What kind of a nation are we?
What kind of a nation are we living in? Not one that I recognize anymore. This administration has thumbed its nose at Arizona, which has long struggled with immigration issues largely due to a lack of Federal enforcement of our Nation’s laws. Never mind Arizona H.B. 1070 basically mirrored the federal law! Justice Scalia was astute in his assessment that the current administration doesn’t want to enforce federal law. Hurray for his courage to say it! Our “uniter-in-chief” waited three plus years after his campaign promise to address immigration, issuing an executive order as a temporary measure, interested … now that his re-election is at stake. As the Constitutional process is burdensome, legislation comes through executive orders such as that mentioned and bans on drilling U.S. oil. More insidiously, regulation is written by faceless bureaucrats in agencies like the EPA which dictates enforcement as it wishes. Wonder why it is so hard to start a business? Never mind Congress or the wishes of the American people! “They” know what is best for us. As a 7th generation American citizen, I feel as though my liberties now take a back seat to those of foreigners, specials interests, “takers” and far lefties who live in their own little bubble called Washington. If we do not remove this administration, career politicians who make laws but exempt themselves, and reduce government regulation – whose tentacles invade every aspect of our lives, we will no longer be an exceptional nation … because the liberties we have long enjoyed are slowly disappearing while we have our heads buried in the sand. We were once a nation of reason, responsibility, leadership and liberty … a country of self-made people! NO MORE. Those days are waning. Nanny State is taking over. WE the people are now the servants of BIG GOVERNMENT. Europe can see what is happening to us, the short-sighted choices our government is making, our enslavement to debt (now nearing $16 trillion!) Can “we the people” save America from turning into another socialist country? Can we survive 4 more years of this? The other shoe is about to drop.
Carol Freitas
33-year resident of Arizona, now living in Durango, Colorado
Obamacare a tax or a penalty? BOTH
Obamacare is filled with BOTH taxes AND penalties – 21 of them. It is a mistake to focus on definitions and spitting hairs over semantics.
The bottom line is this: 90 percent of people are going to pay more, and have less money in their pockets with the impending Jan. 1, 2013 tax hikes and Obamacare cost increases starting in 2014. I estimate that in total, it will raise taxes/penalties about 20 percent in total for the average working person. That is $8000 more cost for a $40,000 per-year income.
As the result, the economy will continue to limp along and unemployment will become a permanent fact of life for millions. Obamacare will add conservatively $2.7 TRILLION more federal debt in 10 years. If Obama is reelected, he will get us over $20 TRILLION of debt by the end of his second term! It is impossible to ever get out of that magnitude of debt.
The government "trough" of handouts will enslave millions for the rest of their lives.
Obamacare, food stamps, welfare, Medicaid and other programs are turning Americans into hand-fed zoo animals and life-long, dependent Democrat voters. It is killing American self-reliance and our work ethic.
This election is a decision of life or death of America.
Steve Caddy
Wenatchee, Washington
Open letter to President Barack Hussein Obama
President Barack Hussein Obama – STOP using the Navy SEALS as a campaign ploy. Because with all due respect, (what little I have for you), you do NOT speak for me.
You have a movie about SEALS within the past year trying to identify with me, with the Navy SEALS, and with anything that might improve your polling numbers – and yet it is all a sham to hide a weak un-American man desperate to claim the victories of others for his own.
You, sir, are trying to take credit for what the American People have achieved in killing Bin Laden. Your use of the SEALs’ accomplishment as a campaign slogan is nothing less than despicable. I, as a former Navy SEAL do not accept your taking credit for Osama Bin Laden’s death. The American Military accomplished that feat.
Yet now that it is useful, you Mr. President, continue to refer to the event as if it were YOU and you alone who accomplished the worthy task of slaying one of America’s greatest enemies. You say “I directed”, “I continued”, “My Intelligence Community”, “My national security team”, “I determined that I had enough….”, “My direction…”
Yet reliable sources continue to report that not only did you attempt to stop or delay Bin Laden’s demise, you did not even leave the golf course for the situation room until 20 minutes before SEAL Team 6 took out Osama Bin Laden. Even the clothes you wore in the situation room betray this fact. This is a Commander in Chief? A man who takes credit for actions largely taken while he was out golfing?
We men who have taken the oath, say ENOUGH. You do not speak for me, a former Navy SEAL, or any one of the league of men whom I have earned the right to be among. You are simply a man running for an office. Yet you behave as a glory-hoarding ruler. You campaign to be our leader, yet in reality you wish to be our Master.
The American people are the ones who got Bin Laden … You did Not! We have fought wars and slugged it with Vast Terror Organizations to get to the man you say YOU killed. The United Sates of America has won you a title sir and you have spent the last three years trying to beg, borrow and bow as you GIVE IT ALL AWAY. You just happened to be president of the USA when WE THE PEOPLE got Osama Bin Laden. We do not see you as heroic or stoic, we see you as the guy who let America Go. We got fat and weak and you gave it all away. That is your credit – you bow to foreign leaders and pander to the press. You do not represent me as a military man. You do not represent me as a SEAL. You do not represent me as an AMERICAN!
You do not speak for me or any American military man because though you may now be Commander in Chief, you are not the man to whom we can point our sons and say “This is the American dream, this is American exceptionalism, this is what I wish for your future”, because you Sir are NONE of these things. You Sir, are the antithesis of American Exceptionalism. Your idols are Saul Alinksi and Karl Marx and your revolutionary dreams and anti-American ideals poison your every policy.
Your every action betrays the fact that in your soul you do not understand what it is to be an American, not what America truly is. Your agenda from the beginning has been to get rid of and kill everything that is and ever was American. You who so easily dismisses America’s greatness and bows to foreigners… YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR ME. YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR THE NAVY SEALS. YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR THE MILITARY MAN AND you SHALL NOT claim as your prize that which you have not earned. The Navy SEALS are NOT a campaign slogan to be bantered about for play. Nor are our accomplishments, including the demise of Osama Bin Laden, yours to claim.
So you DO NOT speak for me. And I will not stand for your use and abuse of my brethren the SEALS.
For Liberty,
Benjamin Smith, former Navy SEAL
Posted On TPATH July 6, 2012
To the (Dis) Honorable Joe Walsh (IL-8):
I write this letter as an American veteran. I served my country in the U.S. Army, from 1959 -1962, both state side and overseas. Like all veterans, I was proud to wear that uniform.
Your recent rants against Colonel Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs while serving, were not only loathsome but anti-American. For someone who has never worn the uniform of any branch of the U.S. military, you disgust me. You are nothing but a loud mouthed, overbearing buffoon.
I suggest you do the following to redeem yourself:
1. Publicly apologize to Colonel Duckworth.
2. Pay all of your back child support.
3. Attend anger management class.
4. Resign from Congress.
Americans should never be represented by someone like you.
You have never served in our Armed Forces and you certainly have not served the citizens of this nation. It is time for you to go.
Bob Coady
Carefree
Justice Roberts and Fast & Furious
As much as Justice Roberts ruined my day regarding his ObamaCare ruling, could it be that Roberts ultimately got even for Obama's chiding during the 2010 State of the Union speech? Many pundits suspected Roberts would vote with the majority so that he could write the majority opinion.
Roberts defeated the Interstate Commerce Clause argument and proved Obama and every one who voted for ObamaCare a liar or a fool! Chief Justice Roberts strongly implied that if you don't like a law, vote those who created it out. And that's what I will use my remaining time and energy to do.
Revelations about Obama contributor, Dennis K. Burke's direct involvement in the catastrophic "Fast and Furious" operation explains why AG Eric Holder and President Obama are frantically trying to obstruct justice. It is now obvious that Obama is trying to avoid being impeached like Nixon for the apparent cover up Obama is employing. Unfortunately most of the media, Associated Press and the likes of WABC's Geraldo Rivera have proved themselves an extension of the White House propaganda machine.
Joseph DuPont
Towanda, Pensylvania
Chamber extortion
In support of Don's Editorial of July 4 – how does the "chamber" justify funding itself through an additional fee added to our business licenses?
If the "Chamber" offered any real benefits for the local merchants, it wouldn't be too hard to get more members. Trying to get the town council to collect dues from every merchant sounds like extortion. I didn't know the mafia had moved into Cave Creek. Or Obama!
Names withheld by request
Veterans: Quality of life
What is Quality of life for our veterans? The meaning for most upon returning home is security. Jobs that offer equitable pay with benefits, home ownership, education opportunity.
Many veterans returning home bring with them acquired skills. Skills they did not have prior to entering the military. These personnel are the support groups who maintain and operate equipment. They are apart from those whose primary duty is combat. For the most part, they are well trained in job skills. They are mechanics, builders, electronics technicians, equipment operators, medical technicians, cooks, bakers, administrative personnel; just to name a few skills they bring home. Most have attended schools in the military.
For those personnel who require education, it is available to them through government programs – programs that offer a variety of productive skills.
Veterans Affairs (VA) have counselors to help in their decision making process. Many of these counselors maintain offices in nearly all schools of higher education.
Employers can be eligible for tax break incentives for hiring veterans. Some might say, why give preferential treatment to veterans? Military personnel of all branches can and often are placed in harms way. Their main obligation is to maintain our country's posterity, freedom from oppression as a sovereign nation. They have earned the hard way a right to better quality of life.
Many returning veterans are not without problems, medical and mental.
Here again, one other purpose of our VA is to afford its veterans undeniable medical and mental care. All the veteran should need to verify service is their DD-214 proof of military service and discharge under honorable conditions. In the event of being in combat, proof of medals in a combat campaign. For any service connected disability, whether it be combat or non-combat, proof of that disability. Military personnel at discharge should make copies of their DD-214, record of awards, record of duty stations, medical records that could be significant for possible disability medical issues in the future. If and or when a time lends itself, these records become valuable in making a VA claim. Congress and Senate introduces legislation for VA disability to help veterans. How many of these Bills are stuck in committee? Our best support is the American people to write Congress and Senate, ask them to support our veterans in need of medical care and compensation.
If a veteran needs advice in dealing with the VA, there is help. The VA has veterans liaison coordinators. Other good sources of help are the VFW 1-816-756-3390, American Legion 1-202-861-2700, Disabled American Veterans 1-877-426-2838, Vietnam Veterans of America 1-800-vva-1316, American Veterans 1-877-726-8387. These organizations are recognized by the VA and Federal Government. There is no charge for their services.
Upon discharge from military service, it is advised to register with the VA to be in the system.
John J. Bury, US Navy/retired
Vietnam War veteran
Media, Pennsylvania
How it all came into existence
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament (sky) shows His handiwork” (Psalms 19:1).
President Abraham Lincoln said once, “I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the Heaven and say there is no God.”
Could the Sears Tower or the Golden Gate Bridge exist without a planner and a builder? Could a plane fly by consensus? Were the president’s faces on Mt. Rushmore caused by erosion? Could fields of corn or wheat or strawberries exist without a farmer first planning and then planting them? Could the sun, moon, stars and planets exist without being planned and created by the Omniscient (all knowing) and Omnipotent (all powerful) Creator?
Today, many educated people with Doctor's Degrees have a problem. They can’t look up into a cloudless and clear night sky, into Heaven and come to a consensus of how it all came into existence?
Inconceivable! However, many true and honest astronomers and scientists know God created it. Millions of repeated observations and tests have proven that an intelligence (God) was actively involved.
The media, state and federal departments of education and public schools refuse to recognize that The Infinite, Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent God is the source of all honest education, as our forefathers experienced. Today, our educators try to produce “Excellence in Education” without God. Falling test scores are the inevitable result. An honest consensus about why this is happening is needed, not lowering standards.
Unbelievable!
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they (ungodly) are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
James W. Roehrborn BA, MS
Alexandria, Minnesota
Educating children on frugality
With the beginning of the school year, we can again hear complaints about how expensive textbooks and school supplies are. And even more so this year, in which many families are suffering from the consequences of the crisis. A good education involves teaching how to turn problems into opportunities. And the crisis can be a good opportunity to educate children on frugality. Making them do without superfluous expenses does not mean loving them any less – and under the current circumstances it is a duty of justice. It is not necessary to buy a paper notebook with many pages for each school subject – surely enough, those from last year still have 90 percent blank pages. Neither are collections of pens, markers, and a thousand color pencils essential. If children need to call home, they can use the school phones, so they do not need a cell phone; apart from saving quite a lot of money, they won’t waste time exchanging useless messages. Sneakers and sports clothes need not be from brands that cost big money simply to prevent them feeling inferior to the others. What is certainly useful is to buy plastic covers for textbooks so that they may be used by others later on. Math is taught at school; the virtue of frugality is learned at home.
Federico Gómez
Independent Forum of Opinion
