A good read:
Whatever else you do today, please read this… Anatomy of a Failed Presidency! The following is an interesting article. I wonder how long Dr. Hunt can remain at NIH once the powers that be get wind of this article. Dr. Hunt is a social and cultural anthropologist. He has had nearly 30 years experience in planning, conducting, and managing research in the field of youth studies, and drug and alcohol research. Currently Dr. Hunt is a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis and the Principal Investigator on three National Institutes on Health projects. He is also a writer for American Thinker. Another Failed Presidency

An article from American Thinker by Geoffrey P. Hunt

Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson. In the modern> era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China. But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame. But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of precedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on? No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan. But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task--all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience. In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012:"For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too." Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the> executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out nextyear. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after> that. Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.
Margaret Thatcher: "The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other people's money."
"When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both." - James Dale Davidson, National Taxpayers Union
"The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." - Tacitus
"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he> doesn't own." - Unknown

There's No Place Like Home (click-click-click)

As the holidays get closer, I get more and more anxious to be at home with my family. I miss them all the time, but there's something about Thanksgiving and Christmas that makes me want to be home even more. I am so blessed to have the family that I have. They all mean the absolute world to me. Being away, I feel like I'm missing out on so much even though nothing major is going on. It's the little things that I miss, like seeing the excitement in my nieces eyes when they light up the Christmas tree on the Plaza or going to Weihnachtsmarkt with my mom to look at all the neat stuff or helping my mom and dad put up the Christmas tree even though we hate doing it. Once it's up though, it's so worth all the time it took to untangle the lights!!! There's nothing like driving in the driveway and seeing the Christmas tree though the window!
It's ironic that growing up, all you can think about is how bad you want to leave home and move out on your own, but once you're grown all you can think about is getting back home.

Just a few thoughts about family and holidays. I'm feeling a little nostalgic right now!!!

Racist Shmacist

Just a quick thought before I got to bed... I'm so tired, but I have to get it off my chest. On Facebook, I'm a member of the Patriots Only, Please page and follow it quite closely. I've never posted anything on it until today. There was a post on the wall from an older lady explaining how in love with America she was and how we needed to stop the present administration from ruining Old Glory. I was touched by what she said because I too, feel the same way. So, feeling the need to bond with my fellow patriots, I commented on her post, telling her that I cry (in a good way) everytime I sing the National Anthem and that our country and what is stands for is too precious to be flushed down the toilet. To my surprise, I received a tongue lashing (or would it be a type lashing?) full of explicatives about how we were all racist this and rednecks that. This particular fellow did not hold back.
Here's my thing... I don't feel it's necessary to sit here and talk about how much I dislike Obama and his czars because that becomes the problem and not the solution, so I try to keep on the positive, speaking out about how much I love this country and how it was built to withstand time on core Christian values and principles, but... when someone calls me a racist, I don't take it very well. Part of me didn't even want to respond to this guy, because anyone with a brain could tell by his comment that he really didn't have a pot to tinkle in when it came to his side of the arguement, but I am so sick and tired of being labled a racist just because I can see this administration for what it is and how detrimental it is to our country.
After mulling over this for half of today, it hit me... I think people who voted for and support Obama are finally realizing that they made a huge mistake. In order to save face they figure they can just call all of us racists because we didn't vote for him. I really don't see any other leg they have to stand on. It's almost comical, If you listen to conservative radio or monitor sites like Patriots Only, everytime a liberal Obama supporter gets backed into a corner, they immediately throw the race card... like it's a completely legitimate defense. I'm laughing as I'm typing this, by the way. Do they really think that conservative America is really that shallow and stupid and that we don't realize that they skirt the issue EVERY single time someone is called on the carpet!! Do they not think that we realize how bias the media has become. Do they not think that we are not smart enough to see that the helthcare reform is going to be disasterous? Well I guess not since we're all racist rednecks living in the 1800's!!!!
I know I have said it in previous posts, but for the love of God and Country... I AM NOT A RACIST! I SIMPLY DO NOT BELIEVE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS THE SKILLS OR SMARTS TO BE LEADING THIS COUNTRY. I DON'T CARE IF HE'S RED OR YELLOW, BLACK OR WHITE. HE'S IS LEADING THIS COUNTRY DOWN THE WRONG PATH AND I AM EXERCISING MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!!!

** And for the record... I didn't vote for the All Whitey McCain because I didn't support his ideas either!

I feel a little better now. Off to bed.

Again with the Murphy's Law... and other thoughts

Murphy's Law is kicking my tail this week. I got up this morning feeling great; ready to get to work and continue my giant technical implementation... and my jeep doesn't start! So as I'm standing there, in the rain, waiting for my admin assistant to come and pick me up, I couldn't help but laugh and thank God that this is happening now and not next weekend when I'm trying to get to Ronny and to the ranch! Let's hope it's nothing major and that I'll still be laughing when I have to fix it!
On a more somber note, I've been thinking alot about God's timiming and His plan. After several disappointing outcomes in my life, I've grown quite comfortable with the idea that God does have a plan for us and in His time all wonderful things will come to fruition. Keeping this close to my heart and continuing to have faith in this thought is without a doubt, the most comforting thought. It gets me through the hard times with relative ease, knowing that if God brings me to it, he'll bring me through it. The examples in my life may seem relatively unimportant to others, but, for lack of a better term, it's the same concept.
I have always believed that God made that one special man for me, who would love me no matter what, with or without make-up, all of my flaws and eccentricities and when I was 24, I met a guy who fit my perfect "checklist." We'll call him Tom. Tom had everything I had ever wanted in a man. We hit it off immediately and I just knew that this was it. Tom was a Christian, he loved to hunt and fish, he came from a great family and was a driven and hard working individual. What more could I ask for??? Well, after months of a long distance friendship, I was finally going to get to see him again. Upon our reuniting, I quickly realized that no matter what I did, or how hard I tried, Tom wasn't going to feel the same way about me and I was heart broken. I was so mad at God. Why did he allow me to find the one man who restored my faith in men in general and then take him away? Why would He just pull the carpet out from under my feet? The God I knew was not one who intentionally makes His children feel bad.
Now, I look back on that situation with such clarity. I realized that God was just preparing me. You see, before Tom, I had a vile anger and bitterness towards men in general. I had the proverbial open wounds left over from some pretty awful relationships and was in no frame of mind to enter into a full blown relationship. In my opinion at the time, every guy was out for one thing and nothing any of them said was sincere, it was all just a ploy to get you to the bedroom and I was too smart, too beautiful and too independent to fall for that kind of trash. I was convinced that, along with the sanctity of marriage, all good guys had gone by the wayside. But, what God was showing me, through Tom, was that there still were good guys out there. He renewed my belief in love and in a loving and trusting relationship again, a belief that I would have to have whenever I did finally meet "the one." When God gives you a gift, you have to be ready for it and now I know that, with Tom, I wasn't ready for it. All I could think about after that situation was that, as great as Tom was, I couldn't wait to meet the real "one" that God had made for me. If Tom wasn't it, I couldn't phathom the awesomness of the guy that was in store for me! And God was right. Tom could in no way hold a candle anywhere near Ronny in my life! I think Garth Brooks said it best... "Some of God's greatest gift are unanswered prayers."
So, as I continue my stroke of bad luck that has been raining on my parade for the last year or so, I continue to have a positive outlook; trying to keep in mind that no matter how many jobs I apply for and don't get, or how many houses I try to buy that get bought out from under me, or how many neck surgeries or family ailments... All of this is part of God's plan. There is a reason for all of it. Take it from me, who has personally seen God's plan work, what God has planned for us is so much bigger and greater than we can even imagine. If something isn't working out in our favor right now, just be patient.

Think of it like a trffic jam. Next time you're sitting in bumper to bumper traffic (turmoil), think to yourself that God may have you in that traffic to save you from an accident you would've been in if there wasn't any traffic at all.

Murphy's Law

Though Wikipedia may not be right about much, I think they got this one right...

Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that states: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."It is used as either a purely sarcastic musing that things always go wrong, or, less frequently, a reflection of the mathematical law that dictates that, given infinite time, all possible occurrences will eventually take place.

Today begins Phase II of my extremely important technology implementation that I have spearheaded for the Houston region and when I got to work this morning and our servers were down! I absolutely love it! We have had more problems with implementing this project I guess I should just come to expect it. Because of all of this, I'm somewhat in a daze this morning. I don't really care about anything else at this point, other than the fact that we have people here expecting to enter all asset information for the county and they can't. So, we've had lots of doughnuts and coffee and small talk. I'm so glad I decided to buy doughnuts this morning. That might be the best $19.00 I've ever spent. People tend to stay happier and not mind the frustrations as much if there is free food. Maybe the 52% of Americans who disapprove of the Obama Administration would approve if, instead of giving all of our money away to bail-outs, he would just offer every American free food. Just a thought.

With that being said, let's rant... I heard on the radio this morning that in his first nine months of office, Obama had done 10x more fundraising than Bush did in 4 years. Why does the media not report this? He made 5 trips to New Orleans during his campaign making promises and chastizing Bush for not taking care of the people there. In his first nine months in office he has visited New Orleans once and for only four hours because he was on his way to yet another fundraiser in San Fransisco. Where is Kanye West to tell Obama that he doesn't care about black people???? Where is the media to criticize every single move that Obama makes? Granted Bush could've done a better job with Katrina and the people of New Orleans, but alot of the responsibility falls on the state and local government as well. It's kind of hard to enforce laws when the majority of your police officers evacuate. And...just because Obama is black doesn't automatically mean that he's doing better job to fix it. There is such a double standard in the media right now. It's almost as if Obama can do no wrong just because he's the 1st black president!!! I feel like he's the kid that wanted to be the student body president just for the attention, not really realizing that there is work involved in holding such a position. Being the leader of the free world involves alot more than attending fundraisers and playing golf with campaign donators. It's extremely comforting to know that while our soldiers are out there risking their lives for us, while our unemployment rate is soaring, while the dollar is losing value by the second and the nation's "healthcare reform" is in the crapper... our "fearless" leader is setting up tee times. This is just not right to me. I may only be one person, but as long I still have the freedom of speech, I'm going to use it!

More later...

Oh Dreary Monday

Today is such a dreary day, but at the same time, it's been crazy! My power was out this morning and God woke me with thunder, just in time to be late for work. Putting your make-up on by candle light can be quite an experience. There is a fine line there of making myself look presentable without looking like a streetwalker! I think I did okay though. Back before electricity, how did women put their make-up on? Did they even wear make-up? I wish I didn't have to wear make-up. That would be awesome.
So, it's still raining just as hard as it was when I woke up and we are under a Flash Flood Watch. I don't need these added issues. I already have an extremely busy week this week. The last thing I need is for it to flood.
There's not a whole lot to say today, except that I really need to go home for lunch and let the dogs out and I have to teach CERT tonight. Maybe that will uplift my spirits!

More later...

A Voice (Part I) - Just the Beginning

Over the past several months, I feel like I've been sitting by, idly, while watching our country go to pot. I've often wondered what I could do, as an individual, to make my voice heard and while there is a chance that I may be the only follower of my own blog, I would like to use this blog as a source to air a few feelings now and then.
Before I begin my political rant, I must claim and disclaim a few things so that all readers know where I stand. Please feel free to comment whether you agree or disagree. I'm pretty open to other ideas and points of view. First of all, I do not support President Obama. I'm of the belief that his ideas and his politics are not a benefit to this country. I often feel like he wants more to be a celebrity than the president. With as many photo shoots, promos and interviews that he's done since his inauguration, I find it hard to believe that the serious issues that our country is being crippled by are at the top of his priority list. Oh, and P.S., Just because I don't agree with President Obama does not make me a racist! I am a patriot of this country tried and true. I believe in liberty, freedom and democracy and every single man and woman who has served this country protecting those gifts.
Working in Homeland Security, I've become intimately familiar with the world of terrorism. I had the absolutely unbelievable opportunity to travel to Israel in 2008 on a Homeland Security Mission and it opened my eyes to what Homeland Security should be. The Israelis are an unbelievably resilient people. I guess when you have to fight for everything you have, including your mere existence, you evolve into a society that possesses all of the necesseties for sustainment. We had the opporunity to meet with an extremely interesting man who served the United States in the Special Forces and then gained Israeli citizenship and served in the IDF Special Forces and when we met, he was part of an elite counter terrorism unit. He is definitely a person who's brain I would love to pick. Anyway, he summed it up best when I asked him what we could do here in the states to better train and prepare our citizens to recognize precursors to terrorism so that instead of always reacting, we could instead prevent horrible things like 9/11 from happening. "Unfortunately, he said, the Israeli's have learned from experience. They know what to look for, because they have seen it before." I don't want us to have to meet the same fate. Throughout my stay there, several things stood out to me that definitely benefit their fight against terrorism.
1. They are NOT politically correct and they don't care if they hurt your feelings when it comes to protecting their country. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times... our political corectness is going to be our downfall. We have so many people scared to death to enforce anything because they are afraid of the repercussions. We got to watch a demonstration of Krav Maga, which is an Israeli martial art, and one of the instructors was a guy named Sascha. He couldn't have been but a little over five feet tall and he was the cutest thing. Anyway, he was showing us how they take down suspected terrorists. I was amazed (and a little turned on, I'll admit) to watch Sascha take down another instructor that was twice his size and weight in a matter of seconds. Before he did it he was explaining that this is what they do if they see suspicious people. Me, being the dumb American molded by my political correctness, asked... "Well, what if it ends up that they're not a terrorist?" He shrugged his shoulders and said he guessed he would just apologize!!!! If something like that happened here, it would be all over the news and You Tube and there would be investigations and mandatroy leave and law suits and on and on. It's a shame that this is what our world has come to. I heard a news story a while back where a Muslim Imam (holy leader) was on a plane and during the flight he put down his prayer mat in the aisle and starting praying. I don't know if you have ever heard Muslims pray, but it's out loud and not understandable. So, NATURALLY, people on the plane are extremely uncomfortable and a flight attendant asked the man to stop. He sues the airline for interfering with his prayer. RIDICULOUS! I'm sure it was done on purpose. These are the exact things that terrorists see and will use to exploit us in the future! They know that the majority of law enforcement personnel will not single out men of middle eastern origin because of all the backlash. This country has come TOO far to be paralyzed by this sort of idiocracy!
2. Military service in Israel is mandatory and there is only one branch. Every Israeli citizen must serve in the IDF. Women have to serve at least 2 years and men, 3. I'm sure there are many out there who disagree with that idea, but I'll tell you why I think it would be great. First and foremost, when you serve your country in a military capacity, it instills a patriotism almost instantaneoulsy. We would probably be a lot better off if every man and woman in this country loved it as much as most of our service men and women. Secondly, every person is being trained on the same material, by the same people. What I said earlier about there only being one branch is that the branch is the IDF and under that umbrella, they have a navy, airforce, army and marines, but they all play together because they are all one in the same. They're all on the same team. With that being said, the navy is trained by the same people that the airforce is trained by and so on. With this structure, there is not alot of room for miscommunications and it facilitates cooperation between all military and law enforcement entities because these young people, who later become Mossad and ShenBet and others have already been working together. It's also important to note that with every Israeli having been trained in the IDF, they know enough about terrorism, to be able to prevent it. I'm much more likey to put out a fire, if I've used a fire extinguisher before or something like that.
3. They are not concerned with how much time and money it takes to be secure. Our Texas/Mexico border operations look like a free for all compared to the border crossing we visited on the West Bank. Our Texas/Mexico border operations pretty much are a free for all!!! And by saying that I mean absolutely no disrespect to all the folks who work hard everyday down there. I do have little respect though for all of the people sitting in Washington making all the decisions for people they've never met and places they've never been, nor cared to visit. That's like me trying to tell somebody how to build a rocket. I, like they, should probably leave it to the people who know what they are doing. (Different topic for a different day) Anyway, I can't go into alot of detail about the West Bank border crossing because it's classified, but just know that it would be dang near impossible to walk across that border with anyhting, hidden anywhere. Another thing I thought was interesting is that for every ship and plane coming into the country, the manifests are required ahead of time and background checks are run on pretty much everybody, maybe with the exception of Ben Netanyahu. One of the guys that was on our trip with us is of Irish heritage. He's never been to Ireland in his life. He's a New York cop on the counter terrorism unit and they still questioned him because of the IRA. They're pretty serious, but when you're tired of being burned, I guess it doesn't matter.
One of the biggest things that hit me in the face was that Israeli's don't care as much about responding to a terrorist attack as they do about preventing them. Another thing that I'm intimately familiar with is Homeland Security Grants. You hear it all the time on the news about the billions that are being spent on Homeland Security. I can tell you that the majority of those funds are spent on respone equipment. It's almost as if we've defeated ourselves before the fight. Why aren't we spending all that money on preventative measures other than a dang border fence???? I don't understand it. I understand that Israel is about the size of New Jersey and all of the complexities that would occur in trying to secure the U.S. like that; however, we could at least learn a few lessons from them. Just because we are the big brother doesn't mean that our little brother can't teach us anything.

Oh... when I conquer the world!!!!