Major League Baseball Greed

Trademark licensing, are they kidding? Major League Baseball, MLB, has now decided to license their logos to the little leaguers. According to the MLB, those little league teams that copy the logos of their favorite big league team for their uniforms somehow violates their trademark. In true corporate greedy fashion, the MLB now wants to charge the little guys a trademark license fee of $3.00 per head to wear those uniforms.

What is the point? The courts have ruled in past decisions that unless trademarks remain protected, that the trademark owners stand a chance of losing those trademarks. In other words, protect your trademark or lose it. So to insure that established trademarks remain uniquely to a particular team, then anyone who uses that trademark must be licensed to do so.

I have no kick in trademark protection, especially when it pertains to commercial concerns that like to use the popularity of a franchise to sell goods with unlicensed trademarks. But who in their right mind ever thought that this frenzy of greed and protection would reach out to our kids in the little league. Theirs is not a commercial enterprise. In fact other than the parents of these kids, not many come to see them play, and they are not out there marketing trademarked goods that are not related to their particular team.

The MLB could have allowed the licensing to the little leaguers for a nominal fee, say a nickel per player, or free even. But no, they insist on receiving $3.00 per person for their share. I'm sure that the MLB is licking its chops over the extra millions that they will rake in from the little-leagues.

The little leaguers do have the option of not naming their teams after a MLB team, but that would take something from the thrill of playing. What would a kid rather say? That he plays for the Gophers or that he plays for the Red Sox.

Shame on MLB for this outrage. These teams have not stolen a trademark in the last fifty years, so why does the MLB think that they are owed now. Does corporate greed come to mind?

Cheers,

-Robert-

Leadership Woes

I admit it, but you had to make me say it, I supported Bush in two elections. But disappointment in George's leadership has me in a quandary. On the one hand, I think George W. Bush is one of the most decent people to ever live in the Whitehouse. On the other hand, his failure to lead this country has left Republicans behind the eight-ball.

Compassionate Conservatism: What a joke! The only thing I see is appeasement to the Democrats. George Bush has went out of the way to cater to the Democrats hoping for their support, and in the process, made himself their target and alienated those who supported him. Coaxing the Democrats into supporting him may have sounded like a good idea, but when he saw that it wasn't going to work, he should have abandoned the effort. Instead, he allowed the Democrats to Demagogue every issue and turn public opinion against him. He failed to recognize that appeasing the Democrats was not going to help, and stubbornly refused to listen to his supporters.

Leadership or Stubborn: Early on in the Iraq War, with Bush's belief about all people yearning to be free, he failed to take decisive action when order collapsed in Iraq. Bush held nobody responsible for for the collapse of law and order in Iraq. Somebody should have been held responsible for dismal planning. He stubbornly clung to the idea that these people would 'just do the right thing' simply because he removed Saddam Hussein.

Appeasement Problems: Everything that this administration has touched has been a disaster. Katrina had the Democrats scrambling because New Orleans and Louisiana were totally Democratic. Yet Bush allowed himself to be the fall guy for problems that were mostly State issues. He wanted to be a good guy for the Democrats. They have castigated him for Katrina ever since.

Big Spender: He refused to veto those huge spending bills that allowed the Democrats (and Republicans) to earmark all kinds of goodies back to their home states. No leadership at all in guiding the budget process; it has to be categorized as 'stubbornly clasping the idea of making nice' that enabled such a drain on the treasury.

Other Issues:

1.) Failure to prosecute the leakers of national security issues.

2.) Prosecuted 2 Border Agents for doing their jobs.

3.) Refuses to enforce our border laws.

4.) Refuses to pardon Scooter Libby for the high crime of nothing.

5.) Allowed himself to be boxed in over the U.S. Attorney firings. (Lack of Leadership)

6.) Bush demonstrated a general weakness about Constitutional Issues of Executive vs. Legislative. Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria left the world wondering who was in charge of foreign policy. The trip left Bush looking irrelevant.

Not Enough Space: I could detail an entire page of the leadership failures of this President. But history will be kinder to George than I will. George Bush remains one of the most decent men on the planet. If there was ever a contest for being 'well intentioned', George Bush wins, hands down.


Cheers,
-Robert-

McCain's Vision

May 27, 2008 Today John McCain laid out his vision of what foreign policy would look like in the event he is elected.

Global Warming: McCain left no doubt that he has swallowed the hoax of manmade Global Warming.

Cancel Rock Penetrating Nuclear Weapon: Decrying that such a weapon is not necessary for either policy or military, he would cancel its development.

Demonstrate Nicety: His policy would have the United States prove their peaceful intentions by taking the lead in nuclear stockpiles reduction. Establish a nuclear fuel pool for those countries wanting to have peaceful nuclear energy.

Scary Proposals: The proposals he made were downright scary. I think he was just pandering for Liberal votes, but nonetheless he has to be taken seriously. His cumbiya vision at the very best is sophomoric.

Man made Global Warming is a myth! He would saddle this nation with carbon offsets that would handcuff this nation economically. I know he is smarter than that, but where is the real McCain?

The penetrator weapon's sole reason to exist is to destroy deep underground nefarious facilities should the need arise. (Such as in Iran's underground nuclear development.)

McCain's vision is like that of a child's. He sees fields of sweet clover and rainbows. Or, has his age so softened his outlook that he would render us feckless in the face of tyranny? He has not confronted the issues of our times such as the energy problem. His vision of going nuclear would only help - a long way down the road. He offers no solution for the present. We need refineries but see no leadership getting us there. We need to use our present day resources like clean coal and oil that we have in abundance.

But the milk-toast McCain does not have what it takes to lead on these issues. He has to pick pie in the sky crap and call it leadership.

But a vote for Obama would be worse. What a dilemma! There is no hope
-sigh- .

Cheers,

-Robert-

Curiosity

I Can't Find the Answers: Basically this commentary is about questions that I have about several subjects. It seems as though unbiased and accurate answers are in short supply. The best explanations I have come across for the following questions are agenda driven theories. The problem with the theoretical answers is that you have to choose the one you like, because for every theory about a subject, there are counter-theories. Hard definitive answers may be locked up in a theory, but in which? The theories source cannot be ignored when searching for answers. Egos are often obstacles that get in the way of objectivity, as well as the quest for research funds. Political goals also play an important part in obfuscating poor science. So I present my questions. I hope that some of you share my concerns.

Sun's Origin: Obviously, the Sun coalesced from a pool of hydrogen that just "happened" to be in the neighborhood. My question is about all of the other stuff that is in the Sun's sphere of influence. It wasn't the fusion activity of the Sun that created all of the matter that surrounds the Sun. If fusion created all of the elements of the periodic chart, then there had to be other stars that were created and died before our Sun was created. So, do we know how many other Stars had to come and go before our Sun came to life? Have we got the total age of the Universe all wrong, as well as the process of Galaxy formation?

Evolution: I don't question the fact of the biomass evolving, but I don't see any evidence that what has evolved was just a "chance" occurrence. My question is how is it that the changes that occurred were always just what was needed for a particular species to survive? How is it that the Make up of our D.N.A. is programmable? Biologists have been 'gene-splicing' for years to change the inherent programming of bacteria. Some are reprogrammed to do toxic waste cleanup among a other customized tasks.

What is God? One argument is that God is omnipotent and can just go "poof" and things miraculously happen. Others, myself included, believe that God has to manage his 'miracles' within the bounds of the possible. For instance, if God creates something, there has to be a vehicle of possibility for it to happen. Whenever we discover how something works, that doesn't preclude God from having used that same method for some of his accomplishments. No magician, just super smart. The difference between God and man is a wide gulf of knowledge about how things work, both physical and biological. What is your opinion of God?

What's Heating the Oceans? That' a fair question. Of course, over a thousand sub-sea volcanoes and the Sun can't be the explanation. When you listen to Al Gore, you have to believe that CO2 that makes up only 00.54% of the atmosphere is creating the entire problem. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is so small it is measured in parts per million rather than as a percentage. Never mind that CO2 is a very minor greenhouse gas, very small in comparison to water vapor. Are politics and ulterior motives driving this scam about CO2? Who stands to benefit from this swindle?

Enough Already: Okay, I'll Stop. You get the idea though. We are force fed a lot of hooey in the media that is designed only for either political or monetary gains. This message is meant to encourage you to be skeptical and try and find the truth about the things you are told. There is no excuse in not looking at all sides of any issue now that the Internet is up and running. True, there is a lot of bogus information, but if you check the bibliography of what you read, and research the stuff that isn't well documented, you can have an informed opinion. Being informed isn't a bad thing, it is a good thing.

Cheers,
-Robert-

What Obama is Missing

At first blush, Obama looks and sounds like any other young liberal. But the elements missing from his resume disqualifies him from being President.

What is missing? Barack is missing the inculcation of Americanism. Most of us who were born and raised in the United States wear the imprint of our country. Americanism is comprised of many things like reciting The Pledge of Allegiance in our formative years, learning how and why we came to be the Nation we are. It is very important to be a part of America while learning of the historical exploits of our forebears. Barack's view, jaded by the fact that he spent his formative years in schools that did not imprint what being an American means, leaves him crippled in understanding America. Simply put, he sees the United States through the eyes of a foreigner, and not through the eyes of one brought up in this country.

Why is this important? It is important for the very same reason that people see other people as other people. When we hear about some calamity with others, it does not have the same impact as a similar event happening to a family member. Americans brought up in this country tend to see other Americans as 'family'. Barack is missing that American imprint.

American Presidents need more than just spell binding rhetoric. You have to trust that his decisions are rooted in a passionate love for this country. With Obama, that love of and appreciation for this country is missing.

Cheers,

-Robert-

George W. Bush and the RNC

There is leadership, and then there is leadership. George Bush went for the gold ring but botched it for 3 years. For three years we saw and endless stream of death and destruction to the Allied forces and our Iraqi friends. It was maddening to see the horror of the roadside bombs and the suicide bombers taking such a grievous toll on the lives in Iraq. George Bush had to be beaten down politically before he finally made a change in the operation. Today, it looks like we are going to finally get a Government based on democratic principles in Iraq. But the cost has been horrific.

These have been my chief complaints against Bush. His failure to recognize that the war was going badly and doing zippo about it was maddening. It created a lot of animosity towards him. But these same attributes run in the Republican National Committee.

The RNC has not stood up for anything. I was once proud to be a donor to the RNC, but not anymore. I have this thing about throwing good money away. They stuff my mailbox with their requests, but I ignore them. My email is overflowing with RNC requests for support, but I ignore them. It gets tiresome to see unvetted candidates with all kinds of moral problems admitted into the system. Republicans do not lead by example, they try and demonstrate to the world a lesson in what not to do if elected. There were the disturbing episodes of Vitter, Tom Foley and the great bathroom stall incident. By themselves, these episodes were inconsequential. But if you are going to sell yourself as the party of decency, then you should behave like one.

The RNC is also not a fighter for the Republicans. They choose to not engage the Democrats on any level. It does not matter how egregious the Democrats behave, there is never a peep from the RNC. Phooey on any group that does not have the stomach to stand on their hind legs and be counted.

Lastly, there is no way to make a comment to these high and mighty leaders of the RNC. Their website does not have a method of contacting them (except for donations). Ditto for their emails that choke my inbox. This group just wants you to send money without any input from the donors. It will be even more painful when the next President becomes the beneficiary of a veto-proof Congress. Republicans are starving for leadership. But what did we get from the primaries? An old man who really does not have core beliefs nor does he have the stomach for standing up to the Liberal worm that is eating this country alive.

Cheers,
-Robert-

Pollution and Global Warming

Like most that grew up in the 50's and 60's, the images of "smog" were indelibly burned into our conscience. Everyone realized that this was a man made phenomenon. Compounding these images were our daily experiences of man's pollution.

Amoco Oil demonstrated the distasteful stuff coming out of our automobiles utilizing leaded fuel by attaching a large clear balloon to the tailpipe of an automobile. The balloon quickly filled up with black nasty gases, this was beside another automobile burning their new lead free fuel. These were eye opening demonstrations and paved the way for the acceptance of unleaded fuel.

Lastly if you ever traveled by bus, it is hard to forget the diesel exhaust that permeated those bus stations. You could hardly get your breath around those places.

Getting the public to accept a theory that blamed the activity of humans for global warming was relatively easy. The public already had experiences with man made pollution, so it was easy to accept that burning fossil fuels was causing global warming by the discharge of CO2. I also fell for the idea that man was responsible for the problem. I even wrote an article for 'Amazines.com' about the hazards of CO2.

I penned another article for my sister website robfg.com.
After a lot of research including the writings of a lot of the world's pre-eminent scientists and climatologists, that research prompted several articles on my websites about CO2, Venus, and Mars. There is only one conclusion a reasonable person can make. Global warming is not from any efforts of man. You can read my rewrite of the article of global warming here: robfg.com.

What I want you to understand is that smog and the effects of other pollutants were resolved by real science, not an emotional, nearly hysterical proclamation by those with ulterior motives. So look into the issue for yourself and don't allow this issue to steal your freedom. Be deliberate in your quest to find the truth.

http://www.nov55.com/index.html is a good place to start.

Cheers,
-Robert-

Another Look at Term Limits

As late as last year, I opposed term limits. The idea of term limits wasn't offensive to me, but the thought of limiting who the people could choose to represent them was.

But things have changed. My views have changed. What should be a citizen just doing civic duty is no longer what we have. Winning an election to be a Senator or a Representative these days amounts to winning the lottery. Being an elected official should not be a profession but instead an obligation. Our politicians have made serving a lifelong endeavor, instead of just a slice out of one's existence to briefly serve. You ask, "What does it hurt to have professional politicians?"

Prolonged stays in power is corruptive. Being in power is addictive. The incumbent's re-election becomes the focus of their term. Raising money for re-election, arranging for the distribution of tax money to projects that are dubious but necessary for re-election make up just a fragment of the efforts our elected representative use to further their self-interest.

It is Utopian in today's world to believe that we could elect someone with the character to do the business of serving the people and not always running for re-election. Our Congress in both Houses has seen fit to design their daily operations with a pecking order built on 'Seniority'. The simplified version means that anybody winning an elective position for the first time has limited political power until he proves his ambition by winning subsequent terms in office. The greater the ambition of an individual, the easier it is to manipulate him.

A very ambitious politician becomes a lackey for the powerful incumbents who are able to threaten him with isolation from the best committees, and denial of help from the party infrastructure for the perennial upcoming elections. The pressure is overwhelming, especially to a young politician with ambition. This is how the political parties are able to silence new members who campaigned at home on the basis of new ideas. It just takes a term or two for that new member to be just like those he criticized when he first ran for election.

Term limits will not solve all of our problems in Washington, but it will at least help tear down that wall of seniority that keeps us going down the same road all the time.

Cheers,
-Robert-

Local Taxes

Everyone is familiar with Washington's excesses with your tax dollars, but you may be surprised to learn that your local taxes are just as wasteful.

The monthly property tax assessment in some areas is nearly as large as the house payment. City and county governments continue to soak their constituents for things that give very little benefit to the taxpayer.

Chief among these sink holes for the tax dollars are light rail and sports stadiums.

Light Rail: Light rail, sold as a way to cut back on traffic and since it is electric, reduce pollution. This self-sufficient system would ease the burden of those that do not use cars, buses, or friends to get to the 'down town' area. Everybody is supposed to benefit from light rail. Two fair questions, "Has anybody seen a reduction in traffic? Do enough people ride the system to make it self sufficient?" The odds are good that the system, with all of its costs, becomes an added burden to the taxpayers. Reference the 'Bridge to Nowhere'.

Sports Stadiums: Public funding does not finance all sports stadium, but a lot are. These gems of tax largess get sold to the public in many ways. First is the threat. If a new facility is not built, then the team will go somewhere else. The team owners are a special elite bunch. In most businesses, their owners have to buy property for their business, build the business, and attract customers. But when a sports franchise owner decides he needs new digs for his team, he calls on the public to build the arena for him so he can rake in the millions from the faithful attendees. Selling the idea to the public takes some doing but a full court press is applied. First, they issue the threat of leaving town. The threat is signaled far enough in advance to condition the public that something is afoot.

Then the serious selling takes place. The new stadium is sold as a plus to everyone. The new stadium will generate a lot of business for the city. Tax revenues will increase, especially with the higher hotel taxes from those stouthearted visitors to our city.

So we build the stadium. You would think that with all of that newly generated tax revenue that your taxes would go down, - huh- are you kidding! Now you have to buy a seat license and pay a lot more to see the game or event. Wait a minute, even though new taxes are being generated, and we just voted a new tax event to pay for the new stadium, why have the ticket prices gone up? Yes, to prevent their precious team from leaving, the only thing that has changed is the total take from their pockets. The big beneficiary is the team owner. He does not have a stake in the new stadium but rakes in the benefits. The real losers are the majority that doesn't go to the events at the stadium. Their costs have risen with no benefit to them.

It is your money.

Cheers
-Robert-

Pandering Poiticians

Debating the Issues:
John McCain's desire to debate the issues is a non-starter. His stand on some issues may pass the test, but fail on others. It does not make sense to debate anything with a poor basic knowledge of the issue.

But McCain soldiers on. His comments about man-made global warming are the most stunning revelations of his ignorance. Or, he may just be pandering to that audience knowing that he needs the kooky left-wingers to vote for him. Whether the statement comes from ignorance or just a desperate plea to the loony left, it is offensive.

No one can doubt the pollution problems in the new manufacturing economies such as China and India, but it is incumbent on those economies to stop their pollution.The insatiable appetite that we Americans have for cheap foreign products only amplifies the pollution problem in these new manufacturing centers. But also let there be no doubt that the poisoning of rivers with industrial waste and sending toxins into the atmosphere do not make the case for global warming.

The link that the 'Greens' try to make with CO₂ is laughable. CO₂ may be a very minor greenhouse gas, but its connection with global warming is scientifically not there. Is it a good thing to release so much CO₂ into the atmosphere? No, but do not sell it as a national disaster either. Only a very small amount of the CO₂ increase is attributable to man's activities. The lion's share of CO₂ release is out of the control of humankind. Theoretically, if man was not on the planet, CO₂ levels would still rise and fall.

CO₂ makes up less than 1% of the gas in our atmosphere. Compare that to the amount on Mars. Mars has an atmosphere that is almost entirely CO₂, 95.3%, and yet Mars is cold. Go figure.
Make your conclusions about the sophomoric statements by McCain, by doing what he refuses to do and that is to make the effort to get information about these matters. Do not fall into the category of believing everything you hear. Politicians have this pitiful habit of lying and pandering. McCain is no exception.

Cheers,
-Robert-

Complaining Rush Limbaugh

He is beginning to sound like a cracked record that is stuck in one groove. Not just Rush, but the entire conservative talk radio crowd is griping and complaining. They do not like McCain, Nancy Pelosi has outsmarted the Republicans, Bush does not provide the leadership that they want, and they dislike Barack H. Obama.

From my perspective, all I hear is talk and no solutions from these Pied Pipers of wisdom. Obviously, the Republican Party does not want Conservatism, the Democrats choke on the word Conservative and the Republicans that we elect are trying to out Liberal the Democrats. Rush and other radio hosts are quick to tell us what is wrong, but not a hint on a course of action for conservatives to take.

There is no leadership stance from the complainers-in-chief. I believe Rush would put together a movement for a third party if he thought it would be successful. But there are questions. Does he have the gravitas to put together a third party? If he is not confident, then he will opt for the safety of just complaining. It would be a big risk; Rush would be gambling his conservative beliefs against his radio empire for the success of a third party. Would he take such a risk? Probably not, the sweet smell of the money he makes is too much for such a gamble.

The conservatives want leadership, but it seems that those with the ability to lead are too fat and happy to really be concerned.

The next 2 years will prove to be interesting. You Conservatives can just go suck an egg. Enjoy your old man who has run out of fight and left you in the lurch. Even if the moderates muster up enough votes to elect McCain, he will be one of the most feckless presidents ever. Veto proof majorities in the House and Senate will make sure the Democrat's agenda gets passed, old man McCain will have to just suck it up and live with it. I hope they have plenty of mush and other soft foods stored at the Whitehouse.

Cheers,
-Robert-

To John McCain: Age MAtters!

He may live to be 110 without being senile. We hope he does, but what we needed on the Republican ticket was a fighter. McCain may have been a fighter when he was younger, but evidently, age has pulled his desire for standing on his hind legs like a dentist
finally pulls our teeth in our senior years.

I am talking about the "fire in the belly". Age has a way of mellowing out our instincts and softens our desire to stand up to that which is disagreeable. The fact that McCain is in advanced years does bear on his responses to issues. You see it in his solutions to problems. His milk-toast responses and caving in to liberal solutions clearly mark McCain as an old man who has lost the fire to fight for an idea.

He straddles the fence enough to call into question about whether or not he has a core-belief or not. He can be conservative in one instance, and then go 180 degrees in another. Where is his core? One side is OK, while the other side is afraid to take a stand for fear that some of the moderates or liberals may not vote for him. The fear of losing hangs heavy on McCain. Trying to please both sides does nothing but piss off voters. He needs to take a stand, but it is just not in him. Old age has him in its grasp. It is going to be a bad year for the Republicans.

Cheers,

-Robert-

Torn Democrats

Hillary's win in West Virginia was not unexpected. But the exit polls were a real shocker. The exit polls brought the reality of Obama's weakness.
Obama's star is starting to fade. The once brightly shining star now elicits distrust about his character, his allegiance, and his racism.

Barack H. Obama may win the delegates for the nomination. But with a growing distrust by Americans of him, those super-delegates will probably not crown him with that nomination. The super-delegates will hedge their bets and offer Obama the second spot on an Al Gore ticket. Why? Simple, Gore is electable. His negatives are much lower than either Obama or Hillary. He appears to the international community as a planet savior because of his green stance.

Yes, these are difficult times for the Democrats. But they do not want to lose the upcoming election. They know that by letting either Hillary or Obama head up the ticket, that it would amount to a gift to the Republicans.

I will concede this about Hillary. She is a scrapper. I really admire her pluck in this world of so many milk-toast politicians. If she was only a conservative - sigh! Precisely because of her strong stance about staying in the race, it will have the result of not having blood spilled in Colorado when Obama is not crowned. Her stick to it attitude gives America more time to really look at the real Obama. Even the Black population will have to admit that Obama does not have a chance in the general election. Once they understand that, then they will accept his place as second on the Democratic ticket.

Hang in there Hillary!
Cheers,
-Robert-

Charles Barkley Quote

Charles Barkley is brilliant at times. I received this quote by him and wanted to pass it on.

"Poor people have been voting for Democrats for the last 50 years,
.............and they are still poor."

Enough said. Brevity is the soul of wit.

Cheers,
-Robert-

For the Cat Lovers

A cat owner's dilemma. You get them and they are young and cute. Their upkeep is cheap enough, and if you live where I live, you get a bonus because they are excellent varmint killers. As the cat gets older, the food bill increases.

My adult cat consumes 3-3oz. cans of cat food per day. That amounts to $1.30 per day or $9.10 per week.
Do not get the wrong impression, the cost of the cat food is not the problem, it is just a manifestation of one of the
problems of cat ownership. Let me start at the beginning.

12 years ago, this cat came to the house. You could tell that the cat was not accustomed to human handling, so we respected that and did not try to manhandle her. She would very seldom eat what we gave her because she caught most of what she ate. Sometimes she even brought a bird or a mouse and laid it on the front step. She would make a fuss about it until we could see what she had done. Usually we would give her a neck scruff and she would give us a leg rub.

But time has taken its toll on our old pussycat. Her fur is bedraggled, she has two broken teeth, and she does not roam at night as she used to. She can no longer eat the dry food and eats only what we provide now. No longer a huntress prowling about for an opportune meal, she very patiently waits for her feedings. Her once aloof attitude has softened a lot and seems to want more attention from us than in the past.

Other cats in the neighborhood come and steal her food if we aren't watching out for her and sometimes we stand guard while she eats just to make sure the other cats do not get her food. She is no longer able to protect herself and is wary about any movement. We think that her sight is impaired because she doesn't relax until we call out to her. Once she hears us speak, she returns to her docile, relaxed self.

We have discussed taking her to the vet and have her put to sleep, but neither my wife nor me want to make that trip. We don't know how old she was when she came to us, so we don't have a clue of how old she is. She was a grown cat when she came to us.

Do any of you have a similar story about a cat? If so please share your comments with us.

Cheers,
-Robert-

Nurturing Freedom

Whether they are in grade school, middle school, high school, or college, they are 'students'. Students are students because they are in a structured environment for learning. The future of this nation depends on students to learn and mature. At every graduation ceremony, you will hear the phrase "You are the future". These are not idle words. Those words express a reality which is undeniable.

Lately however, our students have interpreted 'the future' to mean now. It is natural for a student to question their elders on the way that certain problems get resolved. The inequity of wealth distribution is an issue that students insist on solving.

If the idealists ever gain the power to pass laws redistributing the nations wealth to the poor. They would learn one of the lessons that they do not teach in school. For starters, the entire premise of equal wealth distribution is fatally flawed. Most recipients of unearned wealth do not benefit from having it and for most of the poor in the United States, being poor is a personal choice not a chance dealing of the cards. For instance, family "A" receives money from the government, according to the wealth redistribution plan.

We can say with certain reliability from observing the winners of the lotteries that the first things that will happen is that Family "A" will start purchasing things that they were never able to obtain without that money. A new car, a Plasma TV, a big house, a boat, and even quit their jobs. But the money is soon spent. Family ties strain to the breaking point because related family "B" members think that family "A" should share that money since family "B" have already spent their money. Very few will invest and save. The sad thing about unearned wealth is that it is unappreciated.

The idealists are well meaning. Their efforts to have everybody enjoy some of the worlds bounty was one of those well-intentioned efforts. But they could see that the poor were using the money irresponsibly. And, instead of being grateful for their new bounty, the ex-poor demanded more. It became an impossible pit to fill. The solution was to stop the redistribution of unearned wealth. But the idealists really believe that they can make the world a better place. To make redistribution work, they attach strings to its use. The wealth redistribution advocates had to either take control over how the recipients spend the money or face riots from the people that they were trying to help. Every string attached to that money, erodes freedom. The ex-poor will no longer have the freedom of choice about their life and those who had their money taken for the redistribution plan lost their freedom of choice. When people can no longer use money as they see fit, they lose some of their precious freedom. The value of having money is to be able to use it to trade for something. When others dictate what you use money for, then what good is it? But from the idealist point of view, they want everybody to be happy. To them, making everybody equal monetarily equals a balanced world. Our students are immature and idealistic but they are not alone. A lot of adults also share this simplistic view of the world. We all go through stages of idealism on our path to maturity. But some never get past the idyllic dream of Utopia.

The power wielding elites of our society want your support so they can maintain their power. They play on the hopes and desires of people with the promise of fulfilling their dreams. Better jobs, no more wars, no more pollution, and government backed medical care - all of the usual carrots dangle in front of the voter at election time. But just as in unrequited love, the promises go unfulfilled.

The young idealists make perfect targets for unscrupulous politicians. The idealists hope for a Utopia that can never be but willingly follow a politician who sings the wooing songs of building a Utopia. But do not sell these wayward youths short, these idealists do have power. Their power is in their numbers, they hold your freedom in the balance trying to make a Utopian dream come true. More and more of our young believe that the heavy hand of government is the only vehicle that can solve problems. You can do your part to help the situation by supporting a balanced curriculum in our colleges, or things will continue to get worse.

Cheers,
-Robert-

Gore to the Rescue!

As unlikely as it sounds, Al Gore could actually wind up being the top of the Democrats ticket this fall. Even though
Al Gore has repeatedly said, he is not a candidate for the Dem's nomination; circumstances could very well put him in the driver's seat.

How could it happen? Sooner or later, it will dawn on the Democrats that Obama is a damaged and unelectable candidate against McCain. What works for him in the primaries, namely the race issue, works against him in the main fall election. No matter how strong his support from the Black community, there is not enough of them to elect him.

Obama's negatives have been on the rise ever since the Reverend Wright affair and there is more to come out about his relation with domestic terrorist William Ayers. Barack Obama has had a knack for surrounding himself with extremists over the years. Although nobody can peer into the heart of a man, the company a man keeps speaks volumes about that person. The Reverend Wright has proven himself a racist by his own words. Barack attended the million-man march sponsored by the Nation of Islam leader, Minister Louis Farrakhan. Barack also attended a Moslem school in Indonesia as a youth. Why is the Moslem school important? Because it begs the question, how much of that environment still lurks within Barack?

A lot of circumstance reinforces the doubts about Barack Obama. His refusal to wear the American flag lapel pin and his wife's statements about how bad this country is all point to a man that has been less than candid with the American people about who he really is. These issues will be exploited a lot more in the upcoming Presidential race.

It is hard to see how Barack Obama can survive the questions about his patriotism and win the election. However, there is another option. Obama can release all of his delegates to Gore. Gore would then choose Barack for the second spot on the ticket. Gore, a rock star among the Liberals was just narrowly defeated in the Electoral College in 2000 although he won the popular vote.

By accepting the number 2 spot on the ticket, Obama would have the opportunity to shed those negatives that surround him. The Vice President's position would give Barack the necessary platform to demonstrate that he is a loyal mainstream American and not an extremist in disguise. If all goes well for him, he would be in the driver's seat following a Gore Presidency.

Hilary's negatives are also too high to beat McCain and there is nowhere for her to go. She would be an unlikely choice by the Democratic Party even if things go bad for Barack before the convention in Denver. Gore is the only candidate with the gravitas to beat McCain. Look for Gore to emerge as the candidate for the Democrats..

Cheers,
-Robert-

Obama the Salt Salesman

It is clear that Obama has kindled a fire with the young voters of America. It was the young and the Black vote that enabled Obama to ride to a 14-point victory in North Carolina yesterday. He has managed to sell our young and idealistic youth on his vision of change. Blacks see him as the first Black candidate to have a chance to win the Presidency, and Obama captured 92% of their vote. Blacks turned out in record numbers to support Obama.

With the Blacks voting only for skin color, and the young White population mesmerized by his rhetoric, Obama is assured the Democratic nomination unless something drastic happens. In my search for an analogy to Barack Obama to spotlight his conquest of these groups, I thought of Ron Popeil the inventor of the Veg-O-Matic. Ron has been mesmerizing T.V. audiences for years selling different products from kitchen knives to the "Set it and forget it" rotisserie oven. But Ron Popeil is not the analogy that fits Obama. At least Ron Popeil, being a talented salesman, sells things that are useful. Then I remembered the old 'Salt Salesman' joke. Obama's ability to sell to the idealistic young and capture the almost 100% loyalty of the Black population can only be attributed to his talents as a salesman. The old Joke goes like this:

A man goes to the grocery store to buy a bottle of Ketchup.
Searching through the store, he finds nothing but salt. There was rock salt, block salt, ice-cream salt, and seasoned salt. The store shelves were packed with every kind of salt made. But he could not find any Ketchup or other groceries.

He walks up to the storeowner and inquires if this is a grocery store or a salt store. The storeowner proclaims it to be a grocery store and asks what the man needed. "A bottle of Ketchup please." said the man.

The storeowner opens up a cellar door and quickly retrieves a bottle of Ketchup. After thanking the store owner for the help, the man commented to the store owner, "You must sell a lot of salt!" to which the store owner replied, "No, I don't sell hardly any salt, but the fellow who sells me salt, really sells the salt!"

The moral here is that Obama has nothing useful to sell, but he sure does a good job selling it.

Cheers,
-Robert-

Computer Gaming

Computer Gaming:
The computer games of today are rich in realistic graphics and sound. In fact, the wow factor is as important as the
game. The visual eye candy and surround-sound separate the games of today from the games of yesterday.

The home computer games of the early eighties were text games. There were a lot of logical puzzles to figure out and
the games were interesting. Just to test out how interesting the old text games were, I fired up my trusty old TRS-80
and played 'Zork'. It was still fun and challenging. The prose was matter of fact. - "You are standing in the bottom of
a small ravine. There is a narrow crooked trail going west and a ladder leaning against the north edge of the ravine.
There is a small creek here."- Every frame of the old text game forced you to make a decision. Do you follow the
trail? Do you climb the ladder? Do you check your inventory for a container to get some of the water? There used to be no limit to what you could carry in your inventory and the general rule was that you picked up everything possible. Most of us who played these games resorted to drawing maps to keep up with our location. It was easy to get lost.

The next generation of games was the cartoon-animated games like "Kings Quest". The hero moved about the whole frame and the scene did not change unless he walked to the edge of the frame and that brought up another scene to runaround in. The game play with these was essentially the same as the text games except you could see the surroundings. You had to type in the action for your hero to take. -"Look under rock." Or "Talk to gnome." You controlled the hero's movements with a joystick if you had one or you could use the arrow keys. Depending on your computer, sound could be pretty basic. Sound cards were just beginning to proliferate and so some of the computers of that day included rudimentary sound. My Tandy 1000 had a 4-voice ability and compared with the TRS-80, it was great. The best you could get on the TRS-80 Model I was squeaks and squawks but at the time even squeaks and squawks enhanced the games you played.

Then came "Wolfenstein 3-D". That game was a marvel to play. It had simulated voices and your character stayed in the center of the screen. You looked through your characters eyes. It was great wandering through the prison and Nazi headquarters killing bad guys as you went. The game was fun, and a forerunner for the games that followed. 320 by 200 graphics does not sound like much, but at the time, it was sufficient.

It is my firm belief that some of the old games were better than the new ones. If they reissued some of those old games with up to date graphics and sound, they would probably do well. I also liked the translators so that you could ask questions and tell you hero what to do. I know that you can make the hero do most things with the game controller, but the dialogue between you and your hero via the keyboard made the game more personal and interesting.

Cheers,
-Robert-Link to Serial It is updated weekly.

Obama's Quest for more Dependence

Losing Our Self Reliance:
I just got sick listening to Barack Obama in a speech that was carried by Fox News on Sunday night. It was not that he pointed out all of the ills of the United States, or that he made his getting an education paid for by the government a model for everyone, no, what made me ill was that he really believes that regardless of an individual's effort, the government should play the part of mama to everyone.

Obama railed about losing good jobs here in America, but never a word about the liberals taxing our manufacturers into oblivion. He never spoke about the demands from labor unions that bear some of the responsibility for losing so many domestic jobs. He never once said anything about our shortage of domestic energy because a few liberal green activists are Hell bent on pushing us back into a 12th century world. He never once spoke about the fabricated global warming hoax that will cause us to lose more of our good jobs. The jobs will not disappear, they will just move to different countries where those companies can exist.

Health Care: Please bear with me on this. I am insured and have two doctors that I routinely visit. The first is a general practitioner for ordinary health care. The second is a heart specialist for containing the damage from a-fib episodes and their prevention. Besides the monthly premiums for my wife and me, I pay an annual deductible and a small fee per office visit. But guess what? The doctors are so busy, just to make an appointment you have to get it at least a week in advance. (If you are lucky.) Try and find a doctor with a European name. Apparently, the American young are not studying to be doctors. The bottom line here; what kind of health care can we expect with socialized medicine? Even now, whenever I have an episode that cannot wait a week for an appointment, it is off to the Emergency Room. It is so crowded with Illegal Immigrants that the wait is sometimes up to 4-6 hours. The fact that I am insured does not mean a whit in the Emergency Room. The State requires Emergency Rooms to treat everybody regardless of their ability to pay. When Obama speaks so glowing of giving everybody health care, all I can do is wonder where are all the doctors going to come from? More Charity Hospitals would help if the public would finance them. But still the question I have is where are all the doctors going to come from? I know that I could not be a doctor. Doctors are special people that are married to their profession. They make good money, but they also sacrifice a lot of their freedoms to help their fellow man.

Obama mentioned the plight of some poor people he met without jobs and had an inability to pay for the gas to go find a job. Then he railed against the Oil companies for the high price of fuel. What he neglected to say was that his party is preventing us from having nuclear power. He failed to say that his party is preventing exploration for domestic supplies of energy. He did call for a windfall profits tax on the oil companies. It is the absolute stupidity and pandering to the ignorant among us that made me sick. I finally changed the channel and found a movie on T.V., 'Star Wars'.

Cheers,
-Robert-

Senator Clintons Amazing Interview

In an astounding interview with Bill O'Reilly, Senator Clinton provided a good look at what to expect in a Clinton Presidency. Among the stands she would take would be to send illegal aliens home only if they committed a crime. She would not go after the 'sanctuary cities' because the Illegals would cooperate better with the police if they knew they were protected from deportation.

A lot of people hold that view, the main problem with it is that the 'sanctuary cities' will not allow their police to even find out the citizenship of the people they arrest. One would have to assume that these cities would remain a magnet for Illegals. Never mind the pressure on the local workforce to compete with people who will work for less along with the burden of paying for their health care and education. When does this nonsense stop?

One of her other points was that she would start a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. She claimed that we have already won, that we ousted Sadam and established a Democracy for the Iraqi people. No matter the turmoil in Iraq, she does not see any military solution to any of the problems there.

Military Solution: Pulling out our troops would be the fastest way to guarantee a 'military solution'. Once a power vacuum is created, there is one thing you can bet on; a military solution. If the Iraqi Government is not strong enough to maintain itself, then either Al Qaeda or Iran will happily overrun Iraq and use it as a springboard to further their radical agenda. If that happens, the genocide that will accompany their 'military solution' will be on our hands just as it was in Cambodia when we left Viet Nam. It will be hard to wash the blood off our hands if we leave Iraq prematurely.

The following is a partial quote about the 'military solution' that happened after we left Viet Nam.

Quote provided by -- http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/pol-pot.htm

Follow the link to read the full article!

"By 1975, the U.S. had withdrawn its troops from Vietnam. Cambodia's government, plagued by corruption and incompetence, also lost its American military support. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army, consisting of teenage peasant guerrillas, marched into Phnom Penh and on April 17 effectively seized control of Cambodia.

Once in power, Pol Pot began a radical experiment to create an agrarian utopia inspired in part by Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution which he had witnessed first-hand during a visit to Communist China"

The result of this 'military solution' after we pulled our forces out: 2,000,000 dead. That's two-million souls lost because of our untimely retreat.

Hillary's position would doom thousands in Iraq and perhaps millions in the Middle East. Everyone should see the interview of Hillary Clinton by Bill O'Reilly. The interview, both video and transcript is posted on the Fox News' web site. Hopefully it will stay there a few days or they will archive it for posterity.

Cheers,
-Robert-

So - So McCain

Being a conservative, I find it hard to get excited about the nomination of John McCain. But the realities of the upcoming election make it easier to understand why we need a nominee just like McCain.

If the Republican Party had nominated an ideologue conservative, we would not have a chance to advance in any category. The prospect of the Democrats getting a filibuster proof congress is high. They would have been able to impose their agenda with or without the approval of a conservative President. The only weapon that the president has is the veto option. That option would be feckless with a 60+ member Democratic Senate plus the rino (Republican in name only) Republicans.

McCain is a moderate on a lot of issues, and that bodes well for him in dealing with a Liberal congress. McCain may not win on all issues, but he and the Democrats see a lot of issues through a similar lens. This puts McCain in a position to be able to influence and possibly prevent a lot of Liberal social tinkering. A strict Conservative would be at loggerheads with Congress on all issues resulting in constant turmoil.

As I said, I am not enthusiastic about McCain. I just understand why his nomination is logical at this point in history. I will vote for him, but will not support his candidacy with any money. Call me hard headed but I blame McCain a lot for of the situation that the Republicans are in today. A constant critic of Bush, he became the darling of the liberal left. He only gets my vote because of the two extremely liberal Democratic candidates and the prospect of an overwhelming Democratic Congress.

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Cheers,
-Robert-