Sarge

Sacrifice unappreciated

The first place any presidential administration or Congress looks to when the belt needs tightening is the military. They never restrict themselves or their cronies; they simply cleave military funding until Valley Forge looks like a picnic. Witness the resurrected attempt to take health care funding for retirees, wounded warriors and dependents from the responsibility of the government and transfer it to private insurance carriers a la’ ObamaCare.

Get a clue

The National Governor’s Association is more a showcase for dysfunctional politics than it is a foundation for bipartisan solutions to America’s ills.

Power slidin’ toward oblivion

Barack Obama has a problem and doesn’t know how to overcome it: how do you continue to mask your inability to lead a country when you have nothing but your own tired, hackneyed rhetoric to instill confidence in a people having none in you?

Moral structure

Moral structure’s a lot like a building; it can protect you from the storm if constructed properly and attention’s paid to its maintenance. Or, it can provide a false sense of security falling to the first windstorm of detrimental circumstances testing the structure’s integrity. It’s a matter of how much attention was paid to the selection of the materials used in the construct.

No basis for faith

In the beginning, man was connected to his world by his posture of subservience to the world around him. This world dictated he fend for himself, to explore, seeking the sustenance gave him strength to seek it more efficiently and successfully. He arose from his stooped, inferior posture to one of burgeoning dominance over what he developed as HIS world. He bonded with others like him, creating society. Society developed culture. Culture developed acceptable practices (and unacceptable acts to be avoided) for individuals living in groups.

Rime of the ancient copier

Should kids be allowed to quit school at 16 years old? Is it any better if they wait until age 18? Keeping them in school until 18 only creates people with a history of 730 more days of enduring classes they don't want to participate in.

The Death of Logic

Where do we begin? Let's start with the cosmological Big Bang Theory. In pre-history, nothing came together with other quantities of nothing and so aggravated nothing it became excited and created an explosion of such colossal proportions the space dust came together as it split apart (?) and the universe was born.

Looking back at Civics

Many years ago, back when the earth's crust had barely cooled and politics was known as the infernal pit it is, there was a course taught in schools. It was called CIVICS. It was defined as the social science of municipal affairs. It was a class where you learned what your government did and how its job was done.

When they came…

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.

 When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

 When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.

 When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew. 

When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out. --Martin Niemoller (1945)

The Day of Atonement

Barack Obama quotes scripture to justify taxing people. Luke 12:48 says: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” He chose this tract to make his point.

Double-dutch, Double dumb

Barack Obama, in true form and ready recognition he never had a thought that wasn’t given to him by an underpaid staff writer, read the Teleprompted State of the Union Address (SOTU) to the nation Tuesday night. It was jingoism (an appeal intended to arouse patriotic emotions) and doublespeak reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984.

Technocratic babble

Michael Walker-Jones, the Director of the Louisiana Association of Educators opposes the educational programs backed by Bobby Jindal. Bobby Jindal says it’s: “incredibly offensive and exactly what is wrong with the top-down approach."

Paste masquerading

In the mind of some seeking to understand people running for high public office, the discussion of carat count as it applies to diamonds might be an apt analogy when considering a choice for office. The 5 Cs of diamonds are: Certification, Carat count, Clarity, Color and Cut. They have equivalencies in the sense of a candidate’s 5Cs: Character, Conscience, Courage, Competence and Compassion. So let’s take a look at the comparisons.

Pimping and pandering

When campaigns are conducted it’s virtually impossible to discount the affect the media has on the candidates and the issues. The Press (both print and broadcast media) has the effect of helping the candidates to construct and destroy edifices. These false fronts are where they posture and preen so they can create more false fronts to present to the American people. The media constructs the silk screen the candidates hide behind with strategically placed holes through which they’ll sneak a peek. They report what they see from a limited viewpoint.

Eating the shrapnel

Keystone (n): A central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole together. The central principle or part of a policy, system, etc., on which all else depends. Pennsylvania’s motto is: The Keystone State. This is because of its fundamental importance to the colonies as an entity in the in the 1600s. It was a center for commerce, energy production and became the site of the fledgling United States’ capitol and seat of government for a short period of time. Its symbol is the Keystone as it’s represented in the construction of bridge or structure supporting an arched doorway.

SOPA meets PIPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA and the Protect IP (Internet Provider Act (PIPA) are bad ideas. Congress is worried about Hollywood and writers losing billions of dollars to on-line piracy. The issue’s important for people sincerely worried about having their intellectual property stolen, used without permission and profited from by people having no connection to its production. A couple of nefarious keystrokes result in the theft of personally developed ideas. The genuine producer loses income. Movies are pirated regularly amounting to billions of dollars lost.

Pulling the weeds

This is one of those days where yesterday’s events stimulate my aggravation intolerance program. I despise some people’s tendency for seeking the spotlight when other guerrillas in the mist need shadow to function best. As the self-possessed hero jumps from protective cover so all can see his splendid cape and tights, he runs the risk of giving away the hidden agenda and placement of his comrades. In their own way they self-inflict wounds (and possibly kill their efforts) by “friendly fire”.

Opening the artery

The other day Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor, political analyst and heavyweight presidential candidate/contender in the last election said where Iowa was a boxing match South Carolina was a “Cage Match”. He was alluding to the relative savagery of the candidates’ use of character assassination as a viable tactic in the primaries.

Obama’s gambling problem

Success isn’t always part of “Free” Enterprise or Capitalism when practiced by the Federal government. A look at Solyndra shows the incompetence of the administration where it pertains to gambling your taxes away as investment capital.

It’s depressing

What takes precedence: LSU or Romney winning in New Hampshire with Ron Paul and Huntsman climbing in the polls? I don’t know; all of it’s depressing.