Cowboys and Cowgirls Needed – Apply Now

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 1

I 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 The pursuit of truth has been replaced by a vapid addiction to titillation and sensationalism.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

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

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

Welch Photo: Jr. High Kids in Charge at KFBB?

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 4

HOW CHILDISH!

This week KFBB News in Great Falls ran an item about the Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction race, opening with a nice video of incumbent Democrat Denise Juneau addressing her adoring supporters, and featuring pretty children holding “Juneau” signs.

The news producer then had to put a graphic on the screen to represent the challenger, Republican Sandy Welch. So what image did the station select? An obscure Facebook photo from a Halloween party showing Welch dressed up as a devil. Really!

What on earth were they thinking? A 10-second Google search reveals dozens of appropriate and official photographs of Ms. Welch, and her well-oiled campaign staff is loaded with PR materials immediately available on request, so this was no accident. Obviously KFBB has no reservations about revealing their political persuasions to the world.

Welch’s campaign has enjoyed big momentum recently, having won the endorsement of State Senator Jonathan Windy Boy. Windy Boy said, “Denise Juneau doesn’t understand how to solve the problems our schools are facing. Juneau increases mandates and creates new programs with great media campaigns. Mandates don’t help kids. After hearing Juneau debate, it’s clear that she isn’t focused on increasing school performance. ”

Windy Boy’s endorsement was reassuring to me as an indicator that clear-thinking Native Americans in Montana don’t vote strictly by color (see my post about that). And, despite Juneau’s insulting contention, I’ll bet they love their kids enough to feed them (see my post about that).

Sandy Welch is probably enjoying a good laugh, and KFBB will doubtless wither in their embarrassment over this juvenile episode. Maybe it was “bring your child to work day” and the producer’s junior high kid was calling the shots. Or perhaps the producer is bucking for a promotion to the big time – shameless Democrat shill MSNBC.

By the way, I think Sandy Welch is a pretty cute little devil!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

She’s just a devil woman,
With evil on her mind.
Beware the devil woman,
She’s gonna get you from behind!

Devil Woman – Cliff Richards

Caddell: Media “Threat To Future of Country”

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 2

We have known for a long time that the media is biased toward the President and the Democrats. We watch with incredulity as news services and networks toil around the clock to protect and promote their party. But have we really considered how serious the demise of the fourth estate is to the future of our nation?

Pat Caddell, in an impassioned speech to the AIM (Accuracy in Media) conference, blistered the media on a number of fronts:

“I think we’re at the most dangerous time in our political history in terms of the balance of power in the role that the media plays in whether or not we maintain a free democracy.”

He is furious that the truth about the circumstances of an American ambassador’s death was hidden by the media, to protect the administration, for nine days.

“We’ve had nine days of lies over what happened because they can’t dare say it’s a terrorist attack, and the press won’t push this,” said Caddell. “Yesterday there was not a single piece in The New York Times over the question of Libya. Twenty American embassies, yesterday, are under attack. None of that is on the national news. None of it is being pressed in the papers.”

Caddell said he is more frightened now than has ever been.

“When they decide that their job is not simply to tell you who you may vote for, and who you may not, but, worse—and this is the danger of the last two weeks—what truth that you may know, as an American, and what truth you are not allowed to know, they have, then, made themselves a fundamental threat to the democracy, and, in my opinion, made themselves the enemy of the American people. And it is a threat to the very future of this country if…we allow this stuff to go on.”

Caddell reveals truths about the corruption in our media as only an insider could. “You get what you ask for,” was his final blast of frustration. Here is the main part of his chilling presentation.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side