Uncommon Sense

You have to be insane to want to be sane in America these days. I feel like Bob Newhart in any of his two shows where he was the sane character surrounded by nuts who thought he was crazy.

I cannot rent a power tool, check out a library book, or buy alcohol without identification. Yet, I can walk into a voting precinct say I “this is me” and have an opportunity to vote for people to run a nation.

Children cannot take aspirin in school with the expressed written consent of their parents who must supervise the intake. Yet, the school nurse can dispense condoms to them and not tell the parents because “it’s a private matter.”

Local municipalities can install traffic cameras and send tickets to speeders and traffic light runners in the mail. Yet, no one thinks about putting cameras on our borders and tracking down illegal aliens. Oh, I’m sorry, I meant undocumented immigrants AKA criminals.

I need to get three permits to put a shed on my property yet illegal immigrants roam our countryside, get paid by our government in the currency of welfare and vote illegally for the people that run our nation.

Would you lend money to people who hate you and then forgive their loan while members of your own family have no home or food? Our government does! Would you then lecture your friends about people starving in foreign lands while neglecting those in your home? Our Government does!

You have a legal right to smoke but are bombarded by Holier-Than-Thou PSA’s showing you grotesque pictures of dying cancer patients. It’s illegal to smoke Marijuana but there is a movement afoot to convince anyone who will listen that smoking Marijuana is harmless. Isn’t smoking one plant leaf the same as smoking another in terms of health?

I can buy two, 16 ounce sodas in New York City but not one, 24 ounce soda because former Mayor Michael Bloomberg deemed 24 ounces of soda is bad for you. I guess math is not his strong suit.

The Government can intrude on our lives with the silliest of mandates and allow illegal immigrants to intrude on our country. Yet, if someone intrudes in our home we can justifiably kill him.

The government is against the Death Penalty but for Abortion. It goes to war to bring peace. It showers illegal immigrants with benefits but ignores our military veterans. It increases spending to try and reduce its debt. Being consistent or logical is not its strength.

Like Newhart, I have a good idea of who is nuts.

A friend at work called me up to rant about our company’s insatiable lust for increased processes. I told her I have a new process for accepting calls of rant. She needed to fill out a 121-question questionnaire followed by six essays on the purpose of her rant. She then must pay a fee and can only speak for the last 10 minutes of the call.

There is a waiting list for the pool club where my I am a member. I have sponsored six families who are willing to pay an additional fee to expedite the process. There is a chance they will be members in five years. Families from neighboring towns climb the fence and partake in our daily pleasures. No one minds because the towns they come from are worse than our town and the families just want better pool water. What’s the harm?

I decided not to cut my grass because I’m a pacifist. In fact, I am trying to ban all lawn mowers because lawn mowers kill grass.

Two of my neighbors are fighting with each other. The argument stems around one neighbor erecting a tree house in the other neighbor’s yard. He simply took his land. The first neighbor asked me to intervene so I told them I am not going to have a party at my house that I was planning until they make nice. I do not like throwing my weight around like that but someone had to take a stand.

I bought a car for $40,000. My wife was angry that I would waste so much money on a vehicle. I told her I was going to buy a $60,000 car so I saved the family $20,000.

I got into a fight with a co-worker because I took his lunch out of the fridge and ate it yesterday. The argument became so heated I went to HR to complain. I filed a grievance against him for leaving his food in my line of sight and enticing me to eat it. They fired him today.

I helped my son with his fundraiser for school. I asked all my rich friends to pay twice and attributed half of their donations to my poor friends.

I am bombarded by public service announcements featuring dying smokers bestowing the virtue of not taking up the habit. Meanwhile, I’m celebrated every time I light up a joint!

I am an avid gardener and have a great spot on my property to grow a garden. Unfortunately, I spotted an owl in the tree and decided to build my garden on the patio but will end up buying my vegetables at an overpriced Farmer’s Market.

I took a mule down into the Grand Canyon the other day. Unfortunately, I had beans the night before and the inevitable release occurred as I was bounced around by the mule. My wife scolded me for altering the atmosphere of the Grand Canyon with my emissions.

If all these scenarios seem ridiculous why do we accept similar ones from our government?

In my previous post I spoke about the necessity for getting up off our collected duffs and taking action – not waiting for someone else to do it for us.  After witnessing fraud and abuse during the 2010 Texas elections, Catherine Engelbrecht founded a group called True the Vote.

She lived in anonymity her entire life but once she started the group she became a government target.  What she describes to the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs in this seven minute video should make all Americans cringe.

I’m sure the Liberal Media will attack her character, “find” hidden agendas in her past, and portray her as just another right wing nut.  You judge for yourself.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=589797007761126

Anyone with teenagers confronts the daily incursions into the self-centered apocalypse they display.  Teenagers will walk past a laundry basket full of clean clothes on the stairway to their bedrooms.  Rather than carry the basket upstairs, most teenagers just take the clothes they need from the basket and go on their merry way content in the knowledge someone else will carry the basket upstairs.

Adults are no better.  Husbands routinely ignore the mountain of dirty dishes in the kitchen sink confident their wives will either clean them or fill the dishwasher.  For their part, wives seemingly have the inability to understand the operation of a snow shovel and rely on the husbands to take the snow removal challenge.

It does not matter how many crying Indians we see on PSAs, how many of us pass litter without picking it up?  We ignore overflowing trashcans in our homes in hopes some other family member will take it to the curbside can.

We have become a nation of people who wait for someone else to take action.  This leads to the inevitable resentment.  Parents who continually ask their children to pitch in around the house to no avail do a slow burn as they taxi their children from their events.  The resentment builds as the children expect the parents to drop whatever they are doing to cater to their transportation needs.

Wives begrudge their husbands sitting in front of the TV watching sports as they clean the kitchen, do the laundry, or clean the house.  Meanwhile, husbands bemoan their better halves for sitting in a warm home sipping tea as they toss another shovel full of snow on the growing pile.

If this resentment builds within a family unit, is it any wonder it manifests with people we do not even know?  We live in a nation that is moving away from personal responsibility and accountability and speeding towards victimization and dependence.  The Federal Government feeds on this trend and wants to enslave us.

A re-distribution of wealth approach in any society will eventually lead to the givers resenting the takers.  This does not to mean that all takers are evil or lazy because everyone needs help at one point in life.  However, those in the Federal Government do not want the citizens off the dole because it reduces their power.

The takers who do not aspire to become a giver are the downfall of the nation.  This is true for any nation, not just America.  There is only one way to get America back on track.  We need to elect officials that want to turn takers into givers.  I know the Liberal approach is not the right choice for this concept.  In theory, the Conservative philosophy espouses self-reliance and accountability but there are too many Republicans masquerading as Conservatives to be truly sure who is who in that zoo.

I suggest we forget the party labels and look for the people who subscribe to this theory.  The first step is not to wait for someone else to do it for you.

I decided to be compassionate and help the students in a local school.  I went online and found the answer key to all their tests.  Now, they do not have to worry about failing and everyone in their grade will get 100.  Equality achieved!

Of course, you know as well as I that I did them no favors.  They did not learn anything but think they did.  On the bright side, since the school is a diverse melting pot of nationalities, religions and possibly transgender people, Jesse Jackson won’t call me a racist!

Why do we consider preventing students to earn a grade wrong but preventing adults to earn a living right?  Everyone needs temporary help at one point in their life but enslaving them to a culture of dependence for a lifetime is dastardly.

I next decided to leave my front door unlocked and alarm off every time I leave the house.  This way a criminal will not hurt him or herself breaking into my house.  The genius of this plan is avoiding a lawsuit should they hurt themselves breaking into my house.

This is a silly idea but we accept it for our borders so what the heck.  Plus, I can feel good about myself because the burglar was only trying to make a better life for him or herself.  I am simply employing what passes for logic in those who favor rewarding illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship.

Why is it considered bad to enter a house illegally but acceptable to enter the country illegally?  The mainstream media portrays those who favor amnesty as compassionate but their motives are votes.  The irony is the never-ending welfare cycle imprisons the immigrants.  They replaced the tyranny of dictatorship for the tyranny of a lost soul.

I had a major project due at work but failed to deliver it on time.  I asked my boss for a participation ribbon but he did not seem too happy with me.  Are we preparing our children for life by pretending the facts of life do not exist?  We can protect our children for only so long before they realize reality and lose faith in us.

I brown bag my lunch because the company cafeteria only serves food it feels is good for me.  Although I appreciate the concern for my growing midsection, it is my body and subject to my decisions.  Where have I heard that defense before?  If the government sanctions freedom for one body issue, it should for all.

The media portrays Liberals as progressive yet more often than not display disdain for anything contrary to their way of thinking.  The media also portrays Liberals as compassionate but how is taking away freedom of choice compassionate.

I think there are Liberals who have good intentions but the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.  Creating laws that remove freedom of choice is not compassionate – it’s controlling.  Creating an environment where people fear speaking their minds or risk the label bigot, chauvinist, or Neanderthal is not progressive.  It is regressive and ends dialog.

I question whether Liberals make laws to gain control of our lives or improve them.  I know an environment devoid of open dialog is not American.

The Chinese proverb states “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day.  Teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime.”  It seems to me the consequence of the Liberal mindset is to prevent self-reliance.  I find that notion evil.   I have yet to find any Liberal to logically explain why the Liberal mindset is better than most.  They mostly rely on emotional arguments that do not prove that thinking will move our country forward.

Who needs comedies on TV when you have the follies in Congress?  You cannot make this stuff up and I wonder if politicians realize how absurd they sound every time they open their mouths.

At a hearing on the IRS targeting scandal, Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., cut off Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings’ microphone.  Issa adjourned the meeting after Lois Lerner, who headed the IRS and is in the center of the scandal, invoked her Fifth Amendment rights rather than answer a series of questions.

However, Cummings continued to speak so Issa shut off his microphone.  That led to more stupidity.  Issa is white and Cummings is Black so of course Jesse Jackson, desperately trying to remain relevant, called Issa’s actions “crude, wrong, racist and mean.”  Racist? Really?  Jackson has never met an innocuous incident he couldn’t deem racist and has been using the same shtick is whole career so I’m not surprised.

But here is the real fun.  Democrats tried to strip Issa of his chairmanship but that attempt was voted down.  However, not before Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, had called Issa’s behavior “offensive and disrespectful and a disgrace.”

In asking for Issa’s head, Fudge said “Congressman Darrell Issa of California abused his authority and therefore must be reprimanded to ensure the dignity of the House of Representatives is preserved.”

OK a few points on this.  First and foremost, I agree with her that Issa was disrespectful.  Politicians need to learn how to play nice with each other.  However, saying he “abused his authority” is laughable when the President abuses his power every day and not a single Democrat says a word.  Consistency would help if you want us to take you seriously Congresswoman Fudge!

I’m still laughing about her assertion to “ensure the dignity of the House of Representatives is preserved.”  Is she watching the same congress the rest of America witnesses?  There is no dignity in this group – just a bunch of crooks with law degrees. I guess you can make a case for honor among thieves but that pre-supposes the congressional representatives understand the term honor.  Their only saving grace is the Senate is worse.

Issa shut down the committee hearing on Wednesday when the IRS official at the center of the scandal involving targeting of conservative groups, Lois Lerner, again invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked a series of questions.

And finally we get to the scorned victim of purported racism. As his microphone went off Cummings shouted “You cannot just have a one-sided investigation there is absolutely something wrong with that. That is absolutely un-American.”

Un-American?  Oh, you mean like having the IRS target organizations with a different political philosophy than the party in power and thwarting their efforts to participate in the election process and thereby assuring a win for the worst president this side of Jimmy Carter?

You see now that is Un-American but I do not recall Cummings saying anything about that issue.  It must have been an oversight.  Not to be out done Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz compared cutting the microphone to oppression in Venezuela and Ukraine.  That statement is so ridiculous I won’t even try to respond.

So, let me get this straight.  Lerner pleads the Fifth and cuts off all communication with the committee but her actions are not racist, crude, disrespectful, Un-American or akin to a dictator expanding his empire.  She has every right to plead the Fifth because it is a right all Americans have thanks to our Constitution and we need to respect that right.

Issa turns off a colleague’s microphone and adjourns a meeting making him a rude, crude, Un-American, disrespectful and power hungry madman with delusions of invading a small nation on a whim.

Lost in the rhetoric is the fact a member of the Obama Administration did abuse power and targeted the opposition. With Lerner pleading the Fifth I am left to presume the answers and it seems obvious to me what transpired.   Every member of the House of Representatives should be representing us Americans and demanding answers.

By Michael Lordi

I’m a survivor of the Catholic education system.  Not one of those short-timers sentenced to a year or two in grammar school; no, I was a lifer, all in – grammar, high school, university (Seton Hall).  Through all the Catechism, plodding through the writings of Thomas Merton, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and a convention others whose tomes haunt my dreams, I always wondered why Jesus chose to begin life as an itinerant woodworker in the most backwater place in the Roman Empire.

How different, how stress-free and bloodless his impact would be had he lived today and used social media to spread his Gospel rather than depend on the second-hand recounts of followers or the foggy recollections of an elderly St. John.  What if, instead, the Son of God chose to speak, on a global scale, directly to every living person on earth with whom he had the digital ability to connect?

What would Jesus tweet?

I wonder how some of the Gospel passages would translate in Twitter?  For example:

The Wedding at Canaan:

Meshugganah Messiah: Cousin’s wedding reception is lame.  Band’s playing too much #Sophocles.  Cash Bar, too.

Meshugganah Messiah: @Mother asked me to make a wine run.  Says caterer’s in a jam.  Told her no because it is not yet my time.  Back to party.

Meshugganah Messiah: Note to self:  Don’t piss off mom.  Had to think fast.  Conjured solution that didn’t require wine run.  Hope I didn’t blow cover.

Or this on the first disciples: 

Meshugganah Messiah: Cruising boardwalk at #SeaofGalilee and met a fisherman named @Simon who likes to fish nude.

Meshugganah Messiah: He says day was a bust and had nets in knots.  Hopped in his skiff and said let’s row further out to mellow.

Meshugganah Messiah:  Rowed (he did, not me) half-mile out.  Reception down to one bar; hope you get this.

Meshugganah Messiah : Negative vibes from fisherman.  Told him to drop nets here.  He says “No fish, no way, no how.”  Stared him down.  He did it.

Meshugganah Messiah: Up to our family jewels in mackerel.  Any more and we’ll capsize.  Believe now, sucka?

Meshugganah Messiah: Rowing back to shore (he is, not me).  Told @Simon to put on pants or sunburn will crimp his sex life.  He doesn’t get it.  LOL!

Meshugganah Messiah: Back on land.  @Simon yells to cousins and other fishermen.  They want to follow, too.  Hey — Got me a posse!

Or this on the Sermon on the Mount:

Meshugganah Messiah: Check out the crowd!  Kudos to @John and the advance team for promotion.  Should give them a raise.  Maybe not.

Meshugganah Messiah: @Andrew tells me concessions, CDs and T-shirts still at the warehouse in Nazareth.  Teamsters want more mileage reimbursement for camels.  Unions!

Meshugganah Messiah: Just three smoked herrings, two loaves unseeded rye and uneaten half of @Matthew’s bialy to feed crowd.  Taking matters in my own hands.

Meshugganah Messiah: Oh great!  I feed a multitude of five thousand with only scraps and is anybody impressed?

Meshugganah Messiah: Cousin Rachel asked me to do “fish trick” again at her five-year-old’s birthday party along with the wine thing and any card tricks.

Meshugganah Messiah: Five-year old wants to know if I can make balloon animals too.

Or this on the growth of his ministry:

Meshugganah Messiah: Building street cred with #Romans.  Several asked me to supper.  Say they’ll make me an offer I can’t refuse.  Italians!

Meshugganah Messiah: Quick, anybody . . . What’s calamari?

Meshugganah Messiah: #Centurian quietly asks if I could heal sick servant.  Says no need to come to house, just say he’s healed and it’s so.  Boss!

Meshugganah Messiah: Wait!  Me to #Centurian:  “Do you not want me to your house because I’m #Jewish?”

Meshugganah Messiah: He says, “Not hard to know you’re #Jewish.  You’re 33-years old, live at home, and your mother thinks you’re God.”

On the Ascension: 

Meshugganah Messiah: Time to go.  Gave troops a pep talk.  Turning off BB for good.

Meshugganah Messiah: Teased Simon about the day on his boat and gave him a new handle . . . @Peter.  He doesn’t get it.  ROFL!

The march against religious freedom continues.  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would have defended the right of businesses to deny services to people based on religious beliefs.  Ostensibly the law was portrayed as simply denying services for homosexuals but that is not the case.

Regardless, it is another example of the Obama Administration imposing its social will on us.  Personally, I think it’s stupid we even have to delineate such matters. In business, I  do not care where I gain my revenue providing I am gaining revenue.  A gay person’s dollar bill is as green as a heterosexual so I don’t care.

However, there are people who are sincere in their religious beliefs and they should have the right to practice what they preach.  Religious hospitals are already assaulted by Obamacare forcing them to pay for abortions despite their conscientious objection.  If a bakery is owned by a devout Catholic who does not want to make a wedding cake for a gay marriage they should have that right to refuse the job.

I may be naïve cynic but I cannot imagine this is a burgeoning problem in a down economy.  How many business owners ask for their customers’ sexual preference before providing a service?  Typically, they say thanks that will be $X.

Much like the Liberals are forever guilty of making a mountain of a molehill issue, I suspect the Conservatives are doing the same in this case.  However, let’s play “Let’s Pretend.”  Are you comfortable with a government telling you what you can and cannot accept?  The government determines people need to be pro-choice and it must prevent anyone from being pro-life.  And we accept it.

The government wants to dictate what news we can watch or read. And we accept it.  The government tells attorneys general they do not have to enforce their state’s constitutional law if they think the law is discriminatory. And we accept it.

Have you ever stopped to think the government is discriminating against certain citizens?

Ever get the feeling we live in Bizarro World?  Attorney General Eric Holder told state attorneys general they do not have to defend their state’s constitutional laws if they find discriminatory.

Isn’t the attorney general’s job to uphold the law?  If he disagrees with a law he should take the proper steps to change them versus encouraging law breaking activity.  But what do you expect from an administration that thumbs its nose at the Constitution.

Much like the example President Obama sets, Holder is selective in what laws he feels are OK to break.  He made the comments at the National Association of Attorneys General regarding state bans on gay marriage.  He did say such cases should be “exceedingly rare” but said legal challenges to gay marriage bans would qualify as such a circumstance.

To begin with, no law enforcement official should ever encourage anything other than upholding the law.  Secondly, the Federal Government needs to keep its nose out of the states’ business.  Any Civics 101 course explains the separation of federal and state governments and I suggest Holder should enroll in a class.

Finally, a state’s constitutional law is typically voted in by the legislatures and carved through numerous committee meetings and encompass a large number of people.  To allow a person’s personal preferences or political pressure to determine the fate of a law goes against a democratic society.

President Obama rules by executive fiat so it stands to reason his minions will follow suit.  It does not make it right and another branch of government needs to check and balance.  The problem most senators and congressional representatives only check the balance in their re-election coffers.

The Obama Administration continues the assault on the Constitution and has its sights on the free press.

The FCC is launching a new study to decide, “what news the public needs to hear.” The study will “measure community members’ actual and perceived critical information needs.”  In short, the government doesn’t care what the public wants to see or read as news but wants to control what you see and read.

As part of the study, the FCC will go into newsrooms across the country and try to ascertain the “philosophy” of the newsroom.  The study, called the Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs (CIN), began in 2013 under acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon L. Clyburn.

The purpose of the study is to determine how news consumers’ gain access to “critical information” along with any negative impact from “barriers to entry” facing news producers.  The study is taking place in six markets as a sample size.

The one thing not mentioned is why the FCC needs to conduct a study.  Only our government decides to study how people access news when 24 hour news stations exist!

It’s quite simple.  I have access to the news by watching one of the 24-hour news channels, reading online newspapers, or turning on broadcast TV at the designated times of 6, 10 or 11.  How hard is this to figure out?

Most journalists say the story is not in what is said but what is not said.  I can’t imagine the logic of 24 hour news stations escape even the dimmest bulb politician.  So the question remains why does the government want to enter newsrooms and investigate?

I know this is not as exciting as reality TV, WWE or admiring the biceps of the Canadian Men’s Curling team but the ramifications can be great.  You can dismiss this as an over-reaction or hysteria but this is the part that frightens me.

The study design calls for the FCC to interview management and staff at broadcast outlets to determine how stories are selected.  Why?  The study will also evaluate “station priorities for content, production quality, and populations served, perceived station bias, perceived percent of news dedicated to each of the eight CINs, and perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.

What exactly is an underserved population?  Does the government want news stations to dedicate air time or print space to specific demographic groups?  Talk about profiling.

And the government is concerned about news bias and wants to determine if it exists.  Really?  You need a study to tell you most news media leans left and Fox News leans Right?  The answers to this survey seem obvious so why do it?

The semi-good news is the new chairman, Tom Wheeler, is retreating somewhat under pressure from a number of Congressional republicans.  A spokesperson for the FCC said the study design is under review.  The spokesperson said all the right things about the FCC not wanting to interfere with news coverage but can we really trust an Obama Administration that routinely tramples our rights?

What purpose is served by this study other than to control the news you listen to, read, or see!