Category Archives: the Constitution

John Lennon – Liberal? Or Conservative?

Posted on by Standard 2

beatlesI’m a Beatle baby.  I grew up with the Beatles.  In my pre-pube years I watched their movies, listened to their hit songs on the radio, saw them on Ed Sullivan, and tried to figure out why all the girls were screaming.  Like every other music-aware and girl-aware boy, I wanted to be a Beatle.   I just couldn’t decide which one.

At first I thought being a British Invasion drummer would be the pinnacle of success. Here’s my story, a song I wrote and recorded a couple of years ago:

To this day I revere the Beatles (living and dead) – their magical songwriting skills, their charisma, their larger-than-life grip on pop culture, and their legendary worldview that grew beyond anything that could have been scripted.   John, Paul, George and Ringo set the tempo of the universe, both musically and socially.  They had the world by the ass.

Many of you who Rock with me On The Right Side might think that the long-haired, dope-smoking, guru-worshipping Beatles of the sixties were on the wrong side of political history.  How on Earth could conservative Tom still get such a big buzz when he hears “Baby, You Can Drive My Car”, or “Lady Madonna” ?

Well, to tell you the truth, I never really tried to extract any deep message.  Nor did you.  Much of their lyrical message was nonsense.

I am the Egg Man! They are the Egg Men! I am the Walrus! Goo Goo, Goo Joob!

Lennon and McCartney occasionally tried to convey an overtly political message.   Usually it was something basic, like “Give Peace A Chance.”  But let’s face it: they weren’t world leaders, they were relatively uneducated twenty-something kids who were getting a lot of attention. They had no clue what message would have positive results for their world and that of the future.

But they did have the world by the ass, and still do.  I still love to play and sing Beatle songs.  I plead guilty to the crime of passionately singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” to audiences of all persuasions, including Montana cowboys:

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too

Could there be a more liberal, “one world order” message than that?  I kind of hope that nobody really pays attention to those lyrics when I sing them.  Just enjoy the beautiful song.

But then I revel in Lennon’s totally conservative anthem “Revolution”, in which he proclaims:

You say you’ll change the constitution, well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution, well, you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don’t you know it’s gonna be all right?

Was John Lennon a liberal, or a conservative?  I don’t think he really cared.  He was just searching for reality.  For truth.  Hell, maybe he was so stoned most of the time he couldn’t tell the difference.  I suppose he stumbled onto wisdom and dreams from both sides, like many of us who try to make sense of the news today.

Anyway, thinking about Lennon, and the Beatles, and the huge philosophical and political differences between the left and the right today, it reminds me to . . . just keep an open mind.  Listen.  Think.  Teach.  Stay level.  And do your best to help make the world a better place for our kids and grandkids.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

But if you want money
For people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don’t you know it’s gonna be all right?

ALL RIGHT!
RIP John Lennon

Government Employees: Join Us Conservatives!

Posted on by Standard 1

US flagThis message is for government employees.

I know most of you are thoughtful people who care about your families and their futures.  You want our nation to be a better place for your children and grandchildren, and you want to be justifiably proud of our nation again.

As our economy has deteriorated, you have been increasingly cursed by conservatives.  You may feel isolated and threatened.  Since your paycheck comes from the taxpayers you can’t respond in public to the punches thrown your way.

It’s time for us to have a little talk – please stick with me to the end of this post.

I am a fiscal conservative.  No shame, no hesitancy, no reservations.  Our federal government, and many state and local governments, have been spending a lot more money than they have taken in for a long time, and this can not continue without devastating results.  I know you understand this basic fact of life.  At $17 trillion dollars and growing, our national debt is epic.

Still, there are grown adults who will not admit that we can not consume more than we produce.  I doubt that the “grasshopper and ant” story is still shared with elementary students, but its lesson about industry and thrift, and the importance of saving for the future is no less true today than it was when our great-grandparents learned it.

A few selfish Americans only want to take, and never give.  Aside from that, the only justification I have heard for government overspending is a misguided belief in Keynesian economics.  It has never worked in the long-term, and we are living the proof of that right now.  We are at the end of the line.

Liberals (and especially the corrupt mainstream media) continue to paint conservatives as stingy, cold-hearted, wild-eyed wing-nuts who don’t care about underdogs.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Most of us are, or were, underdogs.  Conservatives want a better world for all, and have learned from history what makes that happen.   We know that nothing in life worth having is free.

Because I am a critic of government overspending, and because most tax dollars go to salaries, I complain a lot – and loudly – about government employees.  Let me clarify that.

I don’t hate government employees.  The people, I mean.  You are American citizens who raise your families, support churches and charities, go to work and do your best.  Many of you are extraordinarily brave, intelligent, and productive.  Many of you are consummate patriots and put up with a lot of nonsense that most of us would not tolerate.

The problem is our government has outgrown our ability to control it.  There are too many government jobs, many involving work that the framers of our constitution never intended.   Some programs are obsolete, redundant, frivolous, or over-reaching.

Honestly, some government employees have little or nothing constructive to do – not because they are lazy, but because the “system” in which they operate has become dysfunctional.  Corruption in government has grown to epidemic proportions due to the high cost of getting elected, and the profit potential.  As a result, you government employees are forced to do things that you know are not right, and there are some bad actors in lead positions of your agencies and departments.  Also, some of you have been steered by corrupt union leadership that does not always operate in your best interests.

Lately I am hearing from more and more of you honest, concerned government employees who “get it”.  You understand the true state of the union and the extent of the danger, but you may feel you can’t stand up and speak out against the excesses and failures of your employer.

I’m here to wish you courage and strength, and invite you to the “Right Side”.  Please join us.  You can be a major contributor to restoring the fiscal integrity of our great nation.   Support your conservative friends and neighbors.  Teach your children.  Do what you can to cut waste and corruption.  It’s your home too, and your family’s future is much brighter in a free, strong and prosperous economy than in a corrupt, state-controlled society where the top priority is a perceived “fairness” that will ultimately require everyone to be equally miserable.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

People, when things go wrong, as they sometimes will
And the road you travel, it stays all uphill
Let’s work together
Come on, come on, let’s work together
You know together we will stand
Every boy, girl, woman and man

Let’s Work Together – Canned Heat


Got My Free Obama Phone Today!

Posted on by Standard 10

Tom Obama PhoneA couple of weeks ago I reported to you Rockers on the Right Side that I was applying for a free Obama Phone.  It came in the mail yesterday!

I ordered the free cell phone to make a point.  Well, maybe several points.

  • Our Federal Government is out of control.  Somebody please show me where in the Constitution it says the federal government must confiscate money from some people and use it to buy gadgets for other people?
  • What about our $17 trillion debt?  How can we afford $2.4 billion for free cell phones and cellular service?  Even while liberals wail that there are starving children all over the country? (the food stamp kids I see are pretty chunky)
  • Free market, my ass!  I’m sure glad I don’t own a cell phone company, having to compete with my own government giving merchandise away.  Well, unless I could be the one getting the $2.4 billion, I guess.
  • This program has nothing to do with helping the “needy”.  It is just one more example of pandering for votes by elected officials — with our money!
  • The feds can’t get anything right.  Although there are guidelines, I have proved that anybody who asks for a free Obama Phone can get one.  I am not needy, I do not even remotely qualify to receive one, and my application was absolutely truthful.  I didn’t even vote for Obama.  But “hoop, there it is!”  And we are supposed to trust these people to take over operation of the entire health care industry?

If your hair isn’t on fire yet, watch this video by Project Veritas:

Oh well, it’s only $2.4 billion.  Not enough money to get the attention of, say, CNN or MSNBC.   Or apparently our legislators in Washington, DC.

Next time you pay your cell phone bill, and cuss about those mysterious additional charges, maybe you want to give your senator or congressman a call.  Or you can call me, any time.  On my Obama Phone!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Call me!  On the line!
You can call me, call me any time.
Call me!  I’ll arrive
You can call me any day or night.
Call me!

Call Me – Blondie

Old rockers never die!  Blondie wows a huge audience at Rotterdam, 1997.

ps – I don’t intend to use this phone and abuse you taxpayers / cell phone users.  I just ordered it to prove that they are giving them out to anybody who asks without any scrutiny.

The Smuggler’s Blues – Our Battle With A Security Officer

Posted on by Standard Reply

Omaha Airport EvacuationI opened the back door of my truck and removed our contraband from under the rear seat – two small ziplock bags, stuffed to capacity.  I carefully tucked them into the bottom of my canvas bag, under the foam seat cushions and between the Kansas City Royals umbrellas.

Nervously, we approached the gate.  The officer glared at me, his brow furrowed in deep suspicion.  I handed the tickets to my son, the blind guy, in the hope that the authorities would be so distracted with him and his white cane that they would forget to check my bag.

“Hold on there, I have to check that bag,” the officer said.  I sheepishly held it up, knowing that I was about to be busted.  This security professional was no newcomer to smuggling.  He knew what he was looking for, and he would find it.  Groping around the bottom of my baseball fan bag, he soon found what he was looking for – contraband peanuts.

“You can’t bring outside food into this stadium,” he sneered, contempt dripping from his lip.

I shoved my son through the gate with instructions to wait for me.  I told him I would return the peanuts to the truck and re-join him at the gate, clean as the driven snow, and worthy of admission to the Charlotte Knights minor league baseball game.  Back to the truck I went.  But somehow, I knew I would have to try again.

This time I packed the peanuts more carefully.  I folded the foam seat cushions completely around the peanut bags so that “the man” would not detect them without actually emptying the canvas bag.  Back I went to the gate.

But Officer Dudley DoRight was up to the challenge.  Empty the bag he did, and once more I was banished from the gate, skulking back to the truck, head hung in shame.  Busted again.

Having failed twice, I gave in.  I threw my peanuts back in the truck and returned to the gate empty-handed, joining my very-confused son, and muttering something about “getting through next time”.

For weeks I schemed.  There must be some way to get peanuts into that stadium undetected.

And then it hit me.  Cargo pants.

Tonight my preparations for our smuggling operation took on a new sense of purpose and zeal as I put on my ghetto-length cargo shorts, the ones with the big long pockets all up and down the front, and buttons for added stealth.  Ha ha! I snickered as I loaded up two, NO, make it THREE! bags of peanuts!  I slid them into the huge pockets of my cargo shorts and they were barely even detectable.

We arrived early at the stadium.   Carrying our Kansas City Royals umbrellas in hand, we didn’t even bother with the canvas bag.  I looked the cop right in the eye as we approached the gate.  I DARE YOU to check me out!  No bag!  No suspicious bulges!

He gave me his usual contemptuous glare, but without a bag to check, all he could do was wag his head toward the gate.

Success!  Finally we had smuggled contraband peanuts into a Charlotte Knights baseball game!

After a two hour rain delay the announcer declared that the game was cancelled.  We took our peanuts home, but we vowed we would be back.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side From the office of the President,
Right down to me and you,
It’s a losing proposition
But one you can’t refuse
It’s the politics of contraband
It’s the smuggler’s blues!
Smuggler’s blues

Smuggler’s Blues – Glen Frey

smugglers blues

Detroit Autopsy – Defined Benefits, Union Paybacks

Posted on by Standard 6

Back in the 1980s I was CFO for a family-owned chain of lumber yards and home centers.  The company had grown to about 300 employees, and was making the transition from a small, easy-going operation to a more fast-paced, modern corporation.

Like most companies of that age and size, mine provided its employees a defined-benefit pension plan.  A defined-benefit plan is one in which employees are guaranteed a specific monthly check at retirement.

There were several problems inherent in these defined benefit plans.  The amount received by the employee after decades of service was actually pretty minimal.   The insurance companies who ran the plans quietly took a huge slice of the pie for their participation, and paid minimal interest on the funds they held.  If an employee changed jobs before he was fully “vested”, he lost most, if not all, of his pension.  And many of these plans were “overfunded”, meaning the company had paid more money into the plan than the employees would ever be able to receive – this cash should be used by the company for some purpose other than making the insurance company richer.

We made the decision to terminate our defined pension plan and convert to a new 401(k) defined contribution plan, which had just been authorized by Congress.  Employees were encouraged to save some money, tax deferred, from every check, and the company generously matched the employee’s contribution.  Employees chose how they wanted to invest their savings, and in no time we all had considerable accounts to look forward to in retirement, which we could take with us if we changed jobs.

The difference between “defined benefit”, which promises security but not prosperity, and “defined contribution”, which offers rewards based on saving and investing, is the difference between “communism” and “capitalism”.

And it is what killed Detroit.  It will kill more cities and states, and perhaps our nation, if we don’t learn this difference and take action now.

Our government union employees are about the only workers left in our country who are promised a guaranteed, and in most cases very lucrative, income at retirement.  Virtually no businesses operate this way.  Our government officials have promised their union employees a great deal more money than they can extract from the taxpayers.  The result is economic disaster.

Maelstrom_of_MoneyHow did this happen?  Simple.  Elected officials control the compensation paid to their union employees as well as the revenues extracted from taxpayers.  Union employees promise to help (with cash and labor) elect the politician.  When elected, the politician pays the union back with higher compensation, using money that is extracted from the taxpayers.  It goes around and around until the government is broke.

We must guard against government growth with every breath.  The framers of our constitution were trying to create a system that would not be subject to the corruption that has eventually destroyed every government in history.   Government must be restricted to only strictly necessary spending, according to the constitution, and let the miracle of free-market economics build our wealth and improve the standard of living for all.

The only way out is to elect officials who will eliminate government employee unions, and stop the unholy cycle of pay-backs. Government employees should be compensated fairly based on actual performance, and compete for their jobs, just as employees in the private sector do.

Before you vote for any elected official, ask him or her for a statement of position on government employee unions.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Too many people need me
I’ve got so much, so much to do
But when my traveling is over
I’ll pay you back with interest
I’ll pay you back with interest

Where’d All the Good People Go? to MontKotaWyoRasKanRado!

Posted on by Standard Reply

MontKotaWyoRasKanRadoResidents of ten counties in northern Colorado have had enough.  Even though they provide most of the money for school funding in their state, and the vast majority of oil and gas revenues, they feel like the ‘Rodney Dangerfield’ of the state house – they get no respect.

The conservative rural counties are outnumbered and outgunned by liberal city slickers in the legislature, which led to new restrictions on energy production, stricter gun controls, and a heaping helping of government overreach in the recent legislative session.  Colorado’s rapidly growing minority population and low-information urban voters handed control of the governor’s office and both houses over to the Democrats, who are now chugging full speed down the track of destruction behind the liberal federal freight train.  Feeling underrepresented, and expecting the demographic shift to worsen before it gets better, the northern counties are considering a drastic move – secession from the state.

The 51st state of the union would be called North Colorado, and it would instantly be an economic powerhouse, leaving the rest of Colorado to a California-like fate – lots of Agenda 21 spending and no revenue.

No sooner had the plan been announced than other rural counties in the state wanted in, as well as counties from Nebraska and Kansas.

Residents of rural Montana counties feel the same way.  You won’t find the Missoula gang and eastern Montana ranchers and oilmen exchanging back-slaps and buying each other beers any time soon.  Wyoming and North Dakota have quietly set the standard for good conservative government in recent years.

Conservatives all over the US are mystified by the counter-intuitive and self-destructive tendencies of our current leadership.  While personal wealth, employment, and standards of living continue to tumble, they focus on gay rights.  As the middle east boils over, threatening our national security and energy supply, they do everything possible to damage our ability to be energy self-sufficient.  If providing medical care for all Americans wasn’t tough enough, they impose a “train wreck” new system that will drastically raise the cost while destroying quality and quantity of health care.

Why not let conservatives start fresh, building a place where common sense, minimal government interference, constitutional rights, free market economics, personal responsibility, and family values are the orders of the day?

I think it’s a great idea.  The gerrymandering might be kind of complicated.  But I’ll bet a new 51st state – let’s call it MontKotaWyoRasKanRado – would be a GREAT place to live.  A place for all the good people to go!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right SideYou win, it’s your show, now
So what’s it gonna be?
‘Cause people will tune in
How many train wrecks do we need to see?
Before we lose touch of . . .
We thought this was low,
It’s bad, getting worse, so
Where’d all the good people go?

Where’d All The Good People Go? – Jack Johnson

Our Nation Nearly Committed Suicide

Posted on by Standard 1

Today is Independence Day. It typically brings to mind the bravery and wisdom of the founding fathers of our nation, and rightfully so.

But today I am mindful of the bravery and wisdom of the men who fought and died to preserve our nation at a time when its future was hanging by a thread.

Hospital-Field-Civil-WarYou might know that 700,000 American men died in the Civil War.  You probably have heard anecdotes about how ugly and brutal the battles were.  As I grow older I am more somberly aware of the toll the war took on our nation and its people.  I recently viewed the movie “Lincoln”, and it was sobering, to say the least.

While there weren’t a lot of battle scenes in that movie, I was reminded of an old question for which I never sought the answer:  why do cannonballs explode when they hit the ground in movie war scenes?  Isn’t a cannonball just a solid ball of steel or iron?

So I did a little research, and learned:  don’t believe everything you see in the movies.

The Civil War was called “the last of the ancient wars and the first of the modern wars”, because the military tactics included old-fashioned cannon, muskets, and close-rank troop formations as well as new innovations in guns and cartridges, iron-clad ships, and advanced ordnance.

Old-style cannonballs were solid balls of metal, 3″ to 6″ in diameter, that could be fired as far as a mile.  Obviously a cannonball can knock down a wall or sink a ship.  For anti-personnel purposes, cannon were fired into columns or masses of troops at a low trajectory, and would bounce along a deadly path with gruesome effect.  A typical cannon shot could blast through up to forty men, knocking off arms, legs and heads as it passed, with no warning.  Imagine the fear it lodged in the gut of a young soldier.

Just before the onset of the war, a British Army officer named Henry Schrapnel invented an even more efficient artillery weapon.  He called it “spherical case” ammunition – a hollow cannon ball filled with lead shot and a timed explosive that would cause it to explode above ground, blasting lethal projectiles in every direction.   His name defines the deadly metal pieces engineered into bombs and shells even today.

As I learn more about the ugliness of war and its place in our U.S. history, I reflect on the patriotism, honor, and bravery that our ancestors carried into battle.  Not just those who fought the British and forged our great nation, but also those who stepped up to save the union at a time when it nearly committed suicide, and the healing that God makes possible between seemingly intractable enemies.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Well, he was just 18, proud and brave,
But a Yankee laid him in his grave.
I swear by the blood below my feet,
You can’t raise a Caine back up
When it’s in defeat.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – the Band

RIP – Levon Helm

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back – the Obama Tango

Posted on by Standard 1

DC Celebrates Inauguration With Gala BallsThe relationship between government and citizens is a delicate dance.  In recent years, our federal government has insisted on taking the lead role, forcing citizens to step consistently backward, giving up their personal freedoms and national dignity.  But recently the music has changed, and our president takes us by the hand to do the “Obama Tango” – an intricate,  passionate dance with steps forward and backward and all over the place.

The Obama Tango:

One step back:  Congressional hearings reveal the utter and apparently willful failure of the administration to defend the Libya embassy compound and personnel, and attempt a disgraceful coverup by sending U.N. ambassador Susan Rice to lie about it on all the major TV networks.

One step forward:  Benghazi-gate finally gets some mainstream media coverage as a result of the hearings.

One step back and a slap in the face:  President Obama selects Rice as his next National Security Advisor.  What a slap in the face to the families of those who died representing the USA and defending our embassy and personnel, and to the American people who have always believed the word security implies honesty.

Another step back:  The federal government is caught abusing the privacy of reporters and news agencies including the Associated Press.

One step forward and a turn:  The mainstream media, whose fawning and “thrill-up-the-leg -ing” over the “Unvetted One” was the single biggest factor in Obama’s election and re-election, turn against their former lover.   While defense of the Constitution has not been a priority with the fourth estate for a long time, they are reminded that “freedom of the press” is in there somewhere.  Mainstream America has a good laugh at Mainstream Media’s expense – serves them right.

One step back and a pelvic thrust:  The IRS systematically targets conservative groups and contributors for harsh treatment over the last several years, while throwing lavish parties on the taxpayer’s dime.  The administration pretends it knew nothing about their political adversaries getting screwed.

One step forward, then grab and double-slap:  The media, already upset at Obama and his crew (see above), grabs the momentum and gives him a slap, followed by a back-slap when they learn that the EPA has been setting up hidden “man rooms” in warehouses where its employees relax with couches, TVs, microwaves, etc. instead of laboring at their desks.

Stand still:  It turns out the NSA has been gathering phone, e-mail, credit, web traffic and other information about every US citizen without our knowledge or consent.  Citizens ask why data is collected from everyone instead of just the bad guys.  Obama says, “I believe in the right to privacy, but there are some tradeoffs involved in our need for security.”

One step forward, deep dip, and kiss:  The Obama administration, in a surprising concession to hunters and stockmen, announces that the feds will lift the ridiculous protections for the gray wolf that was “reintroduced” to the lower 48 states, resulting in untold damage to livestock and the decimation of elk herds and moose in Montana and other western states.

After all these years of only stepping back, it’s refreshing to get in a few forward steps.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

I take 2 steps forward, 2 steps back
We come together cuz opposites attract
It ain’t fiction, just a natural fact
We come together cuz opposites attract

Paula Abdul – Opposites Attract

Paula Abdul live in Japan, 1991 – kinda cheesey stage show, but the music is solid with a smokin’ band and backup vocalists.

You better THINK!

Posted on by Standard Reply

Aretha - thinkAs I have pointed out to you, my fellow Rockers on the Right Side, I get regular e-mails from the Obama camp.  They ask me for $5 every day, and they assume that because I logged in to their website once during the last election campaign that I am one of them.  It’s amazing to me that they are still gathering campaign contributions despite the fact that their leader is a lame duck in his second term.

Anyway, the messages are usually amusing.   The Obama group often publishes a “letter” supposedly written by a kid to tug at my heartstrings and shame me into sending my daily $5.  They want me to FEEL, but they certainly don’t want me to THINK.

A while back they used this one, ostensibly composed by a 17-year old whose father was murdered by one of his former employees, along with a UPS driver and three other employees:

Friend —

My dad, Reuven Rahamim, was killed this past September in a mass shooting.   I was 17 years old, one of 15 children who lost a parent that day. I’m honoring his memory — and those of many others who have fallen — by doing something about gun violence.

Whether you’ve been personally affected by gun violence or not, you need to be part of this fight, too.   Since my dad’s death, I’ve learned that my family’s experience is not as uncommon as one might expect. The statistics are horrifying: 12,000 Americans are murdered with guns every year. But the true toll of gun violence is borne by the tens of thousands of sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, and wounded survivors left behind.

When I think of the number of lives that could have been saved by universal background checks or better access to mental health services, I simply don’t understand why Congress doesn’t act right away.

So join me in speaking out. Our stories from all across the country will reaffirm the all-too-real consequences of this unending violence and the need for sensible solutions. Share why you support legislation to keep dangerous weapons out of the wrong hands.

I know my dad is watching right now as I fight alongside many other Americans for common-sense legislation. He deserves a vote. We all deserve a vote. Now is the time.

Thanks,
Sami Rahamim, Minneapolis, MN

Sad story, and probably a good kid.  But think about it — this family is being used.  No way any 17-year old product of our public schools wrote that letter.  Look at the construction and vocabulary.  How many teenagers use phrases like “the true toll” and “reaffirm the all-too-real consequences”?  How many can correctly spell “borne”,  let alone use the word in a sentence?  If this letter had included the words “I’m like” twice in every sentence, I would trust that Sami wrote it, not a group of leftist zealots in a backroom of the White House.

The messages from the Obama camp are always simplistic and emotional.  They never include any background from which the reader can make an informed decision.  The premise of this letter is based on one statement: “12,000 Americans are murdered with guns every year.”  Okay, who pulled the triggers — mostly drug dealers and gang-bangers?  Who were the victims –mostly other drug-dealers and gang-bangers?  How many of these murders took place in areas under strict gun-control laws?  What is the real cause of gun violence, guns?  Or is it drugs and gangs?  And what are you doing about drugs and gangs, besides opening our borders to create more of both?

Unmentioned is this fact: gun violence decreased by 49% from 2003 to 2011, despite an increase in gun ownership.

Unfortunately, the average American is no longer capable of discernment.  With our embarrassingly tiny little attention-spans, and having been thoroughly indoctrinated by the education/news media/government cabal to swallow everything shoveled our way, we are easily steered to the desired conclusion.

Call us “low-information voters”.  “Sheeple.”  “Slacktivists”.

Like Aretha says, “We Better Think.”

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side You better think (think)
Think about what you’re trying to do to me
Yeah, think (think, think)
Let your mind go, let yourself be free

Let’s go back, let’s go back, let’s go way on way back when
I didn’t even know you, you couldn’t have been too much more than ten
I ain’t no psychiatrist, I ain’t no doctor with degree
It don’t take too much high IQ to see what you’re doing to me

Think – Aretha Franklin

You HAVE TO stop what you are doing and enjoy this classic cut  – ‘Aretha, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Akroyd and Belushi, and the rest of the Blues Brothers – 1980

Livin’ In a Land Down Under

Posted on by Standard 2

kangaroosI spent a day with some friends from Australia last weekend.  It’s sad to say, but they were more engaged in and knowledgeable about American politics and economics than most fellow Yankees I meet.

We had riveting discussions comparing the political and economic situations of our two countries.  One thing became obvious right away – wage rates “down under” far exceed ours.  While the Aussie dollar and the American dollar are near parity, Australian laborers earn $25 or more per hour, while the norm in my American city seems to be about $12 per hour.  Australian professionals appear to earn considerably more than Americans do as well, but taxes take a pretty healthy bite, and prices are high on some items.

Our three guests were all government employees, yet they were very fiscally conservative.  One was a nurse who works for a government-owned and operated health care system.  She explained that citizens who purchase private health insurance can choose their own (presumably superior) doctors and care facilities.  No one is refused care at the public hospitals.

I was surprised to learn that the unions and government are combatants in Australia.  And my friends were shocked to hear about the circle of corruption in the US, where government employees’ unions get politicians elected in exchange for favors and more government jobs.  They wondered why they had not heard about some of the issues I presented, and I explained that for many years our news media have been bedfellows with the democrats, and their reporting is rigidly slanted in that direction (with the exception of Fox News, for whom my guests had no respect).  The Aussies are not impressed with the dearth of real news here, lamenting that they never hear their nation even mentioned in the media.

When we expressed our concerns about vote fraud in recent elections, especially in Montana, they described how their election system requires each citizen to vote – and failure to do so results in a hefty fine.  “We don’t use voting machines, it’s all done manually under great scrutiny,” we were told.

They weren’t pleased that their current prime minister, Julia Gillard of the Labor Party, was not elected by the people.  She assumed office in 2010 when her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, was ousted as the Labor Party leader.  “And she won’t be elected this September, either!”  they announced with firm resolve.  It bothered me greatly that until our visit I didn’t even know who the leader of Australia is.

We shared common concerns about the leftward (and downward) drift in education, and the over-reaching environmental movement.  They understood our worries about illegal immigration: “You mean your immigrants don’t have national identification cards?” they asked.  Of course their border is protected by a rather large ocean.

The big eye-opener for the Aussies was our commitment to the second amendment.  At age 30, one of our guests had never seen or touched a gun.  I showed her mine, and it was as if all the oxygen was sucked out of the room.  My wife and I explained concealed carry permits, and our belief in the fundamental right to protect ourselves, our families, and our property.  They insisted that the bad guys in Australia don’t have guns, so the good guys don’t need them either.  I hope they are right about that.  In our case, unilateral disarmament would be suicidal.

Our friends are well aware of the United States’ tenuous economic condition and our stifling $16 trillion dollar debt.  We pondered where is the “best place” to be, economically and politically, in a world where trouble lurks in every corner.

“We think we have it pretty straight,” they said.  I couldn’t disagree.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Livin’ in a land down under,
Where women glow and men plunder,
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover!

Land Down Under – Men at Work