Tag Archives: Montana

The Government Sucks – So We, the People, Have to Step Up

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Today’s bad news: our economy added only 80,000 jobs in June – while another 85,000 workers dropped out of the labor force to join the ranks of the disabled.  As fewer people can find or keep jobs, our federal government continues to take former workers onto the “dole” to artificially hide the true unemployment rate.

Our President’s reaction?  “It’s still Bush’s fault”, and “We need more government union workers who will vote for me (teachers and firemen)”, and “Things are not all that bad”, and “There are no quick fixes”.  Not exactly inspirational, is it?

By the way, when did you agree to have your federal tax dollars spent on more firemen for the city of El Paso?

And when did your local school board decide that your federal tax dollars should pay for “hundreds of thousands more teachers”?

Punch after punch, the federal assault on citizens continues.  It’s enough to drive one to depression or drink, or both.  Unless . . .

Unless we conservatives can make ourselves so strong individually and collectively that we can fight and win the daily battles in our city, state and federal government offices – and strong enough to educate and convince our misguided or disengaged brethren to vote correctly this fall.

When times are tough I take comfort in something I learned a long time ago, when I joined a bunch of young friends in a civic group called Optimists, Intl.   Even the first line is enough to bring you out of your funk:  “Promise yourself to be so strong . . . ”

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself …
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Sounds kind of “Reagan-esque”, doesn’t it?

Tom Balek, Rockin’ On the Right Side

Give me a job, give me security
Give me a chance to survive
I’m just a poor soul in the unemployment line
My God, I’m hardly alive

“Blue Collar Man” – Styx

They Don’t Talk about “The Children” Any More

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Remember when the favorite justification for every liberal idea was “the children”?  We would hear countless public service announcements on radio and TV, extolling the virtues of this government program or that, in the ubiquitous deep, oh-so-sensitive PBS voice – stretching out that first syllable – “the CHILLLLLdren.”  It didn’t matter if the latest big-government program had anything to do with children – it could be providing free socks for desert toads –  you could still count on hearing that it must be done for “the CHILLLLLdren.”

Something changed.  In recent years you seldom hear “the children” invoked by the left.  Could it be because any rational person knows that a 16 trillion dollar debt is really not so good for the children?

I became a grandpa when my twins grandbabies were born a couple of years ago.  And, while I have known for some time that we are screwing things up pretty royally for future generations, it really hit home when I realized that one of those future generations includes my own precious twins.  Now I see everything in a broader context.  It makes political activism real for me. I feel compelled to do whatever I can for the future of my grandkids.

If you are still reading at this point, you should meet Lydia, the apple of Grandpa’s eye!  I write and record songs for the kids, and here’s one I did for her – along with a video.  By the way, if you remember “the Jetsons”, chances are you have grandkids to worry about too.  We can’t let them down.  Here she is!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On The Right Side

I Wanna Dance With Lydia! – Tom Balek

I Pledge Allegiance – to the Maple Leaf?

Posted on by Standard 1

Saskatchewan RoughridersMy son and I are big CFL (Canadian Football League) fans.  We make the long drive from our Montana home to Regina, SK for a game every summer, and listen to our beloved Roughriders on the web.

The Rider fans are amazing – they paint the town green for every home game.  They yell and scream and guzzle Molson Canadian beer, and wear watermelons on their heads.  It’s about as fun a football atmosphere as you could want (well, except for the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium).  And the Canadian rules make for a fast and furious game of football (“He’s at the fifty!  the fifty-five!  and down at the 53-yard line!”)

But that’s not what this blog is aboot (Canadian for “about”), eh?

Whenever we attend a Canadian football game, or listen on the internet, I can’t help but notice that they always play O Canada, the Canadian national anthem, but then never play the Star Spangled Banner.   Never.  The same is true at a Canadian hockey game, baseball game, or any other public event.  They never recognize the US.

By rule, 19 of the 42 players on any CFL team are from the United States.  Obviously, there are not that many good Canadian native football players.  The best players are all from the US, as are the coaches.  Canadians love their football, but it is an American game.  Still, there is never any recognition of the United States at any CFL game.  No flag.  No national anthem. Nothing.  It’s all about Canada.

Now, I don’t have a problem with this.  Really.  It’s their country, it’s their league, they are very patriotic about it, and more power to them.  The Canadian fans welcome my son and I as a curiosity, and frankly as “football experts from the States, eh?”  Our celebrity status is very cool, just like that great Canadian beer.

What I don’t understand is this:  last weekend my band played music for three nights at the fantastic rodeo weekend in Augusta, MT, and we enjoyed watching the rodeo on Sunday.  In addition to the athletic prowess and the terrific Western atmosphere, there was a lot of pageantry and patriotism.  As far as I know, there were no Canadian participants in the event.  There may have been a couple of Canadian spectators.  Still, the rodeo officials made a big deal of riding the Canadian maple leaf flag around the arena, and playing O Canada before our national anthem.

Why?

Even stranger than that, about HALF of the spectators stood there with hands over their hearts for the Canadian anthem!  Like they were pledging allegiance to Canada!

Why?

Here in Lewistown we have local drag races on summer weekends.  What a great American event!  Vintage American Chevies and Fords,  classic Beach Boys music – it just doesn’t get better.  So why the heck do we have to listen to O Canada before our own precious Star Spangled Banner?  I mean, I like Bachman Turner Overdrive as well as the next guy, but hey!  This is American Drag Racing!

I don’t think the Canucks need to pay homage to the US at their events.  But I also don’t think “O Canada” is required at ours.

Tom Balek, Rockin’ On the Right Side

American Woman, Stay Away from Me! – the Guess Who

Let’s Just Ignore That Law

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I’ve heard it said that the United States is “a nation of laws.”  I’m not aware of any recent re-write of the Constitution, but last week it seems something changed.

Oh, the laws are still there, but our current president and attorney general have decided that they don’t feel our law officials need to enforce some of them.  For instance, they say that as many as 800,000 illegal immigrants will not be deported “as long as they aren’t doing something ‘illegal’.”  You can’t make this stuff up.

White House advisor David Ploufe insisted on TV that it’s not a political move intended to pander to Hispanic voters.  I’m sure the thought of trading amnesty for votes never crossed their minds.

My lovely bride had a great idea.  She said, “Why don’t we decide to not enforce the capital gains tax?”

That got me thinking.  There are a lot of laws that might be best forgotten.  I’ll bet the rancher who lost 58 of his sheep to a single grizzly bear last week near Conrad, Montana would like to say, “Oh sorry – heh, heh – I thought I could just ignore that little rule about shooting grizzlies.  My bad!”

MUS - Mexico Borderaybe next time I’m in that long line at the airport waiting to get groped by the TSA guy, I might just jump right over their little retaining rope, bypass the whole security checkpoint, and have time to grab a tasty Cinnabon roll  before my flight.  I say the groping laws should only be applied to nervous-looking bearded guys in turbans praying in Arabic, anyway.

But I suppose I am just dreaming.  Ordinary citizens don’t get to choose which rules they want to have enforced, at least not in our “nation of laws”.  Only a dictator could get away with something like that.

 

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

“I Fought the Law, and the Law Won” – Bobby Fuller Four

 

One person CAN make a difference!

Posted on by Standard 1

A few months ago Judy Tankink was struggling.  She had been asked to reorganize and reinvigorate a Tea Party organization that was, well, sagging.  And she worried that she was in over her head.  She didn’t know if she was tough enough.

But Judy was so firm in her resolve that something had to be done, she threw her whole heart and soul into it.

She bought a new computer and installed web design software.  With help from a Tea Party friend (me!), she built a new website.  And then she rolled up her sleeves and went to work.  Judy started attending local government meetings.  She read and studied and learned about the tactics of the left, and their misguided intentions.  She organized meetings and presentations about important topics, from local (the exploding wolf population in Montana) to international (Agenda 21).

Then she learned that her city council was about to implement the Agenda 21 “Complete Streets” program.  Judy mobilized her troops, rallied at a series of presentations and city council meetings, and got the program rejected.  She single-handedly turned an expensive, freedom-threatening, heavy-handed government program on its head against all odds.

Judy, you are an inspiration!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On The Right Side

Ain’t That Tough Enough?! – the Fabulous Thunderbirds

RightOnLine ROCKS!

Posted on by Standard 2

Oh yeah!  Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin, Scott Rasmussen, Jonah Goldberg, James O’Keefe, me . . . all of us conservative superstars (well, some of us are wannabes!) were beaming last weekend at the beautiful Venetian in Las Vegas.

It was educational, inspirational, motivational and a hell of a lot of fun.

Tears were shed and glasses raised in memory of Andrew Breitbart.  New citizen journalists were given swords and marching orders.  Veteran conservative bloggers shared war stories and compared beards.  Except the blog-ettes, of course.

Michelle brought down the house, coyly recalling her smackdown of Juan “I’m a reporter, not a BLOGGER!” Williams.  Sarah cut the competition’s knees off with her incisive, on-the-button analysis of failed policies and missed opportunities.  And James O’Keefe – if you have seen any of his expose’ videos, you know the only thing worse than his pimp costume is his Scottish / Irish accent.  Hilarious and devastating in equal measure.

The Montana contingent included AFP/Tea Party/talk radio raconteur Henry Kriegel, Voices of Montana star Aaron Flint, Bozeman radio ace Mark Allen, legislator and new AFP-Montana chief Joe Balyeat, and yours truly – the newbie blogger and trouble-maker Rockin’ On The Right Side.

Everything good was there in abundance – the rooms were huge and beautiful, the food was magnificent, all of the speakers and presenters were top-notch.  But best of all was the abundance of Optimism.  We learned that the conservative new media is winning on all fronts. And it is driving the effete liberals and the inside-the-beltway good-ole-boys and the dead-tree-writers and the I’m-not-a-blogger pundits CRAZY!

Everyone left the conference energized and motivated.  Hell, I’m so motivated I started a new blog, and you’re the first one to read it!

TOM BALEK – Rockin’ On The Right Side

THE HEAT IS ON!  – Glenn Frey