Happy New Year, America

The arrival of a new year is both hopeful and daunting. There are surprises of all sorts just around the corner.

My outlook on things over the past few years has not been good. Largely, I confess, it still isn't. There are challenges ahead of us. Great ones.

Yet, surely I do not need to be reminded again -- at 43 years of age -- the best way to overcome obstacles is to deal with them actively as best you can. If they are great, they cannot be overcome over night. If they are widespread, it may be necessary for many to work in unison with others to combat them. But no matter the size, small or large, ignoring them doesn't work, and, typically, neither does yelling at them. Though that approach keeps my blood pressure lower.

It's no secret to others who know me what a disaster I think the last few years have been under a disingenuous Administration more determined to undermine and weaken America than accent her strengths, celebrate her possibilities, inspire her to ever more. No, that is not the group we're now dealing with. And, yeah, I've been inclined to scream just that from the hill tops to anyone who might be willing to listen.

Perhaps some good came from it, still can . . . I hope, as I'm not apt to stop.

But something more is needed. Americans who care about America must now act, individually celebrate and become what and who it is they most believe can help to right the ship.

In this new year, in 2011, a year I'm not sure I personally have a lot of hope for, I will be starting my first ever small business. I'm excited about it, whatever is out there. I feel good about it because whatever surprises lie ahead, I'm going to be personally celebrating the free market, the individually opportunities I like to preach about. Taking part and doing, after all, is the best testimony to what you believe. It is, well, so very, very American.

I plan to not only practice what I preach, but work my ass off to turn my ideas into something. Something I can be proud of. Something which might inspire others. Something which will be a testament to and of the America I love.



The Power of the American Individual comes from a multitude of freedoms, manifests from an unique individual experience and point of view. Individual grains of sand constituting a beautiful beach.

It is my time to try to build a sand castle.

Happy New Year in 2011, America.

Old People With A Bullseye On Their Chest

This morning when I woke up it was cold. I hate cold. (HATE cold.)

So, I lingered in bed as long as I could do so with the cooperation of the three dogs burrowed in around me. I flipped on the radio for mental stimulation, hoping something in me would want to move, generate some energy.

What I heard on the radio was a former Brit talking about how government run healthcare in the United Kingdom killed his father and pronounced his mother dead seven years early. As he well put it, when you take profit out of health care it becomes all about cost, the older you are the more you are simply taking funds away from younger individuals who will be sending money in to government for many more years to come. When you budget for anything, certain items, efforts, LIVES, obviously take precedence over others.

Sad that so many Americans -- land of the free, home of the brave -- still are taken in by the b.s. that is government doing ANYTHING well for us, much less handing over decisions for their own health care.

Sarah Palin and Tea Party members over the last year have derided Obamacare for the "death panels" it will obviously lead to. Its Leftists supporters said that would not happen, but it's come up yet again, of course, because just as Simon Conway (the Brit) said this morning, once profit is removed from health care, it's all about cost. Some people will "cost" more than others. The older you are the more you have a target on your chest.



"Death panels" can't exist in this country. No way. That's what they say. Yet, they have already been with us.

Many now may know -- but more NEED to know -- the story of Barbara Wagner in Oregon. She was 64 years old when she found lung cancer, previously in remission, had returned. She filed with the Oregon Health Plan -- they've been doing it the socialist way in Oregon for some time -- for a potentially life-saving drug which would cost $4,000 per month. She was denied the drug, but, with the big hearts of bureaucrats, they did offer to help her DIE.



With a new more Conservative congress, there will be efforts to halt funding of Obamacare, if not repeal all together.

Americans who value freedom, who value their health, who value and appreciate our older Americans, who want this country to return to sanity, should maintain pressure on their elected representatives to ensure this happens.

This is important. If this legislation is not repealed, halted before full implementation, our country as we have always known it is done, a memory getting more distant in our rear view mirror.

The idea of life, our country under Obamacare makes cold and dreary weather seem attractive by comparison.

What IS The Purpose Of Government?

So, what do YOU think it is?

To me, it's to cover what the individual CANNOT. It does not include what the individual can do, but does not want to.

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and most every other big government program is designed to simply leave a weaker individual desirous of more from big brother.

And with each new program, each new spending spree, the individual is weaker both for his own decrease in self-reliance AND for the increased tax burden he faces to pay for them.



This problem, of course, isn't owned exclusively by the federal government, but also by states, by counties, by cities.

New York City over the last year under the leadership of perpetual elitist nanny Michael Bloomberg has encroached on the choices and rights of its citizens by mandating what they can and cannot eat, making it illegal for fast food restaurants to locate within a certain distance of schools, and raising cigarette taxes yet again.

Yet, in the last few days, as a blizzard has halted much activity in the northeast, New York residents have found the city unable to fulfill an actual responsibility: CLEARING CITY STREETS OF SNOW! Now, of course, they're upset. You can take salt from a Liberal's food, apparently, but they do get upset when you fail to put it on their roads.

Now, because of government's failure to clear and salt streets, two are dead. Liberalism, as many have known, KILLS, both the spirit, the soul and the body.


And when government does 'work', watch out.

Too bad these idiot New York Liberals always fail to connect the dots which got them here, will lead to more and more problems down the road. And, eventually, bankruptcy.

The government you empower to run your life is the government you empower to ruin it.

And LOTS Of Surprises

When I was a kid there was a local television show every Christmas which featured area children sitting on Santa's lap and telling him all they hoped to find under the tree Christmas morning. Kids, no matter the year, the decade, internet, television or radio, they've got at least a few ideas. So, it usually started quickly with items highest on their list, those they could remember easily, then ultimately wound down to the proverbial . . . "and lots of surprises". That's the catch all, the "I want it, even if I don't remember it".

"And lots of surprises". Genius.



As we get older, maybe not a lot changes. We want the good stuff. The surprises, well, we say we want them, but we often find they are not quite as appealing.

Over the last few years, and maybe a bit longer, many Americans have found the surprises have outpaced, outnumbered the good stuff, often been a real challenge to deal with.

I like to pontificate, hop upon my soap box and let it all out. It's both a vent my doctor might appreciate because my blood pressure is not even higher, and a way for me to try to make sense of it all, ensure I'm not out there all alone, screaming at a wall, the only one who thinks as I do. It's been nice to know it's not just the wall, there are others like me.

Yet I've realized, through it all, that unlike those children, I've lost that ability and longing for the surprises. They're not always fun, yet they do keep it interesting. And sometimes, yes, sometimes, they prove we deserved all the nice things we asked for and got.

I still think of America as that shining city on a hill, my friends. But it doesn't stay shiny without the inhabitants cleaning the windows, sweeping the streets, taking pride in and appreciating all it has to offer. Sometimes we are tested, and must prove our worth to inhabit such a fine city.

While I wouldn't take back one word I have personally said over the past few years, in 2011, no matter my view for the outlook of the country on a macro perspective, I will work that much harder to make certain my micro view IS demonstrative of what I believe and want -- what I have often been found preaching about -- both for myself and for the nation at large.

The holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas are well placed before the beginning of a new year. While I take stock of my blessings and all that I need to work on personally, I am also looking to 2011 to do some window cleaning, some street sweeping, maybe even erect a few new buildings dedicated to what I love about this country most, to prove myself a worthy inhabitant.

Shining cities, after all, require upkeep.

Merry Christmas, and best wishes for a surprisingly good 2011, friends and American patriots.

Sad Times. Sadder President.

Just me?

Can you believe this guy so many Americans so enthusiastically voted for two years ago?

It would be funny to watch if what he's done, what he wants to do wasn't so destructive for the country, for our place in the world.

He's like a big baby up there WHINING. A true narcissist, he can't deal with any criticism, can't accept blame for his faults and inadequacies, which are many.

Waih. Waih.



Came across this video on youtube. It's a crying baby someone has tried to make sound better, like something other than what it is. And, well, isn't that what the media has been doing for this chump his entire public life?



Yes. Leftists need to tend to their baby. Much (most?) of America is growing tired of him and his constant crying.

A Bad Case Of Chicken Fox

Fox News is blasted by Leftists for a Conservative bias.

Yeah, right. Anything would look a bit more Conservative when all the other news stations out there are anti-American propagandists fully on board the Obama agenda to undermine and destroy America.

Fox, to my view, falls short of accusations of the Left, and the praise of many on the Right.

There are surely some Conservative opinions spotlighted on Fox, just as there are ones from the Left. You've got Sean Hannity, who seems to have a group of about four or five shows replayed over and over with a few topics of the day added in along with his same lame, uh, insights. Bill O'Reilly is no Conservative. Not sure he is a Liberal, either, more like a fan club of one for himself.



If there's one show on Fox truly doing what all of Fox is accused of, it is Glenn Beck's. Beck day in and day out confronts the radicalism of this Administration, the people in it and who are associated with it, those working behind the scenes. Beck and his obviously immense staff of researchers do what MORE of Fox should be doing.

Fox is portrayed as being a terrific source for news coverage, of exposing and investigating the serious topics of the day, but it's just not the case.

I believe we have a significant case of chicken Fox, bowing to the pressure of the Left, of their accusations, of the intense attacks by those radicals in the media who support Obama and his agenda.

On the show just after Beck each day, is probably the best news show on television, "Special Report" with Bret Baier. Alas, "best" may not be saying a lot. Topics deserving real scrutiny are often mentioned on the show in the 'Grapevine' and other segments never to be seen, heard from or covered again. Just a blip on the radar. Let's go back to more typical inside-the-beltway talking points, view points and pablum, ignoring the state of America and what is being done to her.



Glenn Beck often reminds viewers that he could not say what he says, expose what he does if it were not all true. Making the accusations that he does, he says, would get him immediately fired if there was not much evidence to back it all up.

Yet, in the next show after Beck's, it's largely business as usual in the nation's formerly great capital.

Last year James O'Keefe and Heather Giles became famous for exposing the corrupt group ACORN, which Barack Obama has worked with in the past. Earlier this year, O'Keefe took on the waste and sloppy ethics of United States census management.

At present, much attention is being placed on Julian Assange, an Australian who created the Wikileaks website. While Assange is surely an unscrupulous character who should be prosecuted for murder for any deaths of U.S. military who may result from his actions, with the government we have now, it's hard not to support a mission of finally exposing who is running this government, what they are doing to this country and why.

It does seem most everyone else is chicken.