The Pot Stirrer

"I would have loved to work for a visionary like Donald Trump. I would have learned as much as I could before he fired me..."

I like Donald Trump. Many people on my side like him also. Truthfully - when he went after John McCain and the press misrepresented the exchange, I was angry. I am not a McCain supporter, as he has been a disappointment to many of us conservatives. But he will always be a war hero to me. Period. I was stationed in the WestPac when McCain was held prisoner in Hanoi. I worked for his father who was CINCPAC at that time. But enough about Senator McCain - this is about Donald Trump.

Even though I still don't think it will be Trump who wins in 2016 (although I might be surprised), what he has done is a real service to our country. He talks to us in the polar opposite language of Washington gobblety gook. With Trump, there is no "Lawyereze" type of language. No parsing. No what the meaning of "is" is "is". My belief is Trump has caused many of the other Republican candidates to rediscover their center - and then speak the truth. Some (like Ted Cruz and others) already have. But Trump has let others in the campaign know if they don't stake a position clearly for the voters, they will soon be past tense. 

I almost had a "laugh out loud" moment with Chuck Dodd was interviewing the Donald on Meet the Press. Chuck Todd was (as would say in the Navy) "locked up" with a couple of Trump's answers. When the question of immigration came up and Trump told Todd he would "send them all back", I thought Todd was going to go apoplectic! "Send them where?" Todd asked. "I don't care." Trump responded. "They just don't belong here." 

Now how long has it been since we have heard someone speak American like that? Speak the truth? Where after an answer is given, we don't have to ask someone else, "What did he say?" No, with Trump, who is owned only by only himself, you get the unvarnished truth as he sees it. No frills, no PC verbiage, just Donald Trump.

So the bar has been raised. And it will stay raised until some other candidate shows a set of (fill in the blanks) equal to or better, than the Donald. I have said this before when asked - "Who do I like?" My answer is most always the same, "Just about all of them." And that is the truth. Our bench is VERY strong this year. If we can stay away from a circular firing squads or violating Ronald Reagan's eleventh commandment, we should be in good shape in 2016. 

So thank you Donald Trump. Thank you for stirring this pot. This is a pot which needed so badly needed stirring. You are a patriot sir - even if some think you are nothing but a narcissist, there are many of us who think you are a patriot. The only thing I ask is that you is this - don't go third party sir. That will most likely hand the election over to the socialists.

Ski-U-what the what?

"Maybe we should replace Goldie with a skunk? Why? Because so many things over there right now really stink!"

Point of disclosure. I graduated from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota Twin City Campus in 1975. My wife graduated from there also for both her undergrad and grad degrees at the College of Education. As much as I liked going there and was proud to do so, today the place often leaves me scratching my head. Or maybe just SMH (shaking my head).

So not that long ago, the University of Minnesota, under the tutelage of President Eric Kaler, decides to hire a high flying AD (Athletic Director). First a note about President Kaler. To run a joint like the University, the good taxpayers of Minnesota had to reach deep to hire him. The national average for a large school president is about a half million annually. To get a guy like Kaler, we spent quite a bit more. We are paying him $610,000 per year. And in true Samual Gompers form, Kaler has become very good at crying "More, more, more!" in front of our state legislature. It seems to pay these large salaries to staff at the University, we need the taxpayers to fork over even more money.

Back to our fairly new AD. The University spent over $110,000 to hire a national search firm to land a guy Norwood Teague. After an exhaustive search, we found our guy! Okay, there was a little mess going on with his present employer, Virginia Commonwealth University. Seems like there was an allegation of some wrong doing followed up by a payment of some money by the school. No big shakes. So what if there was an allegation he might have a bit of Roman hands and Russian fingers around the fairer sex? Certainly not worth a mention in a vetting report.

So our local Big 10 school hires Norwood at somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000. Lots of money, but hey - this guy can shake the trees for bucks needed to feed into an ever bloated, below average athletic program. Whoops! It seems the case of Roman hands and Russian fingers might have followed Norwood here. Here! At our local bastion of political correctness. Don't worry - the guy who hired him (Kaler) initially said Norwood (yes, that his real name) might have just "over served" at a function and lost a bit of self control.

Problem one - seems like it just did not happen once. Might be a pattern. Problem two - seems like it happened with more than one woman. Might be a pattern. Problem three (and I love this one) - Once it is obvious the University cannot protect him, Norwood is shown the door. Yes, right at the start of the football season. President Kaler decides to do the politically correct thing and give Norwood's job to the woman's AD on an interim basis. And because it will be more work and more responsibility, he will give her an immediate $95,000 raise! Yes! Of course this fine woman still has to do her other job, as well as Norwood's job. And her total compensation will be $100,000 to $200,000 less than Norwood's. Hmmm. Once again, I am left SMH.

I am going to strongly encourage our state representatives to remember this fine management style. Remember it next session, the bitching and whining once again starts about the University needing more money. It seems our rally cry of Ski-U-Mah has devolved into Ski-U-what the what! Send Kaler packing and hire an experienced business exec to run the joint. Run it like a P/L organization instead of a welfare center. Then I will be interested once again.  

America's First Civil War

"Our first civil war, which turned into the Revolutionary War, really was for all the marbles. If we had not been successful, it would have led to some very dark days for the Colonies..."

If you are looking for a great way to earn a free drink at a bar, try asking this question. "Who was the first American Civil War fought between?" Tell the person if he (or she) gets it right, you will buy that person a drink. If the person does not get the right answer, you get the free drink. Sound easy? Not so much it seems.

Historians believe our first civil war was not fought between the North and South. It was fought between the Colonies and the British Empire. It was a civil war right up until our Declaration of Independence was signed. It then became a war between two nations. That is the technical difference the historians see. As far as the British were concerned, it was still a civil war fought between them and rebels in the colonies.

As history has shown, we did win the war and our independence. We went on to become a more perfect union. That is until 1860 when our more perfect union hit a bump in the road. Actually it was a huge bump when some southern states decided to secede from the Union. And then on April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter was bombarded and our second civil war broke out. And it was a long and bloody affair. State against state, neighbor against neighbor, sometimes brother against brother. It lasted four long years and it is estimated that over 750,000 Americans died fighting each other. Even though the war ended in 1865, it scarred the nation for years to come.

Not too long ago a long time friend of mine asked if I thought we were headed for another civil war. My immediate response was I sure hope not. However with that being said, I had a disturbing thought. Are we still a more perfect union? Do we have differences which are reconcilable? Or are we at the point of just hating each other?

Truthfully, sometimes I feel as if we are two separate countries living within the same borders. Speaking the same language yet still not being able to communicate. In the beginning, our Founders would argue details, but were still bound by common goals. Today, I really wonder if our goals are still common. In fact, I feel many of them are just flat out uncommon.

So even if we are not headed into another civil war, we seem to have lost our bearings on being a civil nation. Yelling has replaced talking, invective has replaced dialogue. In less than 300 years, we have devolved from "out of many, one", into "many and fractured". 

This is not the place we were meant to be in. We did not fight two civil (and revolutionary) wars to get to this place. We are better than this. We need to be better. We have to do better.

  

Hunger...continued....again...

"The question many people ask when they see someone panhandling is 'Why?'"

Recently my wife and I have noticed more and more young (and some not as young) folks on busy street corners of our small city. Street corner panhandling is certainly not a new phenomena as it has been done for years in the larger cities. To see this now spreading into small town USA is indeed a change.

We all want to help. Plus most of us want an end to panhandling (only because there would no longer be a need). And most people I know have a very simple question as it relates to our hunger issue - "Why?" 

In addition, many people (myself included) just want to help. And we have had enough training in homelessness to know one very important thing - do not give out money. And there are reasons for that.

So what can we do? First off, we need to know the scope of the problem. And it is a big problem. And it is a problem which gets very little publicity from our media. How big of a problem is hunger right now? In 2007 we had 9,000,000 children receiving food stamps. That was about 1 in 8 households. Last year in 2014, we had 16,000,000 (one in five households) receiving food stamps. And in anyone's book, that is a big, big number. 

And it is not just kids. It is total households also. For example, in 2013 there were over 23,000,000 households, entire families on food stamps. That is a whopping big number, and a growing number. That is an increase of about 3/4 million households from the year before. So the need is great - very great. But one questions begs to be asked - and needs to be answered. Why is the number so big? And why is it growing? And what can be done to bring this number down to a "normal" range?

As usual, more questions than answers. If you come across somebody who is panhandling and want to help, here is a suggestion. Have food emergency kits in your car. For example, use a gallon size baggie and fill it with some simple items. For example, a bottle of water, a pair of socks, an energy bar, a toothbrush, and maybe a $5 gift card from a fast food place. There are no rules - creativity rules the day. But no money.

One more thing. In 2014, the CBO has projected the current farm bill would spend a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Now here is the shocker - 80% of that money, roughly $750B, is earmarked for food assistance. So our farm bill has really become a  HHS bill instead of a bill geared towards agriculture. That is a big number, it is a record number, and it is a growing number.

The good news from the paper today is we expect a record corn harvest once again this year. We are good, very good at growing food. We are also very good at exporting food overseas to people who are very hungry. What we are not so good at is the distribution of food to our own people. That is, unless there is help in the form of our food assistance programs.

One final thing about the training we have received in helping the homeless, hungry, and hurting. We help first without asking why or how. That is sage counsel. However, as a society, we do need to ask why this number is so high. Why in a land of plenty this number has grown so large. We owe it to the people needing assistance. And we owe it to ourselves.

People of Conviction

"These were very strong men. Men that might have bent, but never broke. They went together to craft our more perfect union..."

I was asked not too long ago by someone who is not politically affiliated, why I am a conservative. Why I was drawn to associate with people of the same ilk as I. I thought about this very important question for a minute. I then looked that person straight in the eye and gave this answer: "People I know who are truly conservative are people of principle. They are people of conviction. They love this country, they love our history, they love our Constitution. And most all love our God which made this all possible."

A few days later I thought about that exchange. I thought about my answer. I then thought about conviction. About principle. And that led me to think about our Founding Fathers. The kind of principles they had. Their convictions. How each day they lived, was defined by the final words in our Declaration of Independence - "...we mutually pledge to each other, our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred honor."

I have to confess, even though I have heard and read those words dozens, maybe hundreds of times, they still send chills up and down my spine. Not just once in a while - every time.

These men, our Founding Fathers, who first constructed and then put on paper documents such as our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and then our Bill of Rights, were rock solid in their beliefs and commitments to this fledgling country. They were ready to give up everything, to give all for this more perfect union, which was forming right in front of their eyes.

Yes, citizens of today could learn quite a bit about the dedication and loyalty these men had to our country. I am humbled by how little I do. And then find myself challenged to do more. To give more. To learn more. To be more.

I continue to be drawn like a moth to a flame by people who are of strong conviction and character. People who love this country. People who understand what American Exceptionalism really stands for. People who neither negotiate nor surrender their core values. 

Recently there were a handful of conservative women who met in St. Paul to pray. To pray for the end to abortion. To pray for the end to the unspeakable acts Planned Parenthood performs. And why did they do that? On such a hot, humid summer day? Because these women are people of conviction. Of honor. Of principle. They know the taking of a life, regardless of the stage of development, is wrong. It is reprehensible, and morally wrong.

I will this once again. I draw immeasurable strength from people of conviction, of principle, and of character. Associating with people like this is how we all get better. It is how I get better. It is our secular version of iron sharpening iron. For as we continue to craft and dwell in this more perfect union, we still pledge our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor to each other. So help us God. 

Our paradigm of short term thinking...

"An old expression in the Middle East - 'you may have the clocks, but we have the time...'"

If this is not a classic example on how we operate these days, I don't know what is. We don't play the long game anymore. It is all short game. And the Iran nuke deal is a perfect example. Actually, there are two things which are wrong with it. First, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu, there is a huge trust factor. Bebe knows the Iranians will cheat. He takes the Iranian leadership at their word when they say they will incinerate Israel the first chance they get.

The second thing which is much more disturbing is the deal itself. As time has gone on, more and more aspects of the deal are slipping out. I will agree with our two Senators on one thing - this is a hot deal. Where I will disagree with them is this one point - a hot deal for whom? How they could read the details of this POS and think it will garner peace in the Middle East somehow escapes me. The only reason our two lemmings could support this deal is because they are tools of the Administration. Rubber stamps. Like the 60th vote on ObamaCare for example.

Let me be specific. Right off the bat, this POS deal will give the Iranians a boatload of money. This will allow them funnel many more arms to terror states they support. Also, all the crippling sanctions are being lifted. That means even more money coming in. And viable inspections? Forgetaboutit! But the big, and I mean big, prize will happen in a decade or so. We are going to let the Iranians have everything it takes to build a nuke or nukes. So even if they don't cheat (and very few think they will not), a nuclear future for Iran is in the cards.

Now I get to my premise of this article. Just about everything we do these days is based on the short game. We will worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. Our energy grid, our energy policy, our depleting ground water, our economy, our just about everything. The fact the Iranians will get a nuke in ten years or so, well, we will worry about that in nine years or so. However, that myopic view is not held by Israel. Nor Iran's Sunni neighbors. To them, they see this deal as it is - a catastrophe waiting to happen. 

So the beat goes on. The snake oil salesmen continue to sell a deal the Iranians love and many in this country hate. As bad as the Clinton deal was with the North Koreans (which gave the Norks their nukes), this deal is much worse. Much, much worse. And why would we negotiate such a POS deal? Now that, is the question historians will wrestle with for years to come.    

The bikes of Minneapolis

"If we cannot find our courtesy, bad things will continue to happen. How bad? Ghost bike bad..."

We seem to be developing some kind of new road rage. Not between two out of control drivers. That still exists, but this is a new dimension. It is rage between bikes and cars. Who owns the roads. Who owes who a courtesy. Right now, it is a mess.

When my wife and I are out and about, we see all kinds of bad driving. And it is not limited to cars. We see motorcycles driving like they are in some kind of two wheeled Grand Prix. We see cars taking all kinds of chances on the road. We see cars and motorcycles in such a hurry, they often tailgate less than one car length from the car in front. And yes, while driving in the core of the city, we see plenty of young people riding bikes acting like they own the joint.

Motorcycle deaths in Minnesota have been high this year. Almost double last year. One was the son of a friend of ours. In Sturgis, there have been 12 deaths for this year's 75th Anniversary. Motorcycles are particularly vulnerable. Even if the rider is wearing a helmet, concrete, asphalt, or a car are very unforgiving at 60 mph.

But lets get back to the bikes of Minneapolis. Many of the young people who live and work in Minneapolis have decided to make a bike their primary source of transportation. And they have done their politics well. There are now bike paths on many of the roads. Minneapolis has hired a "Bike-Ped" Coordinator (no, I am not kidding). There are bikes zipping through busy intersections in all four seasons, both during daytime and not.

This past week we had another case of some jackass taking his bike frustration out on bikers by assaulting them. Putting at least one in the hospital. I could read the stitches on that one before it came over the plate. It was only a matter of time before some short tempered, butt headed driver had enough. And then did someone did something stupid.

What is our future? More of the same if common courtesies cannot come back in the picture. Bikers need to realize that all traffic laws apply to them also. Period. Drivers need to remember that even if bikers misbehave badly while riding in city traffic. A car can weigh over a ton. A car is no match for a bike weighing 30 pounds. 

And as much as I hate to say it, we need better traffic enforcement. Drivers putting others in danger by passing on yellow lines. By tailgating. I don't want to sound too "square", but we have traffic regulations for reasons. For safety reasons. To eschew those rules, to ignore them, would be at our own peril.