I’m writing this on Memorial Day from a suburb of Atlantic
City New Jersey.
I am sitting in my friend’s apartment watching the Atlantic
Ocean along a large strip of beach and the legendary Atlantic City boardwalk.
While here, I finished reading a book called A Measureless
Peril by Richard Show. It tells part of the story of “America in the fight for
the Atlantic, the longest battle of World War II.
Being where I am brings the story a little closer to
home. I can look out and see a
tiny portion of the ocean in which this battle took place.
Essentially, the German Navy figured out the best thing they
could do to win WW II was to use submarines to sink the thousands of cargo
ships that were being sent on a continual basis from the US to England, and
later, after the D Day invasion in 1944, to Western Europe.
The U Boats, as the subs were called, were deadly against
unarmed merchant vessels. In the early days of the war, The US hadn’t figured
out how to combat this menace yet.
Meanwhile, men died. Violently in many cases, and they
weren’t even in the military. Just seamen trying to make a living as the nation
started to come out of the depression of the 1930’s.
Soon, the American Navy figured out that they would need convoys
of merchant ships and that those convoys would need protection. This book is
largely about service on one of the destroyers that helped to protect the convoys
across the Atlantic and their war against the German submarines.
In the early days of the war, there were so many volunteers
to protect the country that the military was pressed to absorb them all and
train them. Then came the draft and I think that by wars end, there were
something like 12 or 14 million men and a good number of women in the armed
forces.
Military service has touched most American families throughout
our history. Nearly 26 million Americans living today have served in the
military-24 million of these veterans are men, 12 million are over age 60. But
today's active-duty military is very different from the military of 30 and 50
years ago, when the military relied on the draft for personnel and warfare
required more troops.
World War II casualty statistics vary greatly. Estimates of
total dead from all countries range from 50 million to over 70 million making
it the deadliest war ever.
These are just statistics, but how about the lives that had
the same hopes and aspirations as all of us have? How about the hardships and
deprivations endured? How about the bravery?
When we do give a moment’s thought to war dead, not to
mention the permanently wounded and maimed, we don’t think how each life was
forever affected. Also, there were the families and friends who were
devastatingly touched by the death of a loved one.
So what do the greatest majority of us do on this one day a
year set aside as a time to commemorate the memory for those who died in our
countries service in all of our wars?
We have a holiday. A picnic, a family
gathering, a barbecue, a celebration. Even our president decided this year not
to make the traditional ceremonial visit to Arlington Cemetery.
We still have men and women who volunteered to serve our
countries interest around the world, and not just in combat zones like
Afghanistan and Iraq but many other places. Do most of us who are untouched by
this war give it any thought or worry about them?
By the time most of you read this, another Memorial Day will
have come and gone, but let’s never forget those who died protecting us. Those
who risked their lives and lost their future.
Let us never stop appreciating what they did, from the
Revolutionary battles to Kandahar. When we see someone in uniform today, let’s
show them some respect.
Let’s take a brief moment out of our too busy lives
that would probably not be as they are today without these people, and thank
God for their service in our own individual way.
Because we would be in New York City on
part of our trip this week, I checked around Price Line, Hotwire, etc for a
“good” deal on hotel rooms.
New York City is one of the most
expensive in the world.
Forget about a 5 star hotel in New York
unless you want to pay $500 and up.
You can get a “cheap” hotel off the
beaten path in the city that is, to say the least, not very desirable and that
cost between $150 and over $200.
I looked for 4 star hotels. They “only”
cost $300. I read reviews and found out that they weren’t so 4 star either with
many features not available, dirty rooms, lousy service etc.
Since a good part of our time would be
spent in the Westchester area and perhaps part of Connecticut, we opted for a 4
star Marriott Renaissance hotel for $185. It’s within easy walking
distance of the commuter train to New York. It runs frequently and drops you at
Grand Central Station. If you have a car at the Marriott, parking is free.
If you take car into New York City,
parking costs about the same per square foot of car as it does per square foot
of room!
The room at the Renaissance in White
Plains turned out to be a suite on the top floor. This because if you are a
Marriott blah blah guest, you get the best room available. Guess the place
wasn’t too full.
This “budget” type hotel (they have
many other brands) of the Marriott chain is short on service while otherwise
fine.
There is a full and very nice breakfast in the morning, a minuscule
“gym,” a swimming pool, great location, occasional bellmen service, no room
service and an older building in pretty good shape. However, after returning
back to the hotel at 10 pm on a week night, their Internet connection was down,
and when I called the front desk, they said they could do nothing till morning.
We also stayed at a Hilton Garden hotel
in suburban Baltimore. The regular rate during the week is around $250 but for
the special rate for out of town guests to the affair we are attending, and the
week end rate, it cost $115.
There’s no concierge, no bellman,
nobody standing around with their hand out for a tip and you can park right
near the front door – also for free.
Best of all, unlike even very expensive
hotels I’ve stayed it, they don’t charge for internet access.
It bugs me that sometimes, even if I
pay $300 or more per night for a room in various cities around the world, and
especially in major chains, they ding you for about $15 or so per 24 hrs for
that service.
All the Marriott offshoots like
Fairfield Inn, Marriott suites and so on provide free internet. At the far more
expensive Marriott hotels, they charge. Same with Hyatt, Westin etc.
Especially in bigger cities, the most prestigious
hotels with the beautiful lobbies and panache are find if you’re on an expense
account business trip and need lots of service.
Other wise, it really pays to find suburban
alternatives or those chain offshoots that represent excellent value for the
money.
Of course some are easier than others. Over night should be
a breeze, as is loading up your car with all the stuff you think you’ll need,
but really don’t.
Packing is not too bad if you’re flying (Is there anything
good about traveling by air anymore, except the rapidity of transit?) if,
again, you don’t take much more than you need, and if you’ve been to your
destination before.
The extra bag fee’s and limited over-head space force you to
pack more efficiently than you otherwise might.
However, if you’re off on a trip that encompasses climate
change, (and I don’t mean the one bandied about in Washington DC), it gets a
little more complicated.
If your itinerary includes say a beach/resort area, some time
in a big city, and say a more rural locale, packing can be a real challenge.
It’s even more problematical if you’re going to a place you’ve never been or
with people you don’t know very well if at all.
My new bride and I packed today for a two week trip to the
East Coast. We will be spending
time in New York City, suburban Connecticut, attending a somewhat formal affair
in Maryland, and finally, a long week end on the Jersey shore.
The weather can be hot and muggy during the day and possibly
cool, and probably muggy at night. Rain is a distinct possibility.
We will have to traverse planes, trains, and automobiles and
drag our luggage in a good many instances.
So what to take? How to decide?
There’s an old, and true adage, that says take everything be
you consider packing and lay it out on your bed. (This of course presumes your
wardrobe is not bigger than the size of your bed!) Then cut in half whatever
you’ve put on the bed, take the half that’s left and its still probably too
much.
What I do is mentally think about where and what I will be
doing each day and evening, and try to select clothing that can be worn
multiple times (like pants and shoes) and shirts that can suffice if it’s warm
or cool.
Underwear, socks, and to some degree footwear is the same no
matter where or what you do, so it comes down to shirts mostly, and then to a
lesser degree, footwear and shirts or jackets.
One thing some people try to do is to take an extended trip
and bring enough clothing so they never have to have it laundered. This is fine in one sense for reasons
of economy and hassle, but what about schlepping that much more luggage every
place you go?
So do I sound like an expert at this? I should be.
I’ve been traveling extensively since I was an infant (My
mother told me how she had to sit on my baby bottle. She had to warm it up for
me to drink on a plane when I was six months old).
I once calculated that I had spent between 6-7,000 nights of
my life in hotel rooms and that was a few hundred rooms ago. I’ve also spend
countless nights in peoples homes.
I reminded my wife we wanted to be as portable as possible.
I was taking my carry on bag that I use when I travel on business in Europe or
Asia and it works just fine. Ok with her. She would take a carry on type bag too (for two
weeks? Yea, right) and she carefully packed it.
Upon stuffing my little valise, I found that there was no
room for the several pairs of shoes I wanted to bring, there was no room for
the few extra shirts I wanted to wear as well. And what about the suit for the
Saturday night affair we were to attend?
She too wanted to take a few extra things (just a few
right?) so we then, after much debate and consternation, decided to take out
“Big Momma.”
This container can hold a full wardrobe and a daily change
of clothes for an elephant. You can put a whole shoe store in it.
So, experienced traveler that I am, we kept my little bag
full of what was already there and put everything else (I think everything else
we could find in the house!) in Big Momma.
It took us both to lift it into and out of the car.
Bottom line:
Don’t ever buy a suit case that big. It’s
dangerous to your health and wallet.
We had to pay $50 over-weight at the airport check in
counter
The IMF and the EU cobbled together a small “donation” to
help Greece overcome their near bankruptcy. It was 1 trillion dollars. Hard to
imagine?
There are a record number of unemployed receiving
unemployment benefits in the U.S. In most cases, these initial benefits expired
months and months ago, and have been extended more than a few times by
congress.
Aide to a country in trouble? Indonesia during their tidal
wave, Haiti, and on and on
Our welfare rolls are huge. Our “contribution” to the IMF is
mind boggling.
If you are in a national trade organization whose members
are involved in exports or even imports, there’s a good chance that you can
receive federal funds. They partially or fully sponsor your appearance at trade
shows overseas and perhaps some here as well for foreign customers.
This is
common in many countries.
If you want to build a new plant or office that employ’s a
lot of people, there’s a better than even chance that the local municipality
will give you a tax break and financing help in starting your new facility.
It’s not hard to guess who pays. The excuse is it will employ the unemployed and bring in more sales and income taxes. In too many cases, this is questionnable
The taxpayer and since about half of our households don’t
pay any tax at all due to the level of their income, about half of our
households foot the bill for all of this.
As our national debt rises, more of the taxes we pay will go
to pay the interest on it (mostly to China) and take money out of our economy
that could be used for investment.
As the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of the year, this
will take more money out of the pockets of those that pay taxes and send it to
Congress who thinks they can spend our money better than we can.
The first consideration of our “Repocrats” in Congress are
to work on their re-election the moment they get there. That takes money and
money comes from those who are pleased with the congressman’s vote pertaining
to their special interest.
They believe, probably rightly so, that if they obtain
federal funding for a project in their State or district, this will help in
their re-election bid. Take what they can get for their voters, and don’t worry
about how it will affect the whole country.
In my view, and others who are far more knowledgeable, the
answer is to prohibit any outside or private contributions to candidates. Make
it all taxpayer supported with a tax return check off.
Additionally, just like a private company would do, make an
across the board, aside from defense, of say 10% of all expenses. Make the
bureaucracy do more with less.
Make a flat tax, with just deductions for mortgages and
donations and watch how the government coffers will swell.
It wouldn't take long to get the budget in balance
If only
There were term limits and candidates did not have to raise
money to get re-elected or challenge those currently in office.
Sorry to say so but this is a dream but wouldn’t it be a
nice simple solution to a chunk of our nations ills?
Our country can do anything it sets its national mind to.
What we need, on both sides of the political spectrum, are those who can lead
us in a common sense, centrist purpose.
Not very liberal nor very right wing. In the middle with
consensus and open debate.
Title: Great steak/fine wine makes one feel rather sublime
I’m writing this blog somewhat intoxicated.
My new stepdaughter sent me 3 bottles of wine today. She had
received them as a thank you for some work she did for a powerful lawyer five
years or so ago. She doesn’t drink wine, and while moving recently, came across
the gift.
So, tonight I cracked a bottle of Cos D’Estournel red Bourdeaux
1997. I made a mistake. I opened it before I knew what the value of it was.
My first sips were very nice. I would have given it an A on
my wine rating (I'm a pure amateur bear in mind).
After I had sipped about 10% or so of the bottle, and while
my delicious Cosco filets were sizzling on my Weber grill, I went to Google to
check out why at kind of wine this was.
To say the least, it wasn’t exactly Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck.
Here’s what I found. Prices at retailers around the country were listing it
from a low of $69.00 to a high of $150.00.
In my semi inebriated state I couldn’t tell which one of the
small print descriptions applied to my bottle, but I can only say, that after
finding out how much the cheapest price was – $69.00, I enjoyed it ever more!
Back to the steak. I like to use charcoal, as the flavor is
better than the gas barbecue. It’s a bit of hassle to light the coals about 30
minutes before you want to cook, but my wife and I think it’s worth it.
We buy Cosco filets, USDA choice for about $8.00/lb. A
package of 4 costs about $20-$25.00 and they’re good for at least two dinners
or one dinner for two and multiple snacks/sandwiches/steak salads. You surely
can’t eat in a restaurant for that kind of money.
There was an article in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal
lamenting that steaks don’t taste like they used to anymore. If you want to
read it, here’s the link
I don’t know where the author eats, but the Cosco steaks on
the charcoal grill with Montreal seasoning and some garlic power were top
notch.
I think steaks at chains like Morton’s, the Palm and to a
lesser extent Ruth Chris are as good as they always were. Around here, there’s
a small chain called Mastro’s that has top quality steaks too.
Of course steaks in these places are around $40.00+ and in
my view, no better than what we had from Cosco, but that’s another story.
So here’s the question.
Do you get what you pay for? Is that bottle of wine that
costs $69.00-$150.00 in a wine store, and probably $200.00 to $500.00 in a
restaurant worth the price?
Is that $40-$50.00 restaurant steak at a top chain or local
restaurant worth it compared to Cosco or other good purveyors of fine meat?
The chains use USDA Prime. Prime is very hard to find in the
super market anymore. You have to got to a specialty butcher shop if you can
find one. In New York City for example, a major upscale grocery store perhaps
like Zabars, or around here AJ’s.
Cost there: about $20.00++ more per lb.
Bottom line: the author of the WSJ article was full of beans
in my opinion, or, maybe it takes too much of a very good bottle of wine to
make everything taste delicious!
I have a distant cousin who is somewhere north of 80 years
old. Her name is Betty
I accidentally met her and her husband in a theater about 25
years ago. It was intermission and my wife and I had gone out to the lobby.
However, my mother, who was with us, stayed in her seat and got into a
conversation with the women next to her.
They discovered that my Dad and her husband (Jim) were
related. My grandfather came to this country in 1891. He was brought here, or
came here because his first cousin, Jim’s grandfather, had done so.
This is the way immigrants usually find their way here.
Somebody they knew of or were related to or were good friends with come first,
and then, hearing about “the streets being paved with gold” follow.
My wife, mother, and me became very good friends with Jim
and Betty. Although about 15 or 20 years older than us, we enjoyed each other
socially and had many good times together.
Betty was outgoing and vivacious. Jim was funny, smooth and
a wonderful guy who delighted me every time we were together. He saw a good
deal of combat in World War II and I could always worm some of those thrilling
and sometimes gruesome experiences out of him. Maybe I’ll write about a few of
them one day.
Jim died about 10 years ago. I still miss him
Betty, who has always had a wonderful bright cheerful
outlook on life, picked up the pieces and went on. She swam every day, played
bridge and other games and lived a full life. She lives in an apartment complex
where a high percentage of neighbors are of her ilk and she flourished there.
Sadly, she began to develop some dementia a year or two ago,
had a few bad falls, and had a fairly severe illness this winter.
She has two daughters who live in other parts of the country
and they realized that Betty really shouldn’t be living by herself anymore. As
much as she hated to admit it, Betty realized this as well.
So this week end, her daughters and one son in law came to
town to pack her up and move her to an assisted living facility where one of
them lives. They called her many close friends, to come for desert and coffee
last night and say goodbye to Betty.
Betty loved the attention, showing off her kids and
reminiscing with everyone, but the gleam, the sizzle, the pizzazz she always
had was diminished.
She knew she was leaving a wonderful period of her life,
both married and widowed. We all knew we would most probably never see her
again, nor she us. We all tried to be upbeat, but we were all sad.
Coincidentally, a friend sent me one of those emailed chain
letters yesterday. It’s called the Bank Account
It tells the story of a
widower, 92 years old having to move into a nursing home. He was partially
blind.
When he arrived and was about to be shown around the
facility, he said, “I love it.” Its wonderful.” His guide said “but Mr. Jones,
you haven’t even seen your room yet or anything else.”
Mr. Jones replied: “That doesn’t have anything to do with
it. Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. It’s a decision I make
every morning when I wake up. I have a choice. I can spend the day n bed
recounting the difficulties I have with the parts of my body that no longer
work, or get out bed and be thankful for the ones that do.”
He went on to say; “ I’ll focus on the new day and all of
the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time of my life.”
I tried to convey this story to Betty. I’m not sure I was
successful but it’s a lesson for us all.
Usually it’s to watch some show my wife likes in the
evening, or some special shows on PBS and other specialty channels. I find that
even the cooking channel is fun to watch now and then when they visit
restaurants around the country.
I am also not what you would call a sports fan. At least
nothing like my middle aged son who follows multi teams on his computer when he
doesn’t have time to watch a sport on TV. He’s also a rabid fan of his local
high school, college and professional teams. He loves sports, as do millions of
others.
I almost always enjoy the final quarter or final moments of
a close game, be it basketball or football. But baseball? No.
I’m of the generation that played baseball morning noon at
night as long as there wasn’t snow on the ground and it wasn’t raining (too
hard.) When we didn’t play baseball, we played stick ball and as an adolescent,
I could tell you about all the players name on the 3 professional teams in New
York in the 1950s.
We also had professional basketball and football teams, and
as a kid I played those sports in season as well, and was a fan as were most of
my peers.
But now, to go to a baseball game (the Diamondbacks play in
a beautiful domed air conditioned stadium within 30 minutes of where I live)
doesn’t trip my trigger.
I know many of the nuances, enjoy watching the coaches flash
signals to their players, and the strategy and statistics etc, but it’s so
slow.
I think baseball is a game from a far more leisurely and
relaxed era in American history.
So for the past week or so, I’ve been able, with the flick
of my thumb, to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team play on a
wonderful big, clear pictured screen in my family room, or see the Phoenix Suns
surprise everyone by all of the games they’ve won in the western NBA finals.
To see these superb athletes on both teams play, and to hear
the strategy illuminated by the announcers, is riveting to me. In any sports
events in this day and age, TV is amazing. You can just about count the
cavities on player’s teeth!
The NBA makes the key players stop on their way to and from
the dressing room for a minute interview. The head coaches, right in the middle
of everything, have to consent to a 30 second or one-minute spot. It’s terrific.
It’s exciting.
And baseball? Yes, the instant replays are good. They
announcers jabber away with statistics and anecdotes in the long dull periods
between the time the pitcher goes through all of his machinations between each
“hurl of the white sphere,” and the other players spit, chew, and scratch.
It’s called the National Pastime. It used to be. But in
today’s world, pass time is something that too many of us don’t have the luxury
of doing.
At least I don’t. I prefer to get the thrill that can be had
from competitive, exciting sports entertainment in basketball or football. I
think even golf on TV is more entertaining and the best of all, playing sports
on a Wii. Now that tops ‘em all!
Because I live in Arizona, and because friends both here and in other
parts of the country have commented about the recent immigration law, some recent
blogs have covered this issue. I hope this will be the last one!
My previous blog told a Lawmakers side of the story. I don’t have a clue
what her agenda is or was, but in a local paper today one reporter took the
time and trouble to really investigate the situation.
He went down to the
border and interviewed law enforcement officials. Here’s what one interview
said:
Nogales Assistant
Police Chief Roy Bermudez shakes his head and smiles when he hears politicians
and pundits declaring that Mexican cartel violence is overrunning his Arizona
border town.
"We have not, thank God, witnessed
any spillover violence from Mexico," Bermudez says emphatically. "You
can look at the crime stats. I think Nogales, Ariz., is one of the safest
places to live in all of America."
The reporter found that FBI Uniform
Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that
the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have
remained essentially flat for the past decade, even as drug-related violence
has spiraled out of control on the other side of the international line.
Statewide, rates of violent crime also are down.
While smugglers have become more
aggressive in their encounters with authorities, as evidenced by the April 30
shooting of a Pinal County deputy, allegedly by illegal-immigrant drug runners,
they do not routinely target residents of border towns.
The reporter then visited another
southern Arizona town. In Yuma, police spokesman Sgt. Clint Norred said he
cannot recall any significant cartel violence in the past several years.
Departmental crime records show the amount of bloodshed has remained stable
despite a substantial population increase.
"It almost seems like Yuma is more
of an entryway" for smugglers rather than a combat zone, he said.
Since the murder of Cochise County
rancher Robert Krentz by a suspected illegal immigrant in March, politicians
and the national press have fanned a perception that the border is inundated
with bloodshed and that it's escalating.”
In another interview, the reporter
talked with the Pima County sheriff who said:
"This
is a media-created event," "I hear politicians on TV saying the
border has gotten worse. Well, the fact of the matter is that the border has
never been more secure."
And wait….. there’s more.
In testimony to the Senate Committee on
Homeland Security last month, Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for Arizona, noted
that Arizona now has more than 6,000 federal law-enforcement agents, with the
majority of them employed by the Border Patrol. That represents nearly 10
agents for every mile of international line between Arizona and Sonora. Border
Patrol presence has been backed by increases in counter-smuggling technology
and intelligence; the establishment of permanent highway checkpoints and a
dramatic increase in customs inspectors at U.S. ports.
He emphasized that the cartels operate
throughout Mexico and the United States, and he noted that those who think of
border security in terms of a "juridical line" really don't understand
the dynamics.
In Nogales, Ariz., residents seem
bemused and annoyed by their town's perilous reputation. Yes, they sometimes
hear the gunfire across the border. No, they don't feel safe visiting the
sister city across the line. But with cops and federal agents everywhere, they
see no danger on their streets.
So what to believe?
An Arizona legislator who participated
in hearings before voting for the new law, or law enforcement officials in the
area?
Who spoke at the hearings the Arizona
legislature held? Did they speak to leaders in border cities?
And what about the states two senators,
writing a letter to President Obama asking for more federal help at the border?
Who do we believe about anything?
How much of what the media says can be
counted on to be correct?
I think the answer is that we can’t believe
everything we read or hear.
If we really care about an issue that
concerns us, we need to become investigative reporters ourselves by trying to
learn both sides of the story, search the Internet, and even then, do we really
know what to believe?
Title: Arizona's new mmigration law - A law makers side of the story
A friend sent me this statement by an obviously right wing conservative member of the Arizona legislature. Her politics are obvious, but the facts she gives about the situation on the Arizona/Mexican border were enlightening to me, and I only live about 4 hours away.
Here's what she has to say:
I’m Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen. I want to
explain SB 1070 for which I voted yes. Rancher Robert Krentz was
murdered by the drug cartel on his ranch a month ago. I participated
in a senate hearing two weeks ago on the border violence, here is just
some of the highlights from those who testified.
The people who live within 60 to 80 miles of the
Arizona/Mexico Border have for years been terrorized and
have pleaded for help to stop the daily invasion of humans
who cross their property . One Rancher testified that 300 to 1200 people
a DAY come across his ranch vandalizing his property,
stealing his vehicles and property, cutting down his
fences, and leaving trash. In the last two years he has
found 17 dead bodies and two Koran bibles. Another rancher
testified that daily drugs are brought across his ranch in a military
operation. A point man with a machine gun goes in front, 1/2 mile behind
are the guards fully armed, 1/2 mile behind them are the drugs, behind the
drugs 1/2 mile are more guards. These people are violent and they will
kill anyone who gets in the way. This was not the only
rancher we heard that day that talked about the drug
trains. One man told of two illegal’s who came upon his
property one shot in the back and the other in the arm by
the drug runners who had forced them to carry the drugs and
then shot them. Daily they listen to gun fire during the night it is not
safe to leave his family alone on the ranch and they can’t leave the
ranch for fear of nothing being left when they come back.
The border patrol is not on the border. They have set up 60
miles away with check points that do nothing to stop the
invasion. They are not allowed to use force in stopping
anyone who is entering. They run around chasing them, if they get
their hands on them then they can take them back across the border. Federal
prisons have over 35% illegal’s and 20% of Arizona prisons are filled with
illegal’s. In the last few years 80% of our law enforcement that have
been killed or wounded have been by an illegal. The
majority of people coming now are people we need to be worried about.
The ranchers told us that they have seen a change in the
people coming they are not just those who are looking for
work and a better life.
The Federal Government has refused for years to do anything to
help the border states . We have been over run and once
they are here we have the burden of funding state services
that they use. Education costs have been over a billion dollars.
The healthcare cost billions of dollars. Our State is broke, $3.5 billion
deficit and we have many serious decisions to make. One is that we do not
have the money to care for any who are not here legally. It has to
stop.
The border can be secured. We have the technology and we have
the ability to stop this invasion. We must know who is
coming and they must come in an organized manner legally so
that we can assimilate them into our population and protect the
sovereignty of our country. We are a nation of laws. We have a responsibility
to protect our citizens and to protect the integrity of our country
and the government which we live under. I would give
amnesty today to many, but here is the problem, we dare not do this until
the Border is secure. It will do no good to give them amnesty because
thousands will come behind them and we will be over run to
the point that there will no longer be the United States of
America but a North American Union of open borders. I ask
you what form of government will we live under? How long will it be
before we will be just like Mexico , Canada or any of the other Central
American or South American country? We have already lost
our language, everything must be printed in Spanish. We
have already lost our history, it is no longer taught in
our schools, and we have lost our borders.
The leftist media has distorted what SB 1070 will do. It is not
going to set up a Nazi Germany. Are you kidding? The ACLU
and the leftist courts will do everything to protect those
who are here illegally, but it was an effort to try and
stop illegal’s from setting up businesses, and employment, and
receiving state services and give the ability to local law
enforcement when there is probable cause, like a traffic
stop, to determine if they are here legally. Federal law is
very clear, if you are here on a visa you must have your papers on you
at all times. That is the law. In Arizona all you need to show you are a
legal citizen is a driver license, MVD identification
card, Native American Card, or a Military ID. This is what
you need to vote or get a hunting license. So nothing new
has been added to this law. No one is going to be stopped
walking down the street. The Socialists who are in power
in DC are angry because we dare try and do something.The
Socialists wants us to just let them come. They want the “Transformation”
to continue.
Maybe it is too late to save America . Maybe we are not worthy
of freedom anymore. But as an elected official I must try
to do what I can to protect our Constitutional Republic .
Living in America is not a right just because you can walk
across the border. Being an American is a responsibility and it comes by
respecting and upholding the Constitution, the law of our
land, which says what you must do to be a citizen of this
country. FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.
In a blog this past weekend titled “Big Brother is Watching”
I commented on the CNN news coverage of the Times Square bombing as being
nothing more than an over-blown incident.
Not being a politician, I can honestly say that my too soon,
too quick judgment on the car bomb was totally wrong.
As anyone who watches the news now knows, this was part of a
terrorist activity with far reaching implications.
So the lesson of my error for me or anyone?
Don’t be too quick to judge. I did and I was wrong as could
be.
While I was watching TV while I was working out today two
things struck me. First is the
coverage at the relatively amateurish job to blow up a car on Times Square.
CNN had coverage about all day, and in the car on the way
home, a 24 hr news station had commentary on it as well.
Luckily nobody was hurt, but the hastily summoned “panel of
experts” on Larry King was, in my view, over-kill to say the least.
This was not 911 or a berserk shooter at a school or army
base. Given all that happens in every 24 hrs in New York City alone, it was
comparatively nothing.
And yet when “news” stations have to fill up the airwaves 24
hours a day 7 days a week, and they can’t find enough to talk about like a real
crisis such as the oil spill on the Louisiana Coast, they over do something
like the Times Square story.
Al Qaeda, who had nothing to do with it, could not have
bought more publicity for themselves if they had spent tens of millions of
dollars on advertising, but they got it for free .
The media also made a big deal about the surveillance cameras
all over the place. In this day and age, they are not just in Times Square, but
all over the country and in many parts of Europe as well.
This is great for law enforcement, but what about for
citizen privacy? Crimes are committed by a minuscule percentage of the
population and yet we are all subject to surveillance.
Many people got upset by the Arizona immigration law. Can
you imagine they say, ethnic profiling? Stopping someone on the street to check
his citizenship?
Do they think about how this compares to 24-hour video of
about all public and not so public buildings, hotels, airports and apartments
and offices?
The headline above is “Big Brother is Watching.” This was
the catch phrase in the George Orwell best selling book of 1949 called 1984.
The fictional book told about a utopian society that
regulated and enforced all aspects of our lives.
How about more legislation coming down the pike mandating
ingredients in popular food and drink?
Our government, which is already paying for much of our
health care via Medicare and Medicaid, logically reasons that the less fat,
salt and sugar we consume, the less illness we will have. They're right but what if we don't want to?
Regardless, this means lower medical costs for government health care.
Smoking; we’re already used to prohibitions on that.
OSHA compliance for businesses and factories. We got used to
that so long it’s not even given a thought anymore. I wish I had been in the
hard hat business back then!
Sure we need and have some reasonable and good government
regulations and controls, but where does it end? What’s the limit?
The book 1984 was science fiction when it was written in
1949. It is becoming more and more real today, as our government takes over,
regulates, and manages more of our lives than ever before.
A few weeks ago, I was asked to visit some customers in
China.
Coincidently, China is hosting a Shanghai World Expo that
started this week end and runs through October. There are about 200 countries
participating, each with a large pavilion.
Not a good time to travel there
unless you want to see their version of the Worlds Fair, or have business that
requires your attendance.
I checked with my travel agent and was told that business
class on foreign carriers was at least $3500 by way of East Borneo or
someplace, and between $4,000-$8,000 on major US and foreign countries for a
direct flight.
A month or so ago, I used points for a business class upgrade,
bought a full fare coach ticket and 50,000 miles for a round trip to Shanghai
at the end of August for a week. That fare was $2500.00
On the comparative short notice of my pending Shanghai trip,
a fare was quoted in coach for about $1100 plus taxes etc and the total close
to $1400. A few days later, those seats were sold and the price had risen to
$2,000 for coach on the most heavily traveled days of the week
I ultimately found a $1400 fare in coach, with economy plus
seating on United and had to go a day earlier than I wanted and come back two
days later.
The reason for all this is the economy. Business is picking
up fast and seats are filling up airplanes while so many planes having been
mothballed during the recession. Finally making profit, airlines are reluctant
to add more capacity, which makes sense, unless you’re a passenger
Cutting flights and going to smaller airplanes U.S. carriers
have been hitting an average load factor per flight of 81 percent, which means
they have been flying with far fewer empty seats.
Authorities
say that the new merger of Continental and United will make the prospect of an
empty middle seat even more rare. I read that they have many duplicate routes and
the logic of the merger is graphically evident: Fewer flights, fuller cabins.
Great for them. Bad for us!
My bride and I shopped and shopped for tickets to the East
Coast at the end of May. Nothing was reasonable as we scoured the Internet for
days. We ended up on Southwest for about $100 less than anyone else we could
find.
If you’re thinking about flying anyplace, short or long
haul, I can only suggest making your plans early and start shopping. This is
for both domestic and foreign travel.
Hotel rooms are not as plentiful as they were a year ago, or
even six months ago and rates have risen as well. The one exception is way
over-built Las Vegas
Save money by driving? We want to travel to Seattle in late
summer. Airfare is about
$350/person round trip. It’s a 3 day drive of about10 hr. days. Gas will be
about $200, and even at $100/night, hotels will be $300 and that’s a total of
$500.00
We figure food is food if you eat out a good deal anyway,
but we calculate gas and lodging at $500 to Settle, $500 back or $1,000 against $700 airfare.
Yes, we’ll have to rent a car, but it won’t cost $300 for a week and we don’t
have to drive 60 hours or so round trip and spend a week on the road.
Best bet financially – stay home –
but if you want to see
kids, grand kids, share wonderful life experiences, and help your business,
it’s on the road you go.
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