent public conflicts such as right to life. Even within the local Catholic Diocese leadership the political approach towards abortion lacks clarity in that there seems to be some equivocation that supports immigration and government entitlements as having a priority over “right to life” as was demonstrated during the recent elections.

When I came to Brownsville from New York, well more than two decades ago, I was impressed with how courteous and respectful every one was. In fact I was shocked when I was driving down a two lane highway and as I approached a vehicle going much slower the driver pulled onto the shoulder and let me pass. My New York stunted brain had a tough time processing that.

Now, twenty-two years later, I am still in awe of the decency that generally pervades the community. It is astounding that here when someone asks how you are doing they genuinely care. It always raises my spirits and I reply that “if I was doing any better there would have to be two of me!”

I have come to love the Rio Grande Valley as it is much like the rural community of my youth, complete with foibles.

Political sides are focused on overbearing leadership, mismanagement of the school system or perceived corruption, ignoring one place or another with public infrastructure and on. All politics is local politics and very similar from one place to another.

What really concerns me more than the issues that will persist as long as there are two people on Earth to disagree on how things should be accomplished is the viciousness that pervades the public discourse today in general!

Political or community leaders or rulers are described as evil, criminal or worse because they advocate a point of view or act on an issue that is not in agreement with the particular “mainstream” that the individual belongs to. Rather than take the time to research the issue and determine independently what the issue really is, the perspective described by “the crowd” or “Comedy Central” is taken to be the absolute truth.

The reality is that the truth is somewhere between what the different postures and especially in real life, perspective changes and evolves.

One of the causes for this lack of civility is a sense powerlessness in evaluating a set of circumstances and making a judgment independent of the crowd.

Judgments as to what is the more likely a truth seem to be necessarily what the crowd thinks. Determinations and actions based on the information, alternatives in the event there are more ways to consider things, and consequences of those determinations and actions are just not thought all the way through – they pass right into emotion.

This ability to think is the result of real exposure to the liberal arts of good literature, music and art which seems to have gotten lost in today’s education.

If one reads about how issues are dealt with whether it be a non-fiction record of one person’s view of the past or a fictional record of what might have happened the ability to think is greatly enhanced.

Today the only way to be exposed to these things is to watch such things as the History Channel, Public Television and then it is mostly us old folks that do that. However, in many cases the information is corrupted by the prevailing perception of the presenter. This is particularly noticeable especially in descriptions of our adventures in Vietnam, and life circumstances in Asia; I have been there and the situation as I saw it was vastly different than that is often described.

Other changes are seen in the popular television we watch. The TV programs of my youth in the 50’s, like “Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver”, showed the social ideal of the family, even though it probably didn’t exist and no one could come close. Today – The George Lopez program shows us the reality of family; his father character was dyslexic as a youth and he shows the normal family problems with his son dealing with the same issues. The teen daughter is also shown with the same issues of today. To me this is a much better approach.

Through out history humanity continues to make the same mistakes – Are we really following the same path as the world followed in 1938 when Hitler was on the rise; are we really facing an apocalypse as the President of Iran says is their mission in his speeches to his countrymen? Was Hitler responsible for killing the groups of people that he blamed for his problems or is that just a conspiracy?

Without a well founded view of the real records of human thought – the literature of the ages – how can we evaluate anything?

The result of all of this is that since a rational analysis cannot be made of a situation the individual responsible is somehow evil as is anyone supporting him; not unlike the thinking responsible for blaming witches for the wrongs that befell early communities.

Today’s schools focus on the accumulation of technical skills and information and forget that one needs to know how to think and then put those thoughts into action. When that is not successful the focus is expanded to remove expectations of achievement and reward successes so that the young will not feel hurt.

The result is that there are less and less consequences for poor behavior. More and more young folks are finding themselves in trouble when all the signals given do not spell out an expected standard of behavior and a specific and appropriate consequence for a mis-behavior that will not be overruled by a board member or higher manager.

As a former law enforcer, my experience tells me that a preponderance of violators had no foundation of boundaries and expectations, nor any expectation that there would be real consequences for poor behavior. It has just gone out of style. Self realization and self expression mean nothing, if the individual has no point of reference as to where he is and where he wants to go. Few young folks finishing high school or even college today have a defined goal with a plan as to how to achieve that goal and expectations along the way.

As a dad I can tell you factually that everyone needs a set of boundaries and expectations to live by and develop goals with. These boundaries taken with a real expectation of consequences for violating them will replace the current insecurity born incivility with confidence and sense of purpose. An individual “moral compass” will help guide our young folks.

This is by no means an indictment of education but a challenge to the community to find out for your self what is really going on and consider the circumstance not the individual.

For our future and indeed our survival, we need to rethink how education accomplished; how the information is provided and how the abilities to make use of that information are inculcated.

Perhaps the educational system could strategically retreat to a point where we were doing well and do it over. We need the arts to return, in order to fully develop thinking skills and a set of boundaries and expectations to encourage a confidence and sense of order.

It is not an issue of money but of priority!

On Veterans Day I watched two really great movies on the Classic Movie Channel; The Stage Door Canteen of 1943 Hollywood Canteen of 1944. They showed the great things the celebrities did for our soldiers during World War II.

The “boys” were served, entertained and danced with the greats of the day in the “USO Canteens” in New York and Los Angeles. The support for our boys “over there” was far greater than today when Veterans Day is not even a real Holiday in many places.

With the undeclared wars in Korea and Vietnam regard lessened for the importance of our sons and daughters that volunteer to go to war to protect our “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”.

Today, I see very few USO Canteens, no movies in support of their work , more frequently hostility.

I served in the Vietnam Conflict and had the privilege of seeing the Bob Hope USO tour and several others.

This period really started the decline as I remember coming home to chants of being a “baby killer”. Fortunately things have improved but not nearly enough.

Our warriors need medical facilities close enough to get to them and they are certainly not adequate even here where there are so many in need.

The “For our veterans” Editorial in the Brownsville Herald on Veterans Day Tuesday November 12, 2008 expressed brighter hope that our soldiers would be relieved of the questionable military action in Iraq. It expressed the great sentiments: “We can best honor our veterans by maintaining policies that pursue peace, and help ensure that they and their children will be sent into harm’s way only to defend our country, and only after all efforts at peaceful resolution of conflict have been exhausted.

In recent times the more the public sees of the reality, once Pandora’s box is open and the war is out, revulsion at the horrors become part of the costs of war and immediate resolution is demanded.
The costs of surrender or the likelihood of a quickly negotiated settlement coming back to infect us again and again are not taken as serious considerations in order to recover some sense of saneness.
We can also see that the polarization of the country, without the domestic propaganda of the past, gains a life of its own and is aggravated by the personal goals of the media and politicians. That national divisiveness is in itself a weakening of our nation and its defenses and in part a success for our enemy.
It seems evident that the only real way for a war to end is when one side clearly loses the ability to prosecute the conflict or the war just continues to flare up later.
A much more acceptable choice is not to go to war, but if necessary, as a last resort we must learn from the successes of the past and the follies of the more recent past.
Let’s help all our military men and women become veterans, not casualties of war — especially a war that was built on lies and fought on questionable terms. Then they can live long, fruitful lives filled with parades and other signs of a nation’s gratitude”

To me the war was questionable because congress never declared it specifically; and the President did not request a declaration specifying what we were going to do and how we would know it was over.

“The War Powers Act of 1973” passed by Congress over the veto of then President Nixon guarantees no accountability for the decisions that can have such a horrendous impact on us folks.
The Act requires the President only to report to Congress any introduction of U.S. forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities and when submitted, requires that the use of forces must be terminated within 60 to 90 days unless Congress authorizes such use or extends the time period. It also mandates that the “President in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing” U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities. After that so long as Congress keeps authorizing money the war keeps on. Congress can keep providing the funding “for the troops” and avoid any responsibility the decision.
Currently there is no requirement for a request by the President, defining the reasons for “us folks”, to justify a declaration of war. Congress is also not required to declare their sentiments with a vote, so they don’t have to take any responsibility either. In fact there most probably has not been a legitimate military action since World War II, were the issue to be considered by the Supreme Court.

This open door for bureaucrats to start wars is just unacceptable. I can see no great improvement for the future when the party that passed the War Powers Act is in power.

We really need to let the Congress and the President hear that we are tired of being taken from one horror to another without any accountability. Nothing less than, a Presidential request for a declaration of war and the requirement that every living member of Congress must vote only yes or no, can be acceptable.
We also need a law that would make any official who provides false or misleading information to Congress or the public to affect the decision be charged with war crimes.
Perhaps this would give our rulers a little more to consider!
We might have even some little confidence that when our “hearts” go off to war in the bodies of our children, that those responsible, made the decision more for the protection of  “the folks” than just for themselves.

Of late there has been a lot of comment about being fair. On the electronic media especially the radio there has been interest in government regulation of the conservative versus liberal content. Essentially the goal seems to want a liberal talk show host for every conservative one. I wonder what the real result would be with a Democrat controlled Congress as well as a Democrat President.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) originally instituted the “Fairness Doctrine” in 1949 by, which was soon recognized as a contrivance for silencing any opposing views – particularly conservative ones.

“The FCC repealed the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 admitting the doctrine ‘had the net effect of reducing rather than enhancing the discussion of controversial issues of public importance.’”

Zogby conducted a poll in October of likely voters nationwide that found that 50% were against the “Doctrine” and 17% in support. The margin of error was +/- 2.9 percentage points.

I grew up with AM radio through the 1950’s and 60’s. At the time, I was mostly interested in Rock and Roll and got my news and perspective through the ‘DJ’ and the announcers.

In those days names like “Wo Wo Ginsberg in Boston, and “Boom Boom” Branagin in Buffalo, told us what music was groovy, described what “Buffalo Hot Wings” were, at a beach near Buffalo and  “Cousin Bruce Morrow” was our guide to the “Submarine Races” broadcasting from New York,  from Mexico the howl of Wolfman Jack brought “The Music” to the airwaves from “The Gold Buckle of the Bible Belt” and then Alan Freed helped pioneer Rock from New York.

Gabrial Heater gave us news commentary, Paul Harvey told us the rest of the story and Arthur Godfrey introduced new talent.

Then came TV, three channels where I lived!

As I remember most public perspective that I was aware of in rural New York would be classified as conservative, to the point I really wasn’t aware of liberal thought.

The AM stations declined until the 1970’s and 1980’s as the music format moved to the high fidelity sound of. FM. Talk Radio format began to catch on in more large cities. Former music stations such as WLS (Chicago, Illinois), KFI (Los Angeles, California), WRKO (Boston, Massachusetts), WBAP (Ft. Worth and Dallas, Texas), and WABC (New York, New York) made the switch to all-talk as their ratings slumped due to listener migration to FM.

Pew researchers found in 2004 that 17% of the public regularly listens to talk radio. This audience was mostly male, middle-aged and conservative. Among those who regularly listen to talk radio, 41% are Republican and 28% are Democrats. Furthermore, 45% describe themselves as conservatives, compared with 18% who say they are liberal.

In 1987 the FCC fairness doctrine was repealed. It had required that stations provide free air time for responses to any controversial opinions that were broadcast and provided an opportunity for a kind of partisan programming that had not previously existed.

Today, according to Wikipedia, the top five talk radio programs are those of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Neal Boortz, and Glenn Beck, which are conservative in format.

To feed the liberal 18% segment of the market, Air America Radio, a network featuring The Al Franken Show, was founded in 2004. It described itself as a “progressive alternative” to the conservative talk radio shows. However, where most talk radio supported itself, it was a subsidized operation with wealthy backers buying airtime, and largely not able to support itself by selling commercial time to advertisers.

Liberal format radio has been around, on the Pacifica network, yet only available in a few cities, and in formats that more often act as a volunteer-run community forum than as a platform for charismatic hosts who would be likely to attract a large audience. Long-format news programming on National Public Radio (NPR) also promotes a liberal bias.

It is clear that there are Liberal format radio stations and shows and were there a market there would be many more. The commercial demographics tell the story. AM radio is still the home of Country music, Oldies Stations, George Noory and Art Bell of Coast to Coast Live talk radio at night, and a few progressive stations. When there is more interest, I believe that advertising interest will support more Liberal programming.

We certainly do not need the government to tell us what entertainment we have to watch and then what to think about it. The Fairness Doctrine should stay on the ash heap of bad ideas.

This historic election is over and I congratulate President Elect Obama and wish him well.

We Libertarians had a few pluses as well. Our candidates have made enough of an impact that as the returns were going on in the major media candidates with a (L) were there providing a choice to the socialist directions. Here in Texas our candidates have succeeded in securing enough votes that will guarantee the Libertarian party access to the ballot in 2010. Thanks to those Libertarians in the Statewide campaigns for their public interest and courage.

Locally, thanks to Libertarian Bob Bolkcom who provided a choice and a voice to the 9332 voters or 14% of the electorate that wanted an alternative in the Tax Assessor position.