Sarge

Russian Roulette

Whenever a problem becomes too obvious and people spend too much time speculating about the gravity or lack of it concerning the problem; somebody changes the subject. Witness the news shift from the Economy to Immigration Reform this week.

The Weight

When a community suffers a calamity such as Newtown, Aurora, Columbine or Virginia Tech there’s a mirror image of the violence has occurred in other parts of the World.

Inconvenient truths

A grandfather clause is a situation in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, while a new rule will apply to all future situations. Frequently, the exemption is limited; it may extend for a set period of time, or it may be lost under certain circumstances. (Wikipedia 2013)

What I heard

(A more realistic transcript interpretation of Beaurat Obama’s Inauguration Speech) Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests and all you other people choking on my inauguration: Each time we gather to immortalize and deify me we bear witness to the shredding of our Constitution. We subvert the promise of democracy. We recall what binds this nation together is not the fact I’m confused in my birthright but that I’m confusing you as to yours. What will make us exceptional as Americans – is your allegiance to any cockamamie idea I declare has merit.

Shame

Jarvis DeBerry, in a copyrighted column in the Times Picayune of New Orleans admitted that “Many New Orleanians are loath to admit it now, but at one point or another, just about all of us supported Ray Nagin”. DeBerry also observed: “So there's no need for us to feel ashamed. Yes, embarrassed and angry that yet another politician has allegedly contributed to the city's roguish reputation. But not ashamed. If he's guilty of the crimes the federal government says he is, we weren't the accomplices, we were the victims.”

Techno-stupidity enhancement

Life is intruding into the idyllic settings I’ve come to appreciate as being a part of home. Today, there’s sunshine and an increasing sense of well-being displacing the drear of the last three weeks. Rain came and stayed to the point of flooding neighborhoods and displacing people from their lives and the security we all seek daily. It’s been traumatic for many.

A Clarification of Obama’s 23 Executive Orders

In an effort to clarify President Beaurat Obama's "23 ways to look like I'm doing something while actually doing nothing on Gun Control‚" Executive Orders; I will use my 30 years of Law Enforcement experience to give a "Cop-on-the-beat‚" interpretation of what is actually meant.

Cosmetics

Politicians want to look like they’re doing something/anything makes them look proactive after the Newtown School shooting. Now Obama’s ready to ban anything by executive order. He wants universal background checks on all gun purchases. This is already a requirement on guns bought through dealers. Tell me how you’re going to record and check the background of a person like Adam Lanza. He killed his mother and stole her guns.

Political filtration

A lot of people think there’s a real problem with Political Filtration (PF). PF is the way political discourse is filtered through differing layers of what’s called “Vetting”. Vetting is when you make a careful, critical examination or investigation of somebody to thoroughly ensure they’re suitable to speak with a politician so as to NOT cause embarrassment to the politician by speaking in opposition to the politician’s stance. It sucks the air out a conversation when a politician is “hoist with his own petard” or is injured by the device he intended to use to injure others.

Land of the Odd

This is another one of those days you have to wonder why supposedly intelligent people can’t see what they’re doing is contrary to the Constitution they allegedly swore to support and protect from enemies foreign and domestic. Charles Schumer (D-NY) asked retailers to stop selling firearms voluntarily while Congress debates actions to completely destroy the average American citizens’ right to keep and bear arms for their personal protection.

Fire the coach

The defining element of politics is compromise. Compromise means different parties give up part of their demands. Compromise is finding agreement through addressing opposing issues and finding acceptable terms. Parties allow for tolerable variations of terms and positions.

Mythology as Karma

“What goes around comes around” is a political truth few can deny. But I wonder, when looking at the basis of our historical fantasy and life stories recorded in mythology, if there aren’t really a lot of problems spoken of in the past tense now being seen as influencing us in the present.

Happy Christmas

And so this is Christmas, And what have you done

Emotional Patellar Spasticity

Dateline: May 18, 1927 In 1927, Andrew Kehoe, was angry and wanted revenge. A School Board member (he was treasurer and caretaker of the school) his farm was foreclosed upon after the community and school-district passed a tax to build a centralized school. Kehoe felt this was the reason for his foreclosure.

Spinnin’ wheel

What goes up, must come down, Spinnin' wheel, got ta go round
Talkin' 'bout your troubles it's a cryin' sin
Ride a painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel spin

Ya got no money, and ya, Ya got no home
Spinnin' wheel all alone, talkin' 'bout your troubles and ya
Ya never learn
Ride a painted pony, Let the spinnin' wheel turn

Did ya find a directing sign, On the straight and narrow highway?
Would you mind a reflecting sign, just let it shine, within your mind
And show you the colors that are real.

Someone is waitin' just for you, Spinnin' wheel spinnin' to
Drop all your troubles by the river side, Catch a painted pony
On the spinnin' wheel ride... 

Someone's waitin' just for you, Spinnin' wheel's spinnin' true
Drop all your troubles by the river side
Ride a painted pony, Let the spinnin' wheel fly…Songwriters: JOHNSON, TROY MICHAEL / RUSHLOW, TIM Blood, Sweat and Tears

Cowardice

Whenever there’s a tragedy, we hear the cries for greater controls, more legislation, abundant regulation and more restrictive oversight of anything remotely approaching violence. People want more firearms control. The restrictors become constrictors of constitutional guarantees as they try for a choke-hold on people’s right to protect themselves. They expect the government to intercede when danger and violence confront them.

Head-slap

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” – James Madison Illinois’ gun-control culture received a severe head-slap when a Federal Appeals Court rejected the ultra-restrictive refusal to issue any Concealed Weapons permits. This was a TOTAL BAN: NO exceptions to the law. And the Appeals Court saw the draconian effort to disarm and refuse Americans the right to self-determination through refusing to allow for self-protection was a denial of rights under the Second Amendment.

Moral v. ethical

Moral - adjective 1. of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical 2. founded on the fundamental principles of right conduct rather than on legalities, enactment, or custom. moral (word history) mid- 14th century. pertaining to “character or temperament” , from the Latin; “moralis” “proper behavior of a person in society”, “pertaining to manners” coined by Cicero Ethics, noun 1. that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends. Dictionary.com

In light of the political soap opera being acted out in Washington and the overly dramatic references to the nation being driven over a “fiscal cliff”, I figured it was time to do a definition comparison and look at it all in light of the language mangling accomplished.

The Nightmare

Restraint of trade is a common law doctrine relating to the enforceability of contractual restrictions on freedom to conduct business going back to the 1700s. Basically, Common Law (the basis for much of American law) says “a contractual undertaking not to trade is void and unenforceable and contrary to public policy of promoting trade”. (Wikipedia 2012) When taken in the context of Michigan passing a Right-to-work law allowing people to be employed without the influence of the major labor unions, the common sense of the law is pretty evident. But unions exert control over industry by controlling the workforce. The unions control the workers and if the unions say a person must become a union member or they can’t work, it seems there’d be a violation of this most basic of British Common Laws.

Lacking relevance

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (D) is a man not wasting time telling people they’re irrelevant and becoming moreso each day. In an Associated Press copyrighted story he says he’s upset with the squabbling taking place in the farm belt. Voter turnout was somewhere around the 14% mark of available voters. 61% of those voting did so for Romney/Ryan. 37% went to Obama.