current events

I Survived the March 14 Record Snowstorm

For three days the news media has concentrated on the gigantic storm coming to Denver metro area. It finally started to rain last afternoon and turned to snow sometime during the night. Woke up with five inches of snow this morning. Some foothill locations got forty inches. During the day the lights flickered occasionally but never went out. However, there were reports that around 50,000 were without power due to broken trees taking out power lines.

We live in a community of forty-four homes and the HOA handles snow removal and received an email that snow removal will be done after the snow stops. Well, it has been snowing all day and I hope there is not a medical emergency in the circle. There have been very few auto tracks on the street, and I don’t know if a fire truck or ambulance could navigate the amount of snow on the streets. plus, none of the driveways or walks are cleaned. Wonder if someone has a medical emergency and emergency treatment cannot get in, can the HOA be sued for neglect of duty? Since this post was started Thursday night I will finish it Friday.

Here it is Friday morning, no power outages, no fallen trees or branches. We still are snowed in though. The HOA crew has not done a thing on the snow removal. I have thirteen inches of snow on the front porch. The city did plow down the middle of the street. However, that leaves a twenty-four-inch pile of snow in front of the driveway. No way could I drive over or through that pile. I am over eighty and no way can I remove that pile of heavy wet snow. I guess I am snowbound for a while.

Patriotism

A patriot is a person who loves their country. It is generally seen as a positive. Many have ancestry from a foreign country. They have seen or heard how their life has improved in this country compared to where their ancestors came from. They have realized they can believe a religion they may have been restricted from. The world is full of controlling countries and that may be the reason they immigrated. Whatever the reason, a love for a country is starting to materialize when they come to this country and feel the opportunities. Have you ever heard of anyone immigrating to Russia, North Korea for the opportunities?

Defending a country against its enemies, and a desire to see it succeed is very important. There are national cemeteries across the nation that are full of patriots that stepped up and fought and defended the country. Millions are in these cemeteries that made the supreme sacrifice in battle defending this love of country.

Most countries aim to instill patriotism in their youths from a young age, often through education and exposure to patriotic symbols and events. I remember in grade school they would raise the flag when the students were entering. When they were raising the flag, you would stop and wait until the flag was raised. We were taught about the many symbols and history of this country. Unfortunately, I have heard that this has diminished in the last years. If this is true, I am afraid that this will affect this country in the future.

Patriots believe it’s their duty to vote in elections. This is based on their sincere desire for their country to succeed. Patriots pay attention to the events that are happening in the country and vote accordingly. Way too many do not vote and do not have a clue what is going on in the country. I am concerned that this lack of interest could affect the future of this country.

Yes, I consider myself to be a patriot. I vote consistently and follow local and national news and events. I served in the military and was willing to give my life for this country. I respect the flag and symbols of the country. I love this country and have no desire to go to any other country. This country has been very good to me, and I have lived the American Dream.

Daily writing prompt
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
View all responses

A spooky scenerio
I don’t know if this is true, but it is spooky.
 
You’re sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door.
Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers.
At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way.
With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun.
You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it.
In the darkness, you make out two shadows.
One holds something that looks like a crowbar.
When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire.
The blast knocks both thugs to the floor.
One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside.
As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you’re in trouble.
In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few that are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless..
Yours was never registered.
Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died.
They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm.
When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.
“What kind of sentence will I get?” you ask.
“Only ten-to-twelve years,” he replies, as if that’s nothing.
“Behave yourself, and you’ll be out in seven.”
The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper.
 
Somehow, you’re portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys.
Their friends and relatives can’t find an unkind word to say about them..
Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both “victims” have been arrested numerous times.
But the next day’s headline says it all:  “Lovable Rogue Son Didn’t Deserve to Die.”
The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters..
As the days wear on, the story takes wings.
The national media picks it up, then the international media.
The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.
Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he’ll probably win.
The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you’ve been critical of local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects.
After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time.
The District Attorney uses this to allege that you were lying in wait for the burglars.
A few months later, you go to trial.
The charges haven’t been reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted.
When you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works against you..
Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man.
It doesn’t take long for the jury to convict you of all charges.
The judge sentences you to life in prison.
This case really happened.
On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England , killed one burglar and wounded a second.
In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term…
How did it become a crime to defend one’s own life in the once great British Empire ?
It started with the Pistols Act of 1903.
This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license.
The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns..
Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.
Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987.
Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw.
When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.
The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of “gun control”, demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)
Nine years later, at Dunblane, Scotland, Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.
For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable, or worse, criminals.
Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners.
Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns.
The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few side arms still owned by private citizens.
During the years in which the British government incrementally took away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism.
Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun.
Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.
Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, “We cannot have people take the law into their own hands.”
All of Martin’s neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences.
Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.
When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities.
Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law.
The few who didn’t were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn’t comply.
Police later bragged that they’d taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.
How did the authorities know who had handguns?
The guns had been registered and licensed.
Kind of like cars. Sound familiar?
WAKE UP AMERICA ; THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.
“…It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds..” –Samuel Adams
If you think this is important, please forward to everyone you know.
You had better wake up, because Obama is doing this very same thing, over here, if he can get it done
 
The UN Small Arms Treaty that Hilary is negotiating would take away our 2nd Amendment rights.
And there are stupid people in congress and on the street that will go right along with him.
——————————————————————————————————————-
Just remember – the reason the Japanese didn’t invade the USA is because they knew that Most of the Citizens were armed.

Social Security information
History Lesson on Your Social Security Card
  
Social Security Cards up until the 1980s expressly stated the number and
card were not to be used for identification purposes. Since nearly everyone in the
United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the
message, NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION,was removed.
 

An old Social Security card with the “NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION”message.
Our Social Security

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social
Security (FICA) Program. He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be
Completely voluntary,

No longer Voluntary

2.) That the participants would only have to pay
1% of the first $1,400 of their annual
Incomes into the Program,

Now 7.65%
on the first $90,000

3.) That the money the participants elected to put
into the Program would be deductible from
their income for tax purposes each year,

No longer tax deductible

4.) That the money the participants put into the
independent ‘Trust Fund’rather than into the
general operating fund, and therefore, would
only be used to fund the Social Security
Retirement Program, and no other
Government program, and,

Under Johnson the money was moved to
The General Fund and Spent

5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed
as income.

Under Clinton & Gore
Up to 85% of your Social Security can be Taxed

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are
now receiving a Social Security check every month —
and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of
the money we paidto the Federal government to ‘put
away’ — you may be interested in the following:

———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the
independent ‘Trust Fund’ and put it into the
general fund so that Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically
controlled House and Senate.

———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax
deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democratic Party.

———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —–

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social
Security annuities?

A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gorecasting the
‘tie-breaking’ deciding voteas President of the
Senate, while he was Vice President of the  US

———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— –

Q: Which Political Party decided to start
giving annuity payments to immigrants?

AND MY FAVORITE:

A: That’s right!

Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party.  
Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65,
began to receive Social Security payments! The
Democratic Party gave these payments to them,
even though they never paid a dime into it!

———— — ———— ——— —– ———— ——— ———

Then, after violating the original contract (FICA),
the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want
to take your Social Security away!

And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it!
If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of
awareness will be planted and maybe changes will
evolve.
But it’s worth a try.
How many people can YOU send this to?

Actions speak louder than bumper stickers

 

Lets withhold elected officials pay

PLEASE read and forward to all your e-mail contacts, and post on your Face-book page if you have one… This is getting serious

 
Dear Mr. President, I heard you say you will not guarantee SS checks if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
 
Why is it the threat always has to do with SS, Medicare, & our Soldiers pay? …trying to scare those who’s needs are greatest?
 
Why not stop YOUR pay, your staff, or Congress and the Senate to save more money for our country?
 
If that isn’t enough, how about withholding foreign aid?
  
Why use Seniors, Soldiers, & our Needy as examples?
 
Take the money from those who take no risks and reap the benefits!!   
 
Instead of threatening to withhold Social Security, VA and disability payments of people who really need the money….
 
Lets hold the paychecks of all house & senate members, then see how fast they resolve the debt ceiling crisis !!!!!
 
If you agree, repost this & keep it going across the whole USA.

    Thank you

It’s going to get harder to get a passport

Did you know this?

http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/state-dept-wants-to-make-it-harder-to-get-a-passport/

Learning about this information I remember the following event I had.

Back in 1975 I crossed the Iron Curtain between Hungary and Vienna. This was a very chilling situation. When we got thirty miles away from the border the tour guide was getting off the tour bus. She was asked why and she “replied that she was not allowed to go any closer to the border. ” The border was very chilling. We sat in the tour bus for 45 minutes while the border guards gathered all our passports and took them into the office to check them out and make sure no one was attempting to sneak out.

The border was defoliated for 200 yards and had high machine gun towers  in the center. This was a site you don’t forget.

This kind of passport questionnaire makes me very uncomfortable. In my opinion, I am getting the feeling the United States is leaning towards a strict police state just like the former Soviet Union, and the Communists did not have to fire a shot.

In ten or fifteen years will more people be trying to get out of the country than trying to get in? This is a chilling thought.

Martin Luther King’s Pledge of Nonviolence

Martin Luther King’s Pledge of Nonviolence
1. As you prepare to march meditate on the life and teachings of Jesus
2. Remember the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation – not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love; for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God that all men and women might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes that all might be free.
6. Observe with friend and foes the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Perform regular service for others and the world.
8. Refrain from violence of fist, tongue and heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the movement leaders and of the captains on demonstrations.

How did we survive?

This was received in an e-mail and I am passing it on.

To Those of  Us  Born   between  1930 – 1965  

At the end of this blog is a quote of the month by Jay Leno.. If you don’t read anything else, please 
read what he said.  Very well stated, Mr. Leno.
 
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
                   1930’s, 40’s, 50’s,   60’s and 70’s!! 
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
 
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
 
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered  with bright colored lead-base paints.
 
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes,  we had baseball caps  not helmets on our heads..
 
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
 
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
 
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
 
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
  
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren’t overweight..   WHY?  
Because we were always outside playing….that’s why!
 
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on…  
No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were OKAY.
 
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps  and then ride them down the hill,  only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem
 
We did not have Play stations, Nintendo’s and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s,  no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones,  no personal computers,  no Internet and no chat rooms.
 
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
 
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
 
We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse.  
 
We ate worms and mud pies  made from dirt, and  the worms did not live in us forever.
 
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.
  
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
 
 Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.  Those who didn’t had to learn  to deal with disappointment.  Imagine that!! 
 
 The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! 
 
These generations have produced some of the best  risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.
 
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
 
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
 
If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!  
 
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
 
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
 
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it ?  I just did and Look…I’m stil here….
~
The quote of the month is by
Jay Leno:
 
‘With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu, swine flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?’ 
 
For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us..go ahead and ignore this. 
For the rest of us….pass this on.    https://2tts.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/how-did-we-survive/

 

It’s still a Christmas tree

It was a Christmas tree when I was five years old and it is still a Christmas tree now that I am over 65. It will always be a Christmas tree. I will never call it a holiday tree. I will never be political correct. I will never give into the trend that this country should be careful not to offend anybody at the expense of our own beliefs and traditions.

I was born and raised a Christian and I am still a Christian. Some may say that I am not a very good Christian but that is for another time. When I was young there were Jewish people, Hindus and Buddhist. Maybe there were even a few Muslims, I don’t remember because it was not that important to me. I did not become offended when I am exposed to Hanukkah, Ramadan or any other symbol of some other denomination.

When I greet people I say Merry Christmas, not happy holidays. That is my tradition and I am not giving it up. They can respond with Happy Hanukkah or holy Ramadan or happy holiday, whatever fits their tradition. I won’t be offended and I don’t understand why a simple merry Christmas may offend them. A simple greeting is not an attempt to convert them to my tradition. It is just a greeting of my tradition.

Therefore, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May we all enjoy peace and prosperity in the years to come.