To My Grandchildern

To My Grandchildren, I’m So Sorry

My beautiful grandchildren, the light of my life, as you look around this crude, violent and crass world, believe me; we never thought it would come to this.

The innocent childhood we owed you has been stolen by mass media and popular culture obsessed with making a buck using the lowest level of talent and the maximum of poor taste. Those charged with safeguarding you have sold out to the ratings God. You are exposed to films, Television and magazines produced by the midgets that should be scribbling on bathroom walls.

We never thought it would come to this.

The safe environment we owed you is replaced with a world where you must be watched and supervised at every minute. While struggling to swallow a gnat, the judicial system frees dangerous predators to strike again.

We never thought it would come to this.

The freedom we owed you to speak, worship and gather as you please is now a dangerous ground. One slip, one mistake and you are pilloried and shunned by a society afraid to speak out.

We never thought it would come to this.

We have compromised the safety we owe you. There are those who are afraid to risk challenging those who hate us and wish us death. The compromisers vainly seek to talk our way out of danger. In an age of atomic weapons it is folly.

We never thought it would come to this.

Regarding Ms Jane smith

Regarding Ms Jane Smith

Disclosure Note: I am not voting for the incumbent in the Senate District 37 race.

In any discussion with your friends and neighbors regarding the state of our State and Country, invariably the subject of career politicians comes up. The existence of a permanent ruling class is seen as the greatest threat to our country and our children's future. But how to rid ourselves of these determined hangers on?

In Louisiana the people voted for term limits. That is, a cap on the number of years a person could serve, making way for new blood and new thinking. As is usually the case many of the characters in our political universe attempt to circumvent the will of the people by retiring from one branch of the legislature to seek election to the other chamber. Not to worry, that august body, known in bars and hunting clubs the state over as the Louisiana State Supreme Court, has ruled that changing chambers is perfectly legal. Never mind the will of the people, these boys and girls know what is good for us.

This brings us to today and Ms Jane Smith. When Billy Montgomery was term limited in House, he decided to run for the State Senate. I am a determined supporter of term limits. I happened to call in to a local, politically oriented, radio show when Ms Smith was being interviewed. I asked her why long serving politicians hung on, refusing to yield. " I don't know" replied Ms Smith, " maybe its the lifestyle, it is very hard to give up for some people."

Now, the time has come for Ms Smith to yield the lifestyle. Proving that it is hard to give up, Ms Smith is running for the Senate. If she was not in office when tem limits was passed, she was well aware of the will of the people when she ran for office. Ms Smith has been raising money to run for the Senate for months. This is not some last minute change of heart brought about by a popular cry from her constituents.

Has she done a good job? Yes. Didn't the voters send her to Baton Rouge to do a good job? Yes. Is arrogant to think that you are irreplaceable? Yes.

Just as Billy Montgomery was unable to translate his long service into a Senate seat, hopefully those that truly believe in term limits will continue to vote their beliefs.

one Nation

One Nation

Now that 911 is past it is time to take the flag down. Put it back in the closet. We now return to current America. Patriotism is to be ridiculed. America is an embarrassment. Diversity is the watchword now.

In the far past, in the black and white world of World War Two movies, the Americans were portrayed as a united country of diverse peoples welded together in a quest to defeat the forces of Fascism the World over. The Southern rube, the slick New Yorker, the devout Jew and the Polish emigrant fought as one. Proud to be Americans.

Today, our fighting is done by a few with no sacrifice from the majority.

Today, the quest of many Americans is to drop out of mainstream American life. The Federal Government has a program for you if you can prove you are not one of us. In an effort to atone for past wrongs, a system of rewards is now in place for anyone deemed needing a thumb on the scale to achieve success. Minorities have set asides for many programs from Government purchases to Magnet Schools. Prove that your Grandfather was a Cherokee, you get a ten percent advantage in Government contracts, the list goes on. The category of "minority" is long and ever growing. Gender, Sexual preference, Religion and others now have a special niche along with race. Not content to punish crimes as such, harming any of these groups is regarded as much more serious and punished accordingly. Assault the wrong person and you get added jail time.

America is no longer the home of the challenge to be all you can be. The place to strive, be on your own, a independent, free to speak your mind Citizen.

No, Daddy needs to help you. You can't make it by your own effort, you need a Government program because America is fundamentally unfair and evil. If you doubt this just watch the nightly news.

Time

TIME

When I was a young boy I read a short book about an Alaskan native boy who carved a canoe with passenger. The canoe had a brass plate attached to the bottom. The plate was engraved “put me back in the water, I am going to the sea.” The boy then released the little boat in a nearby stream. The book detailed the trials and travails of the little boat as it made it’s way over the following years. The animals and people the little boat encountered and the adventures involved its finally reaching the Gulf of Mexico.

I enjoyed the little book as a boy reading exotic adventures. Many years later the real meaning of the little book came to me. As I carried my infant son from the hospital room I was already dreading his fate at the cruel hands of the world. I cringed to think of the taunting of childhood, the anxieties of teenage and the fast buck artists awaiting a young man starting out in life. I wanted the characters who would make up my son’s world to put him back on his path without damage, help him along his path as he made his way though life.

Alas, I know that life is a mixed bag of joys and heartbreaks which steel the character and callous the feelings. The process is painful but a necessary part of the human condition. We cannot shield our children from life’s hard knocks.

Though this runs the essence of the human experience, Time. Now when I see my grandchildren I see them as little boats sailing into the far future, a future that I will only partially share. Not knowing the world, they sail happily from one happy Time to the next.

They Can't Hear Us

They Can't Hear Us

Watching the uprising of people power sweeping the Middle East one is struck by the apparent disconnect between the rulers and the ruled. Decades for mismanagement, corruption and repression have finally boiled over as one by one the despots are stepping down.

The apparent tin ears of the powerful are astounding. How can they mistake the public discontent?

We should not shake our heads in wonder, our country is ripe for the same revolution.

No one would deny that our current political system is broken. Positions of power are passed from father to son or daughter, as in

any third world tribe. Oh, yes it is all done by the ballot, but there is a thumb on the ballot scale. Political Action Committees, powerful monied interests, special interest groups give large sums of money to keep their candidate in office, buying their fealty. Our public servants have grown satisfied with a life in office, never to return to their home state, moving on to the lucrative world of lobbying or service on corporate boards. They move along the halls of power greeting their old friends still in government service. Sometimes they snag a good position in an new administration , moving back behind the desk instead of in front of it selling some juicy contract. Staying in power for decades on end, away from the hazards of everyday life of the average citizen, our legislators become part of another society, one which protects its members, not the people who sent them to serve.

Our two political franchises, Democrat and Republican, are as distant from the citizenry as any Middle Eastern potentate.

Our Senators and Representatives posture and orate hours on end to avoid attacking the real problems of our country. They buy us off with our own money, or money borrowed from nations who are not our friends.

We have mortgaged grand children's futures because they do not have the courage to dare us to sacrifice. Fear of losing office is the overriding driver of Washington.

President Obama's stunning victory on the left, the rise of the Tea Party on the right should be warning enough, but the Brahmins of Washington have tin ears, they are dancing on the deck of the Titanic.

school daze

School Daze

America is at a crossroads. The world is changing faster than a teenage girl can text. In changing times nothing is harder to give up than position and power. Entrenched position and power always loses in the end,however. Nothing can withstand the changing tides of history.

It is generally accepted that in today's world education is the key to competitiveness and advancement, yet is also generally accepted that the American Educational System is failing.

America is still teaching in the Eighteenth Century. A teacher stands in front of a classroom, reads a book that the students have already read, then tells them what he or she just read. Six weeks later they are tested on the material. Never mind that the latest data on the subject is available at the click of a mouse on the Internet.

In primary Education, the schools are taxed with too many tasks not directly related to education. Social solutions, sex education, fairness, equality are all taken to be a part of education in today's schools. Many times the pursuit of these ends actually hinders the acquisition of a good education. Fear the one group may be slighted by recognizing the excellence of another group discourages the striving for and reward for outstanding performance. "Team Work" solutions are favored, individual initiative discouraged.

If it was decided to design a perfect educational system for today's world, not much would remain of the current system. However, if you have ever attempted to change anything in your local school, you know that it is nearly impossible. From the Teachers Unions to the Janitorial Staff there is a "dig in the heels" mentality to keep doing things as usual. With a fifty per cent drop out rate and grads that cannot add, subtract or read the mill grinds on. Just as in the old Soviet Union, we keep producing shoddy goods that are out of date and no one wants.

Will there be a revolutionary movement for change?? Fraid not, like our Federal income tax system, there are too may barnacles encrusting the ship to ever allow real change. The speedy Clipper ships that are China and India may soon pass us by.

The Waiver

The Waiver

As a young, fresh from college, wet behind the ears, United States Air Force Second Lieutenant of Supply, I heard Golden Rule Number II tumble from the lips of a grizzled old Lieutenant Colonel. We were discussing a seemingly impossible situation, outlined at length in the Manual of Supply, but totally unworkable in our real world.

After exhausting all possible avenues, the Colonel leaned back in his chair and said, " You could always get a waiver." Stunned, I asked what a waiver was. "You just ask for the Reg to be set aside." he answered. Then he added, " You can always get a waiver for anything."

Golden words indeed. For the past forty years I have always worked under the premise that no matter the problem, there is always someone getting a waiver, that is ignoring the rule, law or regulation. I have endeavored to always be among those on the waiver whenever possible.

The thousands of pages of Air Force Regulations, public laws, corporate guidelines mean nothing when the mice are at play.

Consider, my supply function was responsible to see that pilots were issued very sexy sunglasses. Naturally, everyone wanted a pair. My job was to see that only authorized personnel received them. The issue was clearly laid out in many pages of regulations. However, every Major or Captain in Personnel had a pair, all Senior Sergeants wore them. You see, a friend in Personnel could be very useful, thus a waiver.

Carry this system over to our everyday world. A tactually placed phone call to the right person can produce miracles at City Hall, The State Capitol or the Sheriffs Department for the connected person. Pesto! A waiver or trashed speeding ticket!!

Rules, Laws and Regulations from a speeding ticket to counterfeiting are meant only for the obedient masses. Not for nothing did our ancestors carve "It a'nt what you know but who you know," in the cave walls under the mastodon paintings.

So whenever the clerk at Albertsons tells you that it can't be done, ask to see the Supervisor, get a waiver

Makin'Sausage

Makin' Sausage

You know the old saying, "Never watch them make sausage or laws, it ain't pretty."

With retirement, I now have time during working hours to poke around in the innards of City Government. Folks, it ain't pretty.

You might remember my quest to change the regulations for fencing of backyard swimming pools. In only eigthteen months a new standard was written and approved requirieng fencing when the hole is dug. This really came about by happenstance. I was at a dinner party which included a city official with interest in public safety, he pushed it through.

Attending meetings of the Shreveport Regional Airport Authority Board, I followed the glacerial progress of a move to save one million dollars per year by eliminating two extra firetrucks at the airport. After the usual blue ribbon committe report, read that "fig leaf", it was decided to remove the only one truck six months hence. Why the wait ? This was the price extracted by City Hall and the Fire Union. The six month delay allowed firemen to retire, although it cost the tax payers 125k. When I asked Bill Cooksey, why the wait? He explained, "Well, it was already in the budget." Pass the sausage.

Watching his Honor, the Mayor, feverishly working behind the scenes to derail the extension of 3132, abstaining on a crucial vote while publicly proclaiming his desire to move Shreveport forward, is hard to take. One has to wonder why the Mayor of Shreveport is so taken with a Bossier Parish developer. As a now disenchanted supporter of the Mayor, I see his furure in magic. It is impossible to watch his lips and his hands at the same time, thus you don't notice that his actions don't match his words.

Just turning over these few rocks is sickening enough, is there any wonder that Shreveport is loosing population.

After all, you can't fight City Hall.

Why You Should Like Christi O'Donnell

Why You Should Like Christie O'Donnell

The talking heads are all exercised about Christi O'Donnell's recent Rhino hunt in Delaware. Seems the girl has been dabbling in witchcraft and has had money troubles in the past. Think about it, here is a lady whose Daddy did not serve in Government so could not pass a cushy job to his daughter. I suggest that everyone who has done something foolish in their high school days, had money troubles and said some off the wall things under pressure, vote for Christi. Everyone who grew up playing in the halls of Congress while his Daddy served there before becoming a lobbyist, vote for that white guy in the three piece suit, the Democrat.

Looking at the wreckage of our country today, I don't think we need more of the smartest lawyers in the room serving in Congress. How about someone who has worked for a living, missed a payment or two and been subject to collection agency harassment.

This current crop, Republican and Democrat, is harder to get rid of than insurance salesmen. Robert Byrd was casting votes from a wheelchair, Ted Kennedy may have been technically dead for a week before anyone noticed. One guy is suffering from the effects of a stoke, yet he will not yield.

The establishment parties geld any new candidates before the first primary, the money tit is more attractive than any Ideals of good government for the people.They become one more empty suit, spouting the party talking points.

To whom should the citizen turn today. The financial world has shown itself to be a fraud. The Government is staffed with whores who shuffle through revolving doors, always serving themselves or their patrons.The political class is arrogant and un involved. Like Gulliver, we are trussed by the Lilliputians with a thousand threads. We have been busy with the daily struggle while the levers of power of this beautiful country have been usurped by arrogant men and women who believe they know that is best for us and are hell bent on serving it to us.

As the Queen of Hearts said.."Off with their heads" all of them the good, bad and the beautiful.

Send some wild women and men,to Washington, those who really want to do something for America, black,white,tan, straight,gay and undecided.

Don't vote for an incumbent.

You Knew What I Was......

You Knew What I was.....

There's an old Middle Eastern fable about the frog who was asked by a scorpion to let him ride on his back to cross a river. The frog is hesitant, and makes the scorpion promise not to sting him as they cross. "I would be a fool to sting you, we would both drown", replies the scorpion. The frog relents, allowing the scorpion to climb on, they begin to cross. Suddenly, the scorpion stings the frog, paralyzing him. As they sink, the frog asks "Why did you sting me, now we are both doomed." As the scorpion disappears he answers, "You knew what I was when you let me get on your back." Old truisms persist because man repeats his follies, making them germane in any era.

As we watch the numbers of Muslims increase in our nation, we will probably be surprised many times in the future by home grown terrorists who attack us.

I suggest that the waves of immigrants before were from a world in which religion was a second identity to being American. People came to our shores for freedom from all the things that Muslim rule would bring. Shira law is a mirror image of all the things America stands for. The twisted version of the Muslim religion given to us by our friends the Saudis leaves no room for any other religion or way of life. Yield or die is the message they bring, backed up with beheading, cutting off of hands and stoning. There is no way possible for a follower of Islam as preached by our enemies to be an true citizen of modern America. Does anyone doubt that someone who would stone a woman, deny schooling to girls, or turn the clock back to the dark ages, would take a false oath of allegiance to America?

We open our doors to anyone claiming political asylum or having the ability to climb tall fences.

Still, we welcome Muslims until Detroit has the largest population of Iraqis out side of Iraq.

When there is a home grown 9/11 attack, don't be surprised. We knew what they were.

The Meat of The Matter

The Meat of the Problem

Bo "Goober" Smith is seated on his patio smoking a lettuce cigarette. He is seated beneath the federally mandated 25 horsepower exhaust fan. Although it is August, Goober is covered head to toe with an old Army blanket to avoid harmful UV rays of the Sun as directed by the Federal Sun and Moon Beam Avoidance Council. Above the noise of the fan Goober hears his cell phone. "Yellow" answers Goober. A muffled voice on the other end says, "Goober, its Bernie, the butcher." "Yeah, Bernie, what can I do for you" Goober answers. "Er, are you alone?" asks Bernie."Yep"says Goober, "the wife and kids are gone to a mandatory recycling class down at the Federal Court House. Why, what do you want?"

There is a long silence on the line. Finally, Bernie says" Goober, remember that TBone you bought last week?" "Shore do" says Goober, "it was good too." Bernie takes in a deep breath, "Well, the Federal Cholesterol Control boys were in today looking at my books. Seems that you are over the limit this month on animal cholesterol intake....Goober, this could get nasty."

Goober swallows hard. "Did you tell them it didn't have much marble? Bernie, I gotta have some help here, they had me up on an excess sugar charge last week. I could lose my eating privileges." "Look," Bernie begins,"that Tbone was registered, all cuts of red meat are serial numbered, they can trace it back to the cow.Then the weight of the cow tells them how much marble was in the meat."

Goober lights up another lettuce cigarette, takes a sip his pure carbon filtered, dehydrogenated, dematerialized water as he thinks. "What if I tell them that I fed it to the dog?" Goober is sweating. Bernie snorts, "Goober, you know the Feds just want to make sure you stay healthy, they care about your health,Goob. It's because you can't be trusted to take care of yourself, they gotta watch you. Besides, they can analyze the dogs breath for traces of cholesterol."

Goober is getting hysterical. "But, Bernie, my tooth brushing log book is way behind, my walking shoes still have new soles and the dandruff is out of control."

Goober picks up a dozen eggs, "Bernie! I'm going to end it all! I swear I'm gonna eat the whole dozen eggs and go out in a blaze of Cholesterol...I mean it."

The line goes dead.

Consider The Earthworm

Consider the Earth Worm

The lowly earth worm, lives in the dark, deaf to noise, blind to light. The earth worm takes in soil on one end and excretes waste soil out of the other end.

Consider America today, taking in Chinese goods on one end and excreting debt and used goods out the other end. The Chinese badly need jobs for their millions of eager hands. America exported its jobs years ago. The current industrial base of America is the shopping mall. Here the Chinese goods are processed by the American consumer into used products and debt. The life cycle of the American earth worm goes like this. America borrows money from the Chinese via bonds of national debt. The Chinese pretend that the bonds are worth real money, they then ship the products of their factories to our shores where we buy them and order more. Gradually, Americans will not be "working" in the usually accepted way. Our job will be to shop for and purchase the mountains of goods produced by the Chinese to keep them happy.The used products will be shipped to Bangladesh for recycling by barefoot dismantlers, the residue returned to China, materials for new poducts.Then,the process will begin again, just in time for Christmas.

Less astute observers believe that China is a military threat to America. Think about, when has a seller ever attacked its best customer? Why bomb a country that you own?

Further, if China conquered America, they would have to find jobs for all the American citizens no longer shopping to keep the Chinese citizens busy. The Chinese need us more than we need them. If the new China suffered fifteen percent unemployment, tires would be burning in the streets. Unemployed Americans just go the mail box for their check and vote Democrat.

And so the charade goes on, I pretend to pay you, you pretend the money is good. Like a counterfeit twenty in circulation, only a fool would reveal its a fake while its in his wallet. When will the whistle blow? Who knows, but it will make the Great Depression look like a High School Prom.

Why Does It Cost So much To Fly From Shreveport

Why Does it Coast So Much To Fly Out Of Shreveport ?

On the face of it this seems a simple question. Why are air fares so much cheaper at surrounding, much smaller city airports.

The simple answer is: Deregulation.

While we were not looking, the air travel industry changed to accommodate changing market conditions. Folks, the day of the Beaver Cleaver family driving the Edsel out the airport with the five piece, matched, hard sided Samsonite luggage, Mom in the pill box hat and white gloves, Dad in the wool suit, tie, and fedora are gone. Notice, I did not reference the Air Service industry. Forget the niceties, this is air travel cattle car style, pioneered by Southwest. The air carriers are focused on butts in seats at the highest price possible, not your comfort and convenience. Sorry, Charlie.

The fierce competition of the past is over for out of the way burgs like Shreveport. With three carriers "serving" Shreveport with no competition among them, we are a profit center to subsidize the cheap tickets out of DFW or somewhere else.

Today, if you want to spend your money on the family vacation, not on air line tickets, you must be your own travel agent. Find the ticket price first, then book the accommodations at your destination. be flexible on the dates. The tail is wagging the dog here.

The Shreveport Regional web site is now tracking the prices to help if you insist on flying from Shreveport. But, this is business, find the best deal for your needs and book accordingly.

You might attend a monthly meeting of the Regional Airport Board(third Thursday of the month at 9am) for a close look at how your city manages things. Also, there will be a blue ribbon committee of all the usual suspects to devise a twenty year master plan for the airport. Surprise the hell out of them and show up for a meeting and speak out. I missed you at the first meeting in July.

Don't expect to change things at the airport . It is a political entity which also is used for political aims.

There is always Green Park on Bistineau for a fun weekend getaway.

Position wanted

Position desired: Mature, experienced Middle East Despot seeks like position in new locale. Due to unforeseen corporate realignment, I find myself available to rule any country in need of firm hand at the helm. Experienced in downsizing and personnel management, I bring forty two years experience to the table. Available for immediate transfer. Contact MK, Lybia RFD.

Abra Kadabra

Abra Kadabra

Most magic tricks rely on distracting the audience's eye to one hand while the other hand performs the trick, be it a coin in the ear or a handkerchief in the hand.

With this in mind I would like to call your attention to the latest slight of hand playing out on the American stage.

The networks, cable and mainstream are all atwitter with news that America has an income imbalance. Seems that the top few earners in this country earn more than the bottom in total. Watching the hand holding the chart draws our eye from the fact that the bottom percentage is made up of people who USED to work and earn good incomes. People whose job is now being performed in China or elsewhere. This ignores the fact that the top 10% of filers pay 65.73% of all taxes. While the top represents earners who are making millions, some times billions, the real story is in the other hand. The complete destruction of the earring power of the bottom.

With four people for every viable job in this country, the sad truth is that this country or any other country don't need or want American workers. The American worker is accompanied by his liability lawyer, his health insurance man, the EPA investigator, the Social Security inquiry and retirement advisor. The foreign worker has none of these. All of this while there are thousands of jobs in this country, filled by illegal immigrants, that are deemed "jobs no Americans will do".

I admit it would be fun to drag the rich from their mega mansions, rifle their pockets and drain their IRAs, but there is not enough there to solve our debt problems, much less give all of the rest of us a living wage.

Somehow, we must find a future that enlarges the pie, providing more for all, not slicing the existing pie into smaller, but more equal pieces.

I do not for hope for magic here. This will take sacrifice, courage something that our leaders do not have.

There is no magic in class warfare.

Working in the Mines

Working in the Mines

There is a very old truism that goes something this,"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." As you stumble among the ashes of the hopes and dreams of America's financial collapse, consider this.

Many years ago I read a magazine article detailing the story of the Eastern Appalachian coal fields. Sons and employees of Eastern Blue bloods shucked their finery. taking up working mans clothes. They wooed the ignorant hill people with talk of easy money for the right to mine their land. Naturally, the natives did not know what the city slicker knew, that rich coal seams lay beneath their small farms and fields. The land owners also did not know that the mining would ruin their land and sentence them and generations to come to a future in the dark dangerous mines, toiling for the absent owners of the black gold they dug. Death by black lung was the only dividend paid to the miners and their families.

That was then, now the coal is called "toxic asset". The same crowd, proud grads of Harvard, Wharton, Yale, et al are counting the money again. This time they needed their cousins, the government watchdogs as coconspirators. Government in the end, paid off the jackpot.It was not so dirty this time, but a con never the less.

Here is how it worked this time. "Sign this mortgage, forget, paying it back. Take this credit card, have a good time. Never mind paying it off. Have I got the car for you, sign here. Pay me later." Thus debt became the new coal. Remember that debt is a promise to toil to repay. When the mortgages, the credit cards and the car loans didn't produce enough debt, the Wall Street gang began to bet the Federally insured deposits in their banks. This is where their cousins came in. The sucker's 401Ks, the retirement saving were put at risk in the paper game. The regulators looked the other way,hoping for a job on Wall Street in return.

When the house of cards fell in, the mortgage was worthless, the credit card in default, the auto repossessed, the musical chairs revealed the taxpayer had no where to go. The con men were"too big to Fail" so they got a chair, the regulators work for the Government so they get a chair, there is no answer for the taxpayers, except to borrow from our grandchildren. The powerful and well connected move on, the citizens pick up the pieces of their lives as best they can.

"Fool me once......"

Y2K, Finally!!

Y2K, Finally!!!

Good news!!!! Remember that generator you bought during the hype of Y2K? Well, go get it out of the garage, it is behind the treadmill and the cases of freeze dried turkey meat balls. Fill up that water barrel, load the shotgun and check the batteries in the radio. This time we got a real, by God, crisis on our hands!!! This is so bad that a Senator or two might lose their jobs.

Don't worry about the hedge fund traders, they'll be okay, it's Grandma that will take it in the neck this time. Straving children will take to the streets like locust. Schools of higher learning will be shuttered, throwing thousands of bored college students among us, they will be dammed to a life of shinning shoes without their degrees in General Business and Psychology.

Yep, this is the big one. All the talking heads, the pundits, the consultants, the outside experts, the ex Congressman now lobbyist, all agree, this is Armageddon!

Bad news? The Government of The United States will no longer be able to borrow money to borrow money. Yikes!!! We only borrow fifty cents of every one dollar and fifty cents we spend. We need the money, after all we have to send billions to third world countries that hate us. We have to prop up despots, thugs and dictators who oppress their people with our hardware.

Now that the Democrats and Republicans have been caught with their hands in the empty cookie jar, it is time to scare the daylights out of the taxpayers, time to sic the screaming, torch bearing crowds on those rich devils among us. Throw Grandpa out of the home, forget the Veterans checks, We really mean it this time!!

After spending all of our money, all the next generations money, and selling our soul to the Chinese, our leaders are holding a gun to our heads, let me borrow more money (for the 119th time) or I'll shoot the stock broker.

Did America run out of gas with the passing of the Greatest Generation? Where are the leaders to call us together, challenge the country to do the right thing for our future. Cowards concerned only with the next election dare not ask for real shared sacrifice.

America is better than this.

The Rider

The Rider

Some would surmise a mirage, born of the shimmering black top, sired by the blazing Texas Sun.

Heralded by the Harley's throaty roar, he appears, flashes past, disappears into the horizon.

A fleeting apparition.

Well into his seventh decade, weathered by life's storms,gales and triumphs he rides on, the Earth eaten by the spinning front wheel of his steel steed.

In midnight's gloom he chases the iron rabbit that is the headlights arc, riding ever onward toward the morning Sun's rise.

The machine and he are one, rocketing down life's highway, onward, onward toward the fate of all men and machines.

The roar of the engine, the easy seat that is his, propelled though the ether, past all Earthly cares and travails, onward he rides.

Chasing eternity, the lonely rider speeds on.

Tamales

No More Tamales

As a boy, I loved Harmel tamales. One night I ate two cans, forcing the last few down. Shortly thereafter I threw up. The taste of the tamales coming back up sickened me such that I did not eat another for three years.

Today, as I watch the citizens of Wisconsin and Iowa vote, I think that America is sick of the liberal tamales we have been force fed these past two years. Finally.

Is America ready to fling open the window and scream "I'm mad as hell, and I am not going to take it anymore?"

Is America ready to put America first ? Ready to fret about our citizens in need, worry about our unemployed, our job base? Can we citizens freely speak our mind without fear of being burned at the stake as a right or left wing nut, homophobe, anti Semitic or anti Muslim bigot?

Can we spend our money on our infrastructure without embarrassment because some dictator ruined Third World country needs a bridge? Can we feed our hungry first for a change?

Can we go back to the dream of hard work rewarded with material wealth? Failure as an inspiration to strive again?

Can we return to the things that made this country prosperous,free, the envy the world?

Can we declare the Cold War over, stop being the Police and Fire protection of the World? Can we stop sending our best and brightest to foreign countries that hate us?

Finally, are we ready to throw the bums out? Republican and Democrat, tweedle dee and tweedle dum? Off with their heads as the Queen of Hearts would say in the Alice in Wonderland that is Washington D.C. !

Stand up, speak, out take our country back for the generations to come !

The generations that sacrificed for us are watching.

We are too late to do battle on the Marne, too late to storm Omaha Beach, too late for the Chosin Reservoir, Saigon or Baghdad, but not too late for the ballot box.

Think about it.

Take Stock in this

Take Stock in This

When it came time to dismantle my bother in laws parents home, we found a box of rubber bands which had been broken, tied in a knot for reuse, then stored away for the future. Children of the Depression, his parents treasured every penny. Flash forward to today's generation, their life's savings in 401ks, IRAs and Mutual Funds, all entrusted to Wall Street.

For decades Wall Street has sold itself to America as the ideal place to put their money, more importantly, their trust. Slick television ads featuring distinguished, serious looking broker types promised safety, honesty and prosperity if only the viewer would entrust their money to the sponsoring company. Charts, bar graphs and testimonies spoke of future freedom from worry. Ever the trusting rube, Americans poured their money into the stock market, sure that someone was watching out for them. Surely, analyst were delving into annual reports, spreadsheets, interviewing management, working hard on stock holders behalf.

Like the Wizard of Oz, revealed to be a little old man behind a curtain, Wall Street is now revealed as a tight little club of New York insiders trading with each other with a wink and a nod. Enron, Worldcom, Madoff, the crash of 2008, the fall of the market 1000 points in an hour on a late Friday after noon were only hints, fingerprints on the gun.

As you sit in front of the Television watching Squawk Box do you wonder how the market can move up and down hundreds of points a day if someone is really studying the listed companies, weighing their relative value, then determining if it is a sell, hold or buy with your money ?

Sorry Charlie!! Computers are buying and selling your future at lightening speed. Brokers are pocketing millions in bonuses without regard your profit or loss.

No Wall Street is no longer the great engine of economic generation, provider of capital for industry but one big, rigged craps game and you don't get to see the dice.

Don't bother calling your Government, they are in on the joke.

Unplugged

Unplugged

Never has the disconnect between the rulers and the ruled been greater than in today's America. Not since Marie Antoinette suggested cake, has the ruling class been so tone deaf.

Consider the following. The New World Order folks see a World in which prosperity is spread around the Earth by exporting jobs to the remotest poor country. The Human Rights crowd see a World in which Beaver Clever's Mom has a high level position in Advertising and Mr. Clever is doing well in Real Estate. The Multi Sexual Orientation crowd see a family dinner with the hair dresser and designer as guests at the head of the table. The Greens see a World in which Moose wander the city streets at will among the traffic of peddle cars and horse drawn trams. The Multi Racial/ Multi Ethnic/Multi Country of National Origin/Undocumented Guest Worker crowd see a company picnic of satisfying diversity enforced by special police authorized to count heads and compute percentages.The World Peace crowd wants to force all the World to live at peace with their neighbors.

These are all wonderful aims. Wonder aims for someone else's job. Wonderful aims for someone else's family. Wonderful aims for someone else's dinner or lifestyle. Enforced World Peace is great as long as your son or daughter is sent to do the job, not mine.

Just who might our rulers have in mind to achieve these aims, who might be living under the New World Order ?

Maybe if we took a look at just who is serving in the Armed Forces, who is paying the taxes, who is unemployed, who is hoisted up for public ridicule for a misstep or misstatement in an unguarded moment, we might see who the various Crowds have in mind.

We, the great unwashed, the common citizens have had too much prosperity, too much freedom of speech, too much opportunity to achieve our individual aims, too many lifestyle choices, hell we even buy light bulbs that are bad for us and eat Super Size meals with toys for our kids. We are out of control!

How did We get here? While we were at work, the Crowds were in front of Congressional Committees selling their dreams for us.

Since the Gentleman and Gentleladies have long since lost touch with their constituents, it all sounded good.

Thus new laws, regulations and governmental direction.

Pass the Cake.

Not Again !!!

Not Again!!!

At one time Shreveport was known as the "Pipeline Capitol of the World." A map of the United States pipeline infrastructure pictured a spider's web of lines detailing existing pipelines, at the center sat Shreveport. Home to long defunct companies, now in the dust bin of corporate history, Texas Eastern, United Gas among them, we were positioned to lead the South. Short sighted, arrogant, the leadership of the companies, elected city fathers and social leaders, content with the status quo stood by as the industry, jobs and tax base moved on to Houston, then a hustling city not much larger than Shreveport.

Like a Model T chugging down an Interstate ignoring the traffic zipping past, Shreveport lurched from on ineffective administration to the next. Most damaging were the ones used to advance a select group of pals, cronies or groups with knives to sharpen. Inept would be a kind word for other Mayors and their administrations. Nevertheless, honest bumbling was as damaging, opportunity not recognized or seized is just as deadly as awarding contracts to pals and undeserving supporters.

That was then, this is now. Houston is now a International power, home to generations of Shreveport's children and grandchildren. Shreveport is hard to fly into.

Yet ,We again find ourselves at a crossroad. The red ball has fallen on our number again. We have one more chance to become the next Atlanta of the South.

The Haynesville Shale, the Film Industry, our status as a regional health care powerhouse, Barksdale AFB, Bossier's Cyber Center,LSUS the list goes on, most of the pieces are in place for Shreveport/Bossier to be great.

All of the pieces, save the Heart. We need City leadership not bent on lifting any one group, but imbued with the commitment to lift all of us. A few more wealthy lawyers with connections or well placed politicians will not serve as in the past.

Overlaying our problem is race. We are divided. The connected black and white operators help themselves in turn with each election, ignoring the citizens of each color as they trade places.

Somehow, we must find a leader who is committed to our future. A leader with a vision and the determination to see it achieved.

We haven't found him or her in a long time.

The American Harware Company

American Hardware Co.

It's an oft told tale, one man or woman, through inspiration, luck or fate sees an opportunity to offer a service or product to his fellow man. More hard work, luck and inspiration finds him or her a success, the monetary rewards are secondary to the sense of accomplishment and pride in effort. The guiding principles of the enterprise are sound enough to outlive his death. The following generations, no longer imbued with the dream,see the enterprise not as a dream or service to others, but a road to riches and leisure. Soon, it is shuttered or sold off to more aggressive competitors. The dream was not transferable.

What we call history is actually the same tale told many times over in many tongues. Since venturing from the cave, man has sought to organize himself in such a manner that he and his kind might live in safety and ease. Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Industrial Age, Atomic Age and now the Paper/Digital Age, it is the same story only the furniture and hair styles change.

Each great power of the age believes they are the everlasting order. As late as the 1930's Adolf Hitler believed his Reich would last one thousand years. The durability of today is a delusion, based in fear of the unknown.

Take the United States of America for example. Remember, ours is an young experiment in social order, not nearly as old as the empires we study in schools. Those long dead empires. Ask any man or woman on the street, they assume their great grandchildren will live in a country much as it is today. The odds of history are against it. Actually, our great grand parents would not recognize America today.

This experiment was to test the theory that the Common man could be trusted to live his own life as he pleased. No longer were you born to a class, never to rise above it. The Common man was challenged to grasp his freedom to peruse his happiness in any manner he chose. Only here is the rags to riches story possible on such a common scale.

Like the local hardware store in its third generation, America is suffering from the death of the dream, the absence of vision. Everyone wants to hit the jackpot, to cash the winning lottery ticket or win the Readers Digest Sweepstakes so they can drop out of the race.

Today, patriotism is considered corny by the popular press and the Hollywood crowd. Our President tours Europe, the one we rescued with the Marshall Plan, apologizing for America's actions in the world while defeating Communism to assure their freedom.

Now we are fighting over how much or our grandchildren's money to borrow from the Chinese to finance our life style.

America has lost its way. The dream, the vision and the inspiration is gone, stolen by a cyclical political ruling class and their cousins the mavens of Wall Street.

This country was born of a dream and a revolution, we need both today.

The Glickman Effect

The Glickman Effect

Giant tortoises live for one hundred plus years, Red Wood Trees live hundreds of years, Cypress Trees the same. Ah, but nothing lives on like a public servant, especially the type found in the Washington D.C. environment.

Take Mr. Dan Glickman for instance. Don't know ole Dan? Well he was a lawyer from Kansas City. Dan started his career as a school board member, finally climbed his way to the US House of Representatives for sixteen years. The voters sobered up in 1995 or so and voted his ass out of office. Did ole Dan join the unemployment line like a good boy? No, next we see him raising his hand swearing to be a good Secretary of Agriculture. Dan hid there until 2001 when a new crowd of insiders took over. His replacement was another empty suit who had to have a job and had the connections to get one.

His replacement is replaced by another empty suit with a different accent but the same desire to avoid going home to get a real job. Just as a infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of typewriters will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare sooner or later, it is just possible that some one who knows something about Agriculture will be named to the post of Secretary of Agriculture. But don't count on it.

Government, Federal Government is now a birth right, a cozy insiders club with great benefits, insulated from the real world. Once you gain a chair, you can keep it for life, keep it warm for you son or daughter, niece or nephew. Ask Chris Dodd, any of the Kennedy's, the House and Senate are over run with members who "remember playing in the halls as a boy". Once elected, your worries are over. Suckling at the breast of the lobbyist, PAC's or National Party you really don't need those "little people" back home, only every two or six years to rubber stamp your return to Washington. If tragedy should befall you, there will always be a government post to fill while building a Rollodex for the partnership in a lobbyist firm.

I'm not picking on the "Esteemed Mr. Glickman from the great state of Kansas", he is one example of the tenacity with which the rulers cling to power. Life among the masses is a terrible nightmare.

Thus we have groomed a ruling class, the cards are stacked against the outsider unseating an incumbent so they serve on. Robert Byrd had to be pried from his wheelchair before he would give up his position. Still, in retirement, they do not go away, instead they move into other positions of power and act behind the scenes.

One happy note, if you have a neighbor that you wish you would never see again...just help elect him or her to Congress!

Y2K

Y2K, Finally!!!

Good news!!!! Remember that generator you bought during the hype of Y2K? Well, go get it out of the garage, it is behind the treadmill and the cases of freeze dried turkey meat balls. Fill up that water barrel, load the shotgun and check the batteries in the radio. This time we got a real, by God, crisis on our hands!!! This is so bad that a Senator or two might lose their jobs.

Don't worry about the hedge fund traders, they'll be okay, it's Grandma that will take it in the neck this time. Straving children will take to the streets like locust. Schools of higher learning will be shuttered, throwing thousands of bored college students among us, they will be dammed to a life of shinning shoes without their degrees in General Business and Psychology.

Yep, this is the big one. All the talking heads, the pundits, the consultants, the outside experts, the ex Congressman now lobbyist, all agree, this is Armageddon!

Bad news? The Government of The United States will no longer be able to borrow money to borrow money. Yikes!!! We only borrow fifty cents of every one dollar and fifty cents we spend. We need the money, after all we have to send billions to third world countries that hate us. We have to prop up despots, thugs and dictators who oppress their people with our hardware.

Now that the Democrats and Republicans have been caught with their hands in the empty cookie jar, it is time to scare the daylights out of the taxpayers, time to sic the screaming, torch bearing crowds on those rich devils among us. Throw Grandpa out of the home, forget the Veterans checks, We really mean it this time!!

After spending all of our money, all the next generations money, and selling our soul to the Chinese, our leaders are holding a gun to our heads, let me borrow more money (for the 119th time) or I'll shoot the stock broker.

Did America run out of gas with the passing of the Greatest Generation? Where are the leaders to call us together, challenge the country to do the right thing for our future. Cowards concerned only with the next election dare not ask for real shared sacrifice.

America is better than this.

How We Got Here

How We Got Here, Why We Won't Change

When you step from the shower one day, take a look at yourself. What you see is a human being unchanged since man evolved in the Stone Age. The only modernity in the mirror is in your brain. The accumulation of knowledge you have stored there. You have the same human fragilities, vices, desires as our Stone Age brothers and sisters. Nothing has changed in your physical makeup nor your human actions.

Mankind is divided into four types of people.

Those that Can

Those that Will

Those that Can't

Those that Won't.

Those that Can are the rarest. These are the individuals who use their gifts, talents and determination to change the world we live in one small step at a time. Since the first man knapped a piece of flint into at chopping tool, the discovery of Brass, Bronze and Steel, though Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, to Bill Gates a few men and women were able to conceive of breakthroughs to move man to the next level of civilization.

Those that Will are the mass of workers who make the idea real for all men. They work daily lives to improve,produce and distribute the fruits of those that Can. These are the bulk of society, the solid middle that carries the load, hoping to reap the rewards of a better life.

Those that Can't are thankfully few in relative number. Through some ill luck, be it health, or physical impairments these are unable to contribute as they would like.

Those that Won't are also fewer in number. They are the parasites of society, just as the poor will always be with us, outlaws, work shy and loafers will also be with us. They subsist by passing themselves off as members of the other groups.

As mankind has not changed, neither have his attempts to arrange social order to divide the spoils of progress and wealth. Once the biggest cave man ruled by brute force, then Kings, Emperors and Pharaohs, Communism, Socialism,Democracy all are an effort to make the most of each type of person.

How much do those that Can reap for their world changing work.

The plight of those that Will, often dubbed "the working class", has driven most schemes, some better than others.















How much does a society owe those that Can't? This has driven much social engineering. Many plans to care for those that Can't have run afoul of those that Won't taking an undeserved share and the resentment of those that Will measuring their rewards for working against the rewards for being a Can't.

Those that Won't should be considered "overhead," just one of the costs of a benevolent society.

All of this is to explain the current tug of war between Republicans and Democrats.

Republicans believe that unleashing those that Can will produce growth and wealth which will soon allow the rest of society to prosper in turn. "Trickle Down" is the theory.

Those that Can will employ those that Will, society will be wealthy enough to provide for those that Can't and the additional costs of those that Won't.

Democrats feel that all classes should divide the wealth of society nearly equally. Those that Can become rich on the efforts of those that Will. Since all men are equal, those that Can't and those that Won't are owed a portion of the efforts of the others."Soak the Rich" is this theory.

With the Obama Democrat administration, we will see efforts to spread other peoples wealth as widely as possible. This is no evil plan hatched by President Obama. It has been the creed of the Democrat Party since day one.

The Republican Party has only itself to blame. The Grand Ole Party forgot is values and deserves to wander in the wilderness

With one eye on the Sparrow, one eye on the Eagle, there is no one to tend the hard working Chickens who lay the Golden Eggs.