Category Archives: Patriotism

Cowboys and Cowgirls Needed – Apply Now

Posted on by Standard 1

john_wayneI am more concerned every day about the lack of leadership in our national affairs.   As the well-being and security of our citizens continues to decline, the dearth of leadership among our federal political officials becomes more evident and more critical.

There’s a big difference between leadership and arrogance.  Just saying “follow me” isn’t helpful when the leader is stumbling off a cliff.  A true leader must have:

  • vision – a clear understanding of the situation as it is and the correct path to what it should be
  • honesty – zero-tolerance of any person or action motivated by personal gain ahead of mission
  • optimism and inspiration – the genuine desire to make things better for all, and the belief that improvement is not only possible, it is necessary
  • resolve – shared goals that are unshakeable, and determination to accomplish those goals
  • responsibility and accountability – willingness to shoulder burdens for the benefit of others, to admit and recover from failures, and to be open to criticism
  • courage – the ability to stay cool under fire and focused on the goal

Where are the true leaders today?  We have plenty of idealogues.  Demagoguery has become an art form.  Politicians have learned to exploit the weaker instincts of their constituents – fear, envy, selfishness and laziness – using psychology to manipulate voters.  Public officials seem to be only inspired to gain and hold power, without even bothering to seek solutions.

Where are the principled journalists?  The pursuit of truth has been replaced by a vapid addiction to titillation and sensationalism.  We are told that “sex sells”, and that the pursuit of profit is now the sole motivator in the the news business.  That in itself is deceitful because consumers of news are not given a choice.  The reality is our elite news media seek to empower themselves using the same psychological manipulations employed by our self-serving political leaders.

Is the lack of leadership a symptom of what’s wrong with America?  Or is it the cause?  Do we still believe that the qualities of true leadership matter?  Do we employ them in our own lives?

I contend that we don’t need more new ideas.  We don’t need more laws.  We certainly don’t need more self-absorbed charlatans in public office.

We can get out of this mess and back on the right track.  We just need to find, encourage, elevate, and empower true leaders at every level of our society, bottom to top.    Are you one?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Where is my Marlboro man?
Where is his shiny gun?
Where is my lonely ranger?
Where have all the cowboys gone?

Where Have All the Cowboys Gone – Paula Cole

American Patriotism – born 7/4/1776, died 11/6/2012

Posted on by Standard 3

graveyardAmerican Patriotism died on November 6, 2012, after a long battle with complications of liberalism.

Born in 1776, in the thirteen colonies of the United States of America, Patriotism was a major contributor to the rapid growth and success of the nation.  Because of Patriotism, citizens sacrificed for their country, and took great pride in their joint accomplishments.  The United States became a beacon for democracy, personal freedom, and opportunity and led the world in economic and technological advances.   Over the course of his life, American Patriotism caused millions of proud US men and women to join the fight to save other nations from tyranny.

In Patriotism’s declining years, the concept of “fairness”, where all citizens shared in the work and cost of running a nation, as well as the rewards, was replaced by a culture in which a shrinking group of workers was expected to take full responsibility for the welfare of everyone else.

On December 5, Detroit city councilwoman and former mayor JoAnn Watson presented the eulogy at Patriotism’s funeral.  She spoke eloquently on behalf of the liberals of the United States, extolling their leader, President Obama, to take money from those who have earned it, and give it to those who have not, merely because they voted for him.

“Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that . . .  After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C. He came home with some bacon,” said Watson. “That’s what you do.”

Patriotism is survived by Shameless Greed, Selfish Laziness, and Blissful Ignorance.  He was preceded in death by Personal Dignity, Christian Values and Responsible Media.

The monument reads,

American Patriotism
1776 – 2012
“Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You
Ask What You Can Do For Your Country” – JFK

Aside from a group of veterans, the funeral was sparsely attended, and prayer was not allowed.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side
“Kathy, I’m lost,” I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all gone to look for America

America – Simon and Garfunkle

Obama’s Data Mining Wizards

Posted on by Standard 3

Nothing goes unnoticed by the data miners these days.  They know all about you.  They know what you like to buy, and when.  Every website you see, every search you execute, every TV show you watch is recorded. They know your age,  your political persuasion, your address, and a lot of other things you would never suspect.

Did you show your “preferred shopper” card on that last trip to the grocery store?  They used it to figure out what you might want to buy next time, and how to encourage you to spend more.  (I often express my sticker shock – “Wow, I’m glad I’m a preferred shopper!  I’d hate to see what you do to the customers you don’t prefer!)

The Obama campaign took masterful, full advantage of data mining, and some think it is what won the election for them.   Instead of relying on traditional political advisers and old-school marketing experts, Obama played the campaign game strictly by the metrics, building a huge data analytics operation two years before the election.  They designed their fundraising campaigns and advertisements to appeal to specific voters in narrowly-targeted markets.  They knew exactly who could be manipulated and how.  Their attacks ads were designed with pin-point scientific and psychological precision.

Time Magazine was given an inside look at the Obama machine and found:

“. . .a massive data effort that helped Obama raise $1 billion, remade the process of targeting TV ads and created detailed models of swing-state voters that could be used to increase the effectiveness of everything from phone calls and door knocks to direct mailings and social media.”

In this election cycle, policy issues really didn’t matter.  The horrendous performance of the Obama administration for four years was not a problem, and the Democrats didn’t even bother to propose any solutions to the country’s many troubles.

The Republicans took the high road – presenting facts and plans, avoiding hyperbole and attacks, assuming the majority of voters were paying attention and actually cared about the economy, the debt, and their childrens’ futures.  The GOP didn’t have a chance.

By the way, Rayid Ghani, the mastermind of the Obama data mining operation, cut his teeth in the monster supermarket “preferred customer” data-crunching game.

I can’t fault the Democrats for using such a powerful weapon.  They zeroed in on the weakness and vulnerability of American voters.  It worked.

I only wish they would put as much technology, effort, and money into finding solutions to the nation’s problems as they did getting elected.

Oh, and by the way – be careful what you say, do, and type.  You are being watched.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Man:  I think, I think I am!  Therefore I am!   I think?

Government: Of course you are my bright little star!
I’ve miles and miles of files,
Pretty files of your forefather’s fruit
And now to suit our great computer,
You’re magnetic ink!

In the Beginning – the Moody Blues

Sick of the USA? Let’s Move to Guernsey!

Posted on by Standard 2

Ah, the digital age.  From the middle of nowhere, with a few strokes of my keyboard, I can reach and influence people from . . .  well, another middle of nowhere.

Today I glanced at the hit statistics for my blog site.  As always, most of my hits are from the United States.  A few from Canada, Australia, and the UK.  And the usual smattering of others from assorted spots around the globe.

Today, I got a hit from the nation of Guernsey!

What, you never heard of Guernsey?  Well I have.  There was a little news item about Guernsey a month or so back, and somehow I saw it, and it registered about 18k of information in a deep, dark crevice of my ever-shrinking grey matter.

I remembered reading that there is this little island off the coast of England, where the main industry is selling business and shipping licenses to people who don’t want to be under the thumb of any other recognized government.  They have a radio station, some cows, a few pubs of course, and I remembered they have a really neat sovereign gold coin.  They act like Brits, but are really an independent nation.

That’s about all the info you can fit in 18k.

So when I saw that I actually got a hit from Guernsey, I did a web search and discovered their really cool little website.    I found that their government is mainly by committees of the states, and they choose a Chief Executive of the States.

Now I think I have about 21k of knowledge in there.

Anyway, if – after the election – you have had it with the United States, and can’t think of any place you want to move to, give some thought to Guernsey.

Or, alternatively, if we Montanans decide to secede from the United States, maybe we could go to Guernsey and take notes.

Anybody know how to milk a cow?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

We gotta get out of this place
If it’s the last thing we ever do
We gotta get out of this place
Girl, there’s a better life for me and you

We Gotta Get Out Of This Place – the Animals

Isn’t Mexico A Foreign Country?

Posted on by Standard 2

Have we completely forgotten about our neighbors to the south?  In last night’s “foreign policy” presidential debate, Mexico was not mentioned.

At least 60,000 have died in Mexico’s drug war over the last five years.

Repeat, and pause.  At least 60,000 have died in Mexico’s drug war over the last five years.

Moderator Bob Schieffer doesn’t think Mexico is important enough to justify wasting a question.  Neither Obama nor Romney took an opportunity to mention Mexico, or illegal immigration, or violence on the border, or the flight of US manufacturers across the border, or our dependence on Mexican oil, or our lust for Mexican drugs.  The Hispanic vote does not seem to be of concern to anyone.  Apparently, neither is the ongoing human carnage.

The focus of the entire debate was the Middle East.  Watching the proceeding, one would never know that just a stone’s throw from U.S. soil our Mexican neighbors suffer and die every day at the hands of criminal thugs and a corrupt legal system.  Or that Latinos, primarily of Mexican descent, will make up a third of our population by 2050.

Like it or not, our country is becoming browner.  Our future is intertwined with Mexico’s.  The nation, while sadly adrift, is not without merit, talent or resources.  It seems to me that even a little bit of attention paid to Mexico could deliver rewards – plus, we should sleep better at night.  We ignore Mexico at our peril.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Never mind your name, just give us your number
Never mind your face, just show us your card
And we want to know whose wing are you under?
You better step to the right or we can make it hard

On the Border – the Eagles

Agenda 21 Is Finally on the National Radar

Posted on by Standard 2

A couple of years ago when Tea Parties and other conservative groups started warning about dangerous socialist influences infiltrating our local governments, I was a skeptic.  “I’m not a conspiracy theorist,” I thought.  “Agenda 21?  Sounds like Area 51.  That stuff is just too crazy to even my waste time thinking about.  I’m a realist, I’m worried about the economy and the national debt.  Don’t bother me with the fringe nutball stuff.”

The Agenda 21 story was never picked up by the mainstream media, but it seemed there were more and more news items about “sustainable” growth initiatives, and bike lanes, and expensive projects with marginal (if any) apparent benefits. A common theme was the proliferation of grants – “free” money from the federal government, usually involving NGOs (non-governmental agencies).  Although the money always comes with strings attached, it seems irresistible to cash-starved city and county departments.

When people I know and trust began rolling up their sleeves, standing up to their city councils and county commissions, and loudly “outing” the socialist agendas and harmful effects of these initiatives, I had to start paying attention.  If you have read this far and don’t know what Agenda 21 is, or why you should be concerned, it’s time for you to start paying attention, too.  You can start with the Wikipedia entry.  Probably the deepest research on the origins and dangers of Agenda 21 was done by investigators working for Glenn Beck.

According to Brushfires of Freedom Montana, a conservative and constitutional watchdog group, “There are literally thousands of Agenda 21 projects going on in Montana.”   New initiatives pop up almost daily all over the state and some are undoubtedly worming their way into your local governments – just look for the word “sustainable” and follow the grant money.

I was surprised to see this morning that Reuters published a feature story about Agenda 21 and it hit the other mainstream news sources.  While far from a definitive piece, just the appearance of Agenda 21 on the national radar screen is big news.

I’ll tell you what is definitely NOT sustainable – our government’s insatiable spending and the exploding national debt – and I will stay focused on that.  But at the risk of being labeled a “nutball conspiracy theorist”, I will stand with my conservative brethren and the state legislatures that have taken a stand.  Agenda 21 is a threat to our personal liberties that must be faced down.  It can’t be a secret any more.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Mmm mmm
Something’s comin’ over, mmm mmm
Something’s comin’ over, mmm mmm
Something’s comin’ over me
My baby’s got a secret

Secret – Madonna

Absentee Ballots – Invitation To Voter Fraud

Posted on by Standard 11

There are so many things going haywire in our nation that you just can’t keep up with them all.

It’s like whack-a-mole.   “Federal Land Grabs!”  Bam!  “Agenda 21!”  Bam!   “Election Fraud!”   Bam! Bam! Bam!  You can’t keep up – when you try to smack down one issue, two or three more pop up.

Yesterday a friend and I made a trip to our County Courthouse to meet the Clerk and Recorder and learn all about our old ES&S 570 tabulator (vote counting machine).  We wanted to know exactly how this thing works and if there are any weaknesses or opportunities for hanky-panky.  We were warmly greeted and our Clerk went out of her way to answer all of our questions.  She even took time out of her busy day to give us a test drive.

The machine is a pretty clunky old gal, but understandable and serviceable.  There are opportunities for people error, but the machine itself is pretty fool-proof as near as we could tell.  However, our visit actually pointed us to an unexpected and much bigger problem – absentee ballots.

Our secretary of state, Linda McCulloch, insists “voter fraud is nonexistent in Montana“.   If your local fire chief tells you “fires are nonexistent in my town”, you’d better start looking for a new fire chief.   He not only may not see fires that do occur, he also doesn’t feel the need to prevent them.  Great gig if you can get it.

The fact is, our absentee ballot system is a neon-flashing, irresistible invitation to any unscrupulous group wanting to control an election.  Here’s why:

Every voting jurisdiction in Montana, and in most states, mails absentee ballots to out-of-state addresses.  Many are sent to people who previously lived in the district.  Some are college students who originally registered using their parents’ address.  In any event, if someone is registered to vote in the district, all they have to do is request an absentee ballot, fill it out and sign it, and return it to the county clerk.  As long as they keep voting, they remain registered at the last address on file and can continue voting forever, regardless of where their ballot is sent.  They never have to set foot in the state.

I asked our clerk if they check to see if these out-of-state absentee voters are also registered to vote in other states.  “No,” was the succinct reply.

How many votes in Montana elections are being placed by people who no longer live here?  Or perhaps never did?  How easy would it be for me to register to vote in Montana, using a fictitious name and/or address, and then ask for an absentee ballot to be sent to me in Newark, New Jersey?  Using technology, why couldn’t I do this a thousand times or more?

It may sound like too much work for an amateur like you or me for just one vote.  But elections are no longer just about choosing the right person for a local government office.  There are huge government dollars at stake and deep pocket special-interest groups who will do and spend whatever it takes to throw an important election – think, for instance, Al Franken.  And what’s the down-side if you get caught?

The only verification of absentee voters is a brief check of the signature on the envelope against the scanned signature on the registration at the secretary of state’s website.  In our courthouse, whoever gets the mail performs this function.  It is unsupervised and unscientific at best (I watched a small batch being checked-in and saw a very suspicious signature accepted.)  I know there are many conscientious employees in our county offices, but if it’s a busy day, especially in a very large district, is this a step that might get skipped?  Following up on a suspicious signature is tedious and time-consuming.  Who would know the difference?

We all love the convenience of absentee voting, and its use is exploding all over the country.  I maintain that vote fraud will explode right along with it unless we take one or two preventative steps:

  • stop mailing absentee ballots out of state
  • develop a nationwide registration system and cross-check registrations, similar to that built by True The Vote, a national voter integrity advocate group

I know my libertarian friends oppose national ID cards and related identification processes such as fingerprint and retina imaging, but this would be yet another perfect justification for their use.

This is not an indictment of our County Clerks and their employees.  In our sparsely-populated, rural state, there is probably less election fraud than in populous areas.   In larger cities, where ballots are handled in huge batches and nobody knows anybody else, and where votes are worth big money, it looks like easy money.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

This video of the Who in 2001 includes
bassist John Entwistle just before his death, and
Zak Starkey (Ringo’s son) on the drums –
sure looks like his Dad, but plays even better!

Who are you?
Who, who, who, who?

Who Are You – the Who

Montana Charity vs. Share The Wealth

Posted on by Standard 2

There was a time when we Americans watched out for each other.  If someone needed help, his friends, family, and neighbors would jump in to do what was needed.  As a teenager, my small-town dad taught me to always offer help.   Flat tire?  Hey, let me help you with that jack.  Dead battery?  We can give you a jump.   Cows got out of the fence?  Let’s help you get them back in.  House burned down?  The whole town will pitch in to help you get back on your feet.  It’s the Montana way.  And you never know when you might be the one who needs help.

But voluntary charity wasn’t good enough for the “progressives” among us.  They have never trusted their neighbors to help.  Maybe it’s because they never felt compelled to offer help to others.  So the expectation in recent years is to have government answer every need.

There’s a big difference.  An important difference.

You see, the good Lord knew what he was doing when he created the human psyche.  Voluntarily helping somebody else feels good.  You know it’s true – it really is better to give than to receive.

But when someone takes something from you – something you worked for – and gives it to somebody else whether you like it or not –  well . . . it just doesn’t feel so good, does it?

Volunteers load hay for Montana neighbors – photo by Don Danell

There was a big fire near Roundup, Montana a few weeks ago.  Thousands of acres of timber and agricultural land were destroyed, along with dozens of homes.  A small group of nearby ranchers realized that their fellow cattlemen were going to have a problem feeding their stock.  They weren’t asked to help.  And they didn’t wait for the government to do a series of studies about what was needed.  They took action on their own.

In short order, 18 fire-stricken ranchers from the Roundup area received truckloads of hay, courtesy of their concerned neighbors – even the delivery and fuel was donated.

This is how charity used to work.  This is how it SHOULD work.

Can you imagine how much it would have cost and how long it would have taken for our government bureaucracy to get hay to these ranchers in need?

Yes, it does take a village to raise a child and to help those in need.  It takes neighbors, family, and friends.  And it works a lot better without forced charity – and the complication and inefficiency of government.

 

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side
thanks to Deb Hill

Enjoy this all-time classic by James Taylor

If the sky above you
Should turn dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind should begin to blow
Keep your head together
And call my name out loud
Soon I’ll be knocking upon your door

You’ve Got A Friend – James Taylor (Carole King)