Where have all the real Americans gone?

I remember when I was younger, and everything seemed right with the world. Well almost right, that is. If it weren't for my own insecurities, stupid insecurities, in my own eyes, all would have been right with the world. Then the world seemed to jump right into the crapper. All the cherished values I grew up with are now being tossed aside in the name of progress.

They no longer say the Pledge of Allegiance in many schools. Schools don't teach the fundementals of learning. They teach your children how to use condoms, that it's ok to have unmarried sex. After all, the kids are just following their impulses. Unmarried sex has become the norm, and is even expected when teens are young. In some schools, they teach that abstinance isn't normal. PARENTS WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!!! While you're so busy busseling about in a two income home, just trying to buy your kids everything they want, they're out doing things that are morally unspeakable!!! What your younger kids want and your older kids need is your TIME!!!

The modern way of thinking for women seems to be that they can have it all, a rewarding career and children. (Note: no man required) While the mom is at work, the little darlings are being raised by the nanny, the housekeeper, or the daycare center. Of course the corriculum is approved by parents (or at least someone representing the parents) and professional educators. But NOBODY can raise and educate the children as well as a parent who cares for them, lives with them for 24 hours a day 365 days a year!

I remember a movie where the children actually chose the nanny over the parents. Of course, the parents were outraged, fired the nanny, and decided to get drunk; because they couldn't deal with their lives. Or the wife comes home from her power job to find the husband (who also works, just different hours) in bed with the housekeeper. Why is that? Hmmmmm There are two ways of looking at this. Either the husband is scum for cheating on the wife and the kids are ungreaful for prefering the housekeeper. Or the wife is scum for spending so much time away from the family. Liberals will probably side with both the wife and housekeeper. With the wife, because here is a woman who workes very hard to provide for her family, who repay her with such disrespect. With the housekeeper, because here is a woman who is being utilized for sexual gratification and being downtrodden by having to help children day in and day out. The fault is never who's actually at fault. In this case, I believe the wife is at fault. Why? Because she was the only one not participating in family activities. Why should the husband show loyalty to a woman who, although is his wife, is never available or is too busy with her volunteer responsibilities to spend any time with him? Why should the children show any loyalty to a woman who, although is their mother, is never available, is off to work, is too busy to teach them.

But I digress, railing against premarital sex isn't the point of this posting. Our values have changed. They're no longer about loyalty to our family, to our country, or to our jobs. It's strictly every person for themselves. The america I remember wouldn't hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later when american interests were threatened. Believe me, if I had a gun, and I thought anyone would harm me, my family, steal from me, or cause damage to my property, there's no reason to ask what I'd do. I'd kill or disable you just to ensure that you were unable to. Am I advocating violence? Only in defending what's mine.

I support President Bush 110%. I'm not saying that he's perfect. He's not. But these terrorists are just as much a threat to us as the Axis Nations were durring WWII. The terrorists don't want peace. Peace is their enemy. If you don't belive me, just look at the Islamic nations. Islamic sects are killing each other. The killings aren't including americans, therefore, no american news agencies are picking it up. The press is also on the side of the terrorists. I'm not saying that because I'm biased against the press. I'm saying it because I've spoken with several soldiers who were deployed in Iraq. Almost without fail, they have many positive stories to tell about soldiers who saved the local peoples lives, helped out, and represented America well. Yet have any of these stories been broadcast? Yet, if an iraqi citizen gets killed durring a raid on an enemy stronghold, it's front page news. I don't blame the reporters in the field. (for the most part, that is). I blame the managing editors and editors in cheif who cut the positive stories because they don't think it will sell, or it doesn't meet their political ajenda.

If you're in the military, this is one american who is EXTREEMLY GREATFUL for what you're doing; And fully supports you in it. One who doesn't have a problem with a few (hopefully as few as possible) civilans getting hurt, if it protects me and my family in the end. GIVE 'EM HELL!!! GOD BLESS!!! (by the way, I also happen to love the song (not by the anti-american dixie chicks), Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.)

Everything you know is wrong

Not to be insulting, but it's true (generically speaking). Think about it. What's important to most of the western world? As americans, we're tought to value capitalism, as it will help the world determine who and what are the best. Shoppers will always go for the greatest value. In capatalism, you deal with economies of varying scales. These economies demand trade, and often trade demands money. Money isn't really powerful at all. It represents the value of the service performed. This depends on the economy of scale for the industry in which the service is performed. The more money you have the more you can afford, and thus the more buying power you have. The more people who have large ammounts of buying power, the less each doller is worth, thus more money is required to maintain a given level of buying power. Ain't inflation grand?

This has required that we, as the devout follwers of capatalism, must work to acquire more money. The other option is to slap your capatalism into turbo mode, and start investing. Thus you don't have to work so hard to acquire money. Capatalism works. Without it, there's lasyness and sloth. That's almost everything I know about capatalism, and sometimes, it's wrong. Those who blindly follow capatalism allow life to pass them by. Now, this isn't a put down of capatalism. I believe in capatalism, it's the best system that we've got. But in the end, does it really matter that I had a ton of cash? Are my kids going to say, "Gosh I'm glad that dad worked his butt off, so I could enjoy swimming in this pool of money. Too bad he was a real son of a b!t(h." Then to have my wife chime in,"Yea, too bad he was worth more to us dead than alive. Good thing we took out more life insurance just before he died."

Gee, how's that for a eulogy? But in the wierd al song, "everything you know is wrong" that's the normthat Al (Not necessarilly Wierd Al, I'm using that because the subject of the song is never identified.) In the song, he is driving down a street when someone covers his eyes while he is driving. This could represent how many go through life. later in the song, aliens capture him and remove his organs. This could symbolize how traditional life can remove what makes you interesting, and since he didn't put up a fight, he didn't think that it would do any good. We desparately wanted to make sense of what went on, so when given the chance to go back in time to anyplace, he was more concerned with paying a bill than seeing some of the major histical events. Life shouldn't be so serious. Families should enjoy time and things together. If you really want to see what sort of lasting impression we leave, look at how you treat your family. What will they remember when you're gone? There is nothing more important than experiencing life with them. Helping them when they need it. Recieving help when you need it.

Maybe instead of worrying about our economies of scale, why don't we worry about our economies of family? They're the ones who will remember us when we're gone. How will they remember us if they don't know us?

Iraq

Let me start this discussion by saying that I fully support our troops in Iraq, and fully support President Bush on this issue. I believe we went into Iraq for the right reasons, and at the right time. As far as the patriot act goes, if the government wants to read my emails, spy on it's citizens, etc.... My emails must really be interesting. I wish they'd let me know if they find anything good. It's the big brother syndrome, it's just 2007 and not 1984. Gee, they got the year wrong. But I digress.

The Iraq war (and the broader war on terror) cannot be won by politicians telling the troops how to fight. The military must be allowed to actually kill the enemy. We should be allowed to bomb the enemy no matter where he is. Unfortunately, this may put innocent civialians in danger. But that's been the case in all wars. Durring WWII, many non-military personnell and civialians lost their lives on both sides durring bombing raids. As I've heard it said, "This is war, expect casualties." The extreemists believe that this is a war, and that they're the good guys. They believe their cause to be just. They believe they're dying as marters. Not necessarilly marters to prevent others from being physically harmed, but marters to prevent wrong ideals from polluting the innocent. Thus if a person blows themselves up and kills as many as possible to prevent alien ideals from infecting others, it's worth it, to them. It's not the lives that matter, it's the changes in people they want to prevent. They believe that by prevent these ideals from taking root, they can preserve their way of life.

Laws are founded on faith and morals. The vast majority of people in our country believe that it's wrong to commit murder. Thus we have laws that dictate that if I choose to commit murder, I must suffer the consequences as dictated by those laws. Laws in many fundamentally islamic countries were formed in a similar fashion. The people in those countries did what was necessary to enforce their moral values upon the population of that country. And that was to enact laws that reflected their beliefes. These laws, for many years, enforced what was being taught by the predominant religion. Both women and men were taught what their role was both in society, and in their own families. Thus the faith was re-enforced by laws. Certain incompatible ideals were simply legislated out.

Problem is that our country was based on christian values, not Islamic values. Our laws (as well as the laws in most traditionally christian nations) reflect christian values. Our laws also reflect our belief that every individual has the right and responsibility to choose between what they perceive to be right and wrong. Thus the individual chooses their own destiny weather now, or in the life to come (if you believe in that). Righteousness is not legislated or defined in our country. Thus as our world shrinks and people of once distant lands come together, there will be an exchange of ideals and ideas. This is what the terrorists fight against. They are threatened by the changes in ideals they see as immoral. Thus they react in the only way they know how; And that's with violence. Going to war to prevent the perversion of their way of life. They know that if people are given freedom to choose, they might not always choose what's right.

What they don't understand is that. Any belief system shouldn't enforce it's tenants by the use of force. By fighting the way they're fighting, they're removing their victems right to choose good. Good should always be chosen, never dictated. Violence only begats violence. But should we stand by and allow them to attack us, repeatedly? And in the process, injure and kill more innocents? At this point, we americans offend the extreemists by simply existing. They know that unless they extinguish freedoms light completely, it will eventually creep into their society. Thus we western countries represent a constant threat to them. This is why the war on terror sim is right. This is why the war in Iraq is right. Would you rather fight it there or in American cities?

Wow, how time passes so quickly

Wow, look at how time flies. Well, since this is something I'm doing in my spare time, I'll get to it when I can. Especially since being a dad for 4 kids and one "way-too-smart-for-her-age" preen (or tween honestly, I just can't keep up with the title changes theese days), I'm either working, helping friends with their PCs & Websites, or having to prove just how insensetive men can be to my kids.

This weekend, we went camping... That's right just me, 1 woman (the wife), 1 afore mentioned preen (or whatever!), and 4 other daughters of various ages. Which I've really gotta hand it to my wife. She organized the whole thing flawlessly; and since she can't stand the way I drive, I had the fun opportunity to enjoy the scenery. Once we got there, the preen and I set ourselves to the task of pitching our tent. Keep in mind, I'm a rusty boy-scout, who thouroughly enjoyed the camping trips. My preen is a Girl Scout who enjoys the Girl Scout version of camping. (note: I'm not slighting the GSA, I think they're a wonderful organization).

(If you want to keep this short, or are a Girl Scout, please skip the next two paragraphs)
The GS version of camping usually involves mostly in door activities. In fact, the GS run "Camp Trefoil" probably doubles as a resort durring the summer months. It has a full 3 story elevator, full gourmet kitchen, cafeteria style dining hall, game room, a small village-ette with shops, functioning stable, and small marina.( I would imagine that last one is for their "power" canoeing class.) When my daughters are hungry, while at "Camp", they simply visit the kitchen, or order room service.

My scouting experience consisted of being a member of a small group of guys who were placed in an area by our leaders, and having to hike home. Dinner consisted of whatever we could kill, skin, cook, and stomache. Our accommodations were somewhat less ritzy. They usually consisted of 4 boys in a 2 man leaky tent (If you were lucky, you got a more modern tent. If not, you got the leaky and smelly army surplus tent). Fortunately for us, we were all able boddied scouts. If there were any stragglers, well, they were the ones who we'd have to circle back for, and make fun of for about a week. We learned to read a map and compas sheerly out of necessity. 2-3 hour hikes usually ended in seemingly day long survivor style endurance trials, while the leaders tried to decide where we were and what to do. (except that you couldn't get voted off the island). The last actual "Scout Camp" that I saw was a two room building that relied on a centeral fireplace for heat. The main room was a multipurpose room. The other room was the kitchen, complete with wood burning stove and ice box (note: I don't mean refridgerator, I mean ice box). To keep warm, we put a small table at either end of the multi purpose room, put a rope in a bag, and played a game much like basketball, except that the rope-bag couldn't leave the floor, or go out of bounds.

Anyway, back to the point. My preen, who actually has assisted in setting up the family tent before, proceeds to explain to me, the obviously know nothing about tents, father, how the tent needed to be setup. After it failed her way (she still doesn't understand why it failed), we did it the right way, and had it done in 5 mins. She did enjoy hammering the stakes into the ground. Fortunately, we didn't need to do it twice. (We've set up the tent since getting home, and she actually learned how to do it, and was actually able to do a pretty good job of helping set it up.)

Now, my wife is another story completely. She can have the tent setup and ready for use in about 3 mins, 5 if my daughters "help". And can tear that thing down and pack it in about the same time. She has developed good shortcuts for many of the take down items.

Anyway, that's all for now. I may revise this later on, but I just needed to check in. Until then, be good!

Todays Random Rave

Something todays politicians seem to have forgotten is that it takes blood, gore, and violence to win a war. That's not to say that some battles can't be won through democratic means. After all, we didn't negotiate Hitler's surrender, and the negotiations for Japan's surrender went pretty fast, and only happened after we nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Now, we've got terrorists that are using what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to justify their hatered of the United States. The attacks on 9/11 were enough to make my blood boil. And I don't even live in or near New York. If I were president, I would have authorized our military to do whatever they deemed necessary to recover Osama, and root out whatever is left of his organization in this country.

Now, we've got our troops in harms way. Let me make my position on this issue very clear. I support (note the present tense) the war in Iraq, and the brief war we had against Afganistan. I support our troops. I don't support how they're being required to fight the war. Our enemies can do whatever they want including executions, forced religious conversions, torture, kidnappings, etc... without any reprisals. But if the US even blinks wrong, the international media seems to jump on them, and say, "That's another reason the US shouldn't be in Iraq." And what's worse is that our press seems to think it's their responsibility to find any and all news that demoralizes our troops, and only report that. Where are the stories of the families that have been helped by our troops in Iraq?

In an address I'd give the troops, (Were I president of the US), I'd say go, fight, WIN!, and give 'em hell!!

In my opinion, Cindy Shehan is a traitor, and spat on everything her son (who IS a hero) worked so hard, and gave his life for. I empathize with her maternal desire to keep her son safe. But what he fought for IS worth every life that's required to achieve it. Freedom.

The beginning

I write this blog to vent my own personal view of the world, and the direction it's going in. Just to make a few things clear, this blog will probably be politically incorrect.

• I am an actual conservative (as opposed to someone who simply claims to be conservative).
• I'm a christian who actually goes to church on Sunday, and tries to follow the Golden Rule. (Note: If you don't know what the Golden Rule is, use google and search for 'Christian Golden Rule')
• I'm intelligent and have an open mind. By open mind, I mean I can accept that others disagree with me without having to prove them wrong.
• I'm a father of 5 who believes in being firm, but fair with my kids.
• I believe in:
• spanking (when appropriate, and with warning. 3 swats with a bare hand atop clothing, no belt)
• children should be tought respect (with no hitting, threats, belts, or weapons involved)
• sending a child to their room (if need be, and with warning, and on occassion without a meal)
• listening to the child when they have a question or complaint, and responding appriately. (Note: I don't believe in listening to them when they complain about loosing a game, or just whining in general)
• playing with my children. My favorite meal as a dad is the nearest unsuspecting child. It's a quick meal with a lot of tickling involved. Sometimes I perform completely unnecessary non-surgical surgary(sp) trying to perform a silly-bone ectomy. Once again, it's usually a quick procedure with no mal-practice suits afterwords.
• children need BOTH parents (a mother, who is a woman, and a father, who is a man. As opposed to same sex couples and children of those whom are still girls and boys, themselves.)
• a 'man' should be the breadwinner in the home. (Note: this isn't alwayse possible, nor does it mean that I believe that women have to stay at home with the kids.)
• a 'man' should never harm members of his family (Note: that includes his wife and children)
• a 'man' should take care of his family, and see to their needs above almost all else including his own needs/wants/desires.
• a 'man' should listen to many viewpoints and possibly consult with his wife before making a decision. Once a decision is made, it should be enforced. No appeals. The parents should not backpedal nor bargain (see above about teaching respect).

Well, that's me in a nutshell. If you agree with me, then I'm glad to have you along as I share my viewpoints. If you don't, then that's just tough. Either way, I hope you stop back soon, and often.