Dear readers:

I wish I could say it’s good to be back, but far from it. Having spent the last five months mourning the death of my life partner, I now find myself preparing to mourn the death of my country.  And had I not prepared myself emotionally to get back to work and once again into the swing of things, I would have found myself completely unable to deal with the disaster which is about to befall us.

Those of you who have come to know me over the years have hopefully come to realize that I am just a simple person (not simple-minded, but merely uncomplicated). I was born and raised in this country, and I love it deeply, and I openly admit to an enormous well of resentment of the cavalier attitude of our so-called leadership toward the citizenry of this nation.  In my lifetime I have seen United States government ignore our constitutional protections, moving away from respect for individualism and toward collectivism. I have watched as our schools have been dumbed- down to the point that American students are now being taught what to think, and not how to think. I have watched as the admirable goal of ending poverty (Lyndon Baines Johnson’s ‘Great Society’) has become a $6 trillion boondoggle which has not created less, but even more poverty than had previously existed. I have watched as government at all levels has both attempted and succeeded in exerting ever- increasing control over every citizen in this country. I have watched in disbelief as the federal government authorized the murder of over 50 million innocent children who have paid the ultimate price for the moral turpitude of their mothers (or are they really mothers?). And I, like many of you, have been forced into involuntary servitude, slavery, if you will, to support the 40% of us who pay zero taxes. Some of us say that enough is enough. Some of us say it’s already too much. But I pose this question: Where do we go once we realize that  even too much will never be enough to satisfy the gluttony of the federal government? How many of you even have the desire to understand or care about it? Only time will tell.

Anyone who’s been paying even the slightest bit of attention for the past few decades can attest that common sense has flown the coop in this country. Back in the 90s,when this great land was ruled by Emperor Bill Clinton, it was decided to order Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to approve mortgages for people who obviously couldn’t afford them. Deregulation of the mortgage application process resulted in temptation on the part of mortgage grantors to pave the way for practically anyone who had a pulse and a heartbeat to buy a house. Are we now to understand that no one foresaw the possibility that these people might be unable to continue making the payments once the house had been purchased?

I can understand the sentiment that set these wheels in motion (caring about the welfare of the poor,helping those less fortunate,etc.) ,but what I cannot understand is how, over the years, practically anything that you can think of has somehow come to be considered as a basic human right. Turn on your television for couple of hours and you will see exactly what I mean–people are told that they have a basic right to medication, a basic right to health care, a basic right to motorized scooters,to diabetic testing kits, to diabetic shoes, free immunizations, free housing, free dental, free childcare, pre-kindergarten, a grade-school education, a high -school education, a college education, FREE CELL PHONES (?) ! And now we’re being told by presidential- hopeful Senator Barack Obama that these rights not only apply to American citizens (and any illegals who wish to take advantage [ not that they would] , but that they also apply to every adult and child on the planet Earth ! Has he completely lost his mind? Or have we lost OURS?

More on this soon.

Val