Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Classic Car Collectors Strike Gold In 2014

octt-feature-660.jpg
Two Months In 2014 that Classic Car Collectors Won't Forget

First, on February 28th, 2014, FoxNews.com reported about L&L Classic Auto and their over 8,000 classic cars for sale.

The Wendell, Idaho, salvage yard is selling its stock of thousands of cars, as its 79-year-old owner considers finally retiring after over a half-century in the business.

And he’s throwing in the 80 acres of land they’re sitting on for free.

Or, maybe it’s the other way around.

“I will miss this place, but I won’t miss the stress of running it,” Larry Harms tells FoxNews.com.

Harms’ daily driver is a chunky, cerise 1937 Ford Coupe with thick whitewall tires, but he keeps a small collection of domestic gems for himself.

L&L, owned and operated by Harms and a staff fiercely loyal to vintage cars, began life as a body shop in a much smaller location close to town.

As the accumulated assortment of classic metal began to grow, the outfit moved to a more accommodating location that is large enough today to strike an impressive pose on Google Earth’s satellite view.

The land is populated with vehicles of all sizes and shapes, from derelict, parts-car specials to classics in running condition, some nearly a century old.

Conservative estimates put the total number between 8,000 and 10,000 vehicles, but the shop’s staff admits that it has been unable to catalog all of them.

Nevertheless, it maintains a thorough running tally of available parts for sale on its website.

As much as Harms is looking intently toward retirement, he’s not in a hurry to unload his trove.

Instead, he is firmly determined to find a buyer who is interested in preserving L&L’s cadre of historic vehicles, rather than someone who would prefer to destroy the cars and keep the land.

“I won’t [piecemeal] sell it,” Harms said. “I don’t want it crushed. I could do that myself.”

That’s right, unless you are planning to take – and take care of – the whole kit and caboodle, you’d better sit this one out.

The sum for the whole lot, including the land and the myriad cars scattered upon it, is listed at $3 million.

That’s anywhere between $300 and $375 per car, if you ever get around to counting them one by one.

“Is [that] a fair price? No, it’s low,” says one L&L employee. “It’s a great deal.”

L&L currently lists prices for some of the cars individually, including a gobsmacking 1974 AMC Matador "Oleg Cassini Edition" at $8,500, and what appears to be a pristine 1961 Pontiac Bonneville two-door for $29,000.

Most others are well picked-over and clearly past their prime.

Harms’ staff says it has already had several serious inquiries into the property, in addition to frequent calls from interested parties from as far away as South America, England, Norway, Australia and New Zealand.

Despite the apparent demand, Harms remains adamant that the cars end up in the hands of a serious buyer who understands their mettle.

“This is stuff you can’t get new,” he said. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

jordan-cord.jpg

Incredible Car Collection Uncovered After 61 Years

Next, on May 14, 2014, it was reported on FoxNews.com that a collection of more than 200 historic cars hidden from public view for 61 years will be crossing the auction block in Oklahoma next month.

The cars belonged to Oliver Jordan, who ran a salvage business in the city of Enid from 1945 to 1953, when he locked it up during a zoning dispute that lasted for years.

Jordan never relented, and the cars have sat idle since then, most of them left outside to rot. The majority are from the 1930s, and '40s, but the oldest is a rare 1917 Maxwell.

Among the more notable finds are an aluminum-bodied 1937 seven-passenger Lincoln limo by Willoughby, believed to be one of five remaining of the 60 that were produced, and a 1937 Cord Model 812 Supercharged Beverly sedan.

Two 1942 “blackout specials” – a Ford and a Chevy – built during World War II, when the government put restrictions on the use of ornamental shiny metal parts, are fitting of the cache’s low profile.

A 1937 TerraPlane Super Six may sound like a flying car, but was from a short-lived brand produced by Hudson. It doesn’t come with a hood, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find an inch of it that’s not corroded.

The same can be said about pretty much all of the other vehicles.

Nevertheless, VanDerBrink Auctions is billing the event as a customizer’s dream, as many of the parts from the once-common cars are becoming rarer by the day.

Jordan sold a few of them himself over the years, but not many.

jordan-collection.jpg

According to auctioneer Yvette VanDerBrink, if he invited you inside to see his secret stash, and you were interested in one of the cars, he’d make you a take-it-or-leave-it offer on the spot. No haggling or second chances allowed.

Jordan died in 2003, and his widow died seven months ago. His grandson, who helped consolidate the cars from four different yards in recent years, is overseeing the sale of the estate, including the 1929 Ford Model A wrecker that was Jordan’s first tow truck.

The auction is scheduled to take place on June 7, both on site and online.

All sales are final, of course. Jordan wouldn’t want it any other way.

-- end of articles.

And yes, if I had the money a 1937 Chevy would be sitting in my garage quick enough!

Tom Correa

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Toxic Jerky Dog Treats Linked To Thousands Of Dog Deaths

DOG OWNERS BEWARE

On May 19th, 2014, it was reported that more than 1,000 dog deaths may now be linked to toxic jerky treats -- that's according to a recent update from the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).

The agency said that since 2007, there have been almost 5,000 complaints of pet illnesses related to the treats. The majority of the symptoms reported include gastrointestinal or liver disease, and about a third were linked to kidney and urinary disease.

About 10 percent of the illnesses included other signs such as neurologic, dermatologic, and immunologic symptoms, and about 15 percent of the kidney and urinary disease cases also tested positive for Fanconi syndrome – a rare kidney disease also associated with the pet deaths.

The FDA is still unsure of the specific cause for the reported illnesses and deaths, but most cases reportedly occurred after the pets had eaten chicken, duck or sweet potato jerky treats imported from China.

No specific brands were recalled in the FDA's latest release, but Dr. Jonathan Levine, an associate veterinarian at Blue Pearl Veterinary Partners in New York City, said owners should always check the labels of whatever foods they give their pets.

“Always be aware of what you're buying and where it's coming from,” Levine said.

Yet that may not always be enough to keep pets safe; products stamped “Made in the USA” could still contain ingredients sourced from China or other countries, the FDA warned.

In 2007, some pet food companies voluntarily removed some jerky treats from the market. But, at the time, the FDA said it didn't want to issue a recall without a definitive cause.

Those products included Milo's Kitchen Chicken Jerky Treats and Chicken Grillers made by Del Monte, and Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek Ranch dog treats made by Nestle Purina.

The FDA has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to figure out what foods may be contributing to pet disease.

The study will compare the foods eaten by sick dogs to those eaten by dogs who haven’t gotten sick, in order to determine if the jerky is really the culprit.

So far, testing of jerky pet treats from China revealed low levels of antibiotics as well as the antiviral drug amantadine in some chicken samples.

Although FDA-approved for pain-control applications in humans and in dogs, the agency prohibited its use in poultry in 2006 to help preserve its effectiveness.

The FDA does not believe amantadine contributed to the illnesses, as the side effects of the drug do not correlate with the symptoms seen in the pets; however, amantadine should not be present at all in jerky treats.

Chinese authorities have agreed to conduct additional screenings and follow up with jerky treat manufacturers, and the FDA has notified U.S. treat makers of the presence of amantadine in some jerky products.

The agency will also continue testing these products for drugs and other antivirals.

The FDA cautioned pet owners that jerky pet treats are not required for a balanced diet.

If your pet experiences any sign of illness, including vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy, contact your veterinarian right away.

All owners should be extremely carefully, after all, none of us needs to lose our companions over this when it can possibly be avoided!

This needs to be passed on to other dog owners.




Monday, May 26, 2014

Memorial Day -- A Day To Fulfill Our Responsibility


Memorial Day can be confused with Veterans Day. It often is. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who were killed in action while serving our nation. In contrast, Veterans Day acknowledges and celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans. Memorial Day is that one day a year set aside to remember and give out grateful thanks to those who made the supreme sacrifice and were killed in the defense of our nation, all for us.

Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. It was established specifically to honor those who have paid the ultimate price for us. Yes, when people say, "Freedom Is Not Free," they are talking about the price paid in blood. The blood of free men. Yes indeed, that is the price of freedom. The price paid to preserve freedom and liberty is the blood of free men.

Memorial Day is ours to set everything aside so that we can honor those who paid the ultimate price for us. As for those who think that I don't need to repeat myself, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but the fact is that Memorial Day is so important that I find that I repeat myself.

You see, almost every government building as well as many businesses fly the POW/MIA black flags almost all year round acknowledging the roughly 38,000 missing in action men and women in uniform since World Word I. As of February 20th, 2014, Vietnam War missing in action is listed at 1,643. In contrast, other than a monument here and there, we only have this one day to acknowledge the 1,321,612 KIA -- those men and women killed in action protecting our freedoms. Those who died for us.

Honestly, away from the bar-b-ques, the cookouts, the picnics, the 4 day weekend spent on vacation, I really wonder how many truly take just a few moments to thank those who have died so that we can live the lives we do? For me, Memorial Day goes to the heart of our responsibilities as United States citizens. Believe it or not, there are a few "officially" recognized responsibilities of U.S. citizenship.

The "officially" recognized responsibilities are:

• Support and defend the Constitution.
• Stay informed of the issues.
• Participate in the democratic process and vote.
• Respect and obey the law.
• Respect the rights, beliefs, and opinions of others.
• Participate in your local community.
• Pay taxes.
• Serve on a jury when called upon.
• Defend the country if the need should arise.

But there are other responsibilities as well, such as:

•  Supporting those who are presently serving in our military
•  Thanking those who have served with honor.
•  Providing care for our wounded.
•  Remembering those who have died for us.

While it reflects well on us, it is our responsibility as citizens, that we never forget or take for granted those who have died for our nation. But, more than that, it goes to the heart of who we are as people and our sense of self-respect. So please, remember that today is the day we set aside to fulfill our responsibilities as citizens and thank those who died so that we may remain free.

We should all take a moment to say a prayer, raise a glass, or just close our eyes and whisper "Thank you!" Besides, never forgetting and saying "thanks" is not all that much to ask -- especially when we owe them our undying gratitude.

That's just how I see it.

Tom Correa

Sunday, May 25, 2014

U.S. Marine Corps - The Most Important Branch


Although a poll out recently shows that Americans disagree with me, I believe that the United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the most important branch of our military. The first reaction that you may have after reading that statement may be something to the effect, "that's no surprise coming from a Marine." But before you dismiss my position on military importance, please hear me out.

Gallup started asking Americans about the importance of U.S. military branches in the 1940s, using various questions over the years. Each year Gallup asks the same question. Recently, Gallup released its annual poll, which shows that Americans feel the U.S. Army is the most important service branch to national defense -- but the United States Marine Corps is still considered the most prestigious.

The annual poll​, timed to mark the start of the long Memorial Day weekend, showed that 26 percent of Americans say the Army is the most important military branch. And, as surprising as it was to me, believe it or not, the Army was followed closely by the Air Force at 23 percent.

The Marine Corps was called the most important by 19 percent, the Navy by 17 percent, and the Coast Guard by 3 percent, the poll found. Technically the Coast Guard works for the Department of Homeland Security, so I really don't know why they were in the poll because they are not part of our military -- the Coast Guard is not under the Department of Defense.

By the way, I have a great deal of respect for the Coast Guard. They are great at what they do. While they have periodically been used to assist in military operations, there is a reason that they are not a part of our military. That reason has to do with the Coast Guard's ability to make arrests. According to our laws, the power to make an arrest is not a power our military has because of the Posse Comitatus Laws.

The Posse Comitatus Act (1878) prohibits the use of the U.S. military, specifically the Army, to aid civil officials in enforcing the law or suppressing civil disorder unless expressly ordered to do so by the president. In the 1870s, Southern Democrats in Congress resented the widespread use of federal troops during Reconstruction, and they introduced the law. Subsequently, this law was to stop that.

Since the Posse Comitatus Act restricts the participation of the military in domestic law enforcement activities, the Coast Guard is not a part of our military and has been placed under civilian authority. 

As for committing the U.S. Army, their role of importance has to do with our adherence to the Constitution. If we are to adhere to the laws written in the U.S. Constitution, then we are to understand that the U.S. Constitution states that only Congress can lawfully declare war. According to the Constitution, Congress must pass an act of war so that the United States can deploy the Army. Congress shall have the power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay Debts, and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States.

While I have a great deal of admiration and respect for all of the branches of our military, and while I really believe that the U.S. Army is much more important than the Air Force because of the difference in their missions, I do not believe that the Army and the Air Force are more important than the Marine Corps and the Navy.

My reasoning has nothing to do with my affection for the Marine Corps and the Navy or some supposed dislike for either the Army or the Air Force. I admire everyone serving in all of the branches. I really do.

I see the Air Forces as having bigger payload capabilities with their B-52s and such, which the Marine Corps and Navy do not have. To me, America shouldn't need them unless it was such an engagement of such enormity that both Marine and Navy airpower isn't able to do the job alone.

Per the Air Force: "The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly, fight and win in air, space, and cyberspace." While they play a key role in war-fighting, the Air Force and its massive air power will always be a support role to commanders who want to disable industrial and military installations or positions of importance.

Can that sort of bombing win a war? No, it never has. The fact is, no, like it or not, unless using nuclear weapons, you cannot win a war with just airpower. Winning wars will always be left to troops on the ground.

As for the Army, I see the Army as America's giant fighting machine. Since the Army has over half a million soldiers on active duty (546,047) and over half a million soldiers on reserve status (559,244), the U.S. Army is over a million soldiers strong. Yes, that's Army strong.

In contrast to the Marine Corps, the smallest of the United States Armed Forces in the U.S. Department of Defense with 195,000 on active duty and 40,000 ready reserves, the difference is that the Army's gigantic war machine takes much longer to deploy.

In most cases, it takes months, and there are a lot more logistics involved to get its massive numbers of troops from one place to another. It is a lumbering giant at best. Once awake and in place, it is a force that is second to none -- but it takes a long time to get into the fight.

The Marine Corps and the Navy are more important if we just look at the practical application of American military power around the world.

Because both tactically and logistically, it's all about getting the best into combat the fastest, the United States Marine Corps is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces.

As for technically requiring a Declaration of War to deploy the Army, per the Constitution, that is not the case with the Marine Corps. No act of war is needed to deploy U.S. Marines.

The Marines can be used "as the President may direct," according to the 1834 Marine Corps Law. Because of that, U.S Marines operate in a state of readiness for combat unmatched by units in other military branches.

A single Marine unit has everything it needs to leap right into combat, including logistical support and close air support, both internally and from the Navy. And yes, Marines keep units stationed on Navy ships that are "afloat" around the world. A force in readiness puts Marines closer to potential trouble spots than troops stationed in the United States or Europe.

According to law, the "as the President may direct" portion of the Marine Corps' job description puts Marines in quite a few non-amphibious situations, including combat far from beaches, running security detail on some Navy ships -- which historically was originally the Corps’ primary function -- protecting U.S. Embassies as well as the White House and transporting the president and vice president in Marine helicopters. By law, 10 U.S. Code 5063, the Marine Corps is responsible, in accordance with integrated joint mobilization plans, for the expansion of peacetime components of the Marine Corps to meet the needs of war.

For me, while I might be biased being a former-Marine, I see the Marine Corps as the most important branch simply because large numbers of Marines can be put ashore anywhere in the world, with lethal firepower backed up by Marine and Naval Air, faster than anyone else can. And that leads me to why I also see the United States Navy as the second most important military branch.

For those polled who see the Navy as being somehow less important than the Army or the Air Force, it's obvious that those polled do not know what the United States Navy does. And no, I'm not talking about the importance of Navy SEALS.

To be real honest, Navy SEALS do a great job for what they do. But, let's face the facts of reality since they are a tiny part of the Navy, they do not represent the U.S.Navy as a whole. In fact, SEALS are not representative of the much bigger overall mission of the United States Navy.

The mission of the U.S. Navy is a lot more than merely deploying a handful of SEALS ashore at any given time. And frankly, the Navy is a lot more than simply the less than half of 1% of all Sailors in the United States Navy who are SEALS -- or those who have anything to do with them. To me, while SEALS seem to do a lot of work for special ops, they have little to do with the bigger mission of the Navy.

What is the bigger mission of the Navy? Per the U.S. Navy: "The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, and maintaining freedom of the seas."

To accomplish their mission, the vast majority of sailors are truly the unsung heroes of the Navy. To maintaining freedom of the seas, America has Sailors who fuel and repair aircraft, scrap and paint, weigh anchor, accomplish the duties of thousands of assignments to do the heavy lifting, and perform thousands of other jobs both atop the waves and beneath the ocean, all to make sure our ships get from one side of the world to the other. These unsung heroes are at this very moment deployed on about 300 ships and a multitude of bases around the world in every clime and place. They are the "Real Navy," which sadly never gets the recognition they deserve.

Fact is, from Boatswain Mates to Cooks, from Machinist Mates to Aviators, there are over 300,000 active duty Sailors and over 100,000 ready reserve Sailors in the United States Navy. All ready to fulfill the mission of the Navy of maintaining, training, and equipping combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression by their mere presence, and maintaining freedom of the seas for American shipping.

Today, the U.S. Navy has the distinction of being the world's premier naval power. To really understand why there’s a need for a sea-based military in this day and age, just consider this:
  • 70% of the earth is covered by water
  • 80% of the planet’s population lives within close proximity to coastal areas
  • 90% of global commerce is conducted by sea
  • Commerce is the life-blood of free nations
Any way you look at it, our ability to freely navigate the world's oceans is as critical today as it was more than 200 years ago. Whether it's by way of oceans, canals, rivers, there remains a great need for the Navy to be out there serving Americans as a guardian for our freedom and defending the life we cherish.

To support the cause of liberty abroad and promoting peace for all humanity, and enabling the safe travel of people and goods to meet the expanding demands of Americans worldwide, America's Navy is unique in that it conducts missions on all fronts: in the air, on land, and at sea.

Sadly, since World War II, the importance of the Navy has not been publicized over the years. Consequently, it is not a surprise that Americans view the Air Force as the most important branch of the military for many years up to the mid-2000s.

Now, as for the Army, the Army has edged out other military branches in Gallup surveys conducted throughout the years, especially the last decade. 

Importance does not necessarily equal prestige.

The Marine Corps has consistently been considered the nation’s most prestigious military branch, even if not considered the most important by some, with nearly half of Americans — 47 percent — saying they respect Marines the most.

The Air Force was a distant second, with 17 percent saying it was the most prestigious branch, said the poll.

And no, the Navy is not happy with the results as it is seen as the least prestigious military branch in the eyes of Americans -- with only a mere 12% of Americans saying the Navy is the most prestigious military branch.

As for the Marines being America's most prestigious military branch, that doesn't surprise me. After all, as a Marine, I really have to ask who's never heard of "The few, the proud, the Marines."

Marines are America's 911 when an enemy needs its butt kicked. Because of the Marine Corps' history and tradition of landing on foreign shores faster than the Army, the Marine Corps' claim of being the first to fight in every clime and place where Marines can take a gun is legitimate. And yes, God bless the Navy for making sure we Marine get there.

That's the way I see it.

Now, if you would like to do more reading about the Marine Corps' activities from 1865 to 1900 when it was in every clime and place where our fellow Marine would take a gun, please click:

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Triple Amputee War Veteran Pens Open Letter To Barack Obama

My Open Letter to Obama.

I nearly died in a war that you and most of your colleagues supported overwhelmingly, including the two presidents who came before you. Many citizens may not agree with waging war in Iraq to free the oppressed Iraqi citizens, but it’s something that warriors like myself have zero control over. I joined to serve my country and to better my life. I’ve seen things that you could never imagine, and they have made me the person I am today.

Mr. Obama, even though we share extreme opposite views, we have one thing in common, we both attended school in Hawaii. However, that’s where the similarities end. You see, as you attended your exclusive, private school, I would ride my bike to Kaimuki High school in one of the roughest areas in Hawaii every morning and would ride past Punahou, the exclusive private school you attended. I would notice the Bentleys, Maserati’s, and fancy foreign cars that all the kids were dropped off in; wow it must have been extremely rough in Hawaii living that life, right?

I could only imagine what it was like to have that kind of money. Fortunately for you, not many people are aware of the school and the upper class citizens who attended it. The tuition to attend your exclusive, private school was more than it cost me to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Arizona. You talk a big game when it comes to financial inequality, yet I’m quite sure you have no idea what it’s truly like to have sacrifice. You were one of the elitist children in Hawaii.

After High School, we each chose very different paths. You were able to attend Ivy League schools, and I sought out a military career to in hopes of earning a degree. What we have in life as children usually sets the tone for what we will face later in life that will make us successful. I worked to get where I am today, and YOU WERE HANDED IT….Mr. Inequality.

I volunteered to go to Iraq on both of my deployments, and the second time I begged to go even after I wasn’t selected, which ultimately got me placed on the team where I would lose both legs and my dominant arm. I’ve never asked myself was losing 3 limbs in a war worth it, even though many Americans were against it.

I am frequently reminded of the many young Iraqi children who would beg me for water, food, and toys while I was stationed in Iraq. Children, who in all aspects made the poorest of poor American children look rich. You have no idea what it really means to be poor. It’s laughable that you, who would have no idea what it means to be poor would so frequently play the inequality card.

While I was in Iraq, our mission was to liberate the Iraqi citizens from a tyrant and that’s what we did. Never forget, it was your people who sent us there, like the Clintons, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi & Carl Levin. However, since the day you busted onto the scene you’ve been talking about ending the war and pulling the troops out, not understanding the blood sweat and tears that so many Americans and Iraqi’sinvested. And with complete disregard for every life sacrificed, every limb lost, and every broken family, you bailed on our mission to pursue an agenda that was completely centered on your re-election in 2012.

If you didn’t bail on Iraq you were worried that you may not get re-elected and that’s a fact. Just before elections on Oct 11, 2012 you said “Al Qaeda is on the run and Osama bin Laden is dead.” Look at Iraq now, they are in shambles and the Al Qaeda flag is flying freely. Clearly, you’re unfit for duty as a Commander in Chief. You put your own agenda ahead of America’s agenda, and now you have single handedly ruined and destroyed nearly everything we gained in Iraq. It clearly means nothing to you, because the only thing that you’ve personally invested in that country was a promise to bail on them. However, people like me gave limbs, friends have died, and we’ve watched families destroyed by war’s aftermath.

I’m not placing blame on you for the war, I’m placing blame on you for destroying what we’ve worked so hard to build. You’re not a leader, you’re a community organizer. A leader would have stood up regardless of the situation and put America’s agenda first and that is ensuring a secure Iraq even after 10 years of war. But, you placed Barack first, just as Robert Gates confirmed in his new book.

You’re just another elitist rich thug who’s pretended to live the rough life growing up in the inner-city. You’re only worried about your own agenda and furthering your party instead of taking care of Americans. Your inability to be a leader at some of the most critical points has caused both of our wars to fail. You’ve been a joke to most of our veteran community and we have no faith in your ability to lead.

Senior Airman Ret Brian Kolfage USAF

“The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.” — Lou Holtz

Monday, May 19, 2014

Today Everything and Everyone is Racist -- Including Mark Twain?

Dear Friends,

There are a few things that make me absolutely ill these days -- one happens to be the use of ther terms "racist" and racism" when it is in fact their use is unwarranted and completely uncalled for.

Everything today is racist, and it makes me sick because true racists -- those narrow minded individuals out there who truly hate others because of the color of their skin, or because of their ethnic background -- are today getting a pass of sorts.

Yes, a pass, a ticket to go on doing what they are doing.
Why, because the term racist is being watered down to mean nothing at all.

Examples are everywhere.

Just recently young children were stopped from singing the song "YMCA" because some clown declared it racist, a boy who played the child's game "hangman" was called a racist, the grocery story was called racist because some jerk didn't like it's products, and yes, the boy who wore a t-shirt bearing an image of an American Flag was called racist because he did it on Cinco de Mayo.

Of course, the first Black Attorney General of the United States has called those in Congress who questioned him racist.

Yet, really they were only asking him hard questions about the various scandals that his Justice Department has been linked to and has clearly been involved in -- such as the Fast & Furious Scandal.

Of course all of the other Attorney Generals who were made to answer questions regarding things like White Water, Water Gate, or Iran Contra, all testified under hard questioning and they didn't scream racism.

But then again, in America these days, they might have been able to even though they were of European and Hispanic ancestry.

Today racism is revolutionary in that anything and everything can be called racism -- nothing is exempt from being called racist.  

Yes, including of course the critics of the President of the United States.

I content that because he is America's First Black President, a man whose election was said to have marked the end of racism in America, that he goes out of his way to label his critics "Racists" every chance he gets.

It's none stop! For example, in 2009, many of us didn't like the 800 Billion Dollar Stimulus Bill that was shoved through by President Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Because of our dislike of the way Washington DC was spending money, many of us joined together to rally against it. Yes, that is why the Tea Party protesters got together in the first place.

And immediately, yes, we were labeled racists with Liberals comparing us to the Ku Klux Klan and such hate groups.

When many in America protested about the Black Panther's standing outside of a Polling Place with clubs in an open attempt to intimidate voters, we were called racists.

Racists. true racist, must be laughing at the absurdity!

I content that the Liberal Left has rendered that word so meaningless these days that there is nothing to call someone who is truly, a for real, honest to goodness, card carrying racist!

What amazes me even more these days is all of the history that folks are now in the process of re-writing.

There was talk recently that our currency was going to get a make-over and that our famous figures such as President Andrew Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant, along with American  statesman Benjamin Franklin would be removed because they are now deemed racists.

Imagine the insanity! And no, don't think it's stopping soon!

Racist this and racist that, racist this and racist that, blah blah blah this and blah blah blah that, blah blah blah this and blah blah blah that, yes, after a while the term means nothing at all.

Yesterday, a man who has been cited as being America's Greatest Writer, Mark Twain was called a racist.

While America's great writers such as Hemingway and Falkner and many many others have praised Mark Twain for his gifts to America in the form of literature which captured the 1800s, today he is now touted as a racist.

First it started with school libraries saying they would not carry his classic works, but now it has even stopped a plan to name a cove in Lake Tahoe after Mark Twain.

Why? The plan is being scrapped after a tribe complained saying Mark Twain had racist views.

According to the Associated Press, a state of Nevada panel effectively killed the bid to name a cove in Lake Tahoe after Mark Twain -- citing opposition from a tribe that says he held racist views on Native Americans.

The Nevada State Board on Geographic Names this week voted to indefinitely table the request after hearing opposition from the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, whose ancestral homeland includes Lake Tahoe.

Supporters had sought to name a scenic cove on the lake's northeast shore for Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain being his pen name.

But Darrel Cruz, head of the tribe's cultural resource department, said Mark Twain was undeserving of the honor because of derogatory comments about the Washoe and other tribes in his writings.

Among other things, he cited Mark Twain's opposition to the naming of the lake as Tahoe, which is derived from the Washoe word "da ow" for lake.

Cruz also objected to a Twain quote about Lake Tahoe: "People say that Tahoe means 'Silver Lake' — 'Limpid Water' — 'Falling Leaf.' Bosh! It means grasshopper soup, the favorite dish of the digger tribe — and of the Piutes as well."

Cruz said Washoes dislike being referred to as the "digger tribe," a derogatory term applied to some tribes in the West who dug roots for food.

Other tribes ate grasshoppers.

"Samuel Clemens had racist views on the native people of this country and has captured those views in his literature," Cruz wrote in a letter to the board.

"Therefore, we cannot support the notion of giving a place name in Lake Tahoe to Samuel Clemens."

But James Hulse, history professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Reno, said it's irrelevant whether Twain's writings were insulting to Native Americans.

Hulse said, "The cove should be named for Twain because he praised Tahoe's beauty while visiting the lake in 1861-1862, and he became one of America's most beloved authors after assuming his pen name as a Nevada newspaper reporter around the same time."

Hulse also said, "In his early days, (Twain's) ironic-comic mode was insulting to everyone, including governors, legislators, mine bosses and journalistic colleagues. 

He learned and overcame his prejudices far better than most of his contemporaries and successors."

Thomas Quirk, an English professor emeritus at the University of Missouri and leading Twain scholar, said the author eventually overcame his racism against blacks.

But Quirk said he has found no evidence that he significantly changed his views on American Indians.

It's said that Twain did not embrace the idea of idolizing what James Fenimore Cooper called the "noble red man," Quirk said, and poked fun at Cooper for doing so.

"When it comes to African Americans, he was ahead of his time substantially," he said. "When it comes to Native Americans, his record is not very good. If he were alive today, he would sing a different tune."

For me, I don't care if the Nevada board initiated another the plan to name the cove for Samuel Clemens. Fact is, it appears that those supporting the naming of a cove don't have what it takes to fight for what is right!

Case and point, board member Robert Stewart said he dropped his support of it -- even though he learned about a later letter Twain wrote objecting to the treatment of tribes in Arizona and New Mexico.

It's the second time the bid to name the cove for Mark Twain has failed.

But none of that matter these days, after all, if one group calls Mark Twain a "racist," then of course it must be true -- he must be a racist, at least that's the way it is today.

Mark Twain was not a racist.

Like Benjamin Franklin who was responsible for started the first anti-slavery group in America -- when America was still British -- Mark Twain was an adamant supporter of the abolition of slavery and emancipation of slaves.

He actually went so far to say, "Lincoln's Proclamation ... not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also."

He argued that non-whites did not receive justice in the United States, once saying, "I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature ... but I never saw a Chinaman righted in a court of justice for wrongs thus done to him."

If Mark Twain was a racist, then why is it that he paid for at least one black person to attend Yale Law School and for another black person to attend a southern university to become a minister?

Did his early views on Native Americans change over the years? Yes it did.

Example, Mark Twain wrote in 1870:

"His heart is a cesspool of falsehood, of treachery, and of low and devilish instincts. With him, gratitude is an unknown emotion; and when one does him a kindness, it is safest to keep the face toward him, lest the reward be an arrow in the back. To accept of a favor from him is to assume a debt which you can never repay to his satisfaction, though you bankrupt yourself trying. The scum of the earth!"

Later, in his essay on "The Literary Offenses of Fenimore Cooper" offered this kinder view of Indians:

"No, other Indians would have noticed these things, but Cooper's Indians never notice anything. Cooper thinks they are marvelous creatures for noticing, but he was almost always in error about his Indians. There was seldom a sane one among them."

In his later travelogue "Following the Equator" (1897), Mark Twain wrote that in colonized lands all over the world, "savages" have always been wronged by "whites" in the most merciless ways, such as "robbery, humiliation, and slow, slow murder, through poverty and the white man's whiskey".

Twain concluded that "there are many humorous things in this world; among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages.".

In an expression that captures his Indian experiences, he wrote, "So far as I am able to judge nothing has been left undone, either by man or Nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile."

Could he have changed his view on the American Indian?

We know for fact that he did not accept the Democrat Party's notion that women and blacks do not need right.

Yes, like many Republicans, he was a staunch supporter of women's rights and an active campaigner for women's suffrage.

His "Votes for Women" speech, in which he pressed for the granting of voting rights to women, is considered one of the most famous in history.

It's also said that Helen Keller benefited from Mark Twain's support, as she pursued her college education and publishing, despite her disabilities and financial limitations.

I believe that like many people, growing as a person Mark Twain changed many of the views which he held when he was younger.

Can that really take place? Well, if we are to believe the Democrat Party -- yes, it is something that surely can take place.

What am I talking about? Someone who supposedly changed.

The Democrat Party supported a man who has highways and bridges and schools and all sorts of things named after him -- that man was Democrat Senator Robert Byrd who passed away in 2010.

Robert Byrd served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959 and as a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010. All the while a Democrat.

Today, more than 50 buildings in West Virginia are named for either Robert Byrd or his wife. They are: 
  • Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Academic and Technology Center, Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Academic and Technology Center, Marshall University Graduate College in South Charleston, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Auditorium, National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center, Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Cancer Research Laboratory, West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies, Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Center for Pharmacy Education, University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Center for Rural Health, Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Clinical Teaching Center, Charleston Area Medical Center Memorial Hospital in Charleston, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, Green Bank, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Hardwood Technologies Center, Princeton, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Health and Wellness Center, Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center Charleston Division, Charleston, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd High School, Clarksburg, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing (RCBI) Bridgeport Manufacturing Technology Center, Bridgeport, West Virginia.
  • RCBI Charleston Manufacturing Technology Center, South Charleston, West Virginia.
  • RCBI Huntington Manufacturing Technology Center, Huntington, West Virginia.
  • RCBI Rocket Center Manufacturing Technology Center, Rocket Center, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Institute for Composites Technology and Training Center, Bridgeport, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Library, Wheeling, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Library and Robert C. Byrd Learning Resource Center, University of Charleston in Beckley.
  • Robert C. Byrd Life Long Learning Center, Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College in Moorefield, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Life Long Learning Center, West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Metals Fabrication Center, Rocket Center, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd National Aerospace Education Center, Bridgeport, West Virginia (affiliated with Fairmont State University)
  • Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center, Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Regional Training Institute, Camp Dawson near Kingwood, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Science and Technology Center, Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Technology Center, Alderson–Broaddus College in Philippi, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd United Technical Center.
  • Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex, Rocket Center, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Industrial Park, Moorefield, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Community Center, Pine Grove, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Community Center, Sugar Grove, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Rooms, Office of the West Virginia Senate Minority Leader, West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse and Federal Building, Beckley, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse and Federal Building, Charleston, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Federal Correctional Institution, Hazelton, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Clinic, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Clinical Addition to Veteran's Hospital, Huntington, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Addition to the Lodge at Oglebay Park, Wheeling, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Conference Center (also known as the Robert C. Byrd Center for Hospitality and Tourism), Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Visitor Center, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
  • The Robert C. Byrd Bridge crossing the Ohio River between Huntington, West Virginia and Chesapeake, Ohio.Robert C. Byrd Appalachian Highway System, Appalachian Development Highway System in West Virginia -- also know as the road to nowhere.
  • Robert C. Byrd Bridge, crosses the Ohio River between Huntington, West Virginia and Chesapeake, Ohio.
  • Robert C. Byrd Bridge, Ohio County, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Drive, West Virginia Routes 16 and 97 between Beckley and Sophia, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Expressway, United States Route 22 near Weirton, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Freeway, United States Route 119 between Williamson and Charleston, West Virginia (also known as Corridor L).
  • Robert C. Byrd Highway, United States Route 48 between Weston, West Virginia and the Virginia state line near Wardensville, West Virginia (also known as Corridor H).
  • Robert C. Byrd Interchange on Interstate 77.
  • Robert C. Byrd Interchange on United States Route 19, Birch River, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Intermodal Transportation Center, Wheeling, West Virginia.
  • Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam, Ohio River in Gallipolis Ferry, West Virginia.
Yes, all of these places named after Robert Byrd.

All in spite of the fact that Democrat Rodert Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s and early 1950s, served as a Klan recruiter, a leader for a local Klan chapter, and refused to fight for the United States during World War II because he didn't want to fight for a country that recognized blacks as equal to whites.

Friends, that's a true racist!

But in spite of waging war on behalf of the Democrat Party on every piece of Civil Rights legislation that ever appeared before him including the 1964 Civil Rights Act which he personally filibustered against, he was given honorable recognition.

When Byrd joined with Democratic senators to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he personally filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 14 hours.

And yes, despite all of his efforts in that 83-day filibuster in the Senate, Republicans pushed that bill through Congress.

As for Robert Byrd, he also opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

But in 2005, Byrd told The Washington Post that his membership in the Baptist church led to a change in his views.

Some speculate that Byrd, like other Southern and border-state Democrats, came to realize that he would have to temper "his blatantly segregationist views" and make himself appear less racist if he wanted to win reelection.

Because of his opposition to desegregation, Byrd was a member of the wing of the Democratic Party that opposed Desegregation and Civil Rights imposed by the federal government.

So while the Democrat Party says that despite having early career in the KKK as a committed segregationist and over racist, that Robert Byrd had changed his way of thinking and was rewarded for his change with recognition.

While a majority of Liberal Democrats and minorities say that Robert Byrd changed, they do not give Mark Twain the same forgiveness.

In 2011, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names rejected the request for Mark Twain's name to be attached to that cove in Lake Tahoe after the U.S. Forest Service said Mark Twain's influence on the Sierra Nevada lake was minimal and other historical figures were more deserving of the honor.

Supporters sought to honor him because there is no geographic feature in the state named for Samuel Clemens, or his pen name Mark Twain, whose book "Roughing It" really did put Nevada on the map.

Samuel Clemens became America's first celebrity author -- Mark Twain.

Roughing It put Nevada in context as a key player in America's Westward expansion, writing about the West in a way that affected both Mark Twain and those who read about his vision of it.

Mark Twain's writing affected the ways in which the nation perceived and mythologized the West.

Maybe it was his distinctive Western voice, or maybe it was the subject, but his telling of the tales lent credence to the stereotypes and truths about a West which was vanishing even as Mark Twain wrote about it.

Now the state of Nevada won't even name a cove after him.

And yes, that's pretty pathetic!

Tom Correa





     

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Wrong Impression Of Today's America


Dear Readers,

As many of you who are my regular readers know, I love getting email from folks around the world.

One reader who is an Old West enthusiast lives in India, and has wrote me a great letter with questions concerning today's America.

While this is a subject that I am very interested in, his letter touches on a few things that I believe is taking place around the world.

All in all, I believe the world is seeing what is presented to them by those wanting to change America.

I don't believe that they see how the majority in America is fighting to stop this dominance and distortion.

Back in 2008, we all heard Barack Obama and the Left talk about the need for change!

Change is defined as: 1) to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone; 2) to transform or convert; 3) to substitute another or others for; exchange for something else, usually of the same kind; 4) to give and take reciprocally; interchange: to change places with someone.

"Change" in itself is inert. In itself it is neither good or bad, better or worse. The word "change" means nothing by itself but is determined on actions.

The merits of change is determined by different factors, but mostly by good or bad, better or worse. What "sort or change" is being introduced.

To make a form, nature, content, future course, different from what it is to make it better, into something useful, good, honest, more free, self-reliant, self-sufficient, is not the Liberal concept of change.

America is a louder example of what I see going on around the world in respect to society being manipulated by those who want to see it changed into something they want -- what they see as good change is not good change to everyone.

As we have learned in the last ten years since the Liberals have come to power in America, their idea of change means more Government ownership and control, threats of fines, confiscation and/or imprisonment, and the loss of freedom and liberties.

While they see this as good change, to them control is positive change because they see people as unable to govern ourselves. Liberals see positive change enacted with more and more regulation and a forced acceptance of how they see the world.

As for what I mean by "louder example"?  I mean louder because of America's 24 Hour News and Movies and Television, more people around the world see it how we are being manipulated.

Manipulated? To some, for example those on the Political Left who want to see America less masculine, less driven, not as strong, not religious, anti-democracy, anti-family, and they use movies, television, and other liberal media outlets such as the New York Times or magazines to spread their ideas of what they think America should be like.

They don't like the determination, the drive, the yearning to be free of the yolk of oppression, that emboldened American pioneers to come West.

They see that sort of behavior as going against the behavior that makes Americans more dependent on the government. The Left likes the idea of the government caring for the people in the same way that ranchers care for cattle or farmers care for sheep and hogs.

Rugged individualism, a sense of purpose and drive, being deliberate in your motives to care for your family all go against what the Left wants in Americans -- especially American men.

There's the battle!

The world sees us mainly as Liberals depict us!

And yes, Los Angeles (Hollywood) and New York, call the shots when it comes to forcing their Liberal agenda on television and film.

Just like those who are the majority the movie industry, people who identify themselves with the Democrat Party who are Liberals Leftists Socialist Communists and Gay apparently make up the majority of what we see coming out of Hollywood.

Because the movies are mostly crap these days, I refuse to go see what they are trying to pass off as entertainment.

But besides supposedly being "entertainment," in reality they are trying to change America by making Americans look anti-Christian, anti-military, anti-democracy, against American principles and all very effeminate or out and out gay wimps who have no drive to accomplish anything.

Frankly, Americans just ain't going for it.

Americans aren't buying it. Americans are angry and fighting back, and in reality doing the opposite of what the Political Left wants.

Since I know many readers of my blog come here for my articles on the Old West, let's look at this in Western Movie terms.

Let's say the Political Left is the greedy land baron who forces everyone to bow to his wishes.

Let's say the Obama Administration is the crooked sheriff who makes demands on the townsfolk to pay him and meet his demands or meet the consequences. If they don't do as he says, they will meet the power of his gun.

Let's say the Democratic Party's propaganda machine, Hollywood and the Mainstream Liberal Media, is the Slave Masters who demands their slaves remain in chains and refuse them freedom and uses implausible arguments for keeping his slavery.

And by the way, that's not fiction. Remember that the Democrat Party is the Party Of Slavery, Slave Masters, and that they established the Ku Klux Klan.

Now let's take the majority of Americans today, 98% claim to be Religious, 79% claim to be Christian/Catholic, the divorce rate is at the lowest its been since the 1970s.

Besides all of that, Americans who start a business and fail are 90% more apt to start another, Americans who volunteer for the All Volunteer Military do so willingly and in fact at numbers to where standards for recruits are higher today than ever before including demands on educational requirements that America's military has never seen in its history, and yes, there are those like myself who remain armed to resist the spread of violence and we are not ready to submit to tyranny.

There is statistical proof that shows how as the availability of concealed carry permits for Americans has risen, crime has come down to where violent crimes in America is actually at its lowest is almost 40 years.

And yes, the number of Cop killings by guns is at the lowest since 1887 when the population of the United States was 1/5th what it is today.

Because of technology, a great many consumer produces are more efficient and available to more people than ever before. While the Liberal Left sees consumerism as the enemy of Socialism, the vast majority of Americans see it as making society better and life easier.

On the overall, in America food production and inspection is better today than it ever has been in spite of Liberal roadblocks to gut the family farm on behalf of wealthy Socialists in Environmentalist groups.

As someone interested in agriculture and the Old West, understand that today there are forest where there never was, farms with crop yields far beyond anything seen in the old days -- and on less land with healthier cattle, pigs, sheep and poultry.

Technology and a drive to improve America has made many fight against over-regulation and interference while trying to help feed the world. 

Americans today are fighting the greedy Political Left, the power of the gun of the Obama Administration, and the slave owner mentality of the Democrat Party.

Yes, these are the Americans that are in the majority today and are who are not very different from the pioneers who came West and fought the odds.

Of course, a man like reader in India would never know this.

Fact is that the Left's effeminate male, the gay boy, the atheist, the wimpy boy, the lesbian, all who are depicted with psychological problems, self-centered, and who has his head up his ass and can't make a decision to save his soul, all of those freaks are today being heralded by Hollywood and the Political Left as what Americans should all be.

But they are simply not the norm.

They are freaks among us. They are today's side-show freaks, attractions no different than the bearded woman and the wild man of Borneo.

They are exhibitions of biological rarities, human oddities, "freaks of nature," typically featured as physically and mentally unusual humans such as those uncommonly large or small, or those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, or people with other extraordinary diseases and conditions, or performances that are expected to be shocking to the viewers.

Yes, besides Leftist Politicians, Liberal movie makers and television producers with a Socialist agenda are the real culprits who are responsible for spreading the impression that the normal American is someone ignorant, heavily tattooed, pierced, a self-centered drug user who can't complete a sentence without using foul language.

Fact is, while they exist, they are not the majority of the American population.

No matter how hard the Liberal Socialist Communists in charge of Hollywood's movie industry and the majority of television programming try, no matter how many articles Liberal Newsmen and women write about the how the atheist and queer is today's "norm" -- fact is, they are are not.

The fact is, those people who write crap like that don't know America.

Because of grants and programs to help even the poorest American kids, today America had a glut of College Graduates in a time when we need Skilled Labor and Engineers.

Today the lazy and the unmotivated musician type of doper, truly stick out like a sore thumb because they are freaks who most Americans see as being strange -- queer to the norm.

While some see our schools are being taken over by Liberal Leftist demands, fact is more and more Americans are turning away from those schools which are no more than Liberal Indoctrination Camps -- and instead are putting their kids in Charter Schools or simply Home Schooling them.

As for violence in America, while television makes it look like we are all shooting each other at every turn, as stated earlier fact is that violence in the Untied States is at the lowest point than it has been in 40 years.

And yes, no matter what Hollywood wants to depict these days, 2013 will go down as the year where America experienced the lowest rate of Cop killings by shootings since 1887.

As for violence in schools and school shootings in America? I don't see how society stops a crazy person bent of doing destruction if he or she wants to do it.

While everyone should be repulsed at one taking place, in every society on every continent in the world, massacres have taken place.

Whether it was by one American Indian tribe upon another, or a maniac who enters a theater to reenact what he saw in a Hollywood movie such as what took place in Aurora Colorado, those sorts of horrid events take place. 

And yes, part of living in a free society that does not resemble prison conditions is living a life where such horrid things take place.

Yes, there are costs to being free -- and one is putting up with crazies.

And by the way, at an elementary school in China, on the very same day that the Newtown Connecticut elementary school tragedy was taking place, a Chinese man entered a school there and stabbed over 22 children.

For the Chinese, it was the fifth or sixth such attack on innocent children in China in just two years.

No motive was given for the attack in China, which resembled a string of similar assaults against Chinese schoolchildren in 2010 that killed nearly 20 and wounded more than 50.

Of course, no one heard about that because the "World" News was preoccupied with the Newtown Connecticut tragedy in America.

Am I saying that violence doesn't happen in American schools? No, but I'm sorry to say that it does take place in other countries as well.

The bottom line to this is that the America that Hollywood, or that television, or that which liberal writers try to pass of as real -- is not.

Is it present in America? Are there wimpy gay boys and lesbians? Are there Communists and Socialists?

Are there Atheists and those who want to deny others their religious freedoms? Is there incredible violence in places like Chicago where citizens are prevented from defending themselves by the government -- because Liberals running the government believe that they can best protect the individual citizen better than the individual can?

Sadly, all is true -- but none of that is the majority of what America is made of.

And yes, I find it sad that people are being lead to believe that the freaks and the Communists, the lazy and strange, the violent and deranged, is today's America when it is not.

The Obama administration, the Democrat Party, Hollywood, the Liberal Mainstream Media, and the Liberal Left are all responsible for celebrating deviant behavior and anti-American attitudes -- but in reality, they are only a very tiny minority.

Transgender students, gays in the military, school shootings, dysfunctional families, drug users, America haters, all of these oddities are simply not as prevalent in America as Liberals want the world to think.

The Political Left, Liberals, are the people responsible for giving others the wrong impression of today's America.

And yes, that's the way I see it.

Tom Correa

The Declaration of Independence


The Declaration Of Indendence

In Congress, July 4 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it; and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.—

WE, THEREFORE, the REPRESENTATIVES of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.—And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Signed by ORDER and in BEHALF of the CONGRESS,

JOHN HANCOCK
PRESIDENT.

ATTEST.
CHARLES THOMSON, SECRETARY
  NEW-HAMPSHIRE
Josiah Bartlett
Wm. Whipple
Matthew Thornton

GEORGIA

Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
Geo. Walton

NORTH-CAROLINA

Wm. Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn

MARYLAND

Samuel Chase
Wm. Paca
Thos. Stone
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton

MASSACHUSETTS-BAY

Saml. Adams
John Adams
Robt. Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry

SOUTH-CAROLINA

Edward Rutledge
Thos Heyward, junr.
Thomas Lynch, junr.
Arthur Middleton

PENNSYLVANIA

Robt. Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benja. Franklin
John Morton
Geo. Clymer
Jas. Smith
Geo. Taylor
James Wilson
Geo. Ross

RHODE-ISLAND

Step. Hopkins
William Ellery

DELAWARE

Caesar Rodney
Geo. Read
Tho. M'Kean

VIRGINIA

George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Ths. Jefferson
Benja. Harrison
Thos. Nelson, jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

NEW-JERSEY

Richd. Stockton
Jno. Witherspoon
Fras. Hopkinson
John Hart
Abra. Clark

NEW-YORK

Wm. Floyd
Phil. Livingston
Frank Lewis
Lewis Morris

CONNECTICUT

Roger Sherman
Saml. Huntington
Wm. Williams
Oliver Wolcott

IN CONGRESS, JANUARY 18, 1777




The Declaration of Independence is one of our nation's most important founding documents, expressing the basic purposes of self-government, limited government, individualism, equality, and what it means to be an American.

Today, believe it or not, there are fools out there who want to ban the Declaration of Independence from schools and other government buildings because of one reason or another -- mostly because of its references to God.

These people critize this, the document which contains our founding principles written to declare in clear and concise language why people have a right to be free, and complain that it should not be on display in any government building.

It is interesting to note that the introduction:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."


the reference to the idea that self-evident truths are “endowed by their Creator” was not part of Thomas Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration.

It was added later by Benjamin Franklin, a member of the writing committee.

And to those who do not like it, I am reminded of the quote by Benjamin Franklin:

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do."


Tom Correa

Monday, May 12, 2014

Obama's Lawlessness -- Grounds For Impeachment


A few days ago, May 7th, Sen. Cruz released his Fourth Report on the Obama administration’s lawless behavior titled --

In his report, Republican Texas Senator Cruz chronicles the Obama administration’s Abuse of power.

He is a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on The Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, and has a great deal of information not readily available to the public.

The Legal Limit Report No. 4: The Obama Administration’s Abuse of Power

by Senator Ted Cruz

Of all the troubling aspects of the Obama presidency, none is more dangerous than the President's persistent pattern of lawlessness, his willingness to disregard the written law and instead enforce his own policies via executive fiat.

The President's taste for unilateral action to circumvent Congress should concern every citizen, regardless of party or ideology.

The great 18th-century political philosopher Montesquieu observed, "There can be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or body of magistrates."

America's Founding Fathers took this warning to heart, and we should too.

Rule of law doesn’t simply mean that society has laws; dictatorships are often characterized by an abundance of laws.

Rather, rule of law means that we are a nation ruled by laws, not men.

No one—and especially not the president—is above the law.

For that reason, the U.S. Constitution imposes on every president the express duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

Rather than honor this duty, President Obama has openly defied it by repeatedly suspending, delaying, and waiving portions of the laws that he is charged to enforce.

When President Obama disagreed with federal immigration laws, he instructed the Justice Department to cease enforcing the laws. He did the same thing with federal welfare law, drug laws, and the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

In the more than two centuries of our nation’s history, there is simply no precedent for the White House wantonly ignoring federal law and asking others to do the same.

For all those who are silent now: What would they think of a Republican president who announced that he was going to ignore the law, or unilaterally change the law?

Imagine a future president setting aside environmental laws, or tax laws, or labor laws, or tort laws with which he or she disagreed.

That would be wrong—and it is the Obama precedent that is opening the door for future lawlessness.

As Montesquieu knew, an imperial presidency threatens the liberty of every citizen.

Because when a president can pick and choose which laws to follow and which to ignore, he is
no longer a president.

Governing by Executive Fiat:

1. Disregarded 1996 welfare reform law in granting broad work waivers for work requirements of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

2. Implemented portions of the DREAM Act, which Congress rejected, by executive action.

3. Ended some terror asylum restrictions, by allowing asylum for people who provided only
“insignificant” or “limited” material support of terrorists.

4. Allowed immigrants in the U.S. illegally, who are relatives of military troops and veterans, to stay in the country and get legal status.

5. Extended federal marriage benefits by recognizing, under federal law, same-sex marriages created in a state that allows same-sex marriage even if the couple is living in a state that doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.

6. Recognized same-sex marriage in Utah, even though the Supreme Court stayed the court
order recognizing same-sex marriage in Utah and Utah said it would not recognize samesex
marriages performed before the stay.

7. Refused to prosecute violation of drug laws with certain mandatory minimums.

8. Issued signing statements, refusing to enforce parts of congressional-enacted statutes.

9. Illegally refused to act on Yucca Mountain’s application to become a nuclear waste
repository.

National Security: 

1. Falsely portrayed the Benghazi terrorist attack as a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim YouTube video,10 and then lied about the White House’s involvement.

2. Illegally revealed the existence of sealed indictments in the Benghazi investigation.

3. Failed to enforce the Magnitsky Act as required by law, by not adding Russian human rights abusers to a list of people not permitted to travel to or do business in the U.S.

4. Killed four Americans overseas in counterterrorism operations without judicial process.

5. Continued to give Egypt aid after the military took over its government, even though federal law prohibits aid to Egypt in the event of a coup.

ObamaCare:

1. Granted a “hardship” exemption from the individual mandate for people whose health plans were canceled because their plans weren’t Obamacare compliant.

2. Delayed the individual mandate for two years.

3. Allowed individuals to buy health insurance plans in 2014 that did not comply with Obamacare.18 Extended this delay until 2016—past the mid-term elections.

4. Extended the deadline to enroll in Obamacare.

5. Illegally granted businesses a waiver from Obamacare’s employer mandate. Twice.

6. Illegally continued the Obamacare employer contribution for congressional staffs.

7. Illegally delayed the Obamacare caps on out-of-pocket healthcare payments.

8. Illegally delayed Obamacare verification of eligibility for healthcare subsidies.

9. Illegally required people to violate their faith via the Obamacare contraception mandate.

10. As of May 2011, over 50% of Obamacare waiver beneficiaries were union members (who account for less than 12% of the American work force).

Economy:

1. Ordered Boeing to fire 1,000 employees in South Carolina and shut down a new factory because it was non-union.

2. Implemented a moratorium on offshore drilling after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill without statutory authority, and continued to enact new versions after federal courts epeatedly invalidated the moratorium.29

3. Treated secured creditors worse than unsecured creditors in the Chrysler bankruptcy.

4. Terminated the pensions of 20,000 non-union Delphi employees in the GM bankruptcy.

5. Had SWAT teams raid a Gibson guitar factory and seize property, on the purported basis that Gibson had broken India’s environmental laws—but no charges were filed.

6. Government agencies are engaging in “Operation Choke Point,” where the government asks banks to “choke off” access to financial services for customers engaging in conduct the Administration does not like—such as “ammunition sales.”

Executive Nominees and Personnel:

1. Made illegal “recess” appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board when Congress wasn’t in recess.34 Ignored the rulings of three federal courts of appeals that held those nominations unconstitutional.

2. Appointed czars to oversee federal policy specifically because czars do not require Senate confirmation, earning criticism from stalwart Democrats such as West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd and Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold.

3. As of January 2012, 36 of the President’s executive office staff owed $833,970 in back
taxes.

4. As of 2011, 311,566 federal employees or retirees owed $3.5 billion in taxes.

Free Speech & Privacy:

1. Illegally targeted conservative groups for heightened IRS scrutiny.

2. Circumvented the Freedom of Information Act, by requiring White House Counsel review of all documents to be released under the Freedom of Information Act that the Administration believed pertained to “White House equities”—and then delayed in producing many of these documents by FOIA’s statutory deadline, or didn’t produce them at all.

3. Got secret permission from the FISA Court to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and emails, permitting the NSA to search American’s communications in its databases.

4. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to monitor about 80% of U.S.
credit card transactions.

5. Targeted Fox News reporter James Rosen by falsely labeling him a possible “coconspirator” in a criminal investigation of a new leak.

6. Secretly obtained phone records from staff at the Associated Press.

7. Had meetings with lobbyists in coffee shops near White House to avoid disclosure requirements.

Other & Lawless Acts

1. Aided drug cartels instead of enforcing immigration laws—as found by a federal judge.
Border Patrol agents, multiple times, knowingly helped smuggle illegal immigrant children into the U.S.; “the DHS is encouraging parents to seriously jeopardize the safety of their children.”

2. Illegally sold thousands of guns to criminals, in the operation known as Fast and Furious, and then refused to comply with congressional subpoenas about the operation.

3. Dismissed charges filed by Bush Administration against New Black Panther Party members who were videotaped intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling station during the 2008 election.

4. Argued for expansive federal powers in the Supreme Court, which has rejected the Administration’s arguments unanimously 9 times since January 2012.

5. Sued Louisiana to stop school vouchers and keep low-income minorities trapped in failing schools.

6. Threatened to arrest military priests for practicing their faith during the partial government shutdown.

7. Muzzled the speech of military chaplains.

8. Sued fire departments saying their multiple-choice, open-book written employment tests
were racially discriminatory.

9. Gave 23,994 tax refunds worth more than $46 million to aliens here illegally using the same address in Atlanta, GA.

Other Abuses of Power

1. Released a mentally ill Guantanamo detainee,56 who had been a high-risk al Qaeda fighter in jihad combat since the 1980s.

2. Backed release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.

3. President Obama told NASA administrator to “find a way to reach out to the Muslim
world.”

4. Claimed the Fort Hood shooting was “workplace violence” rather than terrorism.

5. Signed a stimulus bill that spent money on bonuses for AIG executives,61 and then acted
shocked and outraged at the bonuses.

6. Gave $535 million to Solyndra, which went bankrupt; Solyndra shareholders and officials
made substantial donations to Obama’s campaign.

7. Reneged on a campaign promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in
office.

8. Increased the national debt more in one term than President Bush did in two terms.

9. Extended mortgage assistance to people who bought multiple homes during the housing
bubble.

10. Proposed rules that would have decimated family farms, by prohibiting children under 18 from doing many forms of farm work.

11. Former “safe schools czar” has written about his past drug abuse and advocated promoting homosexuality in schools.

12. Nominated Timothy Geithner—who had significant tax issues69—to head the Treasury
Department, which enforces tax laws.

13. Reneged on campaign promise to broadcast healthcare reform negotiations on C-SPAN.

14. Reneged on a campaign promise to wait five days before signing any non-emergency bill
(at least 10 times during first 3 months in office).

15. Unilaterally, increased the minimum wage for federal contract workers from $7.25 to
$10.10, via executive order.

16. Cancelled all White House tours after sequestration—purportedly saving $18,000 per
week—even though President Obama had spent more than $1 million in tax money to
golf with Tiger Woods one weekend a few weeks before.

17. Adopted pro-union “ambush election” rules.

18. Pressured Ford to pull an anti-auto-bailout TV ad.

19. Actively, aided in George Zimmerman protests.

20. Tried to seize a privately owned motel when guests used illegal drugs at the motel.

21. Shut down the Amber Alert website, while keeping up Let’s Move website, during the
partial government shutdown.

22. Gave supervised release to a convicted criminal (an alien here illegally) who later killed a nun in a DUI.

23. Shut down an Amish farm for selling fresh unpasteurized milk across state lines.

24. Spent $7 million per household in “stimulus funds” to connect a few Montana households
to the Internet.

25. Spent $205,075 in “stimulus” funds to relocate a shrub that sells for $16.

26. Fired an inspector general after investigating an $850,000 AmeriCorps grant received by a nonprofit run by former NBA star and Obama supporter Kevin Johnson (now mayor of
Sacramento).

Anyone wanting to write Senator Cruz to thank him for doing the great job that he is indeed doing can write him at:

Office of Senator Ted Cruz
185 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Call: (202) 224-­5922

Email: http://www.cruz.senate.gov

Editor's Note:

I want to thank Senator Cruz and his staff for taking the time to chronicle Obama's lawlessness.

Americans need to know what is going on in Washington, D.C., especially if the President is breaking the law.

Tom Correa