Are These the Good Old Days?

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 2

Sometimes we fuss when things don’t go the way we want, and we wonder if we are stuck with life as it is. We tend to forget that before long, everything will have changed.

My wife’s grandfather told the most amazing stories about his life in the early 1900s. He recalled with startling clarity a lifestyle before electricity, air conditioning, and air travel that was simpler, if not necessarily better. I asked him one time if he missed the ‘good old days’.

“Good old days!”, he howled. “We had mud and horse shit in the streets! THESE are the good old days, and don’t you forget it!”

I have heard it said that the rate of change accelerates over time. I don’t even know how change can be measured – there is no unit of “change” – but it seems to be true.

We know change will happen, but attempts to predict the future usually fall flat. Didn’t you think that by now we would be flying around like George Jetson in little air-mobiles? Pushing a button in the wall for instant breakfast? Seeing and talking to each other on little flip phones? Oh wait, we have that. Well, one out of three ain’t bad.

Some change is disturbing. We put a man on the moon 44 years ago, but we can’t do it today. We built the Empire State Building in 410 days but it now takes longer than that just to get the required permits for a minor construction job. We have deteriorated physically into a nation of jelly-bellies. The average student gets a worse education every year and many don’t finish high school. And it saddens me that laws are selectively enforced and the miracle left us by our founders, the Constitution, is being shredded.

Most surprising to me in the second half of my life is the rapid social change, and especially the blurring of the sexes. I sat in a fast-food restaurant recently near a group of high-school kids. It was a scene right out of “Glee”. The boys and girls were nearly interchangeable – giggling about everything and nothing, alternately poking at their smart phones. They dressed the same, they sounded the same, they acted the same. As they got up to leave, it was hugs all around, boys hugging girls, girls hugging girls, boys hugging boys.

The old macho “boy gets girl” world of my youth is history. Marriage is old-school – not necessary. Child-rearing by one or more females is the norm. Gone are the days when a young man was expected to get a good job, move up the ladder, and bring the “bacon” home to his wife and family. Women serve in combat units and television sit-coms are filled with lame gay humor.

Fortunately, change comes somewhat more slowly in Montana, a place where men are still men and women like it that way. We still have brave and bright-eyed young people in our military. Medical and emergency personnel still save lives every day, and good people do the right thing everywhere.

When candidate Obama promised hope and change, it was a sure bet the latter would come true. Change is gonna come, but it usually does not follow the path anyone expects. Things will happen that none of us anticipated.

So don’t fret too much about the way things are today. It doesn’t always feel like it, but maybe these are the “good old days”. And maybe they will get better.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Stay right here . . .
Cause these are the good old days.
These are the good old days!

Anticipation – Carly Simon

one of my all-time favorite live performance videos – Carly Simon 1987 at Martha’s Vineyard

The New ‘Immigration Reform’ – It’s A Mistake!

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Mexican Walmart While living in Montana for many years my opinions about illegal immigration were based on what I heard in the media. Montana doesn’t have an illegal immigrant problem. I saw the growing numbers of Mexicans and Central Americans when visiting western cities like Denver, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City, but still didn’t have any first-hand experience.

For the last few months I have been traveling full-time throughout the Southeast, based in Charlotte, and have gained some perspective on the issue.

Shortly after arriving here, I was shopping at a WalMart store and was struck by how many people were speaking Spanish. It seemed at times like I was the only English-speaking white guy around. I don’t know what proportion of these immigrants are illegal – some may be here on current visas. But it is likely that a good number of them either crossed the border illegally or were born to someone who did.

These foreigners have money to spend. And that is the centerpoint of my curiosity and interest.

The media paints us conservatives as racists, bigots and homophobes who have no tolerance for people who don’t look and speak like us. There are a few who fit that mold, but I think most are like me – concerned about the fiscal integrity of our nation and worried about the economic futures of our children.

Does it bother me that there are so many foreigners in the frozen foods aisle? Not in the least. I find them to be friendly, hard-working family people. What bothers me is that laws exist to protect U.S. citizens, and it is clear that a lot of law-breaking is being tolerated – even encouraged – to a greater degree every day. What is the economic impact?

I have a soft spot for anyone who works hard and takes care of his family. So when Hector came into my store a few days ago to buy a $6,000 dump trailer, I enjoyed learning about his roofing business. He had two of his ten employees with him, and they spoke no English. We had earlier outfitted his shiny new Ford truck with expensive accessories and this was the fifth trailer he had bought from us in a year.

When it came time to pay the bill, Hector, as always, pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills that would choke a horse. The sixty C-notes he peeled off to pay for his trailer barely made a dent. It made me wonder if the two guys with him were actually bodyguards.

Hector has built a great business and is making a lot of money. We need entrepreneurs in the United States, right?

Not like Hector.

He is obviously not paying taxes – his wealthy customers pay him in cash because he charges less than his native-born, honest, tax-paying competitors. He is not paying workers comp, or unemployment, or insurance bills. He does not provide health care for his employees. Hector pays his men minimum wage or less – they have to work for low wages because any legitimate business would be in big trouble if they hired illegal workers. But it works out because they receive all kinds of government benefits, including food stamps, medical care, subsidized housing and education for their children.

Hector is doing great. So is his family. And his employees are much better off here – they buzz the aisles at WalMart, chattering in Spanish with big smiles on their faces.

At the same time more and more of our own under-educated citizens have given up on work. They are encouraged to stay home and collect welfare, plus the same food stamps, free medical care, subsidized housing and education for their children that Hector’s employees get – all paid for with money either borrowed from the Chinese or printed out of thin air. American entrepreneurs who would start businesses as tradesmen and employ other Americans are beset with regulations, taxes, fees, and red tape.

Our political leaders continue to claim that we need illegal immigrants to do the work that “Americans won’t do.” Even Republicans in the nation’s capital are beginning to embrace amnesty and “immigration reform”, totally abandoning the laws that were created to protect U.S. citizens and our standard of living.

It’s a serious mistake.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

We’ll not fade out too soon, not in this finest hour
Whistle your favourite tune, we’ll send a card and flower
Saying it’s a mistake. It’s a mistake!

It’s A Mistake – Men At Work

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! No, It’s a Drone.

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

p51mustang Flashback: 1995, Manhattan, Kansas. I had just bought a home near Lake Tuttle and was out on my first Saturday motorbike cruise to check out the neighborhood. Down the road a few miles I came upon a large, open field and a cluster of men looking skyward in intense concentration.

I stopped to see what was going on. It was the local radio-controlled aircraft club, passionately engaged in their hobby on a beautiful, blue-sky Kansas afternoon. Their airplanes and helicopters were meticulously fabricated and painted – most were replicas of famous propeller-driven war-planes. The craftsmanship required to build and maintain such machines is only exceeded by the dexterity it takes to get and keep one aloft and under control. These guys were way beyond that, and I was mesmerized watching them guide their craft through acrobatic spins, dives, tricks, and mock battles. Takeoffs and landings were precise, if abrupt. Given the cost of these birds and the hours of work invested, crashes are uncommon.

Funny how we miss events and trends that ultimately have a huge impact. It never occurred to me on that prairie afternoon that this hobby would rapidly evolve into a multi-billion dollar industry, a constitutional crisis, and a sea-change in military and security strategy.

Drone Today we call them drones, and as we speak you may have one quietly buzzing over your head, perhaps observing you.

Our armed forces were quick to take advantage of drone technology – at first for reconnaissance, but soon after for actual combat missions. The use of machines to reduce risks to our soldiers won wide-spread support from political leaders and citizens alike. But as their use proliferated the ethical line in the sand seemed to move.

Americans were pleased to learn that Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man, Ayman al Zawahiri, was one of many Al Qaeda bad-asses sent to meet their maker by Predator drones in recent months. But concerns mounted when a drone strike killed American-born terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki and three other Al Qaeda leaders in Yemen, and a few days later, another drone took out al-Awlaki’s 16-year old Denver-born son, who, according to his family, was not a terrorist.

“To kill a teenager is just unbelievable, really, and they claim that he is an al-Qaeda militant. It’s nonsense,” said Nasser al-Awlaki, a former Yemeni agriculture minister who was Anwar al-Awlaki’s father and the boy’s grandfather, speaking in a phone interview from Sanaa on Monday. “They want to justify his killing, that’s all.” (quote from the Washington Post)

Senator Rand Paul takes the Constitution seriously, and literally. He filibustered the Senate for 13 hours last week to challenge the authority of President Obama – or any American, for that matter – to assassinate another American without due process. “The ‘drone debate’ isn’t over,” Paul declared. “I wanted everybody to know that our Constitution is precious and no American should be killed by a drone without first being charged with a crime.”

The market for military drones will reach $90 billion over the next ten years, according to the Teal Group. And applications for use in the private sector, as well as domestic law enforcement, are only starting to heat up.

Watching those pretty toy planes maneuvering above the Kansas prairie almost twenty years ago, I didn’t see the huge future implications. It makes me wonder what else I’m missing as I observe ordinary life today.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

A shout out to the Vietnam vets –

Sky pilot
Sky pilot
How high can you fly
You’ll never, never, never reach the sky

Sky Pilot – Eric Burdon

Nancy Pelosi – Alzheimers Victim?

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 1

pelosi There she was, across from Chris Wallace. Her taught facial lines belied her 73 years, her posture was perfect, and her bright eyes and smile registered a ten on the energy scale.

It was when she opened her mouth that things went awry.

Early in the interview, she called Chris Wallace “Bill”. (It was removed from the Fox transcript to prevent embarrassment to Wallace – see this YouTube video and skip to the 4:00 mark.)

(Update – Fox transcript now says “Here’s the thing though . . .” On Sunday two of us thought we heard “Here’s the thing, Bill” independently — it appears we were both wrong. – Tom)

Wallace asked her why she can’t cut $85 billion (2%) out of the government’s $3.5 trillion budget. Her response: “Well, we have cut in terms of agriculture subsidies, there are tens of billions of dollars in cuts there and that should be balanced with eliminating subsidy for big oil. Why should we do — why should we lower Pell Grants instead of eliminating the subsidies for big oil?”

Huh?

Wallace pressed her again: “Why not just cut spending? Eighty-five billion dollars in a $3.5 trillion government.”

Her response: “The fact is that a lot of the spending increases came during the Bush administration. Two unpaid for wars we got ourselves engaged in. A prescription drug plan that added enormous amounts to our spending, and the tax cuts at the high end that did not create jobs and create revenue coming.”

What?

Why didn’t you move to end funding for the wars, repeal the prescription drug benefit plan, and reverse the tax cuts when you were Speaker of the House and your party also held the presidency and the Senate? And what does a former president, after four years of retirement, have to with the current federal budget (or lack thereof)?

When Wallace pointed out that the top 5% pay 59% of all federal taxes, Pelosi said she doesn’t want to raise taxes again on the wealthy. Then she blurted, “We also have the Buffett Rule which says all of the high income people would pay a minimum of — they would have to pay — ”

Wallace: “So, you’re raising tax on the wealthy.”

Pelosi: “No, you are saying they should pay their fair share, which is 30 percent, which is even lower than 39.6, which is the rate — the bracket they are in.”

Nancy was becoming more flustered and incoherent by the minute.

Then Wallace asked for her position on gun control. Her answer was beyond bizarre:

“No further sales of the increased capacity, 30 rounds in a gun. We are talking about background checks which is very popular, even among gun owners, and, hunters. We avow the First Amendment, we stand with that, and say that people have a right to have a gun to protect themselves in their homes and their jobs, whatever. And that they — and their workplace — and that they, for recreation and hunting and the rest.”

Is it possible she doesn’t know that the right to bear arms is granted in the Second Amendment? Or have all those years of “inside the Beltway” cocktail parties just made her “comfortably numb?”

I don’t wish to make light of senility. Alzheimer’s is a serious problem.

Maybe it should also be a disqualifier for a seat in Congress.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Bill! I love you so, I always will . . .

I was on your side Bill when you were losin’,
I’ll never scheme or lie Bill, there’s been no foolin’!

Wedding Bell Blues – Marilyn McCoo
the Fifth Dimension
written by Laura Nyro

Bootlegging Guns and Ammo – Profit Opportunity!

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 3

GrannyClampett-729655 There has never been a time – in my lifetime at least – when there was so much BUZZ about guns.

Jon Stewart recently interviewed Bob Costas, TV sports announcer, on the Daily Show. Those of you who ‘Rock’ with me ‘On the Right Side’ may not know that comedian Jon Stewart’s ‘Daily Show’ on the Comedy Channel is the primary news source for the other (low-information) half of our population.

Did Stewart and Costas talk about sports? Not much. Mainly their conversation was about gun control. Costas was aghast that 75% of former NFL coach Tony Dungy’s players admitted they owned guns.

Yesterday I met a small-business owner who was alarmed that there is no ammunition available in the stores in his area. Even WalMart has bare shelves. His son asked him where he could get some .22 shells. “I told him to come on over,” he explained. “I have at least 25,000 rounds.”

Minutes later, I visited with a harmless-looking little old lady – an attorney, no less – who joked about being her husband’s “bodyguard”. I asked her if she was packing. “Every day!” she beamed. She explained that all of her female friends are either carrying guns now or working on getting their permits.

My employer’s personnel manual lays down the law: “Employees are not allowed to possess firearms on company property, and may not have firearms in their vehicles in company parking lots.” So I asked some other employees if this rule is actually enforced. “Oh, heck no,” one manager told me. “Even the CEO of our company carries a .45. Do you think we would work around here late at night with no protection?”

The Reverend Jesse Jackson (has anybody seen him in church lately?) beseeches President Obama to come “home” to Chicago and address the gun violence there, while the ruling party continues to talk-talk-talk about tougher gun laws.

It seems like the more the Democrats push gun control, the more guns and ammo are sold. Remember Prohibition? If you believe the old movies, when liquor was outlawed folks started spending every night in the “speakeasy” clubs getting blasted and doing that weird Charleston dance with the “flapper” girls.

Gun sales are skyrocketing now, when there is just a suggestion that they may soon be hard to get. If (when) our fearless leaders succeed at making the possession of firearms illegal, the gun business will really be booming. Those who have plenty of inventory to sell will be rolling in the dough. It’s supply and demand. People want to stay alive, and will spend their money to do so.

So if you are looking for the next big profit opportunity, you might consider being a firearms bootlegger in the coming Obama Gun Prohibition era.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Take you a glass of water,
Make it against the law,
See how good the water tastes
When you can’t have any at all!

Bootleg – John Fogerty
(Creedence Clearwater Revival)

Oath Keepers Defend the Second Amendment

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 2

Obama Meets With Law Enforcement Officials

photo by CNN

As President Obama stokes the fires of gun control in our nation’s capital, some law enforcement officers are beginning to push back.

Obama recently initiated 23 executive orders related to gun violence, and is pressing Congress to take additional action, much of which is viewed by gun advocates as a threat to the second amendment of the Constitution.

Seeking to build support for his gun control mission, this week Obama gathered police chiefs and sheriffs from across the nation to Washington, DC for discussion, and (primarily) a campaign-style photo opportunity. Many big-city police chiefs support Obama’s gun control measures, while the sheriffs are generally supporters of the second amendment.

Skeptics question whether the police chiefs back Obama because they believe in the effectiveness of taking weapons from citizens, or because he has promised to increase federal spending on local police departments, a move that delights the public-sector unions who were instrumental in his election.

In Montana, a number of local sheriffs have come out with public statements pledging their support for the Constitution. Sheriff Scott Howard of Powell County said he would not enforce any “unconstitutional gun regulations.”

Most vocal among them was Cascade County Sheriff Bob Edwards. In a Great Falls Tribune interview, Edwards said, “Everyone wants to wipe out guns. I’m pro-Second Amendment, and I believe the laws we have in place should curb a lot of this, but there have to be people that enforce them. A lot of the laws are not being enforced.”

Many pro-Constitution law enforcement officials are members of the Oath Keepers, a growing organization made up of currently-serving military, veterans, peace officers, and firefighters who are sworn to protect the Constitution against all threats “foreign and domestic”. Their mission is summed up on their website:

Our oath is to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and we will not obey unconstitutional (and thus illegal) and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people or to place them under martial law and deprive them of their ancient right to jury trial.

We Oath Keepers have drawn a line in the sand. We will not “just follow orders.”

Our motto is “Not on our watch!”

One of the Oath Keepers, a New Jersey police officer, calls on his fellow law enforcement officers to refuse any order to confiscate guns from law-abiding citizens.

It is reassuring to know that there are government and law-enforcement officials who recognize and will preserve the rights of US citizens, especially at a time when our most powerful national leaders usurp authority at a pace never seen before in our nation’s history.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I’m robbin’ people with a six-gun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

I Fought the Law and the Law Won
– Bobby Fuller Four

Here’s a great video of an original American rocker – Bobby Fuller. Bobby died young under very mysterious circumstances – was it suicide? Was it a mob hit? If interested, read the story here. And do watch the cool 2-minute video:

Here’s the video story of the Bobby Fuller mystery:

Do Our Leaders Really Care?

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 3

Listening to the media and to our political leaders one would think it is impossible to straighten out our nation’s fiscal mess, and that we, our children, and our grandchildren are doomed to mediocrity for decades to come. Oh, they want to help us, they “feel our pain”, but the task is just too difficult.

Hogwash.

If our federal government really wanted to cut spending and reduce the debt and deficits, they would immediately:

Sell all of the excess, obsolete and unused federal property, including land, buildings, military bases and equipment. Where does our constitution authorize the federal government to buy up all this private land, anyway?
Compensate federal employees similarly to comparable private sector employees – reasonable pay rates, raise the retirement age, replace defined benefit pensions with 401(k) plans, require full forty-hour weeks, and implement the same social security and health care treatment as taxpayers have. Government-sector unions must be eliminated because the pay-for-play election scam is irretrievably corrupt and imperils democracy.
Pay senators and representatives each $1 million per year, and make them responsible for all of their own costs – staffing, transportation, office expenses, mailing, etc. If they want to take a “fact-finding” junket to Tahiti, have a girlfriend in Brazil, or travel home every weekend, they can pay for it themselves. Term limits might not hurt either.
Outsource most of the costs of government to co-ops made up of top private companies. Social security and welfare fraud would be zero if administered by IBM and Visa. Defense contractors have proved they work better together than they do in competition. With co-ops, the winning private companies will regulate each other.
Establish a real, non-partisan budget and cost management department, led by private-sector experts and technicians instead of political lackeys and cronies. Pay commissions to those who find corruption, and prosecute the offenders.
Implement zero-based or priority-based budgeting. Start every department and program at zero and require true cost justification for all expenditures every annual or bi-annual cycle. Same process for entitlements – disability and unemployment must be verified. Eliminate unnecessary, duplicative and obsolete departments.
Replace unemployment compensation and most direct welfare payments with honest work projects. No work, no money.
Tie all foreign aid and investment to our own national interests. Not one dollar to nations or despots whose actions are damaging to the US. That includes the United Nations.
Simplify the tax code and work with businesses instead of against them.
Eliminate the EPA and make the United States the energy provider to the world – aggressively develop natural gas and liquefied natural gas as an alternative to oil. Abandon the infaturation with ridiculously inefficient wind and solar energy and pour our efforts and investments into the efficient use of proven energy sources.

I could go on. Maybe some of these ideas have holes, or need development. Surely there are many more opportunities – bigger and better ones. But if you and I can discuss many methods of improving our government’s performance, why can’t our leaders talk about it?

Do they really want to solve the problem? Are they actually interested in reducing the drag of bloated government on our economy? Obviously, no. Otherwise they would be doing it.

So the only remaining solution is to replace all the self-serving charlatans with motivated leaders who ARE interested. And the only way that will happen is if we can educate and win the majority of Americans who currently don’t get it or don’t care – our neighbors, our friends, and any stranger on the street whom we can engage.

Time is of the essence.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Whatever happened
To all the good times we used to have
The times we cried and laughed
I wanna know, I wanna know

Don’t You Care? – the Buckinhams

Bless The Beasts and the Children

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 6

God bless our teachers, principals and school personnel.

The trust we place in them and the responsibility they shoulder when we send our children to them every day is monumental and never to be taken for granted.

When a deranged man began his assault on Sandy Hook Elementary school last Friday, principal Dawn Hochsprung ran down the hall and attempted to tackle the shooter. She paid with her life. School psychologist Mary Sherlach was also shot and killed running at the gunman. Teachers Lauren Rosseau and Victoria Soto died trying to protect their kids. 20 innocent children were murdered in their school.

The shock and horror we all felt upon hearing the news is immediately followed by the questions. How? Why?

My immediate reaction was: If only principal Hochsprung had something other then her body to throw at the killer. If only the first person to run toward the madman were trained and armed to stop the terror then and there.

The Sunday news shows were all dedicated exclusively to coverage and commentary on the Sandy Hook carnage. I watched George Stephanopolous’ ABC news program in despair as the talking heads gravely discussed more laws, more gun control, more psychiatrists and there was NOT A SINGLE MENTION of self-defense. The school had a new security system which didn’t work. The state has tough gun laws which didn’t work. The school was in a “gun-free zone” which not only didn’t work, it may have contributed to the death count.

Today I am all for higher spending for our schools. I would happily pay any school administrator or teacher a big bonus for taking a good self-defense gun class and for keeping a weapon secured but available for quick response. If that is too unpalatable for the majority of parents, I would support hiring an armed security guard for every school.

Our schools have rules upon rules to keep kids safe. None of which mean a damn thing to a maniac hell-bent on murder and mayhem.

Should we be teaching our children that we all must go through life in fear of, or victims of, any soul-less, suicidal psycho who wants his 15 seconds of fame? Shouldn’t they grow up with the security of knowing that having the ability to defend one’s self, family, friends, and innocent others is a good thing?

Priority: We must have armed and trained personnel at every school who are capable of saving the lives of our children when the unthinkable happens.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Bless the beasts and the children
For in this world they have no voice
They have no choice

Bless the beasts and the children
For the world can never be
The world they see

Light their way when the darkness surrounds them
And give them love, let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from the storm
Keep them safe, keep them warm

Bless the Beasts and the Children – Karen Carpenter

There Is No “Candy Man”

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 3

priorities These days we often seem to bounce around in life’s pin-ball machine, feeling that much around us is out of control. We are distracted by a barrage of information as the media pulls us this way and that. Generally, whichever news story has the hottest video footage or the most startling sound byte is pumped up to become the “important” story of the day, or the week. Example: Sandra Fluke and her birth control.

I’m as guilty as anybody else. I get upset and pumped up over things that are insignificant, both on a personal scale and in the bigger scheme of things. When I find myself getting a little over-wound, I find it helpful to do a personal priority check. What are the most important things to me, and in what order?

My top priorities always pertain to my family. Are we healthy? Are we safe from physical harm? Are we financially okay? Are we generally happy and fulfilled? Are we preparing for our future?

Our brilliant founding fathers established a government that is “of” the people, and that carries responsibility. It is our duty as citizens to prioritize the makeup and the work of our government. Maybe it’s time we do a government priority check. What are the most important things that our government should do, and in what order?

I look at government the same way I do insurance. I see government as a way that I can spend a portion of my personal resources to do the things I can’t do by myself. Individually I can’t defend the borders of my neighborhood, much less my state or nation. But I am willing to join other citizens to give some of my time or money for that purpose, because it is a priority for my family. I can’t build a highway. I can’t put out a big fire. I can’t do brain surgery. You get the picture.

Of course I can only spend a portion of my time and money on these shared priorities, because I have my own personal priorities to attend to. So my government priority list is fairly short. Our brilliant founding fathers had a short list too; it’s called the Constitution.

Lately I find that many of my government’s top priorities are way down my family priority list, or not on my list at all. Our leaders operate like the “Candy Man”. They believe they can keep adding benefits to those already in place, without limit, and without having to prioritize. Irresponsible voters endorse that fantasy, but realists know it can’t go on.

It’s time for a good, hard look at priorities. Our own personal priorities come first, of course, and our government priorities are an extension of that. As we consider each government activity at our schools, our city and county commissions, our state and federal governments – as we consider the “Fiscal Cliff” – we must compare our government’s priorities with our own family priority lists. If they don’t match up, we owe it to our families to do something about it.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

The government takes everything we make
To pay for all of their solutions
Health care, climate change, pollution,
Throw away the Constitution!

The Government Can – Tim Hawkins

EPA Puts Bicyclists On Endangered Species List

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 5

I pulled out of the Costco parking lot in Helena and stopped at the stoplight.

“Geez,” I exclaimed to my wife. “Look at all the painted lines through this intersection.” Cars whizzed by left and right as we waited out the light, blinking and screeching and zooming through at the last second, or even a little late. It was barely-organized chaos. I looked to my left, and there was a narrow lane with a bicycle icon – RUNNING RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF A SIX-BY-SIX LANE BUSY INTERSECTION.

I was startled. I tried to picture riding a bike through that mess. Heck, driving a car through there is practically suicidal. What kind of moron would take that chance on a bike? For that matter, what kind of moron designed the bike lane? And how many days of the year can you ride a bike in Helena, anyway?

Welcome to the crazy world of AGENDA 21, under the innocuous title “Complete Streets”. It has taken root in most cities in Montana and across the country.

While you were asleep, or watching football, or shopping, your city leaders were feverishly studying the Agenda 21 and ICLEI guidelines set out by the United Nations and a worldwide network of socialists. They don’t really know why they are doing this, but they have to keep the promises they made in exchange for a couple thousand bucks from George Soros.

Agenda 21 is a very ambitious and complicated plan. Think “We Can Change the World”. The main goal is “social justice”, where rich nations give their money to poor nations:

All states and all people shall cooperate in the essential task of eradicating poverty as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, in order to decrease the disparities in standards of living and better meet the needs of the majority of the people of the world. – (Agenda 21 – Principle 5)

In order to make more of our wealth available to transfer to the poor nations, we rich nations need to cut back on extravagances, like driving around in cars. That’s where “Complete Streets” comes in. If we ride bikes instead of driving cars, then we will have left-over money to send to the Congo so they can drive cars. Plus, we will create less pollution, so that all the new cars in China won’t need expensive smog controls.

As a Montanan, it’s hard for me to understand the merits of these crazy bike lanes. So I put on my Socialist Cap and tried thinking “globally.”

I considered that if more bike riders are killed, it reduces the pressure humans are putting on Mother Earth. Yeah, that’s it! That’s why we need bike lanes!

But wait, that would reduce the number of Democrat voters. Hmmm.

I’ll have to think about this some more.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

There’s too many ahead of me
They’re all tryin’ to get in front of me
I thought I could find a clear road ahead
But I found stoplights instead

Expressway To Your Heart – the Soul Survivors