i was talking to a friend of mine another day, and after being complemented for always speaking my mind in social networking posts my friend commented how she wished she could comment on those posts. why don’t you, i asked, and to my dismay my friend said that she was afraid to speak her mind because of conceivable implications that would cause. you see, she said, most of my friends are really liberal and many of them are also my clients, so i am afraid they would stop doing business with me if i spoke my mind. but you are not a radical righty, i said, you and i are of the libertarian philosophy. well, unless you agree with the left, you’re a radical, she submitted. so, she carries on posting benign little things like ‘having my morning coffee’.

i want to ask a simple, albeit redundant, question – is this still the United States of America? or, is it maybe United States of Iran??  If we still have the freedom of speech, we have the responsibility to speak frankly no matter the consequences. We must not be afraid to engage in debates with our friends whose beliefs are counter to those of ours. For if we are afraid to speak honestly in fear of losing friends (clients), we deserve to lose them. If people judge you by your political inclinations rather than your character traits and personality, you will be better off without them. We must not let anyone limit us. Goodness inside is what’s paramount, not the party affiliation. Dig it!

We cannot be distracted by the debate over the public option.  It matters very much to private insurance companies whether the government becomes their competitor, but, for the elderly (and the near-elderly), the key concern is not the public option by the rationing and cuts projected under the program.
During the Clinton Administration, the opposition worked hard to kill the proposed Medicare cuts and we should be no less committed to stopping them in the Obama presidency.  That they were once proposed by the right and are now being pushed by the left makes no difference.  A cut is a cut is a cut.  And Medicare should not be cut. Dig it!

A vehicle getting 15 mpg and driven 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline.
A vehicle getting 25 mpg and driven 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.
So, the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.
The claim states that 700,000 clunkers were traded in – so that’s 224 million gallons per year saved..
· That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.
· 5 million barrels of oil is about ¼ of one day’s US consumption.
· And, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $75 per barrel.
· So, we all contributed to spending $3 billion to save $350 million.
Your tax dollar at work!

While the number of elderly people in the U.S. is expected to grow by 60% over the next decade and a half, the number of doctors will increase by only about 6%. (Total U.S. population will rise by about 17% over the same period).

This shortage of doctors will, inevitably, lead to the rationing of medical care, more quickly and drastically if the Obama plan is passed.  In Massachusetts, where universal health coverage was enacted under Governor Mitt Romney in 2006, the Medical Society found that the number of patients who reported difficulty in getting care has already risen by 50% up to a quarter of the patient population.  The New York Times reports that “a main reason for the logjam was long waiting times for appointments.”

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

This man makes so much sense that it is hard to believe he has served as a politician from Massachusetts. Never, ever have I heard anyone from that state speak with such lucid common sense and a grasp of what exactly is going on in today’s world.

“I’m Tired” by Robert A. Hall

I’ll be 63 soon. 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 around” 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 or stupid 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 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. Won’t multiculturalism be beautiful?

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 believe “a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin.” 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 US 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 a news media that thinks Bush’s fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama’s, at triple the cost, were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bush’s military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. I Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to FoxNews ? Get a clue.

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 madrassa 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 for me.

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 damn 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 as well.

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 damn 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 grandchildren.

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