It's here

After four weeks of preparation it is now Christmas. I hope everyone has a great and wonderful day. I hope you get everything you want.

And for those of you who believe in the true meaning of Christmas and for everyone else I hope you get what we need.


PEACE ON EARTH

Merry Christmas to all and hopefully one day all of us will live in harmony, for there is no greater gift than enjoying life with your fellow man.

An analogy about Jerry Jones

An alcoholic or drug addict will deny they have a problem till they hit rock bottom or worse. They refuse to look at the truth about themselves.

How low will the Cowboys have to go before Mr. Jones realizes he has a problem with his ego and his inability to make player decisions?

The only thing saving
the Cowboys is the infamous parity of the NFL. Too bad it is parity of mediocrity.

I still love my Cowboys, but the whole situation is driving me crazy.


I am still going to finish my mini series of political posts here soon with my idea of a good platform.. I hope to sit down and write it soon.

Tonight I am going to end on this positive note: Go Mavs

A sports prediction

I was going to title this a bold sports prediction, but when I thought about it, it may not be that bold. Also you aren't suppose to put predictions in writing because you can be proven wrong, but what the hey, here goes.

The Indiana Pacers will usurp the Heat dynasty at least in the East and as of right now have one of the better, if not best chance, to be the next multi title teams. At least they could be playing for some titles from the East. And because of the Pacers rise the Heat will split up after this year. Lets see what happens.


And I am a Texas Ex, but I think the news stories that Saban is coming to Texas are Christmas wish list dreams. I will be glad to be pleasantly surprised though

Somehow there is some irony in this

So all the malls are opening earlier and staying open later on Sundays to let people shop more. All for a religion that believes you should spend the day at church and with your family

And they are buying presents for people they don't like and then won't like the presents.

We spend so much time stressing about a holiday that if you do what you are really suppose to do can bring great joy.

Madam, Madam it is TEA time

Say the title in your best English Butler voice

What exactly is the TEA party? Who is the TEA party? And why the TEA party?

A few questions and with a bit of luck I might be able to partially answer them and give a few opinions on what we are encountering with them.

The TEA party seems to be made up of different groups of people. Originally I think there were some people that got together and had a vision of trying to reign in our government. At this point I think their original intent has been pushed aside by a variety of people who have their own agenda. To their original purpose they still seem to attract an audience that doesn’t necessarily call themselves TEA party members, but still are waiting to see if they can really do something about Washington D.C.

And I think many in the political establishment do not seem to realize there is much potential in the TEA party message. Yes it has been hijacked by people with their own agenda, but you have to realize, and again the establishment doesn’t, how fed up people are with Washington D.C. The establishment, and I am talking more than the Republican establishment, seem to think the dissatisfaction with D.C is a blip on the radar screen and things will settle down. They are seriously underestimating the anger on Main Street.

And the opportunists in the TEA party realize the anger and are gaining some traction with it. How far they can go is still debatable.

So who is the TEA party? Unfortunately for the original start up group many people with their own anger have joined the banner of the TEA party. You had people who followed the Taxed enough already ideology, and then their came along a small group of industrialists and wealthy contributors who wanted to direct the group into their own agenda. This money helped a variety of TEA party banner members to be elected in 2010. And of course the original message begins to diverge. It soon became a group of people elected to target certain legislation by whipping up “popular” support against it. They hoped to distract the mainstream by using them to attack legislation so they could eventually get the new group to enact legislation that would favor them. This has been pretty much the usual in Washington; rich people trying to buy their own legislation. Unfortunately the wealthy contributors began to have different agendas. This is a more recent split and is starting to show in TEA party preparations and support going into 2014. I think they will come together temporarily to try and rally more TEA party support and elect their candidates, but how long this lasts will be interesting to watch.

And then over the last couple of years more people starting calling themselves TEA party members who had a general agenda of anything Obama does we are against. There is subtle and overt racism in some of this group of people. Then there are others who actually don’t like large government. And others who are overall dissatisfied with Washington and are looking for some voice or representation that is against anything Washington does. People are tired of what has happened over the last few decades, but they cannot put their finger on exactly why and what. And they are tired of the blame game.

And this is where opportunists like Senator Cruz come in. I am not sure exactly which group of money is supporting him, but he has way too much confidence in himself and his position without someone telling him he has their support. No one can go that all in politically, drum up serious rancor against him and still be able to move forward politically without serious help. The voices in his ear are pretty strong. And there are a few politicians able to tout this anti DC agenda to keep the general public interested in what is coming next. And that to me is one of the problems.

The current group of TEA party politicians doesn’t seem to have an agenda other than stopping DC. It doesn’t matter what as long as they can make noise. Obamacare has given them the perfect whipping post for their efforts, but if this fails they will find something else soon. Immigration reform is another Democrat agenda that could come under their attack. And we are going to find out soon if they have smart leadership.

Can they keep their rabble of haters intact and be able to convince a much larger audience that they have a rational plan behind all their madness? Yes, it is possible they can build a larger audience. Again this is where the current political establishment is missing the boat. People want something new. The TEA party is new. If the TEA party members can come together and voice a convincing message of we are here to throw out the establishment, reduce the size of the government, reduce your taxes, and relief you of the burden and yolk of an oppressive federal government, their audience will grow. It may never become a majority of the country, but it will overwhelm the Republican establishment and create a very hard right party. (And somewhat recently I wrote a post on the difference between being conservative and being right wing). The TEA party is not a conservative group. They may espouse some conservative philosophies, but overall their subtle message is nationalistic pride, return to a better time, and remove all elements of society that does not measure up to their desire.

And some people are not aware they are caught up in this message without realizing the danger of who they are becoming. The TEA party has been consumed with people who have hatred to a wide variety of groups and people. This is more than just subtle or overt racism. This is a belief in a fantasy America that was partially in place during the 1950s, however, in reality never existed to the extent that the members want to believe. And the backers and opportunists are trying to make this message loud and clear. They want the members to believe we can go back to an ideal time.

And what is funny is if they are successful they will lose the audience they need to enlarge their base to get what they want. Again does the TEA party have smart leadership? Can they voice one message to their core group and another of we are new and wanting change in DC to another group simultaneously? 2014 may give us the answer.

I talk to many people who do not call themselves TEA party members, but have their ear. Can my small group of acquaintances flesh out a reliable statistical sample of what is coming? I don’t know, but from what I am hearing I am worried. As someone who calls myself a conservative I don’t see a true conservative agenda from this group. The difference between saying I don’t want a large federal government so I will shut it down vs. I am tired of bloated federal programs that do not work and I want something better for my country is monstrous in my eyes. You can solve problems and not create or use federal programs. It takes work and creativity, but can be done. And if the Federal government is involved it can be utilized within reason. This is not the change the TEA party wants to see. What change do they want? Other than get rid of everything we want to remove, I don’t see one. It is their message of by doing this we can go back to our “ideal” time that is misleading so many people, even their original supporters.

We need change in Washington D.C., but we do not need TEA time change. This will not be change, but a misguided country that will fall back into a hierarchal society that our forefathers worked so hard to overcome. The backers and opportunists are in the TEA party for a reason, and it is for their benefit not the country, constitution, or us.

And next I hope to show you a better conservative agenda. And I do mean agenda. I hope to flesh out points and ideas that will help this country move forward and still reduce the size and scope of our federal government. The TEA party is right. Washington DC is too much and needs change. Change can be productive and must be if we want our constitution, society, country, people, and dreams to thrive. This is the change I plan on presenting.

They just make it difficult

Currently my three favorite comedies are Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, and the Republican Party. A person would think that if your approval ratings in Congress was in single digits and you are going through PR hell there would be someone proof reading tweets. Apparently not.


With a group like this it just makes it harder and harder not to take jabs at them. We will never get a decent rational conservative agenda implemented in this country as long as these clowns call themselves conservative.


And I really want to just post rational discussion posts or positive posts, but they just tempt me too much to keep that promise all the time. Sheesh they actually pay people good money at the Republican National headquarters.

Late to the party AGAIN

As always I am a bit behind. I'm sure by now you are aware of the Wal Mart stories and all the craziness on Twitter. Yep the hashtag brawlmart is either a new high or new low in Twitter entertainment.

Some how or another this relates back to my convoluted fistful of thoughts post. I don't follow all the twitter posts, but one tweet mentioned in the story I read actually scares due to the truth in it. It compared the Wal Mart videos to it being our Hunger Games entertainment.


All in all not one of our society's better moments... We just don't seem to get how we are denigrating as a country. And what really infuriates me is most people day to day are rational civil people. We either ignore or accept what is happening to us that leads not just to the behavior, but the we have to watch train wreck mentality.

For this type of behavior to happen in what is suppose to be a shining example of what democracy can be, what hope do we have of convincing others that we are better or what our philosophy is that is something other countries should emulate.

Yes here we are showing just how well large swaths of meth induced ignorance behaves in response to two very special holidays. Yep people see just how Christian and civil we are all around the world thanks to the internet.

And most of us are much better than this so why does this get treated as entertainment instead of something that needs to be addressed. I hate trite sayings, but there is one that actually applies and that is: if you aren't part of the solution you are part of the problem. Sixty plus years ago we, the US, were on the cusp of creating a new era in human history. Our country and our allies had just defeated a great evil and were at the start of another long conflict. And other than putting a man on the moon, we actually moved backward as a society. Well maybe we moved forward a bit when it comes to civil rights, but overall we could have done so much more and we didn't. Was this a great opportunity lost? At this point no, but we really do need to start changing who we are or can be. And actually we probably wouldn't even have to make the sacrifices the great generation made in the forties to win WWII. We just need to apply the right attitude.

Anyway, to me, it is a pisser and frustrating to watch this insanity and realize we are much better than this, but we don't bring that forward for the world to see. Greed, ignorance, lack of civility are areas we can overcome. It is a will that needs to be found or why does the rest of the world care about trying to reach new heights for the human race. Or are there people elsewhere ready to step up to the void we are creating. I hope somebody finds it. I would hate for us humans not to move into a new epoch that benefits the entire race and planet.


My tea party post and my version of a progressive conservative party platform for the 21st century is still coming. Have a great rest of your weekend. And if you are a sports fan you probably know by now a little school called Auburn is a bit happier than most. Congratulations to a group of young men who just wouldn't give up.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a great day. May you truly be thankful for your many blessings.

And for those readers outside of the U.S. I hope you get a chance to be thankful for what you have and your life is filled with an abundance of blessings also.





And Go Dallas Cowboys, couldn't resist

brief respite from my mini series of posts

A fistful of thoughts that I know are somehow related, I just got to find a way to tie them all together.

I'll start with Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has someplace to go. Definitely a holiday that the whole family should enjoy together. Unfortunately for a variety of reasons many people don't get to enjoy the family aspect of the holiday or even the holiday itself. And to me some of the reasons are symptoms of some of the problems facing our country.

First though lets thank the fire fighters, police, paramedics, nurses, doctors, hospital staff, traffic controllers, military, and anyone else giving up the day so we can be safe. It is a shame that we need to have a bare minimum of people who make the sacrifice for us. So thank you to those whose job is a necessity so the rest of us are protected and safe.

Now there is the next tier of workers who have to give up the day and cannot spend the day with their families so our lives are convenient or for us to indulge. This is where I wish we could prioritize what is important and let as many people as possible spend valuable time with their loved ones. And since Thanksgiving isn't born directly as any religious holiday it could be a day we agree to make special. Yet more and more nowadays family is a second or third thought in our society.

We need to revisit our priorities in our country. And in doing so we run into many problems, but two I want to discuss are Christian fundamentalists and liberals who politically discount the concept of family values. Of course there is corporate greed that is eroding families in our country, but not the immediate discussion I want to address.


It seems Christian fundamentalists don't realize you can't legislate morality. Morality is better served through education and by living the example. My better half says not to emulate other Christians, but to emulate Christ. Well she believes this, I don't know who originally said this, yet very true and sometimes there is a difference between some Christians and Christ. My point though is we need to restrengthen the family in our society. We are losing a great institution and with strong families with healthy values these can carry forward from generation to generation. The Christian fundamentalists tout this value, but utterly fail in getting our society to truly understand what this means.

Liberals for whatever reasons seem to think that family values aren't important or are some quaint part of our history. I don't know if it is because it is anathema to so called liberalism or they just want to oppose the groups that politically support familt values or what, but you have to wonder why. Many liberals tout they are more educated than Christian fundamentalists. The desire for a good education many times comes from a strong family background. Yet you don't see the Democrats or the elitist liberals even begin to stress the importance of family in their politics or platforms. I have never heard a good argument that supports a good family isn't beneficial to children and society, but liberals treat the topic like it has leprosy or AIDS. Why?

And the family value debate is just another part of the ongoing Republican disconnect with our country. They always put it in their national platform someway, but when it comes to really trying to strengthen our families they completely support programs or turn a blind eye to elements of our society that help erode the family. One example is the Republicans fighting against immigration reform. Two large immigrant groups hispanics and Asians have strong family ties. Next time you are in the mall or someplac similar compare the number of families vs groups or individuals shopping. More often than not you will see full families of Asians or Hispanics out together. Much more than white or African Americans. If you truly believe in family values you might want to get them involved in the process and support of those values.

I know I haven't gotten into what the actual problems are because of the decline of the family in our country. Maybe a post solely dedicated to that should be done. For now though the thought is part of my fistful of thoughts mentioned above. I am frustrated with the decline of Thanksgiving and the values it represents. We need days like this to rejuvenate our families, to bring them together to create lasting memories for our children and for us as we get older. Plus there is so much more to us as a nation when we gather and share thankfulness for what we have.


As a small part to bringing family values back I ask one favor, do not go shopping on Thursday. And this includes grocery shopping, gas purchasing etc. Please don't feed the corporate mentality that one days worth of sales are more important than us as humans. Take off for the day and enjoy a day at home with everyone. If you want to go shopping, by all means go, take the whole family and go on Friday.

Overall plan ahead so you can settle in and have a great Thanksgiving.

Coach! We're gonna win by a hundred points.

Son, we still have to play the game.

If you read enough posting boards and even in some media outlets you get the impression that the democrats have already won 2014 and 2016. The lay faithful of the democratic party are so sure of the outcome it is almost guaranteeing a huge surprise.

First of all the writers of posts and blogs have a huge disdain of the tea party. Their posts completely assume that the tea party is just a bunch of country hicks. This is their first mistake. And it seems if you even try to point out anything different you get bombasted with comments about your ignorance. The democratic faithful are seriously unaware of how much of the country is tired of Washington D.C. They don't realize many people aren't joining the tea party outright, but they are listening to what is being said. I don't support the tea party and am a bit scared of their reach, but democrats are completely dismissing them. They may find out the hard way many people don't think the federal govt is the answer or has the solutions we need anymore.

Second the democrats all seem to be in lock step right now and will continue as the republicans struggle. Now there is a tad bit of dent in the armor with the ACA problems and they maybe fixable, but there are other issues that the democrats don't want to face. Sooner or later the problem of the debt and deficit is something the populace is going to demand to be addressed. Some moderate democrats may start breaking ranks and support some Republican initiatives to reduce our government. Add any financial problems for the ACA and many moderates may pull back on supporting quite a few programs to lower govt expenditures.

Many democrats will tout stats that they say shows govt spending and democratic policies help the economy. And they are partially correct. Two problems exist for those facts now. One was there were other factors that also helped at the time. For the great depression WWII played a big role in our economy, not just FDR's initial public works campaign. Another example was the rise of technology and the internet helped the economy and therefore our surpluses of the nineties probably more so than anything Clinton did. Second our budget and debt has never been this high compared to GDP without a strong growth spurt to help us get back to more reasonable ratios. We are spending more without a strong enough economy to balance later. The recovery is taking too long. The drain of social services is adding to the problem more so than benefiting the people receiving. People in the middle class will begin to protest the over reliance on them and start putting pressure on politicians to reduce benefits and if the democrats don't come up with alternate solutions the middle class will start listening to the tea party etc... and this won't be the country hicks the democrats think dominate the tea party's membership. So comparing or touting past successes to say the economy will get better could backfire if it doesn't soon and people see the long term debt as more of a problem than the democrats.

Another problem for the democrats is attitude. Now all sides have the mentality of I'm right their wrong, but there is a growing segment of democrats that seem to fit the old label elitist liberal. They are giving off the attitude that they know what's best for the country and all other ideas are useless. This attitude is different from the uncompromising ideology of tea party purists. It shows itself in their disdain for the tea party, but also comes through in a know it all, look down their nose at the rest of us who can't grasp they know what's best and there is no reason for me to even try to think. This is an intangible attitude, but over time people resent having their thoughts and ideas discounted by someone who holds over their head an air of superiority

The democrats are over confident and over confidence does have some basis to be confident. You can't assume anything though and that is where over confidence comes back to bite you. What I have been trying to convey are some areas that might surprise the democrats or where they are missing the boat and lose their momentum going into 2014 etc.. Another possibility is someone coming out of the blue and taking the country by storm with a whole new message. And on a side note the Governor of Wisconsin was alluding to that last weekend. A bit self serving if you ask me and I noticed a few other commentators saw this point. Yet there is the possibility of this happening because many people are wanting a DC outsider to ride to the rescue.

This post has been written over more than a few lunch hours on a so called "smart
" phone so I really cannot get the flow I want, but the gist is the democrats may look pretty right now and much of the press is all on board, but the game still needs to be played. The democratic establishment will get it handed back to them if they aren't ready to take on our country's problems and think the current Republican implosion is their meal ticket going forward.

Thank you

Here is to all the men and women who give and have given their all.

Thank you and Happy Veteran's Day.

" oh hey dude, its the establishment"

Okay say the title in a Tommy Chong type of voice for a bit of humor effect.

Imagine you and your best friend, always together. Picture yourself at three, thirteen, thirty three etc. Imagine there is always that picture of you two together, arms around each other and smiling. You have probably seen many photos with that scene. Now imagine no matter what, you can't say no to your best friend, even at times when it would be in your friend's best interest and in the best interest of all your friends.

Of course you are the Republican party, big business is your best friend, and everyone else is the rest of the country. I don't think it is a stretch to see this picture. This is just one of the problems facing the now labeled "Establishment" part of the Republican party.

Name a vision the Republican Party has had, seriously think about it for a moment and think of a true vision they have had at any time over the years. They have some issues they favor, they will tell you they are the conservative party, they support certain causes, but a vision. I don't know. The closest I came to one was trickle down economics. This is described as if you give tax breaks to big business, the benefits would get invested and then everyone would benefit from the success that big business was suppose to have. The old adage a rising tide lifts all boats. Trickle down got its start in the 80's and the economy did improve. Realistically though it was more from a Democrat philosophy. The Republicans spent our way into a recovery with large amounts of defense spending. The economy improved not because of the actual legislation and work from a vision, but because the Republicans started a debt balloon by spending heavily on defense. Those industries did well and then everyone else. So it may seem trickle down worked, but realistically at best the jury is still out on that one and I am being generous. Another problem facing the Establishment; what can they really hang their hat on to show they can govern well?

The Republicans say they want to expand the conservative base. They honestly realize they need to find more votes. They don't realize this is going to take work. The Republicans seem to be under the impression that saying they are the conservative party all conservatives should follow suit. And there is an untapped audience. Most of this country is still at least moderately conservative, including successful immigrants and minorities. And because these groups have worked hard to be successful they are a natural audience to the Republican message. The Republicans don't want to meet them, not just halfway, but not at all. There is some kind of blind hope of the Republicans they should get these votes without walking in their shoes. And I am not talking about issue voting like immigration reform to obtain these votes, but real canvassing the neighborhood work. Go out and meet them in their world.

New and established immigrants that are successful come from backgrounds that support the same values the Republicans tout. Values like; strong family, work ethic, many have Christian backgrounds, and could be encouraged to support legislation supporting lower taxes, smaller federal government and less reliance on government to be successful. This is a dream audience for Republicans, but are ignored. African Americans that are successful in professional endeavors or with their own business are another ripe audience. And this group is really feeling put off by the Republicans, many have the same values already listed, yet again ignored. Now I will make a distinction. There are many successful African Americans that have benefited from being active politically in the Democrat party and will always carry this loyalty. The African American vote will lean heavily towards the democrats for years. There is no doubt. Yet there are some African Americans who would listen if effort was made. And as with immigrants real effort. This is another area where the "establishment" is watching the tide leave the bay, the boats are sinking, and they don't know why.

This is the area I have the most concern. There is a need for a balanced government and a conservative agenda. We cannot sustain spending our way out of trouble by the federal government. At times some spending by the government works to help the economy jump start a bit, but we cannot rely on it. We need practical and realistic budgets most of the time. And without a debt burden that not only slows down a current recovery, but holds future generations hostage to what we are doing now. This is where we stand now. And the Republican establishment is alienating the people, described above about a third of the country, that we need to help us elect true conservatives to put together a balanced budget, plans to reduce the debt, reigning in of federal programs that aren't working or too cumbersome to be effective anymore. And this brings us back to the first picture.

Republicans for all their conservative talk, really aren't conservative. Their reliance on the status quo and calling themselves conservative have been a large misnomer in American politics. Many people will complain that conservative policies don't work. The policies would if put in place properly and by true conservatives ( and this isn't the tea party, but that is another post). The establishment Republicans have been giving lip service to an ideal, but in all reality they put their best friend first and hope that this friend carries the day for them. And when your best friend is self centered and only has one person to worry about, well you don't get the most compatible person for helping or working with others.

And now the deal is going down for the Establishment. Can they rise to the occasion or will they be split apart by their ideological brethren? The Establishment has its work cut out. And don't be too energized by Christie's win. I know the Business Insider has been running articles on Christie being the model for success going forward, but he has a few things going for him the rest of the party doesn't have. First, he is popular in New Jersey, second Sandy hurt New Jersey and he responded and wasn't shy about asking for help from an administration that wanted to look good right at that moment, the Establishment doesn't do well with natural disasters, and once he got elected he did do one thing politically right and that has been magnanimous with working with democrats at times.

The Establishment needs a vision, one that they can espouse and then carry it out. This is more than saying a few phrases, like: "read my lips no new taxes" or successful people lift themselves up by their own bootstraps. It needs to show why people should listen to them. Put a realistic and workable budget together that people can understand, yet doesn't ignore there are problems in our country. It is great to say we cut the budget by cutting. It doesn't work, if it doesn't offer alternative solutions to problems. Conservatives don't want the federal government trying solve all the problems because we know that is an unrealistic expectation. We must be prepared though to offer alternatives. Ignoring problems only cost more in the long run. Again you cannot saddle debts on a future generation, whether by borrowing money now or by handing off a much larger problem to solve. The Establishment just doesn't seem to see why no one wants to listen to them. And quite frankly because they haven't said anything new in decades. Their time and unfortunately conservatism in general is at a tipping point. Can they come through, do we need a new party, or is this country doomed to a spiraling out of control federal government born not because the Democrats have better ideas, but because the Republicans just don't have any?

Too bad their best friend and wall street are too consumed by their own largess and greed to help. And no its not about the money, PACs, or getting rid of the lobbyists, (that wouldn't hurt though), its about reinvesting in our country.


And this has been post number two in my pre primary midterm election discussion about where we stand politically in the eyes of an independent conservative. I saw a quote today though that scares me about writing these posts." The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest the most violently are those who try to tell them the truth." H. L. Mencken

I am probably in much trouble here. ( not that I have some special ownership of truth) some people perceive truth different than others

Have a great evening

They say they have a vision

Vision,a word that encompasses a wide variety of definitions and meanings to different people. For our purposes though I plan to talk more about political visions or visions for our country.

A statement such as " read my lips, no new taxes" is not a vision. Or "Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall" even though this was a monumental statement that defined the end of an era or end of the cold war was not an actual vision for our country.

Some visions develop themselves such as our "manifest destiny" that occurred during the 19th century. This became a vision of our country and depending on your perspective a quite successful one. This was brought about by quite a few separate events that occurred throughout the century such as the Louisiana Purchase, the gold rush of the West, end of the civil war, and other events all eventually combining into a dream made possible by a variety of entrepreneurs, adventurers, and political will. Visions don't always have the support of everyone, but our manifest destiny became a reality because it had the support of enough power brokers to make it come true.

Sometimes a vision is born and carried forth by a stated goal. The best example is JFK's we are going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. President Kennedy knew we needed to establish ourselves as having superiority over the Soviets, not just in the space race, but as a country, way of life, way of governing. He needed something to prove that we could achieve superiority and the space race provided him with a great goal. The goal became a vision because the country embraced it. This was something Republicans and Democrats could all hang our hat. Outside of a very small minority that was scared of what we might find most Americans were excited about us reaching the moon. President Kennedy had political will, popular will, and the resources to accomplish this goal, his unfortunate death only added to the political and popular will. Unfortunately once we reached this goal, the space race was over and nothing new about it excited the populace so it took a long time for anymore major space events to take place. It became part of our government,not something new and exciting anymore. Once the vision was achieved there was nothing new to inspire us forward.

Some visions are actual thought out defined visions. One example is LBJ's Great Society. And depending on your perspective: a failure, a partial failure, or a partial success. Part of the success was just the idea that you can define a whole program dedicated to improving the standing of many of our country. As a vision, the concept itself, is a great example of what a country like ours can do that many other countries cannot. As a practical reality, it has not succeeded in completely eradicating racism and its programs to rid the country of poverty have become federal behemoths that have created multi-generational poverty. The vision itself is wonderful. Again no other country probably in the history of the world has ever set out to create a better way of life for its masses or oppressed than what the vision of the Great Society professed. You cannot fault the vision. So what should be done, ignore it and cut out all the programs. Actually no, and at this point this is where we can restate how great our country is by still defining the vision or restating it and coming up with programs that might achieve the goal. And this discussion will be for a different post.

And for our country, our original vision is still our best. The founding fathers worked for decades, first to realize they would stand up to tyranny, then to get together to determine what standing up to tyranny meant, fighting the war, and finally getting together and even though it took years writing our constitution. This vision took shape over decades, but was born from the new idea that man should be in charge of his own destiny. And one of the wonderful aspects of our constitution was that many men took charge of their own destiny, espoused their ideas, compromised on some, worked and fought through the process to shape the vision. Which as we all know is something our current government cannot do.

Another vision we have is what is also causing the current quagmire in our government. The idea or concept that all Americans should have healthcare. Now as an idea, this is something to think about and if possible something to work towards. This idea started a couple of decades ago and supposedly came into fruition with the Affordable Care Act. Again this is a vision and people actually put together legislation to try and realize the goal. The debate on the success of this is still out. The vision still exists and though many people aren't on board with the current product, we, as a country, can still work forward with goal to make it work. You can create a vision, but not call it a failure just because the practical application didn't work the first time. That is one very important lesson we should have learned from our founding fathers' efforts to create the constitution. I am not a fan of the affordable care act, but I don't see this as a reason to not think about what we can do to achieve affordable health care. As a conservative I am of the opinion that the federal government can't solve all the problems, nor should even try, but there is nothing wrong with the federal government shaping the debate on how to solve problems or create solutions.

I titled this post" they say they have a vision" as an intentional misnomer. This is where we stand as a country. No one has a vision for our country going forward. And I think it is time we look at ourselves, decide who we want to be as a country, much like our forefathers, and go forward. And I don't think we need to have some group get together and propose something we vote on. I think it is time for the people of this country to expect more from ourselves and define what we can do. We are at an interesting time in the history of our country. Change is happening rapidly. This change is economically, culturally, with technology, geo-politically around the world, amongst ourselves, and the reader probably can mention a few. Do we elect leaders that realize this change is happening and prepare our country for the ongoing evolution of the United States as a people or do we sit on what we have and watch our famous experiment with democracy (okay with the republic) disappear into the world's history books? Yes the United States in name could still exist, there are enough nationalists to keep that going, but what about what our forefathers created. A flexible framework of a government that allows a country to adapt to change and still keep its primary values of freedom, individualism, government by the people, and the ideal that all men are created equal. (the concept of all men are created equal is another topic I want to broach someday) still in place.

This type of vision is different than the legislative visions I mentioned previously, but more of a vision that develops over time. One that many people shape, but becomes part of the political will of the people. One that only a country created as ours can achieve. This is one of the main reasons our country is great. The ability to move forward as a country based on the will of the people, by the governance of the people, and by the dreams of the people. Like the examples above, there are many different types of visions. And all these types plus more are the examples of what can move us forward.

We are at the cross roads of time. Democracy, or our working Republic, is still new to the history of the world. Our country has evolved. It doesn't look like it what it did 200 years ago, 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago. And in fifty years it might look even different. What is important is keeping our values so generations going forward can benefit from the same things we benefit from; the ability to stand up and control our own destinies both individually and with our country.

There is much to talk about with this vision, but for now this post is the first of a series where I hope to talk about where we stand politically, why the current groups of political leaders are failing us, and what I eventually hope to define as one possible vision going forward. I know no one person cannot speak for all, but I hope to instill in the reader a thought process about what they see going forward and what can we do to re instill our founding fathers' vision and processes back into our government.

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And a secondary note about the affordable care act.

There is so much noise on this it is hard to determine what it is actually. From the best I can determine and at a very simplistic level:

Everyone is suppose to have coverage.

It seems you can get coverage from different sources, one being the infamous website the government produced. Your job, private or individual policies bought directly, or through groups like AARP, all as long as it meets certain government standards.

The government through its website will determine if you meet certain income standards you can receive help subsidies for your coverage.

There are supposed benefits like no pre existing condition denials and of course everyone gets "affordable" health insurance.

Some complaints are the subsidies that people receive to pay for coverage, the government setting the standards for the type of coverage or what is the minimum allowable coverage, the disparity in costs between old and young people, the disparity in coverage between different groups of people for example apparently urban and suburban dwellers are getting more choices and less expensive coverage than people in rural areas, you actually don't get to keep your policies apparently because of the minimum standards, and I am sure the reader knows their own complaints.

All this from a 1100+ page piece of legislation. Anyway a simplistic primer for those confused about what is all the noise. I am not going to get into the pros and cons of the legislation, but as a conservative I will state way too much reliance on the federal government to actually run the show. There maybe a better answer and I hope there is (and yes I have a few), but it cannot all come from the government. Too many players are way too unhappy for the government to have this much control.




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And finally I said I would work to be positive and constructive. I want to emulate this in all my writings so I must confess I got a bit smarky on a post on a CNN story the other day. Yes I said smarky because I cannot think of a better word. It wasn't sarcastic, it was very trite. Anyway got to be careful and not let the absolute juvenile attitude of the CNN posters get to me. I like reading them for entertainment, but I cannot let my self get caught up in their ways. There are some good comments, but enough of the juvenile ones to cause brain failure if you read too many of them.

Have a great evening and Go Mavs tonight.

I do not know where to start

The news is already lighting up with political rhetoric about both democrats and republicans/tea party. The Wall Street Journal online had an article about establishment Republicans getting ready to fight back for control of the party. The associated press had an article about Democrats getting ready to support Hillary already. And of course all the posters and trolls are all over these stories and more.

There were so many comments I wanted to respond to I felt overwhemed. And thank goodness I didn't. I try as best as possible to take the positive and constructive route. So with that spirit in mind I am going to use the next few posts to break out a few posts that show why the democrats are over confident, the tea party is gaining more support than the establishment republicans and democrats realize, why the establishment republicans are clueless about their problems, why the tea party is not the answer, well actually why any of the three groups mentioned not the answer, and finally and going back to the constructive and positive theme what I would write as a platform writer for my progressive conservative party if it actually came to fruition.

Yes a bunch to discuss so will be covered over a few posts and right now I don't know which order or if I will mix up the topics as I go along. I do know I will have one post specifically to the platform.

One thought I want to get out is the reason for being very specific about a specific platform is that the other three groups don't have a vision any more. All three groups are locked into being on one side of a variety of issues. No one has a vision anymore. We are just arguing crap year in and year out. One of the post comments brought up an interesting fact and even quoted the source about how different voting groups voted. Pretty interesting tidbit of info, but what it showed me is that our politicians don't see a country anymore, but voters as commodities that need to be cultivated. And yes I know any astute person has seen this coming for a long time.

I am starting to ramble because my brain is overloaded with thoughts. This is why I know I am going to need to break this out, so hopefully I can hold onto it all and put together a few coherent posts.

One point I want to add is that I will break out my platform into two major themes. First is problems to solve like the budget, debt, social programs etc and second a vision for our country that accepts the notion that we are a changing nation, but we can still keep our fundamental values and principals going forward to remain a great nation. One of the problems establishment Republican and tea party trolls are having a hard time accepting.

Sing this

Oh where oh where can democracy be

Oh where oh where can it be

With education pa the tic

And electorate apathetic

Oh where oh where can it be

Sung to an old nursery rhyme, but I don't know the name.


Yep it is about a year away till mid terms and potentially the wildest primary season in a long time. And the middle class will let themselves get shut out again unless we unite immediately. Going insane in this insane year.



And on the sports front the Mavericks need to find a defense. Lets see if they can find one against Memphis tonight or does Memphis offense get a shot in arm playing the Mavs. Thank goodness it is a long season.


And will someone please explain to me how the Cowboys keep losing insanely close games.

What ever happened to Syria

Ever since our government started imploding, Syria dropped out of the headlines. The civil war didn't stop, just the headlines. And for US foreign policy that was a good thing, or at least for the home team's appearances. Tonight, however, I read through an article about the Obama's administration worst nightmare is playing out. If you are curious it is a short article from the Business Insider. Basically recaps the current geo political situation in Syria right now.

And as the article states no good news for Obama. And for us and the rest of the world a huge cancerous debacle that is spreading way too fast for anybody's good, even the Middle East. And yet it is all the Middle East players building on it.

So what does the good ole USA do? Whatever political momentum Obama may have picked up with surviving the shutdown could be quashed in a heartbeat if they don't come up with a strategy to work out a solution in Geneva, or where ever.

Personally I still think we should stay out of it, but hate to say it, but may not be feasible long term. That sucks, but a reality.

So what do we do. Obama has tried to sidestep the situation hoping to get everyone to do something. Then he got caught between a rock and hard place over the chemical red line. And what sucks more for him and our policy Putin bailed him out. And worse Russia and Assad look good solving the chemical issue. Or at least the perception they did something.

So we have to go back to the drawing board with no ink and paper. We really don't have a good place to start right now.


So everyone get your thinking caps on , this one is going to take some work. I believe the administration and myself are open to suggestions.


And lately can't figure what to do to get our exports up. We still need balance of trade to help our economy. We just can't continue as mostly a service economy and expect things to get better for the long haul. Wall Street still hasn't done any favors.

And finally for the night, cannot wait for primary season,next spring. Probably going to be a thrilling ride thanks to the Grand Old Party.

Having beautiful fall weather here in North Texas. I hope all of you get to enjoy a few more weeks before winter sets in.

Is the fourth estate still the fourth estate?

The relationship between the press and our government goes back further than even our government's existence. Ben Franklin wrote:" freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government;when the support is taken away the constitution of a free society is dissolved and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistates." In our modern world we tend to forget how important these words were at the time. Nowadays we spit out so much garbage it is a disservice to what our founding fathers brought us.

The press at the time of our constitution was partisan. The press was used by various framers of the constitution to argue their points and reasons to what they wanted to include in the constitution and subsequent bill of rights.

One of the more famous writings found in the press of the time was the Federalist papers. In number 84 there is even the argument that maybe we did not need to have a bill of rights to include freedom of speech and press since the constitution did not specify any rules or regulations on speech or press. Eventually Mr. Hamilton lost his point and this became the first of the bill of rights.

So the press has always been a major part of what our government does. Eventually why the term fourth estate came about. The press conveyed upon itself its own importance in influencing public policy by influencing public opinion. Fast forward to the 21st century.

Where does the press stand now? Some will complain about partisanship in today's press. By itself this is not a bad thing. As briefly mentioned in this post partisanship can be beneficial at times. Unfortunately in today's world the partisan press groups like Fox news for conservatives or MSNBC for liberals do not meet expectations of being able to deliver a well thought out partisan argument. They pander to their perceived audience and not address a healthy argument that addresses both sides if an issue to make a point that supports their side of the issue. And the overall press has given in to corporate greed and panders its stories and presentation to sell ads and make money first. The ideal the press holds out for itself of effecting public discussion is lost in its own noise.

The press wanted the label of the fourth estate to elevate itself in the importance of public debate, basically alluding to the fourth estate being the fourth branch of government. If it wanted to be that ideal, it is now failing to that goal.

The almost good news and it goes back to Mr. Franklin's point of a free society needing free speech is and I hate sounding like I am tooting my own horn, but the internet and the blogging world has become or becoming more of the vessel of free speech our society needs. It has potential, but even as it grows it sets itself back. The blogging community tends to follow like minded individuals. IE, first person starts a blog, friend or second person likes it and then eventually you have a community of people following each other's blog that all agree with each other.

And where does this leave us in trying to have a forum to further our public debate to make the three true branches of government understand and perform to the people. We need to hold the press accountable for their actions. Maybe not in the same way as our representatives, but in some ways that let them know we are more important than ad numbers. We, the
people, to maintain,our more perfect union have a responsibility to read not just with what we agree, but with a view to become well versed on the issues so we can demand better from our elected leaders. This means we must demand from the fourth estate better quality and better content or their demise as the fourth estate is just as much our fault as theirs.

We can continue to blog and exercise our freedom of speech, in fact we must. Our opinions though need the professional outlet the press can give us. And on a side note it is amazing how much better the framers of our constitution wrote than modern political writers and legislators. It is a shame that a country that was founded on high ideals and eloquent writing has devolved into petty brinkmanship to try and make a point. There are so many ways we should strive to be better (myself included,I wish I could write half as well as our founders).

If we want to demand better from our government we must demand better from ourselves. And for tonight that means we need to look at our resources in public policy and demand they meet our needs as the fourth estate.


Cheers, salud, good night.

Didn't we learn anything from the 20th century?

This all started a couple of days ago when I was reading a story about how a right wing party was being investigated as a criminal institution. And then the neurons started firing so fast I couldn't keep up with the tidal wave of thoughts running through my head. I started thinking about what all happened in the 20th century. It boggles my mind that we still are dealing with extremism day in and day out on this planet.

One thought I did manage to hold onto is there is a difference between being right wing and being conservative. Sometimes hard to tell the difference, but there are some things to review. Right wing ideology uses many conservative ideas in their platform. Right wing nationalists speak to patriotism and a strong national defense. Right wing politicians talk about preserving national identity under the guise of protecting jobs for its citizens. Right wing in the United States wants smaller and less intrusive government. And these are some of the same ideals conservatives espouse, but there are differences especially in approach.

Conservatives have ideals and will work to implement them. The right wing has uncompromising ideology that they use to ramp up their base. Conservatives are patriotic and believe in strong national defense, but understand especially in the U. S. to protect the ideals and values of the people and country. The right wing demands adherence to a dogmatic patriotism that relies more on symbols than substance. Conservatives work to grow their base and incorporate new ideas to further their agenda. Conservatives know educated electorate are healthy for their country. The right wing needs blind adherence to their party and does not want to share with other groups.

Of course there is more to the differences than this short discussion. The main point really comes from what we learned from the 18th century. This is when conservatives and liberals worked together, made compromises ( and stuck to their views), to create something called The Constitution of the United States along with the Bill of Rights.

So where does the "tea party" fall in all this? Hmmmm name sounds nice, but could this group of so called patriots actually been part of producing a document they state they love as flag waving Americans?

Our country was built on strong values, shared beliefs, and compromises to get it done. Where are we headed now?

A few questions as we stare into a very ugly political abyss.

God save the constitution, the constitution is dying.

visualize it, Visualize it, VISUALIZE IT

There is a theory, or idea that if you can see it, put it out there, or visualize it, then it will come true.

Well most Cowboys fans have gotten so use to Tony Romo blowing it in big games or at least they perceive that to be the case that everyone in Dallas was expecting Romo to throw an interception that they "visualized" it happening. And if that is the case, then it is not Mr Romo's fault he threw that interception, but everyone in Dallas' fault. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha


What is really scary I think Jerry Jones thinks like that. Hahahahahahahahaha

Hope everyone is surviving the millennium.


And the NFC East is either really bad or the AFC West is that good. Sad, but true, but my Cowboys still have good chance to make the playoffs. Gotta say I hope they do and get better along the way to give themselves a chance.


Don't forget The Red Chair on Smashwords.com.

And it is great days to visit our State Fair.

more shutdown comments

In related news civility is being removed from the dictionary.

If this shutdown is about healthcare reform, why do I feel so damn sick.

One solution being discussed is removing the taxes on medical devices. If Congress doesn't get its act together there is some medical devices I would like to apply to them. And I will pay that tax.

The media keeps talking about which side will win. If one side wins it guarantees the people will lose.


Singing "why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends...." oh yeah that was back in the seventies before we were addicted to greed and narcissism. ( War was always a good group).

Go figure this one: Govt workers on furlough, but having to work weren't allowed to take their prescheduled vacation days. So basically no pay and no vacation, but on furlough.


The IRS is still collecting your money, but sent everyone home that is suppose to help you. Oh and by the way its your fault if its wrong.

And only nine more shopping days for Uncle Sam's credit card unless Congress gets Visa to raise the limit.

Add your own comments if so inclined.

Be careful what you wish for

Interesting strategy the Republicans have going. Take something that has passed into law, but bypass it by not funding it. They have failed repeatedly to repeal it, but still want to find a way to get rid of it. Can this accomplish their goal of not having the ACA?

They seem to think so. The Republicans put the country on alert that they think ACA is wrong or bad and they have a noble cause to prevent it. Personally I am not a fan of the ACA, or Obamacare. I think it is too convoluted and compromised to help us out in the long run. So you might think I should be for the tea party efforts to prevent it. I would like to see a better healthcare plan, but I think the tea party could care less about any plan or they would have presented one.

What is happening now is that Obamacare is not the problem. The disconnect is the strategy. It sounds noble and righteous to stand up for what you believe in, even if you are in the minority. Unfortunately the people against Obamacare are in the minority. Most reasonable polls have support for repeal at about 35 to 40% tops. And even some of the people against Obamacare when asked questions about the specifics end up supporting it because they didn't realize what it entails.

So this strategy of not funding it because you can't overturn it is going to open a can of worms no one really wants. I fear the Republicans have no idea the can of worms they are opening. It might not show up now, but somewhere down the road you might fear the various tactics used that derived from this strategy. Our whole way of life held hostage by wild and crazy politicians or small groups holding up funding or debt ceiling limits by not funding them or stopping funding bills. And of course someone will find ways to take this even further.

I am not a supporter of President Obama, but unfortunately he is right that he cannot let this pass. He is going to get hit once people start wanting this piecemeal strategy of funding the government so it looks like something is being done, but in the long run this is a strategy that will do much more harm than any good of slowing Obamacare down.

Some shutdown comments

Teaparty Jane, you ignorant slut (love regurgitating SNL quotes).

There are more children in Washington DC than kindergartens around the country.

If Congress can't fund the govt., doesn't that make them by default non essential and they shouldn't get paid.

Well it is October, Congress is getting ready for Halloween. Time to scare the pants off us.
Or is it all one big trick?

Tinparty man "if I only had a brain"


Moderate Americans are looking for something. It detached from their bodies and are rolling out the door.

And if I wanted a government this dysfunctional I would have run for office.

#1 Shutdown /#2 Education two posts for the price of one

I have been trying to write something for three days now and no luck. Now trying to write something and not watch the Rangers. My nerves aren't handling this 163rd game well.

I just checked the headlines and right now it doesn't look like we have a resolution to the shutdown. CNN released a poll saying Congress' approval rating is down to 10% and both parties are falling in the approval ratings too. Anyone wonder why?

And for us independent conservatives this is maddening to watch. The bigots and tea party members of the Republican party are so bent out of shape trying to do anything to keep Obama from being successful that we are blowing another opportunity to have meaningful dialogue on reducing govt spending and even the size of the government when the debt ceiling talks come up in a few weeks. They are hampering any chance we have of using the debt ceiling as leverage against more government spending. I saw one headline where apparently there was an attempt by "moderate" Republicans to get something done so we can move on. That has failed because the House voted to fund the government and delay the ACA.

I have said this before and I will say it again this group is slowly moving the country to the left. This is not because the overspending big government liberals have the better ideas, they just look more rational to the independents and moderates. And what is worse the tea party really doesn't have a plan. You cannot defund everything you don't like. Sooner or later you have to have some original ideas to move the country forward. Well maybe like a better healthcare plan if you don't like the current one. And I see none coming from the tea party. And the irony is the tea party is suppose to want to reduce government spending, this brinkmanship game playing will end up costing the tax payers more to shut the government down, then restart it. Serious ignorance and idiocy on their part.

We could be sitting down with moderate Democrats and say we will raise the debt ceiling for now, but you have to give us some serious (but not sequester) action on long term spending. They might listen if conservatives were talking rationally. Everyone knows we have to start coming to grips with our budget. It will never happen as long as the current House leadership and tea party extremists make the most noise. I don't know what to say anymore because you just don't see any strength in the moderates. They are really fearful of this tea party group. Yes they are loud and there are some numbers, but sooner or later they will take themselves down because they don't represent the general populace of the country.

We can fund the govt., reduce spending, and work on long term reduction in size of the government and be successful if the moderate conservatives, true conservatives, and moderate Democrats can get together and get to work. Instead the noise rules. Sad sad day and time for our most wonderful country.

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This next half is scarie, scaree, scarey, ......

I have talked about we need to improve the education quality in our country many times. I talk to people all the time and most are coming to the realization that our education system needs a major overhaul. You talk to anyone that works with child development and there are many ideas out there and most are somewhat related in the end goal of matching education to mindset (even a book called Mindset out there), attitude, matching brain development to what is taught in the schools etc. The over reliance on memorization to facts and test taking to facts is not educating our children. There is no critical thinking being developed. Language is a lost art and skill.

Yes we need to improve math and science skills, a definite must, but we aren't going to get there if we don't improve the basics. I talk about this, but I also see the example year end and year out. I have taught faith formation classes for years and still do. I have been working with middle and high school age children that go to public schools. And what I see week in and week out (we have one class a week) would absolutely scare you if you do not see this regularly. I don't blame the children, the teachers, the administrators, etc,,, this is a problem our whole country is facing.

In each week's lesson I try to incorporate reading materials, activities, and something from popular culture to discuss. This year I have 7th graders and last week I had an activity where I grouped them in small teams, and had a relay contest. The team would send one person up to get the question, go back to the group (and they could use the book) answer the question, the next person in line comes up with the answer, if correct, would get the next question etc etc etc.. (on a side note I see many students over the years struggle with reading. The material is not overly difficult. I am not an educator so I can't tell you if it matches grade level, but I suspect it is at the lower end of expectations of grade level based on my children being bored with the material, but we set up high expectations for our children when it comes to reading) Anyway I watched the students in my class struggle with reading, finding the material in the book, even though we just went over the chapter (and yes I know some probably weren't paying too much attention) and writing the question down. What scares me is the reading comprehension is weak, That is bad, the horror is the inability to write and spell. I gave very basic questions and the students struggled to write them down. It wasn't just that I had to repeat myself many times or go slow, it was the spelling. 7th grade is too young to be overly dependent on spell check, these were pretty common words, maybe the hardest were words like mystery or divine, but they would struggle across the board.

Sure there are some suburban schools in nice neighborhoods that still do pretty well, but urban and rural students are struggling. And what is funny I think it is the lack of the challenge we give our students that is partly to blame. We need to raise their expectations and of course match their brain development going forward. We are failing our youth everyday. If we want them to do well in math, science, life, jobs, etc we need to improve the basics. Think about this, most experts say children learn language best when they are very young. If we can't teach them to communicate and how to communicate well when their brains are ready for it, we are moving them backwards before they start.

Okay I am struggling to concentrate and keep my thoughts orderly since the Rangers are in the back of my mind, yet still I want to stress the importance of changing the way we think so we can change the way our children learn. Otherwise things don't look good going forward. There are great ideas being shared by educators and child development experts. It is time we started incorporating them.

And as I have said many times, the lack of critical thinking maybe playing a large part in our inability to demand our government get it's act together.


I just checked the score, the Rangers are killing me, behind in bottom of 6th, uuugghhhhh!!!!! how is that for spelling

And if you are coming to Dallas for the State Fair, expect to pay more this year. I heard five dollars for a corn dog and ticket prices are up. I hope I don't scare you away, but prepare yourself for some sticker shock. Saddens me that the Fair is getting out of reach for many financially, always a great time even off the Midway.

Have a great evening and GO RANGERS ....................................................

The good and bad of it all

The Cowboy offensive line looked damb good today. Kind of what we have been needing for quite some time. Lets hope it continues, been waiting so long that I am having a hard time believing it.


Our government looks pretty inept which seems to be the norm for quite some time. Folks it isn't about the shutdown. It is about their whole body of work. You have the economic oligarchy, the ultra liberals, and the tea party run by certain elements of the economic oligarchy which all combined can't be more than 35 to 40% of the country running or destroying the whole country. There is 60+% of this country watching us burn.

I started trying to figure out why nothing gets done to right this wrong . Is it apathy, ignorance, fear of something new, or what? Are most people like myself, willing to work hard to hide from trying to figure what truly needs to be done. I can spend the whole afternoon picking weeds instead of writing the stories I want to, is it; am I afraid of what there is out there, or not willing to make the sacrifice to learn and work hard to truly get what I want. Is the whole frigging country like me? Or are people thinking, oh once the shutdown is averted, everything will be okay, (sticking head in the sand)? This is all truly baffling.

There is almost two thirds of the country who by definition of our constitution should be running the country, but aren't. What gives? And we are not talking about major upheaval here either. We just need to make our representatives, represent us or replace them. Most of this 65% or so are rational thinking people,yet they tend to buy into we must accept things the way they are. Heck we spend more time analyzing how our football team could be better than our government. Again, willing to work hard, but not on what will truly benefit ourselves.(example of myself)

And now we have a shutdown looming in front of us. The political pundits are having a field day making their money talking about it. One article on Reuters says rational people from both parties will work something out. Most of the CNN trolls are spouting their ideological dogmatic idiocy. No one really knows. The ultra rich are having a field day making money off the market uncertainty. They don't care. And yet the majority of this country should care, they give lip service that they do, but don't make the effort to protect their own interests. Basically this 65% is the middle and upper middle class. Most are educated to a degree, have professions, make money, some volunteer at their church, others at their favorite charity, some are working two jobs to keep up or to get back ahead, all good people with good intentions, but the most important big picture element in their lives, how the government is run so they can continue with their lives is put on the back burner or accepted that they cannot do anything about it. And I hate to bring up this example, but this is exactly some of what happened that let Hitler come to power. (No offense to the Germans and congratulations Ms Merkel) And granted the economy was much worse in Germany at the time. Yet, it is holding off of action that can hurt us more than we realize now.

We just went through economic turmoil and that doesn't seem to be enough to spur people to action. Shoot we haven't completely recovered, but we don't force our government to do what is in the majority's best interest. And the answers are simple,just different from what we come to accept as the norm.

So this week begins the tick tock of the clock. Will our government shut down? And if it does, how bad will things get? Or is it the debt ceiling question that will cause more difficulty. I ask you America: what will it take for us to get off our backends and make Congress and the President respond to us.

And on a side note, Obamacare etc is not the right answer, but we need a better healthcare system in this country, one for the patients, run by the doctors, not the insurance companies. Yet this shouldn't be the reason the government shuts down. Rewrite it if you don't like it. Democracy allows for fluid government.


Finally it is a beautiful first day of fall here in north central Texas, warm, sunny, clear, super blue sky, could not get a prettier day. And yes the Cowboys looked exceptional today. Won't happen every week for any team in the NFL, but enjoying today overall. Of course other than my rant on why my countrymen and I can't get our act together and force the issue with the good ole government.

Have a great Sunday evening and prayers for the victims in Kenya and their families. Sometimes I do forget there are some real problems on Planet Earth that would be nice if those were addressed also.

You gotta love your world leaders

First I would like to agree with President Putin that it takes effort for any nation to call themselves exceptional or to become exceptional. And to label yourself as exceptionalism the expectation of who you are would be hard to meet. And I would like to thank him for creating this worldwide discussion of American exceptionalism. And for this post I don't want to stand up and say we deserve the label or not, but I would like to discuss it in general and then answer Mr. Putin as to why he thinks he can lead a charge against us on this topic.

There are many critics of the notion of American exceptionalism and even in the current American press there are critics. A broad discussion on whether the United States should be able to claim such a title is beneficial to us and to the world. Does it make us exceptional just because this discussion is going on? No. President Putin is right, in the respect that a nation must show the world how it is exceptional. Calling oneself such does not necessarily mean you have proven this to be a fact. Now in America we are very ethnocentric and see ourselves this way. And for most of us we have a general idea as to why, but I think there are many of us that don't understand what American exceptionalism truly is and how the concept developed. So this discussion helps many of us to better understand what President Obama was trying to say last week. Is President Obama right though?


There are many articles and history on American exceptionalism. Most of the articles you find now are on the discussion created by President Putin. I pulled up a couple of articles to get a better idea written before now to see if I can get a more scholarly idea of what is American exceptionalism. Two I found helpful, but for lay people somewhat difficult reading are: "American Exceptionalism A Double Edge Sword" by Seymour Martin Lipset and some articles and papers by Professor Ian Tyrrell of New South Wales. His articles are a bit easier to read, yet give a fair background of the subject. Of course there are many out there since this topic or concept has been around for most of the history of the United States. And if you read enough you will run across the exceptionalism of other countries or at least discussions of how other countries might fit into this discussion currently and historically.

Some general ideas to follow about American exceptionalism are the notion of our constitution, our creation of our liberties, the fact we started a whole new way to govern, and then the growth of our country. Alone our history stands out as something phenomenal and meteoric in our ascension into world power and eventually becoming the only remaining so called super power. This alone does not define the concept. There is more to being part of something called American exceptionalism. This is dis-illustrated in an article recently published by Bloomberg titled: "Putin was right about American Exceptionalism" This article uses the premise of we are not at the top of a wide variety of surveys that they say can define or they relate to defining what is an exceptional country. I feel strongly this article is a travesty to the subject. The idea of being exceptional is going to derive from intangible concepts and actions along with tangible facts. Deciding that one country is not exceptional because they are not at the top of a series of surveys is a gross injustice to the whole idea of exceptionalism.

I would like to use an example that I haven't seen used in the recent discussion, but I think has been used in general discussions about some of the reasons we might be worthy of the label American exceptionalism. The American Civil War represents one of the worst times in our country's history, but one of the most cathartic moments in world history. We fought a four year war over the concept of slavery. Slavery has been practiced throughout the world for thousands of years, but never in the history of man did a nation state bring this injustice to such a climax. This was not because of facts or laws, this was because people realized people are people. Granted not everyone then or now and there are still deep divisions among a minority of our country over this war and their own bigotry, but overall people decided something had to be done to right a wrong. This to say the least was an exceptional moment in time. Yet only one moment.

And throughout history there are more examples people might reference to add to this discussion, but unfortunately our history is not all positive. Do you add the sum of the positives and negatives to determine the answer? And what about other countries, at times or in general can other countries by considered worthy of an exceptionalism label. And make note there is a difference in the idea of being exceptional and being labeled as exceptionalism. For an interesting discussion on the concept of American(ism) see Mr. Lipset's article. And this "ism" is different from American exceptionalism, but is used as a reference to the whole.

And there is what others think.I read an article from Al Jazeera English publication. (always good to get an idea from someone you know isn't going to agree with you)And I was somewhat impressed with their efforts to make it unbiased or create an open argument. This article discussed the idea of other countries being up to the concept of exceptionalism, but overall they seemed to be picking at straws. One example was the Soviet Union and their reasoning for them was somewhat generic. The article was definitely not in agreement of America being unique to the world or to the world's history. And to this I disagree. It is our short history at the very least that makes us unique, giving rise to the idea of; are we doing something beyond historical comparisons.

America was conceived under a notion of religious freedom (one of our self basis for exceptionalism) with a large background of Christianity yet calling oneself exceptional goes against Christian teaching. This is one of President Obama's mistakes. To be truly exceptional your actions, not your words define you. A great nation, but humble is more in line of being called exceptional than touting your achievements to justify your actions. And even sometimes not taking action is a decision that can add to how you are viewed.

So are we worthy of still being able to use the term American exceptionalism? I don't know.This is more of a judgment of history not of man. A nation's actions can be a strong argument to prove this idea, but it is not the government's actions, but the people's actions. I would suggest our recent history does not lend itself to the notion, but our people seem to be laying dormant to what is our potential. Recent examples are: anger against our own government for spying, our anger towards an unresponsive Congress, (yet we don't do anything about it) and our ability to elect a Black man President based on his efforts while our issues over race are still unresolved. This shows that our people are still aware that we are able to accomplish much. Yet we have no right to label ourselves American exceptionalism, again this is for history to judge what we do as a people. And interesting enough about this argument and all the critics around the world please make note, we are,maybe somewhat disproportional to certain backgrounds, but still a collection of the people of the whole world. Maybe in some way that is an integral part of our whole being exceptional.

Now President Putin I do have a concern over your comments about American exceptionalism. You attack the concept and maybe for the world someone does need to make us live up to that notion on a more consistent basis. There are times when we excel and hopefully the world can see we work towards doing what is right, even with our faults. If you want to criticize us, also offer something better. What has Russia done that separates itself on the world stage that you can criticize us? You hide behind your inability to raise Russia to a super power status by trying to bring us down. How are you raising up the Russian people? If you want the world to view Russia has a new power show us through your leadership what it means to be exceptional. I know some of the American foreign policy experts will "vomit"* when they hear this, but maybe we should let you put boots on the ground in Syria as a peace keeping force. The civil war in Syria is becoming very convoluted. Are there now three sides as some argue? Can you put your troops in Syria, but treat all sides equal while they dismantle the government's chemical weapons and let the world watch you openly? Are you ready to be a legitimate player in a dicey situation? Can we observe you like the rest of the world observes us? What say you President Putin?

I hope it is more than words.

Is there a case for American Exceptionalism? The jury will always be out on that one, because it is an ongoing judgment. Leadership from the people, humble with your words, strong justice with your actions are just some of the ways that can be judged, but not all. Others' perception of what you are doing and have done will be the biggest judge. We, as Americans, will always have a strong opinion of ourselves. It seems to be in our nature. Going back to the Lipset article, there is an ideological argument to be made on what is American exceptionalism, but as mentioned the jury will always be out.


* On a side note and I forget his name, but the Congressional representative that said he about vomited when he read President Putin's comments is not a good reflection on how our leadership should address this situation. As an amateur writer, maybe I can use simple concepts to describe my distaste in this situation, but a leader in a country such as ours should choose his words carefully on the world stage. At the very least he could have said he was nauseated by President Putin's remarks.


Let us all prayer for a world where respect for each other becomes the ordinary not the exception. This will make us all exceptional. Have a great weekend.

Can't resist

Putin talking to Obama about foreign policy. This is equivalent to one prick talking to someone clueless about the subject. (in this case foreign policy) I don't see the uproar, this goes on in bars across America on any given night.

Please forgive me for this bad joke, but I couldn't resist. God didn't want me to post this, not my style.

Otherwise still not convinced about the Cowboy offensive line yet.


And no 9/11 post, still makes me very angry. What was ever accomplished, but unnecessary death. Syria is another disaster unless we let the Muslims figure it out.Not our war. We can be a world leader without being involved in everything. Sometimes patience is a virture. This is not Rwanda or similar.

disclaimer to previous post

Not that I support either side of the Sunni Shi'ite conflict, I am just saying the previous post is one possible scenario. We need to stay out of Syria. This is more than a civil war and our interests should be more focused on developing strategies for which side that wins because we don't win with either side.

Just another reason to create a diversified and independent energy strategy and become an exporter of energy products. It will help jobs and trade imbalance etc.. Again put our interests first.

Actually don't know what type of expectations to have for Cowboys this year, but tonight it all starts. No matter what J. Jones says we should have gotten more offensive line help. It is still a large question mark. We will see.

Have a great day.

Lets talk about ducks and who is lining ducks up in Syria

Lets start by being the master of the obvious:

The situation in Syria sucks. Down right horrible.

No one knows how to stop or corral the situation.

The war is a major proxy battle for all sorts of players now.

Obama is clueless as to what to do.

Putin is not the biggest obstacle to solving Syria.

Now what are the questions.

And there are many, but the one that really matters right now and it has been a couple of weeks, is why did Syria introduce chemical weapons into the war. And I am not 100% sure the government did it, maybe 90%,but not 100%.

So here are my thoughts on what is going on and who is pushing the buttons right now and why. And with recent events my thoughts are still far fetched, but my major antagonist is not going to be that surprising.

Who has the most to gain if Syria drags the United States into the fray, no matter how limited, how short lived etc. And the answer is Iran. My why is serious big picture for them and if they are thinking this far ahead then I am really scared so I hope I am wrong. Iran also has the influence to pull this off in Syria right now which is one reason I am leaning towards the government having done it.

Iran wants the US to get involved. It gains on the political front within the Islam community. It helps it gain credibility with all the terrorists, and gains and emboldens more enemies for the United States in the Middle East and now beyond. (see recent news reports with Iran asking terrorists to attack Iraq embassy) The US doesn't have a real friend in Syria to support so any action by us has no gain for the US. Iran basically convinces Al Assad to use chemical weapons because he needs their support in his civil war which forces Obama's hand and virtually no consequences for Iran while moving forward any plans they have to dominate the Islam world. They can sit back calling out the US as an enemy of the whole Islam world, getting surrogate groups to attack us in the Middle East and maybe beyond. This gains them more appeal to different groups for them including some of the more extreme Sunni groups even though ideologically they are not getting along. Gives them a huge one up on the Saudis and their proxy groups in Syria.

The above paragraph is pretty logical and doesn't take much imagination to see them trying to do this which leaves us with the next step. Iran wants to rule from China to the Mediterranean. There use to be something called the Persian Empire even before Islam took over this part of the world. Different emperors, different times, but still a history that makes me think that Islam is just part of the picture.The Saudis and there related oil rich countries are in the way. Dragging the Saudi's into a war would be counter productive. Dragging the US into Syria, dividing the Islam world even more then gaining traction with many divergent groups by attacking US and Israel in a Public relations game, allows them to have us waste energy and resources, diminishing any allies we might never gain in the Middle East and then allowing Iran to pick up the pieces as the big hero who stood up to the Crusaders. Iran doesn't use its military until they have an upper hand.

Who else gains? Russia, they take the northern half of Asia and rebuild their empire. So has an uneasy alliance developed between Russia and Iran through Syria, both using this civil war to weaken the United States both militarily, help for Israel, and our supposed credibility on the world stage. Israel becomes more in grave danger now with a large front of Islamist countries now more aligned against them. Any allies,(we never really had), the US may rely on like the Saudis now have their hands tied or they look like they are helping the US support Israel just because Iran played the anti America card better. Saudi Arabia doesn't want Iran to become any more powerful than they are, but they would be stuck with the only recourse being actual confrontation with Iran. So Iran gambles that the Saudis don't want this, and if correct they have created either a direct empire, a proxy empire, or a series of satellite states beholden to them. They now have the beginning of an empire they truly want. And the Russians go along hoping to rebuild their might because the United States is now truly war weary, wanting to back out of the situation except for Israel and have no stomach for a direct confrontation with Iran.'

So Iran looks much different in five years, Russia is worrying Europe and is much stronger in Asia, China doesn't want to support us, even with Iran and Russia growing towards their border. So my theory is that Iran if they have half my imagination is about to pull off one of the biggest usurp of power plays in the history of the world.  Lets hope I am wrong.

Or there is a new world order ( don't you love being paranoid) and all this is their way of camouflaging larger power grab and control of all things on planet earth.

Either way the whole thing sucks.

And will the United States ever get it if this isn't a New World order scenario.


Have a great night everyone, sleep well.................................. yeah right.  lol

Is there an opposite of an epiphany.... and then a bit of a facebook type post

Sometimes you can talk about things, read information, and just observe what is going on for years and not see what is happening. I have even have blog topics that seems to cover the details of what has been going on. Topics about education declining, people's loss of respect for each other, lack of civility in Congress for example. All this adds up to something that I haven't put together consciously. And others have talked about in the press, current literature, and I just haven't accepted or maybe mentally digested it.

It's like something that you are watching, but don't see until someone smacks you in the back of the head.

It probably started years ago, but came to a head the other night watching youtube. Yeah that strange thing called youtube. I rarely watch it except for an all night walk through 60's rock history with my youngest. Rarely, but I do check it out. I will pull up an old song stuck in my head and play it. This was somewhat the case the other night.

I was looking for something and ran across BBC report on YES from early 1971. Pretty interesting to see YES that early on. It had concert footage and interviews. Near the end Jon Anderson said how he was looking forward to what guitar work and music would be like in fourteen or fifteen years. And that is when it hit me. What happened?  Really who were the big artists in the 80's?  Heavy Metal bands, U2, Journey, an evolved version of Genesis, Country came into is own, Rap, but did music and guitar work evolve from what YES and a few others were doing?

I mentioned this before in another blog about something the good Dr Thompson wrote, but I can't remember now if it came from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or F. and L. on the campaign trail, but he commented if you look west (from his view point at the time) and look hard you can see the high water mark for the 1960's. A point where everything came to a head and then receded. The timeframe for both books was the early seventies or about the same time as the YES program.

And as we all know the sixties to seventies people (at least in western culture) were experimenting with all sorts of things, some not so good, but others were trying new religions, new ideas, communes, just about anything and everything in an attempt to enlighten themselves. You might say they were trying to broaden culture or our culture.

I don't know what was going on in the Middle East at this time except Israel was growing, and OPEC became a major player on the world stage. Yes and I know OPEC is not all the Middle Eastern members. China and Russia were dominated by socialism so there culture was hampered by government control. Japan even though in Asia, has tended to mimic western culture among their youth.

Overall by the early 70's I fear we as the human race reached a zenith in cultural growth and have been receding ever since. I know the above is not the greatest examples to prove my point, but everywhere you look things have not moved forward. And this goes along with more important factors, education in the United States has been declining since the 1960's, and one real interesting point, the middle class started losing true buying power since the early 70's. Wealth disparity started separating at this time. There is much in the United States that has not happened since then. You would think our education system would be by far the greatest in the world, but instead we became greedy, self centered, and put culture and true growth aside for short term gains in our lives.

Now does this apply individually to everyone, or maybe even the majority, actually no, but for some reason we just hit something in the early 70's and quit trying to move forward. The concept of self became so important that we put aside growing intellectually as a society and country. Now we have a whole host of problems that could have been prevented if we had taken the next step coming out of the sixties and done something with what we learned from both our mistakes and our exploration of the world around us while not losing our traditions of our country and values. Everything including the values seem to have been put aside. And I am curious if anyway can tell me why. I mentioned the me aspect of life earlier, but I think that is a symptom of what we put aside not the root cause.

So my dilemma or my back handed epiphany is our we headed backwards culturally?  I think most everyone probably knows this at one level or another including myself, but the other night it hit me like a ton of bricks, something so obvious, but something so distant from my thinking. And it is more than music, or history, or high brow culture, it seems to be a mind set. Everywhere you look you see problems, but there are answers to them that we ignore or fail to do what we can. And to me that is also part of a strong culture.

Culture and society grow when you tackle problems and move forward. It grows when you include the whole of society, maybe not everyone gets rich or a college education, but the general trend of all moves forward. And that hasn't been happening in the United States or anywhere else on this planet for decades. Maybe in some areas of the world, some pockets exist or a country or two, but the whole world seems to be declining and as time goes on the decline is picking up in speed.

I recently did a post on respect or lack there of being a problem, that is another example of the human race in decline. And I think the loss of respect is one of the true signals how bad things have gotten.

Can we overcome this decline? Of course, but it will take recognition and effort. The human race has had its ups and downs, but with all the technology, the ability more so than ever for all of mankind to communicate with each other, you would think we would be going forward now. For some strange reason we aren't.

In my original headline about what this blog was going to be about, I put I would try to have positive solutions to any problems I discuss and I would still like to do that. I just don't have an answer right now. How does one convince people to look at themselves and ask what can I do? Yes a famous President once said something similar, but it is true, what can we do for the whole of society not just for ourselves.

Since I am writing about the decline of culture it would be nice if I could write eloquently to make my point. Find some extraordinary vocabulary to turn simple thoughts into some grandiose vision that would make an impression upon people. Unfortunately that is not the case today. My hope is that an answer can be found from wherever or whomever so we can put ourselves back on track for the 21st century and beyond.

So like I said it is obvious when you stop and think about it, an opposite of an epiphany where a vision comes to you with the answer, but this decline we don't see it even when the writing is on the wall.



And on a side note... I am (cough cough) years old and had never been on a jet ski, but that changed the other day, got to ride one along with taking one of my grandchildren on it with me. Bit nervous being the first time and having a small child holding onto me, but thoroughly enjoyed it. (and yes we can grow culturally while having a good time) . Nothing like enjoying the outdoors even with toys.


For you sports fans, here we go, the long march to October begins its zenith now that September is here for baseball fans, College and high school football have begun, and the NFL starts next week. (oh yeah could this be a hindrance to cultural growth, I hope not, I still love my teams, but especially since the NFL gets more airtime than what our Congress is doing. Maybe we should spend as much time vetting politicians as we do the NFL draft)  anyway September brings much excitement in the sports world. Honestly I like my sports, but we do need to keep it in perspective to the bigger problems facing our world,,

so next up my thoughts on Syria, Obama, the middle east etc.. speaking of major declines, there are answers, no one has the fortitude to say them

Hope you had a great Labor Day here in the United States