Make-A-Statement Commentary Blog

So much to write about, so little time.

What do we have time to focus on this week? The economy? Nope, that’s being talked to death. Corruption? Where can we start? Unqualified politicians? Not enough time.

How about taxes? That’s a good idea and one we can all identify with. It seems to me that about 200 and some odd years ago, we protested  taxation without representation. Having sat through last weeks vote on the stimulus bill which no one in Congress had the time to read…isn’t that what happened in front of our very eyes?

The bill, as I understand it, was about 1100 pages in length and came out of committee about fifteen hours before it was voted upon. Obviously no one in this country had a chance to read the thing in it’s entirety before it came up for a vote. So, how can anyone say that the bill was passed with any level of understanding and comprehension? They can’t. So how can any politician honestly tell us they are representing us in this largest of all tax bills?

I don’t think they can.  The current mentality seems to be something along the line of … “We must do something, even if it’s wrong.” I don’t agree. The free market will naturally correct itself, if left alone. People will buy and sell things when the prices for those things reach the correct level. Just because you buy a house does not mean that the house you bought is guaranteed to go up in value by 20% each and every year. This is foolish thinking and has gotten a lot of people into financial trouble. Once the housing market stabilizes and gets to the realistic true value of the properties, then the market will start to expand and grow once more. Pouring more money into it, does not solve the problem.


As I understand it, the bill that was passed this week also had a provision in it to assist homeowners whose houses were worth less than they owed. Under the bill that was passed, the government would come in and help those homeowners obtain a reduction on their monthly payments in order to allow the homeowner to stay in the house. My question is this. If we reduce the monthly payments, the mortgage companies take longer to get paid for their original outlay when the house was bought. Our mortgage payments usually include property taxes to our local counties. Will those be reduced as well? I don’t think so. So, if the homeowner can’t afford their payments and their taxes, will this not lead to more and more counties suffering financial difficulties and having to ask for governmental bailouts? It’s like buying a car and putting it on a 120 month note, just to keep the payments low. At some point in time the maintenance costs exceed the monthly note to the lender. None of us can drive a vehicle for ten or fifteen years without having to do some maintenance on it.

One other issue on taxes this week. The government is now testing a plan to tax our driving by the miles driven.  It seems more and more of us aren’t driving as much as we were a few years ago, or we’re buying vehicles that use less fuel, so the amount of dollars coming in from gasoline taxes has dropped off. The answer to this would be to tax us on the actual miles we drive each year.

Let’s see, suppose I own a gas guzzler and I pay $2,000 a year in gasoline taxes. Then I buy a hybrid and my new efficient vehicle only requires enough gas to generate $500 in gasoline tax the next year. But, then here comes the government and they tax me for the miles actually driven in my vehicle so my tax bill goes up another $1500 a year based on my mileage. How is it I’m ahead of the game and rewarded for trying to do the right thing and buying a more expensive gas efficient vehicle? I thought the purpose of buying one in the first place was to increase my mileage and save myself some money. This doesn’t look like it rewards me for doing the right thing.

I suppose it could be worse, just look at New York . Over there they are proposing a 4% increase in tax on anything downloaded from the internet, 4% increase in taxi fares. A 4% increase on the cost of cable for your house, an 18% increase on the cost of a soft drink and worst of all a double of the tax on beer.

Stayed tuned folks, we’re all in this together and we must not waver or surely we’ll all go down together.

Comments go to pperry@austin.rr.com

Posted by hillpehle at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WEDNESDAY - February 18, 2009
 
Hello once again from the West Texas Headquarters Of The Culture Of Corrupt Jingoist Smear Machines.
 
STIMULUS:
 
Let me get this out of the way first;  NO  I  HAVE  NOT  READ  THE  STIMULUS  BILL.  So that makes me at least even with the majority of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate.  None of them have read this idiotic piece of legislation either.  Oh, some of them probably read small parts but I'll wager that the only parts they read were those which dealt with their own particular district or state.
 
According to some of the information which I read, California was first with funding for 1971 projects;  Florida was second with funding for 1752 projects;  and Texas was third with funding for 1240 projects.  Now since I live in Texas I believe I have a right to sound off on the $10.7 BILLION Taxpayer Dollars earmarked for my state.
 
Leading the State of Texas in hog meat is the City of Dallas with nearly $1.3 BILLION;  Followed by San Antonio with $1.07 BILLION;  Followed by Austin with $1.03 BILLION and Houston with a paltry $588 MILLION in swine handouts.  Now I am not going to bore you with everything on which these funds are being spent but San Antonio has $10 MILLION earmarked for upgrading the Alamo Dome.  Now I am sure that the Alamo Dome probably could use some sprucing up but this is a stadium owned, I believe, by either The City of San Antonio or Bexar, County.  So why should taxpayer money from other parts of the state and nation be used to improve something which is owned by the government in that area?  Actually that doesn't gripe me as much as the  $18 MILLION earmarked in Austin for a boardwalk around "Lady Bird" Lake.  But I imagine that quite a bit of this so called "Stimulus Package" in every state is going to be blown on similar projects.
 

But before I leave this subject, I really must mention some funding earmarked for the state of California.  I read in a couple of places where this idiotic piece of legislation also earmarks some $30 MILLION for wetlands conservation in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco Bay area district.  Part of this will be earmarked for a project  designed to protect the "Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse".  Now I thought this type of money being spent to make sure that a particular type of rodent feels at home was absurd.  But then I began to really think about this and am just about to change my mind, and here's why:
 
Just imagine the natural habitat of the "Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse" being unable to support the little beasts, what would happen?
 
For starters they would more than likely move out of their rural settings and invade California cities in numbers too great to imagine.  OK now you are going to have to stay with me on this.  Just suppose that several of these creatures came in contact with Nancy Pelosi,  Barbara Boxer, Maxine Waters, Diane Feinstein,  Henry Waxman, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
 
The marsh mice would be stricken immediately with an incurable disease known as; Stupido Politicianus.  Now this disease has no known cure and can be contracted by just being in the same area as one of the above named carriers.  It is highly contagious and anything coming in contact with one of the marsh mice would also contract the disease.  I'm sure that you can see that from the original contaminated marsh mice how the disease could spread to other marsh mice and in turn could spread to birds, cats and other predators.  So perhaps spending $30 MILLION taxpayer dollars to keep these little buggers where they belong might not be all that bad.  Of course some of the mice could come in contact with Barbara Streisand or Jane Fonda or perhaps Whoopi Goldberg and be stricken with Entertainus Idioticus.  This also has no known cure.  I feel sure that PETA is most supportive of this earmark as is The Sierra Club.
 
But seriously, the American public has been lied to by BOTH Houses of Congress as well as the world's most articulate and intelligent human.  President Obama felt it necessary to fly to Colorado to sign this piece-o-crap bill.  According to the news he did this to show his support for "Green Legislation" which evidently is liberally sprinkled throughout this bill.
 
Like for instance, they never told the American public that giving these tax dollars to the states to dispense to the various cities and statewide projects is normally sliced up with a percentage of the total amount received by each particular government entity going toward "Administrative Fees".  I can recall working on federal grants to law enforcement in which the whole amount designated for a particular state had a percentage taken by the state for "Administrative Fees".  Then when the funds hit each city or county, that city/county could also take a percentage off the top for their own "Administrative Fees".   I must say  that the City for whom I was employed DID  NOT  take their "Administrative Fees" with the entire amount going for the equipment or salaries for which it was intended.  Not all cities did that but ours did.
 
I keep hearing all of these so called economic experts attempting to put us all on a guilt trip like it is somehow our fault that certain members of our population applied for and received a loan which both the lender and the borrower knew at the time the loan was made, was completely un affordable to the borrower.  It doesn't take a genius or a master's degree to figure out that someone  making $35 to a$40,000 per year cannot afford the monthly payments on a $175 - $200,000.00 home.  But since our government has made it their business to involve themselves at every level of our lives, and it was their wish that EVERYONE was entitled to own "Affordable Housing".
 
Now our government is wanting to control the housing market just like they want to control the lending institutions and the automobile industry.  So I have this question for our federal government.  Since the government feels it incumbent on them to give all sorts of perks to people who made bad loans and cannot afford what they purchase, what are they going to do for the majority of Americans who lived within a budget and saved money and did without certain things to be able to purchase and pay off their loans on or before the deadline?  I hear stories every day of families who did without new automobiles, cell phones for their children, credit cards for their children, iPods, satellite television and any number of other things so that they could, dare I say it, SAVE  MONEY and pay cash for what they needed or wanted.
 
Believe me when I tell you that the Socialists who now are in the majority in our federal government hate those of us who perhaps actually did save money.  That makes some of us a little  less dependent upon the federal government.  The Socialists want us all to be dependent upon them for everything  we need.  Of course they don't want that for themselves,  just you and I.
 
OTHER  STUFF:
 
Sometime last week, I believe it was, Bill O'Reilly made a comment about White House Correspondent, Helen Thomas, bearing a striking resemblance to "The Wicked Witch of the West" in The Wizard Of Oz.  The role, incidentally was played by Margaret Hamilton.   Now while I do agree with Mr. O'Reilly on a number of things, I had to take issue with him on this.  So I tried to find video of Helen Thomas and in the few clips I was able to pull up I was unable to get a good look at her as there was always a troop of flying monkeys swirling around her head.  However in every single clip Helen could be heard to say, "I'll get you my pretty,  and your little dog too."  So I guess I will have to give in to Mr. O'Reilly and take the position that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  Anyway, to me she always sort of reminded me of Jabba The Hutt from Star Wars.
 
OK.  You want to talk about government intrusion into your life?  Then try this on for size.  And of course it could come from no place other than the "Freedom Loving Worker's Province of Massachusetts".  This was from Scripps wire service:   "A tentative plan to overhaul a Massachusetts transportation system by using GPS (for those of you residing in The People's Republic of San Francisco, that would be a Global Positioning Satellite) chips to charge motorists a one quarter cent for every mile behind the wheel may have angered some drivers."
 
" It's outrageous, it's kind of Orwellian, Big Brotherish, said Sen. Scott Brown, (R-Wrentham) who drafted legislation last week to prohibit the practice."

"But a 'Vehicle Miles Travelled' program like the one the Massachusetts Governor may unveil this week has already been tested --------- with positive results------- IN  OREGON."
 
"Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island as well as the federal government, also are talking about similar programs."
 
All I can say is "Beam me up Mr. Spock, these clowns are out of their minds".  You see, a real clue in this is that "It worked----in Oregon".  The defense rests.
 
Earlier this week I went to one of our local Wal-Mart stores to purchase some .22 caliber ammunition for my two youngest grandsons.  Now keep in mind, this was .22 rim fire ammunition.  One of the stores had one box left and when I went to pay, the clerk asked me if the ammunition was for a rifle or a pistol.  Now the ammunition was for the .22 rifles used by my two grandsons so I told him for a rifle.  He punched some key on the cash register and I suppose it registered the kind of weapon for which the ammo was purchased.  I went to the other Wal-Mar store and purchased another box of .22 rim fire ammunition and once again was asked if the ammo was for a rifle or a pistol so I again answered for a rifle.  I am still not sure why this question was asked and if this policy just started but I strongly imagine that the owners of the Wal-Mart chain themselves could care less about what type of weapon the ammo would be used in.  Strange, then again maybe not so strange.  I think the next time I will tell them that it is for a handgun and see what happens.
 
Last week I was driving back to my house.  Just behind our house runs an arroyo which actually goes several miles to the North before emptying I believe into the Concho River.  The South end of this arroyo starts several hundred yards at the city limits and actually starts at the property line of a ranch.  Lots of deer and other wildlife live on that ranch among which are some feral cats.  These cats are plenty wild and on occasion in the early mornings I can catch deer feeding in the arroyo along with a number of feral cats heading back toward the ranch.
 
On this particular morning I saw a huge orange colored tom cat (For those in the Peoples Gulag of Austin, that would be a male cat) crossing the street heading for the arroyo and headed for the ranch.  I had never seen this particular cat before and was absolutely amazed at his size.  When he walked, he reminded me of one of those huge male lions in some of the African movies.  He walked very slowly and deliberate and was really showing the world that he was in charge.  I stopped and let him cross in front of me and he stopped in the middle of the street and gave me a glare.  I noticed then that he had a tail which had been cut off about midway.  His left ear was chewed off and just barely stuck out from his head.  This ol' boy had seen some battles and he gave me a look that said "OK, I've let you and that green monster go this morning but you better be damn careful anytime you see me."  After staring at me for about 15 seconds he slowly turned and headed for the arroyo and the ranch.  What a great animal.  This old orange tom cat had more character than our entire House and Senate.  Of course a group of lemmings headed for the cliff has more character than do those mutts.
 
 
PRAYER   LIST:
 
Tony Knott,  Ann Fraley,  James & Pat Murphy,  Tony Aguilar - HOBBS,NM;   Ella Dunlop,  Kitten Winthrope - SAN  ANTONIO,TX;   Susan O'Brien - VACAVILLE,CA;   Arthur Baebel - HOUSTON,TX;   Irma & L.T. Drennan - ADA,OK;  Meryl Coleman, Dan Higdon - FLORENCE,OR;  Paul Gula - ORLANDO,FL;   Bill Alderman - CELINA,TX;   Rudy Bates, MSgt. Randy Morrow;  GySgt.  James Walker,  Cpl.  Michael Rice,  LtCol.  James Moore,  Cpl. Brandon Robinson; Sgt. Eric Harmon,  SSgt. Matthew Ross - USMC;  Jason Plilar,  Kenneth Thomas - US COAST GUARD;  Eric Grudziecke, Elizabeth Chaffon,  Clair Vest,  SSgt. Aaron Brown - USAF;  Lt. William Jordan, LCDR Robert McLay, Ensign Tommy Brown,  Lt. Michael Brown - US NAVY;  Midshipmen Levi English,  Russell Brown  US NAVAL  ACADEMY;  SSgt. Michael Strawn, Sgt. Logan McKinzie,  PFC  Richard Lee Bishop,  Capt.(Fr) Kevin Peek -  US ARMY;  Fr. Joseph M. Peek;  John Mallory - DEA
 
QUOTES:
 
"Imagine you see a person at work taking buckets of water from the deep end of the swimming pool and dumping them into the shallow end in an attempt to make it deeper.  You would deem him stupid.  That scenario is equivalent to what Congress and the new President proposes for the economy."..............  WALTER  WILLIAMS
 
"A little state control never hurt anyone."........ JERRY  BROWN-Former California Governor
 
""Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and mechanical products, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable.  The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism."............... KARL  MARX-Das Kapital, 1867
 
"We are well on our way with this President and Congress." .........  JIM MURPHY-2009
 
VARMINTS:
 
"Fat Teddy" Kennedy;  "Fat Jack" Murtha;  "Melon Head" Kerry;  Nancy Pelosi;  Harry Reid;  Barney Frank; Diane Feinstein;  Henry Waxman;  Barbara Boxer;  Chuck Schumer;  Bill Clinton;  "Mr. Toad" Al Franken;  Arlen Specter;  Olympia Snowe;  Susan Collins;  Jimmy Carter;  President Barack Hussein Obama*  After his performance this week, I just could no longer leave him off this list.
 
Now for something completely different.  This past week was of course St. Valentine's Day on February 14th.  February 15th was our 51st Wedding Anniversary.  February 20th is my wife's Birthday.  So I have been pretty fortunate to have all of these important days occur within a week.  Sure makes it easy for me.
 
Oh, before I forget, this past week we were subjected to two different FOX News shows on which Whoopi Goldberg was being interviewed.  One was the O'Reilly Factor and this was a two part interview and we were subjected  to Whoopi two nights in a row.   But the big hoopla was on the Sean Hannity Show.  All week he advertised that he was going to go 'Head to Head' with Whoopi Goldberg.  I did not watch any of these interviews in their entirety but saw enough to reinforce my opinion that Whoopi Goldberg is a pure mutt.  Of course O'Reilly was much better than Hannity as it was obvious that O'Reilly was much more intelligent than was Whoopi.  I'm not sure about Hannity though.  But I still must ask this question,  Why would anyone care about the opinion of a super ugly woman who was named after a cushion which made the noise of someone passing gas?  It is beyond me.
 
Well I must be off for another week and since I am such a fan of PETA and the Sierra Club I believe I will start a "Save The Fire Ants" movement.   After all, insects do have rights.  Or so I'm told.
 
Later
 
JEM

Posted by hillpehle at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Are you like me in getting a chill down your spine every time you hear a news report open with “Barack Obama will…” or “Barack Obama hopes to…” or any number of other openings but you get the point?  Does your stomach drop and your heart stop when you hear the question, “Did you hear what Barack Obama did today?” for fear of what that something might be?

If you are, fear not, you are not alone.  There are many of us out here in this great nation who not only fear what Barack Obama will do, we dread the moment that he does and we fight the only way we can—through activism—in an attempt to stop at least some of the degradations this man plans to visit on America.  Some may call our attempts nothing more than dreaming and say that it is a vain attempt—and it may well be.  But when I meet my maker I would rather know that I tried, that I stood up for what is right, and honored the rights our Creator gave to us.  I would rather not be the one who looks Him in the eye and says “I was too busy to work for others” or “I wasn’t interested”.

So, I labor and I pray.  And I invite you to join me in the fight to save this country and the freedoms we enjoy for our children and our children’s grandchildren.  


There is so much to be done.  We must fight to protect the rights of the unborn from the atrocity that is the Freedom of Choice Act which will even legalize partial-birth abortion as well as tax-payer funding.  We must fight to keep our military funded.  We must fight amnesty.  We must fight FOR a border fence.  And there are others as well, even in individual states.

It won’t be easy but no one ever said that doing the right thing was easy.  As a matter of fact it is often much easier to ignore all the wrong going on in Washington because you are too busy or whatever and do nothing to protect the rights you treasure for your children and their children, let alone for yourself.  

Have you heard of the Fairness Doctrine?  It is intended to silence talk radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Glenn Beck along with other conservatives who disagree with the majority in Washington right now.  Look into your hearts—is only one side of the story what the American people should be getting?  Don’t you prefer to have both sides of a story before you make a decision on a personal issue?  So why should the American people be denied that on political issues where their country’s fate as well as their own is determined?

And if you think they aren’t going to go after your guns you are kidding yourself.  The liberals in this country have been fighting to take our guns for years and now they are in power.  

I don’t know if we have a chance of actually winning any battles over the next two years, but what we will do is make the people informed as to what is going on, the result of which will hopefully result with a Republican controlled Congress in 2010—Republicans who are true conservatives.  

That may be a big goal to achieve in two years, and we technically can’t succeed with this mission for six years because some Senators just took office.  If we all work together, each keeping up from their local point of view, and on the national level and we share that information we can make this happen.  We just have to be sincere and work hard.  

Now the Silent Majority must speak up, or remain silent and type a lot, for as Thomas Jefferson said, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”

This is Melissa Pehle-Hill writing for www.make-a-statement.org and www.roar-usa.ning.com.  Have a nice day.

Posted by hillpehle at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As most of you know, I pay pretty close attention to the things our government chooses to do.  One of the things I pay the closest attention to is our 2nd Amendment Right, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.  Let me tell you folks, this new President scares the heck out of me.  During his campaign, he told the people (that’s us) that he would defend our 2nd Amendment Rights, but fewer than 100 hours after his Inauguration he announced his “Urban Policy” on his website.  His plan includes:
1.    Permanent Clinton-style gun bans.
2.    Repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment exposing sensitive, non-representative BATFE gun “trace” data for trial lawyers and anti-gun politicians.
3.    Restrictions making weekend gun shows as we know them – and private sales between law-abiding citizens – effectively illegal.

This is not “News”, the spike in firearms and ammunition sales to levels never before seen shows us the information is out there for those who choose to look for it.  What shocks me is the Virtual Media Blackout of this issue.  Even here in Texas the Media is failing to inform the citizens about issues important to our heritage.  


If you like to hunt and target shoot or want the ability to protect your family in an emergency, you better pay close attention to what Washington DC is doing. The winds of CHANGE are blowing and will blow us off our feet if we are not ready for it.  As a member of the NRA, I receive regular updates on 2nd Amendment Legislation and there is a lot going on across the nation.  If you are not watching what is going on in DC, I suggest you do so before it is too late.

Just remember: Our 2nd Amendment Rights were not given to us so we can go hunting.  They were given to us to protect us from threats to our life and liberty and from a tyrannical government.

God Bless America

Posted by hillpehle at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After nearly twenty months we have finally sold our home and will be moving in a week or so. I say a week or so, because it isn’t me that is in charge of this move. It’s my wife. The responsibility is on her shoulders, hers alone.

The other morning, I was wandering around the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee and looking at the collection of boxes, paper, tape and bubble wrap. I made a comment to my wife and told her that I didn’t seem to find any rhyme or reason to her method of packing all of our stuff. It looked to me as if she was working in all of the rooms at one time. My method would be to do one room and then go to another.

She placed her hands on her hips (a sign I have tried to avoid ) and told me in very low and pleasant tones that it had been her that had moved us at any time in the past and that she knew what she was doing and I should just stay out of the process. In other words, go away and let me do this. I am woman…I am in charge. Hear me roar.


We’ve been together coming up on thirty eight years. I know the hands on the hips stance and have learned that it generally does not bring happy tidings. I also know that she is correct in saying that it has been her that has supervised our previous moves. I must have momentarily lost my mind when I   questioned her packing style and methods. I could plead insanity and would certainly win in a court of law.

I suppose my moment of temporary insanity occurred when I started thinking about all of the stuff we have to move. Years ago, I would just throw most of it away, but with the advent of E-Bay and Craigslist, you don’t want to do that any longer. People will pay good money for some of the things you used to sit out by the curb and pray the trash guys will load up. There’s gold in that thar trash….

So, I’ll  stay out of her way and we’ll get moved and then I’ll try and sell what we don’t want or can’t use once we get where we are going. Makes sense to me.

One thing I do know, men should be aware of their limitations and not try and attempt functions beyond their abilities. For example, I don’t think a man should ever give birth to a child. Men are just not built for this and should never attempt to do it under any circumstances. I feel exactly the same about changing diapers.

Men are good at things such as football, rugby, baseball, auto repair and hunting, but they should not involve themselves in activities which are the domain of the female sex. Moving from one house to another is clearly well beyond my personal capabilities. I was trying to put together some boxes for my wife this weekend and did not manage to do them the way she does. So, I have failed box making. My personal self esteem was lowered, but I know that somehow I’ll manage to get over it.  Obviously the learning curve is just too steep for me to attempt at this late in the day. I have to admit that I’m completely over my head on this project. When it comes to the operation of the tape machine, I’m all thumbs and cannot seem to get the thing to work like she does. I’m in awe of her prowess and box making ability. You go girl…..

No, I think my role is to just stand back and observe her methods. Perhaps throw in some words of encouragement and bring home some take out food from the place down the road. For me and certainly for millions of other men like me, this is hard for us to do. To just stand idly by and do nothing makes us feel, well….useless. But what can we do? By the time we get up to speed on the mysteries of packing and moving, it’ll be too late. I suppose the best we can do is to just swallow our pride and watch in awe how the process moves along.

As much as I hate it, I’ll just go to work and keep out of her way while she continues to perform this incredible task. I love her pioneer spirit as she effortlessly wraps the dishes and breakables. I could have signed her up for a wagon train to California when the gold rush was going on and she would have handled it with ease.

No, I think I’m totally out of my league here and should just keep my mouth shut and be quiet, if I know what’s good for me.

Comments go to pperry@austin.rr.com

Posted by hillpehle at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I know you’re hoping that this week’s column will touch on subjects like the economy and the stimulus plan which seems to be taking over our lives. Alas, it is not to be. I have had enough news to last me for some time and those of you who are interested in the news will certainly glean more from your local paper or your television. Not from me.

No, this week I’m going to take on a couple of topics which haven’t been in the news as of late.

The first is border security and the second is expiration dates on milk cartons. I know they don’t relate, but I’m working here to get something down on paper and you’re reading so what the heck? Stay with me.


My first topic concerns something called “Project 28” which is a ‘virtual’ fence between Mexico and Arizona. Now, I’m not a rocket scientist, but a fence is a fence. You either have one or you don’t. We all know what one looks like. You may have one in your back yard. I’ve seen them and so have you. But now the government has a awarded a contract for around $860 million of our dollars to erect a 28 mile long virtual fence south of Tucson. I say it has a cost of $860 million, when in fact the spokesman for the project would not comment other than to say…. ‘The new system has an undetermined cost.’

How nice. I’d like to get in on this action. Maybe build some virtual crocodile defense alarms for places like say, New York or Omaha. My theory is to build these and then monitor the number of crocodile attacks in those areas. If none occur, then I’m certain the system will be declared a 100% success. I can envision virtual fences in most of the United States. I think I’d leave out Louisiana, Florida and parts of Texas. I’d like to focus on North Dakota and other locations. Heck, I’ll even throw in safeguards against lion and tiger attacks in those parts of the nation. If this thing takes hold I could go international and protect countries such as Ireland against things like …snakes. Sounds like a plan to me.

Seriously, the sad part of this project is the fact that as of this date the system falls short of working as it was intended. In one news article, it was revealed that the contractor bought off the shelf software and tried to make it work on this application. This was intended to save time and to get the system up and running quickly. Now they are asking for an additional 45 million to upgrade the computer software. I would have thought the software would have been a part of the original bid, but then again what do I know?

Enough of that. My second point this week is the sell by dates on things like milk and other stuff you buy in the stores. My wife and I have had a long running discussion over this issue. In the overall scheme of things it really doesn’t matter, but I still would like to find the answer before I pass on. My contention is that the ‘sell by’ date on a gallon of milk is to tell the store that they have to remove this item if it isn’t sold by that date. My wife argues that this is the expiration date and that the product isn’t any good any longer and should be thrown away. I know that she has been really sick these past couple of weeks when I found two cartons of milk still in the fridge with ‘sell by’ dates from the week before. We had actually used some of it in our coffee and as far as I know suffered no ill effects. She would have never known about it, if I hadn’t brought it to her attention. My test for good or bad milk… and I share this with other male friends of mine, is that if it still is a liquid and not a complete solid, it’s probably alright to use. I cut the green parts off of cheese as well. Leftovers to me are just that...left over from the week or so before.

I think most men will agree that heating anything up to say 250 degrees successfully kills any known harmful substances in whatever you have around. I subscribe to the theory that pizza actually tastes better a couple of days after you bought it. I know meatloaf has a usable shelf life of about two weeks. Throwing a meatloaf away after only a couple of days is a sacrilege to me. Whoever ate a warm meatloaf sandwich? Women seem to worry excessively over stuff like green bread...the guys I know just punch out those parts and keep the rest.  

I’m way overdue for a vacation.


Comments go to pperry@austin.rr.com

Posted by hillpehle at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

    Now that we have a new President, and one that is well-known for supporting abortion, we truly need to keep watch on the happenings in Washington and remember what it come Election Day of 2010 and 2012.  That is, of course, if you are concerned with either the moral issues of killing unborn children or the reality that if abortion continues at this rate, eventually this country’s very existence could be in danger.  Like Russia, we could end up with problems of reduced population.  They had more people dying than being born and they got to the point they had enough concern that they were actually offering I believe around $5,000 to families if they had a second or third child.  Is that what we want for America?  
    Barack Obama, before winning the election, told Planned Parenthood, “The first thing I'd do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.  That's the first thing I'd do.”  Now, what is the Freedom of Choice Act and how does it work?  Is this something we should be concerned about?
    Well, the FOCA is a federal bill that would basically remove ALL restrictions from abortions in America.  Not only would it bequeath unlimited taxpayer-funded abortions on demand, it also includes these other changes:
*End parental notification or consent for abortions performed on minors
*Mandate taxpayer funding of abortion
*Allow abortions in military hospitals
*End waiting periods before having an abortion
*Overturn laws requiring informed consent prior to abortion
*Deny doctors the right to refuse to perform abortion for religious reasons
*Force religious affiliated hospitals and facilities to perform abortions
*Overturn many abortion clinic health regulations
*Overturn laws prohibiting abortion after the viability of the child
*Legalize partial-birth abortion
    
   
Now, keeping in mind that that according to a gallup poll 72% of the American people disagree with partial birth abortion, with 68% of them not thinking that it should be legal even in the second trimester.  Of course I might also add here that 54% of Americans believe that abortion should only be legal in some circumstances with 40% of those saying only in limited circumstances.  Also 69% favor parental notification or consent, 78% favor a waiting period prior to the procedure, and 88% favor a law requiring doctors to inform the patient of alternatives.  I could find no information on where people stand on forcing doctors and religious institutions to perform abortions when it is against their beliefs but something tells me that Americans would come down on the side of defending their right to decide whether they are involved in such a procedure or not.  It’s not like there is a shortage of Planned Parenthood offices or others willing to butcher an unborn.  
    I knew before the election what was coming if Barack Hussein Obama won and I was right.  We must now begin the fight to stop FOCA.  We must protect our children, our beliefs, and our very nation—and we must do so now!!

This is Melissa Pehle-Hill writing for www.make-a-statement.org and www.roar-usa.ning.com

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When I was in the army many years ago, we spent a lot of time trying to teach young soldiers how to perform close order drills. You could always count that one of the members of your platoon would be out of step. I can tell you that more than one once I heard one of my men tell me … “I’m not out of step….all of you are….”

Well, as Yogi Berra used to say… “It's deja vu all over again". This morning on one of the Sunday talk shows, Congressman Barney Frank was being asked why the American public had lost confidence in the United States Congress in view of all of the recent issues with tax cheats, lobby violations and other issues. Congressman Frank was quick to point out that “We didn’t just parachute in here, the voters sent us to Washington and (basically) it’s their fault for not holding us to a higher standard.”

Say What?

I don’t seem to recall single campaign advertisement in which some political wannabe makes a statement that he or she is going to steal, cheat or lie about their efforts once they reach public office. In fact, most of the advertisements I’ve seen say just the opposite.


Openness, transparency, tough, frankness, honesty, integrity and leadership seem to be the most used words before anyone get elected. Now, what Representative Frank is saying is that it’s our fault, the voters because we didn’t tell our congressmen and women that we actually expected them to be honest and keep their word as they promised when they were running for their offices. I admit I am a bit lax when it comes to my part on giving instructions to my United States Senators or my Representatives. I suppose I should have sent them a letter (certified) telling them I expected them to follow the same rules we, the lowly citizens, are expected to follow. Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal, pay your taxes and be fair to those who sent you up there in the first place. Silly old me, I didn’t realize they didn’t know that we expected them to live under the same rules that all of us in the so called ‘hinterlands’ have to abide by. My bad.

You can look to the office of the President and see backtracking and waffling starting to happen on a daily basis. You’ll see it on his daily press conference. I don’t think FDR had as many ‘press’ opportunities back in the 1940’s and we were in a world war.  I seem to recall President Obama saying BE (that’s before election) the first thing he was going to do was bring the troops home from Iraq. The last I heard he had changed his story and now we aren’t certain exactly when or if that will occur. No lobbyists in his administration? That’s a joke; he’s having to issuing ‘waivers’ to the ones he’s brought on board. Change? Most of the heads of his administration are carryovers from the days of Bill Clinton. That’s real progress for you.

Look at the current pork; excuse me, stimulus bill that is being voted on this week…..how much of this money is going to special interest groups and to the relatives of those voting on the bill?  Nothing suspicious about Congressman Dave Obey (D-Wis) voting and approving about two billion (Billion) dollars for the parks department when his son (Craig Obey) is a lobbyist for the National Parks Conservation Association. Nope, they probably never talked about it or discussed it over Sunday dinners. Wouldn’t be proper.

Neither was the action Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi took a year or so ago, when she voted to exempt the island of American Samoa from the minimum wage increase.   This makes American Samoa the only U.S. territory not subject to federal minimum-wage laws. Of course the fact that Star-Kist Tuna employs about 75% of the islands workers probably doesn’t fit into the equation. Oh, yes I forgot to mention that Star-Kist is owned by the Del Monte Corporation, whose main headquarters is where? In San Francisco of all places. Mrs. Pelosi’s home district. Just a coincidence…. I’m sure.

If you believe that, then call me right away, I have some beachfront property for sale in Nevada you might want to know about.

Time doesn’t allow me to go on, but you get my drift. What we are in for is a daily assault on our intelligence by our elected officials. They think they are smart and we are dumb. We must be, we sent them there in the first place according to Rep. Frank.

They might be correct; it might be us that is out of step. We need to stop this madness. We need new leaders. Come on 2008.

Comments go to www.pearyperry.com

Posted by hillpehle at 09:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Paul E. Vallely, MG US Army (Ret)

 

A U.S. Department of Justice report by the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) says that Mexican drug gangs pose the biggest organized crime threat to the United States. The report, the annual National Drug Threat Assessment 2009, evaluates the threat posed by illegal drugs by examining availability, production and cultivation, transportation, distribution, and demand. The study estimates that Mexican and Colombian drug trafficking organizations make and launder between $18 billion and $39 billion in wholesale drug profits annually. Mexican drug smugglers control most of the U.S. drug markets, smuggling most of the cocaine available in the U.S. across the U.S./Mexico border.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations control most of the U.S. drug market and have varied transportation routes, advanced communication capabilities, and strong affiliations within the U.S. State and local law enforcement agencies shared information for this report through personal interviews with the National Drug Intelligence Center.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the greatest organized crime threat to the United States. Mexican drug trafficking organizations control drug distribution in most U.S. cities, and they are gaining strength in markets that they do not yet control.

Prevention Threat Recognition: Enhancing border control and increased awareness of drug trafficking organizations may help to control the U.S. drug market.

Prevention Threat Recognition: Is drug trafficking a problem in your area? Do you have gangs in your area that may be affiliated?

Mexico shares a 2,000 mile border with the United States. Mexico ranks now behind Iran as the second largest security threat to United States. Why the growing concern over what is happening south of the U.S. border?

 Well, we have vicious and widening violence pitting drug cartels against each other and against the Mexican state that have left more than 6,000 Mexicans dead in 2008 - double the number from 2007. That should set off an alarm right away. Oh yes, then there are over 70 Americans that have been kidnapped and are missing.  Mexico is in a tailspin as a result of fighting between the federal government and drug cartels - and among the narco-gangs themselves. Have you visited Tijuana, Juarez or any of the border towns/cities lately? Our borders are flooded with gangs, drug cartel operations, illegal immigrant flow (back and forth), murders, human trafficking and kidnappings.  A Threat of major, epic economic and security proportions.

Here is some of the more recent news:

·         Authorities arrested a man accused of dissolving as many as 300 bodies in bubbling vats of acid for a Tijuana-based drug lord ( "El Pozolero," named after a local stew)

·         Prosecutors reported three heads found in an ice box and a headless body was a discovered in a canal in Ciudad Juarez, a town known as Mexico's deadliest - just over the border from El Paso, Texas. Who are the headless victims? Yes, policemen.

 

 It was bad enough in the sixties when I visited Juarez for the first time. In fact, by all accounts the federal government, politicos, the military and police are under the gun - literally and figuratively - by criminal gangs dealing in meth, cocaine, marijuana and heroin. The public is ruthlessly intimidated. And yes it has poured across the border into Los Angeles, El Paso, and Phoenix and across the entire border and into the mid-west.

 

Despite this, our government (State and Federal) fails to develop a national strategy as part of the overall National Security Plan to take the necessary action to protect us (and oh, yes, a fence will not do the trick!). We continue to fund military and other aid packages to the Mexican government to help that country's stability.  How is that working? Not well, by all accounts. This is a most serious threat……. and this article addresses the threat and a subsequent article will discuss the options we have to protect our soft underbelly and a concluding article on what we must do …..America.

 

The drug cartels are well-armed with assault weapons, RPGs and land mines and plenty of aircraft, SUVs and trucks to move wherever they want. They are high-tech too, using encrypted communications, wearing night-vision goggles, moving by helicopters and transporting drugs by mini-subs.

 

President Felipe Calderon is attempting change but he's up against rampant corruption that reaches deep into his government, anti-drug police and Armed Forces (Mexico's former top organized-crime cop was arrested last fall on narcotics-related corruption charges).

 

Despite reforms, the judicial system is plagued by payoffs, lack of investigative resources and overloaded courts. The police are poorly paid, equipped and trained, leaving them in dire straits battling the narcotraficantes. Some of the cartels' foot soldiers are former military commandos (ZETAs) that we trained at Fort Benning, Georgia. Unfortunately, we're entangled in Mexico's lurch into chaos. Mexican gangs obtain their weapons from international arms merchants, who traffic them illegally on this side of the border.

 

And continued American demand for drugs (cartel gangs "feed" an estimated 200 US cities) doesn't help, either. As a result, popular support for Calderon's fight against the cartels has waned. The widespread violence leaves many Mexicans ready to throw in the towel, saying drugs are an American problem. But that clearly wouldn't be good for either of us. Mexico is a country of 110 million people and it has become a narco-controlled state The impact on the United States and  the Western Hemisphere - is almost incalculable. The US is by far the largest consumer of illicit drugs in the world and therefore provides a huge market for the Cartels to supply.  Nixon coined the phrase “the war on drugs” in response to the then heroin epidemic and that was the first administration to direct significant federal funding into the federal anti-drug initiative.  We have been fighting this “war” for nearly 50 years and we have made little progress toward eradication of drug demand and the organized crime related to it. 

Narco-business is the source of countless troubles: broken families, violence, money laundering, trafficking in guns and people and even terrorist financing. Like Colombia before it, Mexico is now a frontline state in fighting these problems. Programs such as the Merida Law Enforcement Initiative - a US-assisted, Mexican counter-drug program - are vital to opposing the narcotraficantes. But Merida's funding is up for renewal - and Congress and the White House may go wobbly on it.  Much more than just drugs are at stake. Mexico is the world's 12th largest economy; it's a major US trading partner and it provides a third of our imported oil and it is now a “failed State”.

 

Mexico faces a collapsing economy with no turn-around in sight. All that impacts Mexico impacts its northern neighbor. We are now witnessing a possible collapse of the Mexican federal government and this cannot be ignored or kept from the American public. My experience over the last several decades suggests that Government action is generally in reaction to any given situation.  Rarely does our government along the borders take proactive action.  One needs to look no further than our current economic crisis to witness this characteristic of government.

 

Prohibition offered the genesis for organized criminal distribution networks in this country.  New York and Chicago La Cosa Nostra families saw this opportunity and ceased it.  Thus it all began.  From there, the 50’s and 60’s saw marijuana as all the rage and the Hell’s Angels and other motorcycle gangs were glad to distribute it around the country.  Vietnam and the hippy generation ushered in heroin in the 60’s and 70’s.  In the late 70’s and early 80’s heroin was replaced by cocaine as the drug of choice.  During the 80’s and 90’s, we witnessed incredible violence in Columbia and here in this Country as drug organizations fought for cocaine distribution networks and territories.  For years the Columbian Cartels (Medellin, Cali) were the dominant factors in cocaine production and distribution into the US.  Florida was their entry of choice and the intracoastal waterways of southern Florida became cocaine highways.  US Route 95 from the Florida Keys to Boston was well known as the eastern cocaine corridor route.  In the late 90’s we witnessed a dramatic rise in methamphetamine use replacing cocaine as the primary drug of choice. Mexico has been, and remains, the largest supplier of meth to this country.

Let’s remove the “snooze” button America and let us protect America by protecting our borders.

Sources:
Mexico drug gangs ‘top US threat’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7785334.stm

National Drug Threat Assessment 2009
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/National-Drug-Threat-Assessment-20...

National Drug Intelligence Center
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/

 

Paul E. Vallely, MG, US Army (Ret) is Chairman of Stand Up America, USA. His latest book is “Operation Sucker Punch – Blood for Our Future”. He is the co-author of “Endgame- A blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror”. See www.standupamericausa.com.

Posted by hillpehle at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I keep hearing everyone complaining about the TARP bailout and the planned stimulus package put out by Obama.  What I’m not hearing enough is people bluntly saying that if any Representative or Senator who votes for both of these (or in my opinion even one of them), and against the millions of people who contacted them through email, phone, fax, and letters, need to be sent to the unemployment lines at our first opportunity.

 
Yes, that, my friends, is what needs to happen.  Nothing less will suffice as these people took an unprecedented step toward socialism against the express wishes of their constituents.  In so doing, they, in essence, told the people who put them in office that they will neither abide by the Constitution they swore to uphold nor by the wishes of those who voted for them.  Instead they are doing exactly what they want without a single thought to how it will affect the people of this generation and many generations to come.

 
Is that what we sent them to Washington to do?  Did we send them up there to represent us or did we send them there to do whatever they wanted like a bunch of college kids on their first year away from home?  I don’t think they care, but we must, and we have to hold them accountable for an action such as this.

 

 

I’m not saying we need to disregard the importance of the other issues.  They remain important and we need someone who has it right on those issues as well.  But on the issue of socialism we can’t afford to overlook a vote that was wrong because if we do we could well find ourselves without the ability to choose regarding any of the other issues as well.

 

 
Many nations before us have tried socialism and they failed.  The governments gained power through financial hard times and disarming the people so they couldn’t stand up and fight.  When the people have a say, they prefer to choose the life they live.  Don’t you?
Right now this country is in financial straits.  It is clear to anyone watching that it won’t be an overnight solution that will fix this, but anyone who truly understands the free market system knows it will be solved through time and the needs and desires of the people.  In short we will survive but it will take time, no matter what anyone tries.  The more they try, the worse it will get for us, our children, our grandchildren, and so on depending on the great heights that our national debt soars.  Right now it is in the stratosphere with Obama and his buddies aiming for a far and distant galaxy!

1%                   The amount by which Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad predicts President Obama’s stimulus plan will reduce unemployment . . . “maybe,” according to Conrad

32                     Number of new government programs created at a cost of $136 billion in the House bill

$6,700              Amount of additional debt to every American household in the House bill

193,412             Number of American families who could purchase two gallons of milk per week for a full year with the $70 million for “supercomputing activities” in the Senate bill


860,000             Number of properties repossessed in 2008, and yet still no housing provisions in the Senate stimulus bill

1,900,000          Jobs lost in the past four months, and only 7% percent of spending in the Senate bill will be spent by the end of FY09


$34,000,000      For remodeling the Department of Commerce headquarters in Senate bill

$400,000,000     Dedicated to STD prevention in Senate bill

$1,502,000,000  Spent at NASA to hire 10,000 people in Senate bill

Now, after looking at this list do you have any belief left that anyone voting for this is doing so with the best interests of you and your family in mind?  I certainly can’t.I would advise that you watch and see who votes for this and remove them from office.  I know I will be watching closely the votes made by Senators Cornyn and Hutchison because they both voted for the TARP bailout though I must say I will be watching her more closely as she has done much more against us on other issues as well, such as illegal immigration.  However, I have no need to watch my Representative, Jeb Hensarling on this one as he is one of the ones, along with Louie Gohmert (R-TX 1) and others to try to stop this mess from digging us into a deeper financial hole of which our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will still be trying to dig us out of.

If you have any questions of how your representatives and senators voted on either bill (or any other for that matter), feel free to contact me and I’ll tell you what they voted and where to see it for yourself.  My email address is mph@melissapehle.com.The time is now, people, to stand up and fight for our freedom, in a safer manner than our soldiers, but one that is just as important as theirs in many ways.  Don’t sit back and watch our soldiers risk their lives while you do nothing to protect our freedoms back home.  They can only protect us from our foreign enemies; we must protect ourselves from the enemies of freedom which reside here.If you think any of what I said here is extreme, I suggest you go to http://www.thepeoplescube.com and read “Cracking the Obama Code: Don Quixote vs. Windmill Owners” written by a legal Russian immigrant.  I think after you read what he has to say you won’t think I’m overreacting to the threat of socialism looming over our heads.  You might think I’m not worried enough.

This is Melissa Pehle-Hill writing for make-a-statement.org.  Have a nice day, and don’t forget: information is often the first line of defense.

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