Are You Down for the Struggle?

The president gave his 3rd State of the Union address on Tuesday with predictable results. His supporters loved it and his detractors hated it. I am annoyed and frustrated with all of it! Let me preface this diatribe with admitting that I did not watch the speech when it happened. I was at a meeting and caught the last 10 minutes on the radio. I did watch it later on a replay with my bucket at the ready in case of nausea. The main theme was easy to discern : "I want to be re-elected next year and I want to make you feel good about making the same mistake twice." The speech was optimistic and gave lip service to the deficit but the theme remained the same. This was countered by Paul Ryan, one of the few adults in the picture, with that sexy message telling us we can't afford all this spending and we need to get our government under control. Which message does our credit-addicted society want to believe?

I am not going to waste much of your time telling you the truth because everyone really knows it already. Major changes in the way our government operates have to happen if we are to survive as a strong, independent nation. (see Greece, Ireland, Spain). Sacrifices have to be made by everyone to correct the mistakes of the past. Remember that word : everyone! Entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid cannot be "off limits". They need to be scaled back tremendously to serve as the safety nets they were supposed to be.

The big question is whether our citizens (and illegals that we don't seem to want to send home) are down for the sacrifice? Sure it's great to punish those evil rich people and corporations but when it comes to someone in his 89th week of unemployment benefits sitting on his butt not trying to get a job is it so great? Or the retired person with a six-figure retirement income sucking the last nickel from his government benefits because he is "entitled" to it? They should both ask themselves what their grandparents would think of this behavior. I can remember when a man would do anything to avoid being on the government dole! Now the government not only encourages it but seeks to mandate it. We are the only ones that can change this and the first shot was fired last November. Only time will tell if this was the start of a revolution or just a temper tantrum. The fight is not over!

Have They No Shame?

Can someone please tell me what that spectacle on was on TV last night? Like most of the country I turned it on with the hopes of pelting my mind with some mindless drivel. Unfortunately, I was treated to a campaign rally disguised as a memorial to the victims of the psycho on Saturday in Tucson. I watched it in disbelief with flashbacks to the "memorial" for Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone a few years ago. Same kind of crap!

Then, of course, there was the Teleprompter-In-Chief along with the First Grimmacer. Have you ever noticed that Michelle always looks like she is constipated? I'm sure the Prez, under the direction of David Axelrod, decided that he couldn't buy a better opportunity to kick off his 2012 campaign. So he kicked it off with one of his classics. I kept expecting him to blame this tragedy on George Bush. That is probably in his next campaign speech. And what were Janet Napolatono, Eric Holder, and every other politician that could find an excuse to attend, doing there. They were Obama's warm up acts!

Well, I will answer my question above. No they don't have any shame!!!! Everything to them is a political opportunity. Everything is about them. They practice their "concerned looks" in the mirror while plotting to use the event to their advantage. It was like watching a train wreck and not being able to turn away. Political theater? I guess, but disgusting!!!!

Look, this was a tragedy perpetrated by a madman. This was not caused by a lack of gun control laws, lack of enforcement, or some evil Republican plot. We can examine the chronology leading up to the event and second guess if this person should have done something or that person should have to try to assign blame to someone sane. I'm sure anyone who knew this man has asked themselves what they could have done to prevent this. The answer is nothing! We live in a free society and one of those freedoms allows us to say some pretty crazy stuff without getting locked up for it. Obviously, hindsight allows us to point to his rants and say he is clearly a disturbed individual. Most of us are not psychic so it's not fair to expect us to be. Things like this happen and will happen again. That doesn't diminish the pain of the victims or their families. The best thing that can come from this is for us to recognize abhorrent behavior in our friends and loved ones and do what we can do to get them treatment. Not that they are going to do something like this but to help them get control of their lives. Yes, we are our brothers' keepers and it is time we remembered that! Mentally ill people are out among us and we see them every day. We ignore them, secretly thanking God that we are not so afflicted, and go on our way. Do we know them or their families? Probably. Do they need help. Probably. I like you, go on my way. I hope that I will do something in the future. Not in hopes of preventing such a tragedy as what happened in Tuscon but in hopes of saving a wasted life. After all, he is my brother!