Memorial Day - 2011

Today is Memorial Day 2011. A day to remember and honor all who have served and are today serving our great country. It is with great pride I honor the men and women who gave their lives defending our country. I want to take a moment to remember what today is truly all about. The day is meant to honor all who gave their lives in military service in all of America’s wars protecting our freedoms, and we must also remember to honor those who are willing to give the ultimate sacrifice every day. The men and women in our armed forces are unmatched. Each of them has given of themselves and volunteered to fight the nation's wars. Their sacrifice and courage should remind us of our commitment to support them not just today, but every day. The freedoms we enjoy are paid for by those we honor, both the fallen and those still fighting. Our nation is truly thankful. Freedom is not free.

My oldest brother served during WW II in the Navy in the South Pacific. My next brother (deceased) served during WW II in the U.S. Army Air Corps, which later became the Air Force. My younger brother served in the Navy during the Korean War and was injured during wartime operations off the shores of North Korea. My sincerest thanks to them for their service. I served in the Army Paratroopers at the very end of WW II. I did so little I'm almost reluctant to mention it. The war ended just weeks after I completed my basic training. Shortly thereafter I served on Occupation Duty in Japan with the 11th Airborne Division. Later, when in college I was called to active duty during the Korean War but was deferred for ROTC training . By the time I received my Lieutenant commission the Korean War was winding down and I was assigned to a Reserve Unit.

Again, my heartfelt thanks to my brothers and all of those who served and are now serving our nation.

NY 26th Congressional Race

The outcome in the recent New York 26th Congressional race should serve as the perfect example of how the Republicans more often than not shoot themselves in the foot. Hochul, the Democrat, garnered 48,530 (47%) of the votes. Corvin, the Republican got 43,836 (43%) of the votes. Good ole Jack Davis had to get into the mix claiming to be a TEA Party member and got 9,495 (9%) of the votes.

What's the lesson here? The liberals regardless of their ideology differences choose a candidate and stick together and vote in lock-step for the Democrat. Whereas, Republicans can not overcome their ideology differences and run amuck trying to find a single candidate to run against the Democrats. So what happens is there often is a third candidate which in effect is two Republicans running against one Democrat. The Democrats love it. The end result is the two Republicans split the vote and the Democrat wins. If only half the ones voting for Good Ole Jack would have voted for Corvin, the Republican, then she would have defeated the Democrat and a Republican would go to Washington.

So, beware with the upcoming Republican primaries and the general election in November 2012. The Republicans MUST field the single BEST candidate to defeat the Big "0" and MUST stymy any attempts at running a third party candidate. Remember Ross Perot? A vote for him is what put Bill Clinton in the White House.

Netanyahu - Obama

I watched the Oval Office press conference, Netanyahu's speech before Congress, and Obama's speech before the British Parliament on TV. What a contrasting dichotomy! One an orator and the other a reader. Netanyahu spoke from notes. He paced his delivery. He used effective pauses. He used body language to emphasize points. He used one of the cardinal rules of effective speech, i.e. be concise. He spoke directly to the issues. He received numerous ovations from Congress. He was well received.

Whereas, Obama speaking before the British Parliament received only one, I repeat only one applause during his entire lengthy speech. He stood with body fixed like a wax figurine as his head bobbed back and forth from side to side as he read from his teleprompter a well crafted speech written by a speechwriter. He looked like one of the Pep Boys in the TV commercials, only his head bobbed back and forth instead of up and down. He never spoke to a real fundamental issue. He had the audacity to lecture the British like a college professor on the history of the United Kingdom. He was politely received.

And, the Oval Office confrontation? It can only be characterized as a confrontation. The glaring look of contempt on the closeups of Obama's face were telling. It was obvious he had been check-mated on his own attempt to grab the high ground, and he did not like it one bit. Yes, Netanyahu took Obama to task, but he did it diplomatically. Its obvious for the world to see, the two do not like each other. They just show it in different ways.

School Board Election

Today about 4:30 p.m. I went to my local precinct election polling place to vote for one of two people running for an at large place on the local school board. What is unusual about this is that near the end of the day I was only the 9th person in a precinct of over 700 registered voters to vote. This is incredible. And, people wonder why our schools are no more efficient and effective than they are. I didn't know much about either of them. One man appeared at the last Republican Club meeting and spoke briefly. Not very well I might add. He had no clear reason for wanting to be a member of the school board, just that he had always wanted to. Huh? I didn't know anything about the other man, but I voted for him. It's a shame there is no more interest than there is in the affairs of our public schools and the people that govern them. Education of our young people is our nation's future. Let's not squander it.

Fed Up, by Texas Gov. Rick Perry - Part 2

I recently finished reading the book, Fed Up, by Texas Governor Rick Perry. If you're "fed up" with the liberals and the Washington political scene you too would enjoy reading this book. Not that it is profound or awe inspiring, but just that it reflects the common sense attitudes most of us have toward the power brokers in Washington. Following are a some of my choice quotes from the book:

Obamacare mandates that the American people must go out and buy government-approved health insurance in the private market. I defy anyone to show me the clause in the Constitution that gives Washington the authority to do this.

The federal government spends money it doesn't have on programs the states, individuals, or private companies could likely do cheaper and better.

No one wants any American to go without health care he or she needs. But that's not what this debate is about. It's about control.

While it's an abomination that the federal government takes so much of our money in the first place, it's unconscionable that it gives back to us only on the condition that we spend it in the manner the federal government wishes.

Like all bureaucracies from the dawn of society, the environment the EPA is most concerned about protecting is its own turf.

When science get hijacked by the political Left, we should be concerned.

NOTE: In the future I will post more of my favorite quotes from Governor Perry's book.

Obama's Immigration Plan - El Paso

Obama is in full campaign mode.

I watched him on TV today lay out his immigration plan in El Paso. This man does not talk like an American. He does not talk like a person steeped in the values and traditions of America. He talks more like he himself is an illegal immigrant. He had a Democrat controlled Congress for the first two years of his administration and did nothing about the illegal immigration problem. He is now promising to attack the immigration problem. Why? Because he is courting the Hispanic vote for the upcoming 2012 election. He could care less about the illegal immigrant workers just so he wins their votes, legal or illegal. What was most noteworthy about his lengthy speech was the tepid response he received from the audience. The cameras didn't show the crowd on TV, but when Obama got applause it sounded like about a dozen people applauding, and then not very enthusiastically.

Herman Cain's FoxNews post-analysis plan for securing the border was a more common sense plan.

Rain, Rain, where art thou?

We need rain badly.

It did not rain a single drop all during April. And, we have had no rain so far as of May 9th with only a slight prospect later this week. The last rain we had was 0.4 inch on March 5th. Its so dry the trees, and I mean large oak trees, are shedding this year's growth of leaves. The pastures are all brown. They look like it is August instead of May. The cows are finding very little to eat. They are eating yaupon leaves which normally they would not touch. I saw the big steer with the 7 foot 4 inch horn spread use a horn to reach up as high as he could to hook a tree limb and pull it down to where he could eat the leaves. We have a burn ban and have had one since February. I rake and haul leaves to a huge burn pile in the east pasture, but can't burn them. The cows see me coming with a trailer load of leaves and come running. They nose around in the leaves to find acorns to eat. I have to water all the plants around the house every day its so dry. We've lost a number of large trees due to drought and I run water sprinklers around some of the large ones hoping not to loose them, too. First we had the toughest coldest winter killing a lot of our vegetation and now we have drought. Must be global warming, Al.