Can't We Just Do the Right Thing in America?

I am reprinting this, from Robert A. Hall, an actor who plays the coroner on CSI.  He's also a Marine Vietnam War veteran.   I do think it should be required reading for every man, woman and child in the United States of America, which is why I am pasting it here:

"I'm 63 and I'm Tired"
by Robert A. Hall

I'm 63.  Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked hard since I was 18.   Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years.   I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my  job or my income, and I worked to get where I am.  Given the  economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired.  Very tired.

I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic.  I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.

I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes."   Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help.   But if they bought Mc Mansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.

I'm tired of being told how  bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers.  In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of    Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China   the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela .

I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because  they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls;  of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery";  of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to. 

I'm tired of being told  that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama,  when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities  (harming them the most), government contract set-asides,  tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless  children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois. 

I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation.  I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.

I'm tired of being told  that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America , while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.

I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate.  My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live.  Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough. 

I'm tired of being told  that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do.  Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off?  I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I #@*# sure think druggies chose to  take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.

I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime.  What's next?   Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"?   And, no, I'm not against Hispanics.  Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion.  I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record  and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.

I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military.  They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second  decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves.  Do bad things happen in war?  You bet.  Do our troops sometimes misbehave?  Sure.  Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are?  Not even close.  So here's the deal.  I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the  girls were Christian.  Then we'll compare notes.  British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear. 

I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption.  Read the papers; bums are bipartisan.   And I'm tired of people telling me we need  bipartisanship.  I live in Illinois , where the " Illinois   Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years.   Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet. 

I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught.  I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor.  The majority of Americans didn't have that in  1970, but we didn't know we were "poor."  The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.

I'm real tired of people who  don't take responsibility for their lives and actions.  I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.

Yes, I'm tired.  But I'm also glad to be 63.  Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making.  I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.

Robert  A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.

50 Reasons Not to Re-Elect President Obama

50 Reasons Not To Re-Elect Obama:  A QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE by Hugh Hewitt

(Note:  102 reasons not to re-elect Obama, part two of this post, is here: http://dalarhastinmywindowsill.blogspot.com/2012/03/102-reasons-not-to-re-elect-obama.html )

Team Obama hopes that side-issues (of zero credibility) will dominate election coverage, keeping the public from focusing on the president's record. Here is a quick reference guide to the disaster that has been the Obama Presidency:

 
            1. Obamacare.  Socialist medicine-- Oh, so much less freedom and worse health.
            2. The failed $850 billion stimulus.
            3. High, persistent unemployment.
            4. Gas prices.
            5. The 2012 budget's fecklessness.
            6. Massive deficits each and every year.
            7. The seizure of GM and Chrysler, the transfer of bondholder wealth to unions, and the dumping of the GM stock at a loss.
            8. Dodd-Frank.
            9. Hostility to Israel, including attack on apartment expansion and icing of Prime Minister Netanyahu in basement of White House.
            10. Failure to support Iran's Green Revolution.
            11. Failure to support Syrian revolution.
            12. The Libyan Fiasco.
             13. The incompetent handling of the Gulf Oil disaster.
            14. The unnecessary permitorium in the aftermath of the Gulf Oil disaster.
            15. The shutdown of Shell's Arctic oil exploration by EPA.
            16. The president's push for cap-and-tax in the Congress.
            17. The president's attempt to unconstitutionally impose cap-and-tax via EPA when the Congress wouldn't pass cap-and-tax.
            18. The president's push for unconstitutional restrictions on free speech on his political enemies while keeping the unions free to spend money on campaigns via The Disclose Act.
            19. The president's attempt to unconstitutionally impose The Disclose Act on his political opponents but not unions via Executive Order.
            20. The president's use of unaccountable "czars."
            21. The president's refusal to accept Congressional direction vis-a-vis his "czars" contained in the last 2011 Continuing Resolution            22. The president's verbal assault on the Supreme Court while the members of the Court sat before him in the state of the Union.
            23. The president and Eric Holder's politicization of the Department of Justice, including the black panthers case and the refusal to defend DOMA.
            24. The president's use of demonizing rhetoric towards his opponents, such as accusing doctors of performing unnecessary surgery for money.
            25. The president's hyper-partisan approach to governing including "I won, you lost" in 2009 and the assault on Paul Ryan with Paul Ryan as an invited guest in the president's April 2011 "deficit speech."
            26. Bowing to the Saudi King and the Japanese emperor.
            27. Returning the bust of Churchill to Great Britain.
            28. Removing the missile shield from Poland and the Czech Republic.
            29. Backing the would-be dictator of Hondorus when that nation's Supreme Court rightfully removed him from office.
            30. Failure to push for quick ratification of free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea.
            31. Indecision on Afghanistan surge coupled with announcement of eventual withdrawal.
            32. Incoherence on Egypt, most obviously with the dispatch of Frank Wizner and then rejection of Wizner's advice vis-a-vis Mubarak.
            33. Appointment Craig Beck to NLRB via recess appointment.
            34. Appointment of FCC commissioners who are pursuing "net neutrality" without Congressional authorization.
            35. Failure to resume full water deliveries to California's Central Valley because of the Delta Smelt.
            36. Attempt to close Guantanamo Bay.
            37. Attempt to try terrorists in New York City.
            38. Janet "The System Worked" Napolitano.
            39. Government takeover of the student loan program.
            40. Cancellation of "virtual border fence" project with no replacement or indeed concern for border security.
            41. The "Beer Summit" and the attack on the Cambridge Police Department.
            42. The Department of Justice's attack on Arizona for that state's exercise of its sovereign legislative authority on the issue of citizen identification rules.
            43. The attack on Scott Walker and Wisconsin for the governor's and the state legislature's exercise of their sovereign legislative authority on public employment issues.
            44. Dabbling in basketball brackets while the Middle East fell into chaos and gas prices skyrocketed.
            45. Arguing that American exceptionalism was the same as any nation's sense of exceptionalism.
            46. Implying that Minnesota bridge collapse was the result of lack of infrastructure funding.
            47. Inserting himself into campaign for the Olympics.
            48. Attack on D.C. voucher program.
            49. Communist Van Jones and a long list of other appointees.
            50. Teleprompter dependency and the worst run of presidential rhetoric since Millard Fillmore, combined with testiness in the few interviews he grants.

                                                                                                                              -- by Hugh Hewitt