Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Today's Battles


An Open Letter to President Obama and Speaker of the House, John Boehner;

I am the first to admit that I am just an ordinary citizen, with an average intelligence and lacking in college degrees since my only school was the one of hard knocks. With that being said I have a few comments with respect to what I understand could be a problem or two with respect to our debt problems and our gun problems, two totally different, but important issues today.

 First, with respect to the debt situation; we hear on the radio, from the television, and from the news media in general,  that there are certain things that need to be cut. We should all agree  that cuts are necessary .

 

1.       Let’s quit giving a free ride to the people of our country. Presently our government is  giving free cell phones, free and/or subsidized housing,  and money (in the form of income tax returns, where the recipient didn’t pay anything in in the first place, ) to people because they think it is necessary. Maybe we should let them pay a minimum income tax, say a meager $10.00 or so per year to help offset the cost of the military needs, the various research needs ,and other necessities of the government machine, just so they can say they really love this wonderful country and take some pride is supporting it? I have heard that there are many people that not only do not pay any income tax, but after not paying taxes , they actually are receiving refunds of money they didn’t pay in the first place. 

Let’s say “No” to those unmarried mothers with the many children that were brought into this world for the sole purpose of obtaining welfare money.  

Let’s say “No” the many people who claim they cannot work, get their social security disability checks each month, and then start lawn services, babysitting services, and many other services that require physical labor, and are paid for in cash. (under the table)

Maybe we should put some restrictions on the attorneys that represent those same people.  They must make quite a sum of money if they can afford to advertise on television the way that they do.  Consider  this,  that you and I are really paying those attorneys who are legally giving our social security  money  to these double-dipping  people they represent.

2.       What would happen if we quit giving our money , in the billions, to foreign country governments who squander it, whose citizens never see any benefits from it, and who could care less whether our great country survives or not? Why not spend it on our infrastructure, on our children’s education, on our storm ravaged communities.

3.       What would happen if the colleges were to quit spending millions on unnecessary programs and certain preferred teachers, and actually used that money to cut the costs for students. What if we decided that teachers that teach politics that are totally against our form of government,  were dismissed and replaced with logical, ethical, and United States loving professors.  What if professors could no longer tell the students they have to buy their  personally authored  and over- priced books, rather than those books written by intelligent people that have knowledge outside of the classroom and actually have experienced the things they are writing about rather than assuming what they are writing is correct.

 

WE have another serious problem called weaponry. I come from a family of hunters dating back into the 1800’s. My people were those that hunted for food, spent money on hunting equipment that was actually needed ,rather than on sub-machine guns and other types of guns for military use.

I am not against guns, but I am against military weapons being in the hands of anyone that wants one just to please some organization that over-emphasizes the need for such weapons and then hides behind certain amendments of the government.

Not too long ago my wife and I were privileged to be used as finger printers for a sheriff’s department. Our job was to fingerprint anyone that needed fingerprints for licenses or other reasons, such as pharmacy, child care, child safety, concealed weapon permits, doctors, and the list goes on and on.

In order for a person in that state to obtain a permit to carry a sidearm, he/she must go through a gun training class where they were to learn how to use the gun, how to clean and store the gun and all of the safety rules regarding that weapon. An excellent idea…however, when you have unscrupulous instructors you have no program. Many examples of what I am saying came through our office. One was an older gentleman in a wheelchair, who not only could not remember his name, but had to be pushed about. Another came in with a briefcase containing the paperwork but he could not identify himself and wasn’t sure why he was there. A lady, that could not hold her hands still to write, (it took over ½ hour to get most of her prints and we wrote a memo explaining why we could not get all of the prints done well) also came for her permit. Now I have to ask you how safe do you feel,  knowing these people passed the test and were given permits.

It was not unusual ,when we asked why they were getting a permit, to have them tell us their spouse thought it would be a good idea, or since permits might be harder to get later, they should get one now, even though they were afraid of the guns.

In order for regulations to work, regulators have to have the proper training and that should include mental evaluation as well as physical evaluation. Just collecting the sum required for the training and passing people through like cattle in a slaughter house is not the answer.

Well, as usual, I have now made more people disgusted with me, have upset many more, but hopefully have also given some a new slant on things of interest today.