When Children are Present

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A few years back, the high school by which I had to drive every day to park at work installed new speed limit signs. Rather than posting certain times, they included the ambiguous language "when children are present". This began to create a problem.

I soon began to notice that the police would make stops at almost all hours of the day. Even hours after school had let out, they were pulling people over. Finally, I stopped and asked one of the policemen to clarify, because I'm one of those people who interpreted the sign to mean "if you see a child anywhere (and half the college age kids look like children), drive 15mph." He admitted the signage was appropriately vague. He gave me an asinine answer that led me to believe that it depended more on the cops than on the drivers and that it might be designed to make people drive that slowly through that section all the time. If that's the case, just make the speed limit 15mph permanently and be done with it. The signs are a trick, because they're open to interpretation by too many people and because you can't argue with a cop and win. You have to do that with a judge, and even then it's no guarantee.

Today, the city of Henderson, which abutts Las Vegas to the south and southeast, announced a carte blanch replacement of school speed limit signs with these same ambiguous markers with which Las Vegas has since dispensed. Few people hold the police of their town in high regard, and so I can only imagine how the Henderson Police may take this to an unhealthy extreme. At least Vegas Metro cops are reasonable. Henderson's reasoning is that:

"research data shows that motorists drive slower through school zones marked by, “When Children Are Present” signs, resulting in increased pedestrian safety in school zones."

I'd like to see this research data and learn who paid for the study.

When I took statistics, I learned that research data can easily be made to show things it does not. That truth was further exascerbated in graduate school. People can obfuscate and omit results, fudge numbers, forget controls, drop the statistics, dismiss outliers, and focus on particular subjects to make the data fit the lines. Shoot, even the Brother's Grimm taught us that some people will cut off toes and heels in order to make something fit (in the original tale of Cinderella, her stepsisters manipulate their feet hoping to get into the slipper, which is clearly too small for them). I don't trust the data just because Henderson township says I should.

The only way this claim can be true in my mind is that everyone always drives more slowly in these regions for fear of moving violations. The signage does not specify what it means to be present, and can be interpreted to mean if there is a child somewhere anywhere in anyone's field of view.  Aren't they locked into the school grounds during recess? Do we really need to drive slowly during school hours? The cops seem to think so.  They count on it.  If you are afraid of a ticket, you will drive more slowly. That will contribute to safer school zones. It is not that the zones are safer as much as it inconveniences all the motorists who use the roads that are built for their cars. I would like to know what percentage of school zone injuries and fatalities occur during times when children can be reasonably expected to be arriving at or departing the school grounds en masse and not circumstantially because children, to whom the streets do not belong actually, are not paying attention or being reckless.

This policy villifies drivers. Sure, some drivers suck. In the past year, I have twice had people back into my car while it was parked. Both of them paid a hefty price. However, where are the children responsible to not play in the street or act as if the street, which is specifically paved for automobiles, were an extension of their playground? You in essence hold drivers accountable for the choices of people distal to them in space and in time and against whom they cannot possibly purpose harm if they do not know they are there or coming into the way soon. If you really want to do this, it would be more honest to simply change the speed limit to 15mph all the time, because then at least it's consistent and clear to everyone and not in the mind of the policeman or politicians.

Sometimes, we say too much and avoid the simple solution for one that sounds wise.

Brevity is the soul of wit. --Hamlet, Act 2, scene ii

We Live Here

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The marketing firms and tourists are fond of the notion that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". I think this however gives a disingenuous impression of what this city really means and what the people who live here actually do. Contrary to popular belief, we are not all loan sharks, pit bosses, and showgirls. We live here too.

Perhaps it is convenient to you to be able to indulge yourself and leave those things behind when you leave Vegas. We who live here, however, have to live with your choices. As a consequence, we have gambling in abundance and all the appurtenances accessorized thereunto. Although prostitution is illegal in Clark County, there are proximal houses of ill repute, call girls, 'escorts', and all sorts of women with loose lips and loose morals, ready to help you indulge not because they like you but because they're looking for license to do likewise. We have drugs and booze, the latter of which is illegal to consume on the street unless you're a tourist on the strip. There is more crime, violent and clandestine alike, such that those of us who do not have to work on the strip avoid it as if it were a different city entirely.

We are glad of the tourists, without whom this city would probably not last. We are not what they do here. We are teachers, firemen, soldiers, scientists, craftsmen, manufacturers, classical entertainers, outdoor officianados, gardening enthusiasts, ad infinitum. Many of us come here because of the unique things this city affords. Yes, it gets hot here in the summer, but we have two growing seasons separated by a few heated summer months. You probably have snow or rain, which prohibit you from enjoying the outdoors or the fruits of the field for a longer interval albeit during different months of the year. If we sow, we can reap more.

The beauty of Vegas is choice. You may choose to indulge yourself. You may choose to discover the other side of Nevada and venture outside the bowl in which the city sits to see things like Mt. Charleston, where you can ski, Lake Meade, where you can ski, Red Rock, the Valley of Fire, ghost towns aplenty, military bases, farms, ranches, solar plants, and places of historical and photographic interest. There are also good people who, despite the environment in which we live, choose to not only make something of themselves but also to keep themselves physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. Here, the American dream remains strong that says you can choose your own adventure. We choose to live here, and the reasons are legion.

One day it would be very nice if the powers that be facilitated plans to diversify our economy. I know that Boeing tried to partner with UNR at one point and that this plan fell apart. We don't have the corporate offices or the industrial centers other states have although TNT is made here and titanium refined here. The economic state of the state disincentivises education because people can earn more money serving drinks and parking cars than they can with a college education. Their options are limited, and that is unfortunate.

It is unfortunate that some of what happens in Vegas stays here. There are great people with great ideas who do great things here. People in other states have us cloistered into some strange stereotypes. Many of us came here for a reason. All of us found a reason to stay. We live here. This is our house, and if you're here to put down roots or at least be good guests, you will always find a welcome mat at the door of the state.

Vegas Mental Syndrome

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People who live in Las Vegas are often seen as unfriendly to guests. It has a fairly basic reason that can be extrapolated from this microcosm into the nation at large. Whereas other cities draw tourism for something or some experience, Vegas is the only city that was originally founded to be a money pit. Sure, there are now restaurants, trips, shows, etc., and you can even 'see the sights' as it were if you're willing to go FAR from McCarran International, but originally, Vegas was a get rich quick scheme, and it shows.

Many people come to Vegas believing themselves to be kings. They fly in, flash their wads of cash, play it up like big shots, and all boast about how they're going to be the one who beats the system, breaks the house, and goes home wealthier than the dreams of avarice. Many of them look down on the people who live and work here, dropping 'crumbs' to the services industry in the form of tips. They believe themselves to be better than we are, and they are all convinced of it.

Most of them leave as beggars, having lost their shirts. The problem is that the arrogance does not vanish with their fortunes. They still think that, although they are the ones who took the risk, they can expect Vegans to bear responsibility for their loss. You can sometimes see them out there with their cardboard signs begging for change to get home after they lost it all. Then when we drive by they spit at us in disgust and say we are heartless.

Vegas Syndrome affects the nation at large. There are people out there who really believe that they can take the risks and that other people will, should, and must pay for it. I didn't have any say in when, where, or how frequently you sired children. I didn't have any say in your chemical dependencies, eating disorders, chemical exposure, risky sports endeavors, risky business ventures, or bad debt, and yet I am, as a taxpayer, expected to foot the bill. When I don't, you look at me like I'm stingy or greedy or in cahoots with 'the rich'. I drive a rassafrassin Saturn, clean my own house, pay my own bills, and do my own shopping. Stop pretending I am coddling the rich as if we're somehow in cahoots. Coincidental proximity to a casino does not mean I endorse or involve myself in their industry or exploits.

I heard the Prime Minister of Britain say something about the London Riots that I have been saying for some time. He mentioned the rioters were up in a huff about rights without any thought about attendant responsibilities. When you treat your goods and life as if it were a trip to Vegas, you cannot justly, legally, or in good conscience expect other people to foot the bill. You took the risk; the consequences come with it. People think they have a right to health care, retirement, unemployment 'compensation', etc., and that people who are not involved, however rich they might be, ought to pay for it. While I understand there are people who have legitimate needs for help through no fault of your own, if you dug your own ditch or have a shovel and refuse to dig out, why am I obligated to help you? That's a mental disorder.

Those of us who live in this city who do not depend directly on casinos for our livelihood generally avoid it. I do not subscribe to the notion that doing the wrong thing is better than doing nothing. When you insist on doing something, that is all about you. Physicians learn to first do no harm. If you have any doubt at all, don't. That has kept me safely off the strip and out of the casinos, and it will help keep you out of any harm that isn't brought your way by other people in your life.

In the end, we're all beggars. We depend on one another. It is however a crime to steal something from me, even if the government is an intermediary, and even if the courts sanction it, so that you can benefit. It's ok to ask. Maybe I'll actually have some change for you. You can always hope.

Pretending to Care

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Lots of people pretend to care. Few of them actually do. Some of the pretenders don't know what they do or understand that it's disingenuous. It is.

Most people only really care about people they like. Most people only like people they actually know. Given that we don't know that many people, we like even fewer and care about even fewer still. It's not heartlessness or purposed evil, it's simply because they're not people we know. Granted some people will pretend to be bleeding hearts, but their care cannot really be genuine. If you want to know what people really are like, look at how they treat those close to them.

In his novella, The Screwtape Letters CS Lewis adeptly handles this. Screwtape tells Wormwood to "direct the malice to his immediate neighbors whom he meets every day and the benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes very real and the benevolence largely imaginary" (letter the 6th). It's all well and good to feel bad for Germans you have never met, but it isn't real if you hate your wife, your kids, or your employer. That's where the real tests of charity lie.

Our politicians operate under the premise that they care about us. They do not know us. We are in the remote circumference, and as such their benevolence is largely imaginary. When people do come into the inner circle, like Joe the Plummer or Ryan Rhodes, they show what they really think about the Average American. They lie to you and then expect you to find common ground with them. They establish the premise that they care about you. How can they if they do not like you? HOw can they like people they have not met?

They pretend. Like it or not, most of what you see is a play. People play parts to win favor, get support, or leverage some other way to their own advancement. It's what gets women to sleep with men who pretend to love them because they know how to say the right things, and it's what gets people to vote for politicians who eventually hurt them with laws 'for their own good'. They look out for people they like. If you also happen to benefit, it's because you share some commonality with people they already like. It's coincidental.

I know many people want to hear what they want to hear. Many people do not want the truth. They want answers; they want action; they want motion and activity, because they equate that with change and hope and progress as if all change is good, as if everything for which we hope is good, and as if progress can be made when you've come to the edge of a cliff. I know people want quick solutions. We're in an age of "fast foods, instant messaging, on-demand movies, and immediate answers to the most trivial or profound questions". Sometimes we forget that the things in nature that are quick, like quicksand and quicksilver, are dangerous. Good things come to those who patiently wait for a good answer or when possible an even better one. People who care will look for and offer that kind, because you are real to them.

Returns on Investment

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There is a lot of talk right now about investments. We are 'investing' in education. We are 'investing' in gold. We are 'investing' in our own Social Security retirement funds. We are 'investing' in things we may not actually want with money we do not have to impress people we do not like. Why do we so willingly accept and delude ourselves that some intellectual elite in a distant capital knows better than we do?

Last night, I watched for the first time the movie "Chariots of Fire" about Britain's olympic triumph in 1924 over the United States. In that movie, Eric Liddle, masterful runner from Scotland, stands up to the future King of Britain when he tries to press Liddle to run against his religious beliefs. The irony is that, in the aftermath, Liddle proved prescient. Thanks to another member of the UK team, a Lord whose name I forget, England won medals in both events where it lost them in the others. What does the king know? What does the coach know? All we know is that the story seems to prove that God honors those who first honor Him, just as US runner Scholz pens in a note to Liddle before his 400m heat.

Liddle tells the king something that I found completely amazing. God makes nations, and God makes the rules by which to rule those nations, one of which is that the sabbath is His. Yet, the king, like our rulers in America, want us to trust in men over God. Despite what seems to be widespread and utter contempt for politicians we surrender our property to them for things that are not in our best interest just on their word that it's for a good purpose. Even as they say that, they cut the military and NASA, which actually do bring returns on the investment. Think of all the ways your life is better because of the research and development done by those two organizations. Meanwhile, there's always enough money for the EPA, the USPS, the department of commerce (most of which goes to the national weather service), etc., run by some people who have proven to be the stupidest people on the earth. We do not render to God what is His. We render it to Caesar and hope God will respect us for honoring that lesser law.

We place too much trust in lawyers because we believe they know the law. Why is it that they know better than you do? Who knows but that you will be the next Rembrant, Einstein, Edison, More, or Jefferson? If we continue to let people shout us down and play us down, we run the risk of not meeting the next generation of movers and shakers. Even one of the runners in Chariots of Fire, Harold Abrahams, dresses down the leadership at Cambridge University when they try to hold him back, telling them he will make his own way, and he won against the two fastest men in the world. You have no idea how far you might go until you try.

Frequently, we reap little from our investments because we put little into them. Too many among us are interested in short-term gains and quick returns over really wise investments. The UK running team invested a lot into their work, and they reaped accordingly. You can't just 'buy gold' and expect that to be a panacea. Sure, it has always been worth something to someone; I have also found that when everyone's doing it, it's usually a bad thing. There may be someone who depends on you being different. Like Liddle says, God made you for a purpose, and when you do that, you will feel His pleasure and find a return, whatever form that return on your mutual investment might take.

"Garbage Digger": A Parable

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There is probably someone like this whereever you are and whatever your circumstances. Wherever you go, there is someone mocked with some kind of title like "Garbage Digger". He is dirty, with greasy hair, who is a loner, who eats and pockets things you and I would never touch, frequently because it's from the garbage. You have at least seen the rest of your peers rag on him and mock him for what he does, and in some cases you have joined in their 'sport'.

The story is told of a certain student who fit this description. He was a male member of the clarinet section of his band in high school. The kids would make fun of him, ask him if he were digging for gold. One day during roll, the teacher paused while looking through the absentee list. She stopped, looked down, and teared up. Of course, the drummers, always concerned for the welfare of others, asked what was wrong. When they discovered the boy was gone, they made comments about how they could not smell him that day. The teacher threw her baton on the ground and began to lecture them, telling them of course that he had an actual name. She told the class, all now in rapt attention, how Gerry's father lost his job the previous year and moved his family into an abandoned barn on a nearby farm. The drum section grew quiet, feeling more and more foolish.

They treat Gerry differently than you for a reason. They give him twice the food in the cafeteria because it's the only meal he gets all day. Gerry goes around to the trays and collects leftovers to share with his brother. He sorts through the garbage for pencils and paper to use in his schoolwork, turning in assignments written on the reverse of other students' love notes. The reason for his absence was that the night before, one of the lanterns in the barn fell over and burnt the barn to the ground. In the fire, the clarinet was destroyed, and since it was a loaner from the school, Gerry is out cutting firewood for extra money until he can afford to replace it. He wants so much to be like you but he can't.

A girl from the clarinet section stepped forward and gave the teacher $5 for Gerry, asking her to tell Gerry she was sorry. Others followed suit. It didn't stop during band class. Over the next month, they collected enough food for six months for the family and enough cash to buy Gerry's family a mobile home and a replacement clarinet.

Sometimes we are so caught up in popularity and prestige that we do it at the expense of Garbage Diggers. There are people who do not care how many people they hurt on their way to the top. The irony is that they are frequently the people we most desire to resemble, and that frequently their gains are ill gotten. When you go about, look out for the Gerry's in your life. They are watching you. They need you. It is not an option to be different. There are people out there whose lives depend on you being different. You know what the Gerry's look like. Stand up and be different.

A certain man, traveling the road to Jerusalem fell among thieves. They were evil men; they robbed and they beat him and left him for dead. Two walked passed, but the third helped the stranger. He was also the least likely to help, for he was from Samaria.

This is the way to really be different. So many among us try to be different using the same methods and manners and mantras as everyone else, and while they differentiate themselves from their parents and teachers and coworkers, they start to resemble the miscreants more and more. However, many people have entertained angels unawares, and even if there is no undercover millionaire looking for someone to reward, their Creator is, and the Lord who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

On Target With Accountability

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It has been said that when an archer misses the mark it is never the fault of the target. I fear we all to quickly and unjustly ascribe responsibility for things to almost everyone and everything except that to which it rightly belongs. We hold people accountable for great feats without regard for what tools we give them and sometimes without regard for him to whom responsibility for the exercise of agency truly belongs.

Take education as an example. With the advent of misbegotten notions like the No Child Left Behind Act, we hold teachers responsible for the performance, advancement, and education of students. However, we ignore the fact that even as we hold teachers more and more accountable for achievements in this regard we render them more and more impotent to actually enforce the measures necessary to create and maintain a learning environment. Administrators fear bureaucrats who have power to penalize them and parents, who are frequently only participants by hearsay, because it might cost them salary, job advancement, or other remunerations. Teachers fear students who are more interested in snogging, socialization and substance abuse than they are with learning. In many instances, teachers have become nothing more than glorified babysitters, which may be the reason why some people advocate so heavily for all day kindergarten, so that parents can be freed of the responsibility to train and nurture their own children.

As is the case in archery, the fault lies, not in the stars dear Brutus, but in ourselves. It isn't really the teacher's fault or the parent's fault or even the administrator's. It is the fault of the students themselves. The student, as the archer, is ostensibly aimed at achieving an education, as the target. Teachers, parents, and administrators are the vehicle by which he gets that; they are not the archer. It's not like students are some inanimate object at which we lecture or to which we show things that is not held to any accountability to learn or demonstrate learning. The target does not move. The standards for education are fixed. The student has a bow, a quiver, and arrows, with which to reach the target, and it is these things which we so often blame for the archer student's failure to achieve education. No matter how good the arrows might be, if the student archer does not want to hit the target, knock an arrow, point it at the target, draw the bow, string the bow, or loose the arrow correctly, he can never be on target.

Yet, we blame everyone except him to whom blame rightly belongs. It is folly to hold someone accountable for something that depends on the agency of another person. If the student does not want to learn, no parent, teacher, or administrator can force him. If the student does not respect authority, no teacher can hold his focus. If no teacher is allowed to act as principle power in his own classroom, they can never provide that which we require of them in pusillanimous acts of Congress. At the same time we expect more of them, we neuter their power and influence and cut their salaries, forcing them to do things that never have worked to accomplish things that ultimately depend at least partly on the choices of other people. In the end, the student decides.

In the end of it all, you are the one who writes your own story. You decide at what targets you aim, which bow you use, how you draw your arrows, and to what degree you practice until you hit that at which you aim. Nobody can make you do anything against your own will. Not even God messes with free will. Yet, people will continue to blame everything else- the sun in their eyes, their race, their neighbor, their wage, their age, "big pharma", or "the machine" in order to get out of responsibility for their own choices, accomplishments, and failures. The fault never lies with the target. The fault is with the archer. However poor his tools might be, it is up to him to either learn to use them well or find better ones. However poor his aim might be, it is up to him to learn to draw, aim, and release so as to be on target. However poor his choice of target may be, it is up to him to choose targets that are not only reachable but are also ones worth reaching. The archer is responsible. The archer is you.

If you do not own yourself, you in essence allow someone else to own you. Responsibility and accountability are liberty.

What's Real

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Although we 'avoided' Debtpocalypse this week, there are things that seem surreal and virtual going on all around us. How secure are we? What's real? What is valuable? What should we be doing? Who is on our side? These are tough questions, and I do not think there are any easy answers. However, if you know what's going on, you can make better decisions than the Congressmen who panicked this week like a bunch of shrupshire sheep.

Obama has no clue what's wrong or how to fix it. Obama parties barefoot while the DOW plummets and the people he governs get poorer. Only 58% of the eligible workforce actually has a job, yet somehow they report unemployment is 9.1%. They talk about how we've had a recovery and how we're close to another recession when most Americans didn't realize the recession or depression ever ended, since we only had 0.4% growth last quarter and they revised the unemployment claims figures for the last reporting season as well. The DOW has lost almost all of its gains since the last election (10,700 on 19 Jan 2010 and 11383 today). Yesterday, White House Spokesman Jay Carney confessed that "The White House doesn't create jobs". The president goes golfing, on vacation, holds birthday parties, and goes to fundraisers. He cares nothing for you. How can he? He doesn't know you.

My mom's brother reported some odd advice from his financial planner. Normally, those people get paid because they recommend investments that earn you money, from which they take a cut. Unless this man is invested in food storage companies or gun/bullet manufacture, his advice is very odd. Among his tips, we find the following:

1. Pay off home ASAP

2. Get out of consumer debt

3. get at least 6 months food supply

4. get a gun

These are illuminating if you know anything about what other people recommend. For months, I have bristled every time they recommend we buy gold. It's not useful for much. Debt is technically slavery, because if you owe money and they call it, they can render you homeless if they like. Not that having the title in hand will protect you per se (Kyoto v. New London case), but it removes one more level of putative tyranny.

We once got stories about how great economic malaise was. Families spent more time together. Old friends reconnected. There were all sorts of amazing and beneficial things about not having a job, 'Funemployment' they called it. Now, the reality has set in.

Earlier this week, I was feeling a bit down about my situation. Since I started here, I have taken in effect a total of 25% in pay cuts. The secretary at the campus to which I have been transferred feels equally dejected, but she pointed out that there are other perks. After all, a 25% paycut beats 100%.

Our entire society has become soft. Few of us have any skills. Few of us really do much for ourselves. We became accustomed to earning so much money and paying other people, and now we don't have that. What we do have escapes us, and in some cases is now lost to us as a consequence. I hear a lot of young women talking about how their boyfriend/fiancee/husband is "going to be a doctor" or "going to be a lawyer", which means that they will work long hours away from home. Doctors and lawyers are important parts of society, but they have a limited utility. In Douglas Adams' science fiction series that begins with "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", he shows how earth suffered because they put all the janitors, laborers, etc., on a spaceship and sent it away, only to all die from a disease they contracted from dirty telephones. Earth had lost the ability to do so-called 'menial' jobs.

Earlier this year, I learned another lesson very strongly about what's real. A few nights before he died, I phoned my grandfather to make sure it was still ok to visit while I was up in town on other business. He died the morning before I headed up. However, I had the opportunity to speak to him shortly before his death rather than wishing I hadn't waited months or years to talk to someone. What is most important almost always involves the people around us.

Often we assume they know how we feel, but we must never assume they do, we should let them know.

In the end, some of these changes, while important and urgent, are not things that matter most. Too often, we focus on the good without looking at things that are better or best. We content ourselves with a passing grade when we can do so much more. We content ourselves to do some things and miss out on important things. Just because you're engaged in something that is not evil doesn't mean that it's good. Just because someone says it's good enough doesn't mean it's great or amazing. If you settle, you get what you pay for, and if the price was low, the return usually is too.

People with values are usually better at finding value. I am not sure what the President's values are, but I know they are different from mine. In the end, the only way to vote for someone who shares your values, opinions, principles, and attitudes is to run for office yourself. Most people recognize that they have more important things to do, and rightly so.

Internet and Politics

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The trouble with the internet is that once it gets there, it stays. That can be a real problem if you vent frustration about work or a loved one. It can be a real problem if you post things that others can use to steal your identity. It can be a real problem because people judge you before they meet you based on what you say and sometimes based on things other people say about you or claim you say. If you are the President, it can be a real problem in politics when you are a demogogue.

Barack Obama plays the crowd. Back in 2006, about the debt ceiling, Barack Obama said exactly the opposite that he says today:

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

Out of his own mouth, Barack Obama is a failure. When Bush was president, he said Bush was shifting the burden of bad choices to the children. How is what he did different? Obama demanded this. The Democrats told the GOP to come back when they offered them a bill the Democrats liked.

It fascinates me how politicians can pretend to be all things to all people and people believe it. The trouble with the internet is that we can not only read their words but in some cases we can watch videos of them saying it. If you are willing to do your own homework, you can find out exactly who said what when and to whom. Most people don't do their own homework.

During the debate, Obama told us that the GOP wanted to cut social security benefits. Yesterday, John Conyers let the cat out of the bag when he admitted that it was Obama himself who put that on the table.

the Republicans, the Speaker Boehner or Majority Leader Cantor did not call for Social Security cuts in the budget deal – the president of the United States called for that

Obama is out to cut your benefits. The GOP was willing to leave it alone, but Obama put it out there to be a cut. He cares nothing for you or the people he hurts. Then, he went out golfing, and today, he's having a smashing good party to celebrate his 50th birthday, at your very lavish expense.  Furthermore, this whole debt debate throws into the limelight the lie about Social Security- there never was a trust fund, else the debt would not have interferred with disbursements from your own personal account they claim they hold in your name.  It's all a house of cards that will eventually topple, hopefully, they say, after their time.

Changing your mind is fine. As you gain knowledge and wisdom, naturally some of your opinions and beliefs and actions might change. Usually, you can track the thinking of a person. Obama, however, changes on a dime over the course of a few years flipping 180 degrees. It would be different if he explained why he changed his thinking. He pretends instead he never said those things. After all, it depends on what the definition of 'is' is.

When they demagogue and the media fearmongers, remember who can be proven to be a liar. The Happy Hippocrite must be held accountable. After all, there are no secrets anymore. He says everyone must feel the pain, everyone, except of course, the people he exempts. Next time the Democrats talk about those who build up their lives on the backs of the poor, remember that they want to be all things to all people, whatever it takes, to elevate their own state at your expense. They are the manifestation among man of the law of the jungle even as they rail agains it.

Hold them accountable. They surely will do so to you.

Why Have Two Parties?

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Over the last several weeks, it has become more clear that Speaker Boehner shares more in common with Senator Reid and President Obama than the GOP. That won't stop people from eviscerating the GOP and saying they're going to rip apart society as we know it. See, they got a few RINOs to go along with their tax and spend philosophy, so that some of their claims are right. In the process, they gave Obama a pass on responsibility for destroying the military, inflating the currency, raising taxes, and ballooning the debt because now it's bipartisan. Never mind that so was Cut Cap and Balance, which was three votes away from passing in the Senate.

Today's GOP pats itself on the back for symbolic garbledygook. They vote on things that have no chance of passing and pass things that have no chance of helping. But they got their vote, and so they expect yours in November 2012. They want us to be happy with what we got. After all, one half of one third of the government gave us half a loaf.

When the GOP does liberal things, they are praised, and when they do conservative things they are roasted. They, like Barack Obama, forget that their base in what has become the Tea Party actually got almost two dozen people into office last cycle, even though some major races were lost. Apparently, the Tea Party is impotent unless it wins everything, and when it wins everything, it's because they "acted like terrorists".

According to White House staffers, the GOP got everything they wanted. Excuse me? Every time I turn around and tell them what I want, they flip me the bird. Every time I turn around, they tell us they've given us the best bill possible and we'd better vote for it or else. In a letter John Ensign once wrote me, he said it was better to do the wrong thing than do nothing. Now I know that veterinarians don't go to medical school, but seriously John, have you read the Hippocratic oath? It says "first do no harm". They had a good bill. Cut Cap and Balance did better on the floor than any of the Boehner Bills. Boehner handed Reid a vehicle to pass the bill we got. Without that crap bill there would have been no Reid alternative. They are scratching each other's backs.

Forget that most Americans are not represented by their representatives. A small fraction of communist potentates dictate to us how and what and when and where and to what degree we do everything. They thumb their nose at a two-thirds majority. If we really believe that the greatest among us will be our servants, why do we permit them to act as if they were our masters?

I don't know why we have two parties anymore. Both of them invoke Reagan and embrace small portions of his administration without embracing larger principles or explaining how those things came to be. Both of them invoke Lincoln while they criminalize many of Lincoln's actions. It no longer seems to matter which party you choose because they're headed to the same place, tyranny, just at slightly different speeds because the GOP makes a few detours for donuts along the way. Yesterday a friend of mine posted to Facebook that government's only duty is to protect from tyranny, of all types. I agree, especially and including tyranny that comes from our own government.

They can talk about the rich and their fair share all day long. What they are really after is your money. They do not care how much swag they have. According to the language of this bill, the CBO scores a "tax cut" as a "tax expense" forever going forward. What this means is that they view all of your money as theirs. Mortgage deductions are technically a tax loophole, but not everyone who applies that is rich. The fact of the matter is that tyrants think you have too much money and too much liberty until you have none at all of either. You are rich if you are not abject poor and subject to them. You are rich as long as they don't have all the wealth. The problem is that they forget as they jockey for positions in the new regime that there is only one lord of the rings and that he does not share power. So, they turn us against one another with class envy and break us against ourselves. Then they'll only have to come in and put out a few glowing embers and our journey towards tyranny will be complete.

If you wish to be happy and free, govern yourselves and elect those who do likewise.