As Rome burned, Caesar was reported to be playing the fiddle. Today, as the largest and most powerful nation on this planet experiences an economic firestorm, Obama tees off.

Just sayin….

I wrote this a few months ago, in frustration for what our representatives have done with our bloated and inefficient government. I’ve had more time to think about it, and that has only made me madder.

For your consideration:

Happy Birthday, Daughter.

Today, my daughter is two weeks old. She is our first born, and her arrival has been anticipated by all in our family with great enthusiasm.
During this very happy time, I am, however, aware that she is also a victim of a horrendous crime.

My beautiful daughter is coming into this world with a crushing debt owed. We can thank our Congress and President for this burden.

Through your reckless and irresponsible spending, taxing and regulating, her future is not nearly as bright as yours and mine were at the same age. Why? Because too many of you are criminally vain, and egotistic in your ideology.

You are unable to do the right thing, blinded by either insane ideology, or avarice. I cannot tell which for each of you, as many of you exhibit both characteristics in equal quantities.

Failing to make tough decisions is a hallmark of the Peter Principle. “Leaders” promoted (elected) to positions higher than their capabilities often avoid making difficult decisions, to the detriment of their organization’s future. In this case, your pandering to special interests and illusionary economic policies, has doomed my newborn Daughter’s generation to virtual slavery.

If it were my call, I’d have all of you tried for crimes against humanity. Your incompetence is only equaled by your ego. Having said that, you and your peers are the only ones who can’t see this. The rest of us get it. We’ve been getting it since you knuckleheads have been in office. I dare not say exactly “where” we’re getting it. Suffice to say, you’re a pain in our back sides.

Please consider this when running for re-election. We’d really prefer you stay home if you are unable to change your failing ways.

On behalf of Alexandra, Thanks for nothing.

Now we hear from our friends (sic) at the U.N.

It should be no surprise that the writer of a blog named “Rational Thoughts” would not be a huge United Nation’s supporter, simply due to the U.N.’s consistent record of failure.

Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia, and more recently Libya are just some of the most visible failures. Oil for Food and countless other programs have been little more than slush-funds for the leadership of the U.N. Corruption is the primary characteristic associated with their pathetic operations.

Now, they are demanding that the U.S. submit details of our successful operation to kill Usama Bin Laden, so that they may determine whether or not we were “legal” in executing the bastard.

Huh? What reason on Earth would exist that might compel us to suborn ourselves to them? Since when do they rise to the level of arbitor of justice for sovereign Nations on Earth? They certainly have not earned such a title.

Unfortunately, we have weak and sympathetic folks in Washington D.C., who continue to cater to the U.N.’s every whim. Not since Ambassador John Bolton, have we had a backbone there.

From my perspective, once the U.N. has put it’s own house in order, (I mean really, Cuba-China-Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation are on the Human Rights Commission for 2012!) then we, perhaps, could empower them to oversee a humanitarian effort once in awhile. Until then, no thank you.

To the spineless appeasers resident in D.C., please seek some adult supervision prior to bowing to the U.N. (again)

“The U.S. out of the U.N., and the U.N. out of the U.S.!”

I have a few thoughts for my representatives in Congress on the issue of the possibility of raising the debt ceiling: No.

These people have shown that they CANNOT operate within any sense of responsibility, and we have ONLY this one tool to prevent further financial destruction. No. Do NOT raise the debt ceiling. I’m certain that even though there will be some pain involved, we can do without a great deal of our Federal Government, and the money won’t be needed.

Really, if you look at the size of the Federal Government, you cannot help but be amazed. There are nearly 2000 agencies that make up our Government. They collectively employ more than 2 MILLION people. This doesn’t include ANY of the folks that work for the four major intelligence agencies, as they’re info isn’t disclosed for security reasons. That’s a whole lotta folks!

Federal spending reached $3.4 Trillion in 2010. All Revenue for the year totaled $2.1 Trillion.

When I was a child I went to public school in a suburb of San Diego, California. One of the required classes included a segment on basic math skills, as applied to personal finances. Basically, “how to balance your checkbook” and the like. Applying that very basic arithmetic:

Total Income/Revenue $2.16 Trillion
Total expenditures/spending $3.4 Trillion
_______________________________________________

They spent $1.3 Trillion MORE than they took in!

If you or I did this, we’d be broke, and eating out of dumpsters. If some select companies do this they get bailed out. If Congress does it, nobody seems to care.

I have a newborn daughter. The $1.3 Trillion that they overspent in 2010 alone, will impact her for a good portion of her life. If we don’t stop this nonsense now, when? The only tool we have is this ceiling. It CANNOT be raised. We (she) cannot afford any more deficit spending, period.

They say that to get out of a hole, you first have to stop digging! Congress needs to have their shovels taken away (and shoved somewhere deep……), and the debt ceiling is apparently the only tool we have to do it.

Nobody will read this, so I’m safe in expressing outrage at any Congressman that ignores reality and votes for further indenturing of our children.

Someone from the distant past, say around the 1860′s, is miraculously transported to our current date. What might their reactions be?

Before we begin, we should note that in the time around the Civil War there was little in the way of indoor plumbing, no electricity, and while steam power was making some headway in industrializing the world, mechanization was still in its infancy. The world was leaving the agrarian past, and heading towards a future of machinery and prosperity. This is the world our intrepid traveler calls home.

Now, we catapult him into the present:

One area they would be completely blown away with would be Communications. They couldn’t fathom the concept of Skype, let alone the mobile phone. The capabilities of your average smart phone would seem like magic. They’d be amazed at what we take for granted, talking with distant relatives and friends. The speed of communication would simply be beyond their comprehension. The internet would be as unfamiliar to them as the computers that access it. Simply put, the ability to know what’s happening around the world, in almost real-time, would be amazing to them.

What about modern transportation? While the trusty railroad would seem vaguely familiar, they’d have no means of processing the concept of today’s air transport system. The automobile would be something of interest, but I believe they would marvel more at how casually we treat traveling distances they’d consider a one-way trip. That we can go from our home in one city, to another for work, and then return in the same day, is so different from their experience so as to be mystical. The sea-going transport of international cargo would be something that I think they’d understand, yet the size and scope of our current world-wide maritime commerce would floor them.

Your average grocery or department store would be something they couldn’t easily understand. For the common man to be able to walk a short distance, and purchase goods from around the world, would seem otherworldly.

Our laissez-faire attitude towards so many things, like our advanced health care, food safety, and overall standard of living would be alarming to them. There is, however, one area that I feel they would find (sadly) familiar.

Education.

A time traveler from Abraham Lincoln’s day, having experienced all this and now being brought into a typical American school, would be (disturbingly for me) at home. They would immediately recognize the ranks and files of the seats facing the black/green/white/digital board. They’d feel comfortable seeing the teacher standing before the assembled class of students, all sitting in their forward facing seats/desks. The curriculum might seem foreign, and indeed it would puzzle them how so many things from History have changed… but the basic experience would be very similar to their own time.

The point is that while we have made significant, almost miraculous progress on so many other fronts, public education is eerily retro. So retro, as to be archaic.

Space flight, nuclear power, and almost every other aspect of modern life have developed greatly over the last century, yet we still teach our young in a manner and using tools that would be recognizable to someone from over a century and a half ago. This, I think, is a serious issue.

Either we (collective we, as in Humanity) fortuitously stumbled upon the best method of education 150 years ago, or we have failed as a society to focus on changing something so fundamental and so critically important as education.

I believe our efforts should not be on “reforming” education, as reform so often does little to actually improve things. A systematic effort should be initiated to determine the very best method/technology/process for teaching the different levels and different subjects, and institute a radical switch from the old, stale system to the new one. The new one should be focused on nothing other than the BEST practices to get the result; educating human beings.

Here’s the really difficult part: Getting politics (and unions!) out of education. Politics really does little of value outside of electing folks to office. Once it gets its hooks and influence into just about any system, the ultimate goal and efficiency of said systems are corrupted and compromised. In educating our kids, there should be NO COMPROMISE. Any compromise on education should be viewed as an effort to “dumb down” our children, as that would be an accurate assessment.

Now is the time to focus on re-doing the educational system. If not now, when?

The story HERE is about something bigger.

This story is about your government lying to you. They’re lying in that it’s THEIR prioritizing that is the problem.

They take all of the tax money they’d like from our paychecks, and then say that they’re not going to have enough to do one thing or another, in a blatant attempt to bully or shame us into giving them more. This is not only deceitful, but it’s also borderline illegal.

We, as the taxpayers, must begin to expect and demand our money’s worth in our Government. Waste and outright theft must not be allowed to continue.

If ICE doesn’t have the resources to carry out one of their most basic responsibilities, then those resources are being siphoned off somewhere. As this is the most pressing issue facing the Border Patrol and Homeland Security, it is clearly the responsibility of the bureaucrats in charge.

This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that makes this election in November important for our future. We cannot allow this to continue, and the current Congress and bureaucrats in charge have no intention to heed the will of the people.

Time to change the Congress. That, at least, would be a good start.

Having said that, those who would like to replace the losers in Congress today should vow to fix problems like those that lead to the above referenced article.

Time for talk is over, it’s time for action. Get out and VOTE!

Barney Frank, one of the architects of the crash of 2008, brings us yet another way to subject more of us to the Fed’s will.

How much better off would this Nation be if the folks in Mass. would retire this guy?

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/On_Poker_Federal_online_gambling_legislation_clears_big_hurdle_99993654.html

This is a great video. I only hope that America remains awake enough to make this happen.

Click here for:  America Rising

Ok, we’ll try this again. After transferring this blog from Blogger, and changing to a WordPress blog, we’re finally up and running again.

This blog is dedicated to one thing, Rational Thought. Here will be a mix of current events, politics and the commentary that goes along with this. There’s one thing you won’t find here, and that is “political correctness”.

So, if you can’t stand the heat……