Open letter to Congress - 7/26/2011

July 26, 2011

Dear Congress,

I am being asked by the President to contact you with my input on how we should proceed with the debt ceiling increase.

Unfortunately for the President, I feel he is totally out of touch with the American people. His policies have been shown to be failures. At some point, he needs to take responsibility for the mess he has made of this economy, own up to his mistakes, and knuckle down to the unsavory task of balancing the budget. It may be that the previous administration left him in a less than ideal situation, however without exception, every move he has made since taking office has only succeeded in driving us further into debt and crushing any glimmers of economic recovery that we have seen.

As members of Congress and elected officials with the sworn duty of representing the will of the people, I implore you to stand the line. Do not give in to Presidential and media pressure. Remain steadfast in your demand that we do not increase taxes and that we reduce spending. I understand that the cuts are going to be unpalatable and difficult. I also understand that when your finances are in this deplorable state, it becomes necessary to remove anything that is not absolutely essential. What expenses can we eliminate without affecting our ability to function as a nation? Remove them. Take our budget to the bare bones. If it is a non-essential expense, cut it. Unfortunately for you, this means things like your paychecks. It is going to hurt. I am aware of this. I would rather make painful cuts and see my nation rise again to a position of greatness than watch our economy of entitlements and deficit spending slowly smother us.

One area we absolutely can not cut is defense spending. We are in the middle of a couple wars. We MUST protect our soldiers on the ground. We can, and must, eliminate the red tape and bureaucratic expenses, and attack the wastefulness that is associated with military spending, however we need to make sure it is not at the expense of our troops, or of our military might. In an era when we see greater unrest across the globe, in the form of terror attacks and rising anti-American sentiment, we need to consolidate our position as the greatest superpower on the planet.

We also need to provide incentives for companies to bring their jobs to our shores, rather than raising taxes and driving them away. Increase our manufacturing. Make it palatable for industry to do business here. Make us once again captains of industry, rather than a nation of middle managing bureaucrats.

Please be aware, the American people have awoken from our apathy and are closely watching the decisions you make. We are not deceived by lies – either yours or the media. We are looking for you to rise up as leaders. If you are not up to the task, you will be replaced by those who are. Do not take us lightly. We may have been apathetic in the past, but no longer. Your behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Rise up as leaders, or pack up your things. Washington is going to change, even if We the People have to drag you kicking and screaming into the future.

Sincerely,

Your Constituents

(For those of you subjected to a public education, that means your Bosses)

Charge of the Light Brigade Remembered.

We thought we had won. The victory seemed complete. Our enemy had attacked, but our defenses held. After the attack, we had cleaned up the battle field, and the damage seemed minimal and easily repaired. If only we had known they weren't finished. They weren't lying in defeat, ineffectual. They were lying in wait, ready to pounce.

After work Thursday and Friday, I spent a little while shoveling the driveway and our walkways. Saturday I finished the walkway. After I had finished, I surveyed my work and thought, "Ahh, another winter storm cleaned up after. The shoveling is finished, and the roof doesn't look bad. I won't have to deal with it until the next storm." Later Saturday, we went out to do some shopping. As we were leaving, It pounced. The snow started coming. What we had thought was the main body turned out to be a vanguard, the scouts and light infantry. This storm brought the heavy armor. They sneaked past our lookouts, with the Weather Channel claiming that it was just another winter storm, 4-6" of accumulation, unless you lived by the coast. They were going to get the main assault, not us. We continued on our trip, arrogant in our ignorance. Suddenly the storm changed. The main body of freezing rain and wet heavy snow, instead of proceeding south, as expected, charged north, hoping to catch us unawares. We bravely battled along treacherous roads, fighting, struggling, to stay on the road. There were casualties. Others who didn't realize their peril and misjudged an innocuous turn. Thankfully, in those cases, the snow's strategy worked against it. While it did cause an accident, major damage was prevented by the sheer size of the previous army that had come through, and the drifts they had created.

Arriving at home safely, we again assumed that we had parried the attack. It seemed that the insidious ploy to sneak past our defenses and barrage us with an unexpected assault of ice had failed. It did create some minor delays, but nothing significant. Sunday morning, as I surveyed the damage done, I didn't think it was significant. How was I to know my enemy was not finished, only waiting? The sun was out, it was a beautiful day. The snow had attacked and failed. Sure, there was an inch or two to deal with in the pathways, but nothing significant. We went to church happy. In our absence, it struck again, with a concerted three prong approach.

The very sun that had seemed like a herald of our victory turned out to be a double agent, working for the enemy. Its warmth caused the snow's numbers to shrink. This may seem like it was on our side but the truth has been discovered. The shrinking snow wasn't defeated. It was merely reforming into a denser battalion. Where it had been light, it became heavy. Where it had been packed, it became solid. Even still, the sun's evil attack had only just begun. As the snow on my roof continued to shift its formations, bringing its troops into ever denser ranks, the sun continued its work. I'm sure it started slowly at first. A few drips running down the roof, acting as scouts to find the unguarded locations. In retrospect, I saw these very harbingers of doom, and discounted them as meaningless drips of water. Further proof that the storm had been vanquished. Ah, my blind ignorance. You see, these scouts were merely preparing the way. Soon there were more. Eventually, the snow on the roof shifted, slightly. The restraining walls of ice on the eaves gave way, opening the way for the entire mass to come down in one continuous sheet. While I wasn't there to see the attack, the aftermath was disturbing because of its sheer magnitude. My driveway was buried. My car virtually disappeared. The door to my house could open, but it was touch and go for a bit. The walkway down the side of the driveway was obliterated as if it had never been.

Upon my return, I witnessed the destruction that had been visited on my shoveling. I attacked with a vengeance. The snow resisted valiantly, but it was no match. It wore me down and exhausted me, but I pressed on. After reclaiming the territory I had lost so gruesomely, I resolved to take the fight to the snow. I got my ladder, and assaulted the high ground of my roof. The snow had grown lax, never suspecting I would bring the fight to it. I attacked like a Viking beserker, granting no quarter. I'm not proud of what I became, but I am proud of what I accomplished. At one point, as I was nearly finished with my assault, the snow, trying to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, launched an all out final assault. It charged with its entire reserve army it had held in reserve on the steeper portion of my back roof. However, such an attack is not a quiet thing. The approaching horde warned me by their very battle cries that were meant to intimidate. I stood in the face of the onslaught, and laughed. Some say my sanity fled at that point, when faced with the prospect of having to redo all the work I had just done, but We know better. We knew that they had left nothing in reserve, and that now our victory was assured. We assaulted the invading horde with a vengeance, and after throwing them down, we attacked their fortifications of ice. It pains me to admit that at sometime during this assault, my longtime companion and friend, my snowshovel, perished. In my rage and bloodlust, I didn't stop to mourn the passing of my friend. I threw half his broken body off the roof, but continued to use him to attack.

If only the battle had ended there. The losses were high, but it would have been seen as a victory still, I think. However, in my arrogance, I resupplied, seeking to remove the last vestiges of the snow's assault. As I was requisitioning a replacement shovel at Walmart, the snow began its most devious plan yet. It signaled the sun to retreat. It quietly slipped away, taking its light and warmth with it. When I got back, the seemingly paltry defenses of the remaining snow proved to be nearly impenetrable, even with my new shovel. And so I concede the battle. It was costly for both sides, but the snow finally wore me down with its seemingly endless resupply. The war is yet to be decided, but this battle goes to the snow.

Well fought.

Forgive the Expression

"I was at a, forgive the expression, Christmas party..."

Really!?!

We have to apologize now for saying Christmas?

No one had better explain to people that "holiday" derives from "Holy Day" otherwise we are going to be wishing people a Happy Festivus before you know it.

The future of technology

I'm sitting here writing this on my iPad. I'm not going to fawn over it and say that it's magical (no, I don't agree with you there Mr. Jobs...) However, I do think it's the wave of the future. It will actually satisy most people's computing needs. Instead of households with multiple laptops and desktops, I imagine we are going to see one desktop (unless you also use a media center PC) and/or one or two laptops, with every member of the family having their own tablet PC. Are there quirks to work out? Yes. Do they make me regret being an early adopter? Absolutely not! I laugh sometimes as I try to figure out how to do some things on this system. Being a life-long PC user, I find myself trying to figure out how to do some things that are almost second nature to me on my PC, and usually, when I eventually figure them out, I find that the reason I was having a hard time was because I was complicating things as a result of my PC experiences.

Well, I must sign off. If anyone has any questions about the iPad they'd like addressed, let me know, and I'll be more than happy to give it a shot.

Merry Christmas!

Once again, Christmas has come. For a godless society, we really do make a fuss about Christmas don’t we? If only people truly understood the meaning of Christmas! I’m not decrying the commercialism, or advocating the blacklisting of Santa, but it would be nice if people truly understood what they were celebrating.

Aren’t you glad that it truly isn’t only the good children who receive presents on Christmas morning? Imagine if that had been God’s plan – That first Christmas Gift on that first Christmas morning was only intended for the good boys and girls. We’d all be out of luck!

Once again, Merry Christmas

Luke 2

Craziness!

We heard last night that the sellers of the house we are considering buying had decided that they may want to reconsider, and postpone making a move until the new year. This did not make us happy. However, as we considered it, we realized that if we at least knew one way or the other, we would be able to plan. Maybe we wouldn't be able to be in the new house for Christmas, but maybe the Lord had a better house out there. I actually had peace either way. As I understand it, they wanted to take a day to think about it and consider their options. This crisis had been precipitated by their inablility to get financing for a new house, since they currently had a house to sell. They took their day, and today, we found out that they do still want to proceed with the sale and will close as soon as we have financing! Whose bright idea was it to buy a house and move during the Christms? Please pray that we will be able to get everything done, and that things will continue to go without a hitch!

Fort Hood

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades. (quoted from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091106/ap_on_re_us/us_fort_hood_shooting)

And yet, they kept him in the military, on active duty, and slated him to be sent to the Middle East? What's wrong with this picture?