The following is a bulletin I posted this morning regarding this weekend, a response I received from a "friend", and my response to that individual. You tell me, am I out of line? Or were they?

--------- Bulletin Posting ----------------

CherokeeParks wrote:

A mother asked this President... 'Why did my son have to die in Afghanistan?'
A mother asked this President... 'Why did my son have to die in Iraq?'
A mother asked this President.. 'Why did my son have to die in Saudi Arabia?'
A mother asked this President... 'Why did my son have to die in Kuwait?'
Another mother asked this President... 'Why did my son have to die in Vietnam?'
Another mother asked this President... 'Why did my son have to die in Korea?'
Another mother asked this President... 'Why did my son have to die on Iwo Jima?'
Another mother asked this President... 'Why did my son have to die on a battlefield in France?'
Yet another mother asked this President... 'Why did my son have to die at Gettysburg?'
And yet another mother asked this President... 'Why did my son have to die on a frozen field near Valley Forge?'

Then long, long ago, a mother asked..

'Heavenly Father .. why did my Son have to die on a cross outside of Jerusalem?'

The answer is always the same... 'So that others may live and dwell in peace, happiness, and freedom.'

So how is that peace and freedom in the United States working out for you CP?

I'd say it is okay, so far. As long as we can get rid of the Ayatollah Hussein I won't feel that my service to my nation was wasted, or that the lives of my friends and fellow service members lost was in vain. I still have the right to vote, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom to keep and bear arms and freedom to believe as I wish. If it were not for wars fought and won, I seriously doubt I'd have any of those freedoms.

Just so you know, I AM a vereran of the USMC. I also have served my nation in government service, laying my life on the line for the better part of 40 years. I have no idea how many friends, associates and fellow servicemembers I've seen die over those years, but I can tell you it is well over 10k. Each and every one of them died so you and Ron Paul can have your opinions. So be very careful with your comments to me on this solemn weekend. This weekend IS NOT a weekend for political statements. It is a weekend, and special day, for honoring those lost to us in the service of this nation, whether you agree with the steps taken and the battles and wars fought or not.

I will do this Monday what I have done since I came home from Nam. I will sequester myself from all but my family, even keeping them away from me as much as possible. I will remember as many as I can, and honor their memory to the best of my ability. I will cry, and I will laugh, and I will feel pain and anguish, and I will rededicate myself to protecting this nation from our enemies, both foreign and domestic, so that the loss of their lives will not be in vain. What will you do? Barbeque?

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I have a new blog post up on my website that all of you might enjoy. That is if you believe Israel has a place in the MidEast.

There Will NEVER Be Peace in the MidEast

For those of you unfamiliar with my site, I allow anyone to post comments, as long as they are not unnecessarily profane or are not based on fact or reality. In fact, I encourage comments. There is no need to "register" or become a "member" to post a comment, unless you chose to do so. If you don't, you may post your comment as a guest. So please feel free to drop by anytime!

Tags: Israel Palestine war peace history Jews Muslims

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Today's Congress is filled with lawyers, doctors and other assorted "educated" people. And it's been that way for more than a century now. Yet, in spite of all their educations, we are still in a helluva mess. The most pressing problem we currently face is our debt. We are being told that it is up to our nation to hold the economies of the world together, along with our own, by once again raising our debt level. And the government that will fail, if their predictions are true, unless we go further into debt. A debt that they all admit is unsustainable. On 16 March, 2006, as recorded on pages 2237-38 of the Congressionsal Record for the 109th Congress, a Senator stood on the floor of the Senate to say this, "Mr. President, I rise today to talk about America's debt problem.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.

Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is ``trillion'' with a 'T.' That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President's budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion.

Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we'll spend on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America.

And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on.

Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America's priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans--a debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.

But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators CONRAD and FEINGOLD, the Senate continues to reject a return to the commonsense Pay-go rules that used to apply. Previously, Pay-go rules applied both to increases in mandatory spending and to tax cuts. The Senate had to abide by the commonsense budgeting principle of balancing expenses and revenues. Unfortunately, the principle was abandoned, and now the demands of budget discipline apply only to spending.

As a result, tax breaks have not been paid for by reductions in Federal spending, and thus the only way to pay for them has been to increase our deficit to historically high levels and borrow more and more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people claimed, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next 5 years. That is why I will once again cosponsor the Pay-go amendment and continue to hope that my colleagues will return to a smart rule that has worked in the past and can work again.

Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt. This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours.

Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit.

While I can agree with most of the speech, except for the part about tax increases and tax relief. As we look back, our National Debt under Bush soared by $4.644 trillion in eight years, and another $3.887 to date after just two and a half years of Obama with no end in sight. Now, that makes the speech above take on an entirely different aspect, especially when one takes into account that it was Obama who uttered those words! Today, he is warning us of collapse if we don't increase the debt limit, yet the spending in Washington has only slowed slightly, much to his chagrin. If he had his way, we'd be another trillion or two in debt! Don't you just love it when a man's words come back to bite him in the butt?

Sadly, I don't see anyone on the GOP side that's any different. Some have a smattering of good ideas, but they are balanced with plain nonsense. Cases in point, Trump and Ron Paul, and the list will grow as the days go by. There are so many sitting on the fence waiting to see which way the political wind blows that no one has a clear picture of who is actually going to run and who isn't. And the LSM and other followers of the "chosen one" are chomping at the bit to blast anyone out of the water that dares to run against their boy. Strange how they got to pick their man, and now are trying to keep us from picking ours by demonizing anyone with an inkling of an idea of running. They are geared up to denounce Romney, Trump, Cain, Palin, Bachmann, Pawlenty, Daniels, etc., etc., all while ignoring the facts about Obama. Things like the above speech and the many promises he failed to deliver on for his socialist followers, and the few he did deliver on in spite of the majority of Americans NOT wanting those promises kept. There is, so far, no one running deservant of my support. They're all just too high-browed for me. And to paraphrase that old John Conlee song, "Common Man", ".....high-browed people lose their sanity, and a common man is what we need."

Tags: candidates elections politics national debt

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Yessir, the Ayatollah Hussein has finally come out in favor of drilling and oil production. Everywhere but in the US, that is. In fact, he has committed $2 billion in loans to subsidize Petrobas of Brazil, yet is chastizing oil companies here for the $4 billion in subsidies they receive annually? And he has encouraged the "oil producing" nations of the world to produce more oil for "world-wide" consumption. Again, everywhere but here. The last time I looked, we were still an oil producing nation, even though this administration, the EPA and all the enviromentalists would like to end that. Why do I say that?

The answer is obvious to any who look beyond the news at 5, 6 and 10. Shell Oil paid the US government $2.5 billion for an oil lease off the north coast of Alaska, then spent another $1.5 billion plus in exploration and staging, finding some 27 billion barrels of potential oil resources. And now the EPA says they can't drill there because they didn't include the figures for the pollution the ice breaking ships would add to the air in a village of 245 Alaskans some 70 miles away. And that's just the beginning of the fiasco! The Alaska pipeline is down to 1/3 of its capacity now, at 660,000 barrels a day, and if it drops much more, that pipeline will be shut down. So how do we then get that oil down here? Trucks and ships like the Valdez, which will add the the environmental impacrt far more than any drilling off the north coast. IF the pipeline were to operate at even 75% of its capacity, oil prices would drop, and as a result so would pump prices.

The administration has finally lifted the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf, thanks to a court order, but they still aren't issuing permits to do any exploration OR drilling there. And even when they finally do begin to issue those permits on oil leases the government has already collected on, it will take 18 to 24 months to bring the platforms back into the Gulf after they were removed when the moratorium was enacted. What has this cost us in jobs and other facets of the economy so far? Rough figures say over 140,000 jobs and some $70 billion into the economy if one adds in all the support industries and businesses connected to oil production. Kind of makes that $4 billion in subsidies spent look rather insignificant, especially since our government spent well over $2 trillion on bailouts and "economy saving measures" that have done so little to relieve the burdens of that economy.

All this when the USGS and geoligists everywhere will confirm that we have enough oil and gas under our lands to supply this nation for the next 50 years without importing a single drop, thus giving industry time to improve and perfect those "other"ources of energy WITHOUT the government investment of more borrowed money. By drilling and producing more of our own oil and adding more refineries centralized to the location of the oil rich sites as well as some near high usage sites, we could easily reduce the demand, and the cost, of foreign oil we currently face.

And now word comes that West Texas oil exploration and production may be halted because of a lizard.
MIDLAND, TX – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to see the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard protected under the Endangered Species Act. Should the lizard, which is approximately 3 inches long and calls the Permian Basin area of Texas home, be given that protection, the drilling and production of West Texas crude oil would basically end.
If you like paying $4 per gallon for gasoline or more, then you should get behind the efforts of the federal government on this one. If you love the idea of maybe paying $10 per gallon at the pump, then the protection of this lizard should be your new pet cause.
The Dunes Sagebrush Lizard is found primarily in the West Texas desert and most specifically in Andrews and Gaines counties, which by the way, are the most prolific counties in the U.S. for producing oil.
The Obama Administration has refused to issue offshore drilling permits in adequate numbers to keep up with our nation’s need for oil, refuses to drill in Anwr, Alaska and now seems determined to back door a shutdown of oil drilling and production in West Texas, which provides more oil than any other domestic source on dry land.

Amazing, isn't it? We can't drill here because of "enviromental issues", but everyone else in the world can continue oil production without any regard to the "environmental issues" they create. Trust me, not one of those countries has anything near the restrictions on protecting the environment that we've been forced to accept by a relatively small part of the population. And all, apparently, so this administration, its EPA, USF&WS and environmentalists everywhere can push for "green", "renewable" energy sources that are at least 10 years away from being affordable by the average US consumer. And even then the environuts will blast windmills and other sources for killing birds and nuclear for being too dangerous.

The way it looks to this old cowboy is that they won't be happy until we're back to living in caves. And of course we'll all be forced to live in warmer climates because we won't be able to burn wood for heat or cooking becaue there aren't enough trees left and the smoke will further pollute the air. One other thing I've considered is all the hullabaloo about the oil companies making a profit. I have never been told that they were non-profit companies, so I expect them to turn a profit when they can. Sure, it hurts at the pump, but they aren't jacking up the prices nearly as bad as certain people would have you believe. A recent news broadcast said their profits for last quarter had jumped by 22%. Considering that they were averaging a 9% triple net profit margin, a 22% increase takes them to a whooping 11%. that's still only slightly more than Walmart posted for the last quarter, and is well below (5%+) what the top 5 insurance companies have consistently posted over the last 15 years.

So if you think that they're right that China's economy will surpass ours in just a matter of a few short years, you ain't seen nothin' yet. We're headed for third world status in less than 3 decades unless things change, and change now. Will China still loan us money when that time comes? Or will any of the nations we've spent billions aiding even give us a scrap of anything? I seriously doubt it. What say you?

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This song is destined to be the #1 country song of the decade!! I only wish I had written it!!

CLICK HERE

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I received this in an email from another "old" friend.

In the line at the store, the cashier told a woman in her 70's that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the 'green' thing back in my day.”

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."

She was right, our generation didn’t have the "green" thing in its day.

"Back then" everyone returned milk bottles (if we didn't have a cow to milk), soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

In our day we walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store or did our shopping on a monthly trip to town and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

"Back then" they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. And kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing and sport specific shoes.

Yessir, "back then", there was one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a hankerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

"Back then", we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled our writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. (Some of us even remember how to hone a straight razor!)

"Back then", city people took a streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. There was one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint or Starbucks.

Isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because we didn't have the "green" thing back then?

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Tell me if I'm wrong about this. If I went to the bank to have my loan limit raised so I could borrow more money to pay my bills and told them that I spent more than what I made last year, and wasn't going to make as much this year, what do you think they'd say? I think they'd try to be polite so they didn't lose my business, even when I remind them that without depositors like me they'd be nothing at all. They'd explain that if they did business that way they'd go broke for sure, along with reminding me that they're NOT a non-profit corporation, and would ever so politely tell me I was nuts! And I'll admit it IS some very radical thinking for me to even consider asking them for a special dispensation.

But we have a non-profit corporation in this country that follows the scenario I just laid out; our own "representative" government. Yet somehow those of us who subscribe to common sense fiscal responsibility are called the radicals by the RINO's and Democrat/socialists in Congress. We just watched a showdown between the House and Senate over this year's budget (that should have been passed no later than mid-September last year), and are being told that the $38.5 billion cut from the budget is a wonderful thing.

But wait a minute, how much is that compared to what the government really spends? Figuring that he government spends $10.46 billion a day and takes in $6.85 billion a day, that leaves a negative balance of $3.61 billion a day. So the $38.5 billion keeps us from building a deeper debt for a grand total of 10.66 days. What about the other 354.34 days out of the year?

Now they want to increase the "debt ceiling" so we don't default on any of our debts. What?? That means they want to increase the amount they can borrow to pay the bills, including the interest on money already borrowed. Did you ever know of anyone, or any company, borrowing their way out of debt and remaining solvent? I didn't think so, because it just isn't logical. Not even for these United States of America. Here's a reality check for those who think they know what ther'yre talking about on the left side in Congress, or anyplace else for that matter. If we were magically able to continue collecting revenues at the rate of $6.85 billion a day and at the same time erase ALL other debt, including freezing the interest on existing loans, it would take 5.8 years to pay off the National Debt BEFORE raising the debt ceiling to $15.8 trillion. and if the ceiling is raised, it would take 6.4 years.

And I'm the radical because I want Congress to stop spending money we don't have on crap we don't need for one reason, and one reason only; votes. 51% of Americans pay income tax, so you can bet that most of the remaining 49% vote Democrat/Socialist. And they have proven they can carry the vote since a lot of those 51% of income tax payers are working and can't get to the polls. At least that's the way it's been in the past. But I promise you that if the RINO's and Democrat/Socialists think they can continue insulting us by calling us radicals and telling us that we've got to do things their way if we want to keep this nation solvent they'd better think again. Sure, the Dingy Harry's and Chuckie Schumer's can keep mouthing off since they will buy union votes by promising to spend this nation into oblivion so the union members can get their big wages and smoking benefits, but the rest of us far outnumber them and we'll damned sure be at the polls in November of 2012 as well as at the primaries in the spring. If they thought there were changes made last election, baby, they ain't seen nothin' yet!!

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The memory is still fresh now of something
that happened nearly twenty years past.
It was a day of sorrow, and joy,
a time to reflect on the memories that last.

Friends and family filed into the chapel
dressed mournfully in blacks and grays.
Passing the casket with tear filled eyes,
their hearts filled with grief over lost days.

As the mourners sat in silence with an occasional sob,
the coldness and darkness crept in to fit the season.
The preacher gave a great eulogy, heaped with praise,
trying to explain that the Creator had good reason

For taking our loved one before what we thought
was her time, though the time is never of our choosing.
His words were consoling, but only eased the pain
of what we felt in our hearts we were losing.

The day had started out sunny, bright and warm,
for a normally cold month of the year.
But it didn’t last long as a blizzard blew in,
the sky darkening, the air as chilling as fear.

As the procession moved to the cemetery many
decided to leave to avoid the wintery blast.
But there were dear friends who joined the family,
intent on honoring her by staying to the last.

The preacher again came forth with well chosen words,
meant to ease more of our grief and lessen our pain.
But even he knew the words had little effect at relieving
the great anguish or slowing the tears that fell like heavy rain.

Finally the service was over, as the snow began to fall heavily,
piling in drifts, swirling about in the harsh winds obscuring sight.
As the eldest of her family, the preacher came to me to apologize
for the turn of the weather, but I told him it was alright.

For I knew what few knew about the one we had surrendered,
a desire that she had sworn me to secrecy so only I could know.
The Creator had given my mother the wish she held so private,
to be covered with a pure white blanket, He gave her one of snow.

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Got this in an email and thought you folks might enjoy.

I stopped by the Chevrolet Dealership yesterday, for a look at the new Silverado 2011, 3500 Dually Diesel pickup. Just for fun, I took it out for a test drive. I wanted to sense that new "feel" before they become extinct...

The salesman (a black man wearing an Obama "change" lapel pin) sat in the passenger seat describing the truck and all its "wonderful" options. The seats were of particular interest. He explained that the seats directed warm air to your butt in the winter and directed cool air to your butt in the summer heat. Feeling like messing with him, I mentioned that this must be a Republican truck.

Looking a bit angry, he asked why I thought it was a Republican truck. I explained that if it were a Democrat truck, the seats would blow smoke up your ass all year round.

I had to walk back to the dealership...


Damn guy had no sense of humor.

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