Platform Please!

"I want my country back. I want the world's protector of freedom and liberty back. I am tired of being only a spectator to carnage and suffering..."

Glenn Beck has said many times. 2016 is it. All the cards are on the table. If we elect another squish like we did in 2008 and 2012, we are done as a country. Period. We need a platform we can all get behind. We need a platform we can all agree on. We need a platform well can convince the general public to believe in. That it is right. In other words, it needs to be very succinct and to the point.

For example, Syria is hell on Earth right now. And what is our national posture? Nothing. What is our party's posture? Nothing again. Refugees in almost record numbers are flooding into Europe. Many want to come here. Why? They can't live at home anymore, because they might be killed. Killed by a group of 14th century butchers.

If I had written a novel like this scenario in 1984, many would have thought it to be science fiction. It would have shown America to be a dystopian society. Nobody would have believed America would have let this happen. Never, never, ever. But it did.

If the Republicans really want to maintain being the Party of Lincoln, the party of political relevance, the party of liberty and freedom, it better get off it's prat and come up with a sound platform. Especially concerning the biggest threat this country has faced since World War II.

And why does this Islamic threat matter? If don't we counter it, ObamaCare, our almost $19 Trillion debt, the IRS scandal, the VA mess, our devalued dollar, Benghazi, Planned Parenthood, you name it - will not matter a wit.

What to do. First off, cancer, if not irradiated or treated with extreme chemo, will just continue to spread. In other words, if we don't go into Syria and Iraq and kill EVERY LAST ONE of these bad guys, it will at our peril. We need to restore the homeland of Syria and Iraq so these folks can go home. ISIS or ISIL or the Islamic State needs to be relegated to the history books.

Next, we need to go into Somalia and take care of Al Shaab. We need to let the Somalia people go home. They are not happy here. They have told us as much. We need to help them have a free homeland. If Al Shaab resists, they will suffer the same fate as ISIS.

Finally we will deal with Boko Haram. No more watching child trafficking from across the Atlantic. No more infanticide. No more kidnapping. You steal children, you rape children, you kill children, you die. Simple as that. 

Now. Does the Republican Party have the stones to come up a platform which reflects that reality? Like I said, this is for all the marbles. If you are not yet paying attention for 2016, you better be. And this is no joke.

Bringing what to the party?

"The current refugee crisis is a 'cluster' of historic magnitude. And it will only get worse from here..."

We have a real mess in this country. We have a real mess in Europe. And that mess is called immigration. On one hand, my heart really goes out to these people. They have been through the wringer and back. However, on the other hand, enveloping a good part of another country is hard for any country to do. Especially when it is a Muslim country coming into a Judaeo/Christian country. 

I have told this story before. In the 1980's I needed to go to Australia for a negotiation. I needed a visa. I had to jump through hoops in providing documentation. Why? Just in case I overstayed my visa, they wanted to make sure I was financially self sufficient and would not be a burden to their social services.

However we don't do that. Europe does not do that. We take in hundreds of thousands of refugees and immigrants who do not speak our language, have very little education and practically no training. They come here, get settled in, and then what? Many want the United States to adopt Sharia Law into our Constitution. What say you about that Code Pink? By the way, if we did adopt Sharia, Code Pink would be in pink burqas and not allowed to say anything (maybe not a bad thing).

Here is the thing that concerns me. The volags have done their bidding. They have worked with the State Department in getting scads of folks settled here. Then once the volags are finished with that - they leave. The communities are then in charge of caring for tens of thousands, many of whom have no desire to become citizens, and no desire to assimilate. So what is the next step? Seems there is no plan. Never has been. 

Well buckle up folks. The tsunami is coming and it has nothing to do with water. We are now bringing in 100,000 Muslims a year (no Christians from Syria thank you). By 2030, our State Department estimates our country will have a Muslim population of 6,200,000 people, mostly immigrants. Again, with no plan other than to give them all food stamps, cell phones and general assistance. 

Should I say it folks? Should I say what many of us have been thinking? Many of the new refugees bring nothing to the party. No skills, no education, no ability to speak our language. Many detest our way of life and our faith. They do however, love the benefits. So in the absence of a master plan by our handlers in the government, we will soon end up with more Cedar Riverside type enclaves. Little pockets of a former country existing within the borders of our country.

The answer? Beats me. Ask your Congressman or Senator. I plan to.   

Needless Infighting

"The Republicans have a terrible habit of eating their own. Of forgetting they are the adults in the room. The result? Needless infighting..."

I got kind of a kick out of watching the debate last night. In particular, some of the discussions on Planned Parenthood, the Constitution, ObamaCare, our tax system, illegal immigration, the border, ISIS, Iran and so on. And why would I get a kick out it? I may be a bit slow, but this is how I look at things.

By now, the Republican Party should have a platform going into the 2016 elections. In that platform, all pertinent issues are spelled out. When debates are held, questions are asked on each element of the platform. Every candidate will then give his or her vision on how to accomplish the goal of that element. For example, lets use abortion and defunding Planned Parenthood. If the party platform states that we are against abortion and the continued funding of Planned Parenthood, every candidate would explain how he or she would do it. For a candidate to say he or she is pro-choice, thereby going against the party platform, that is whole different problem.

So sticking with abortion for just a minute, the question the moderator should NOT ask is "Are you pro-choice?" The question asked should assume the candidate is pro-choice and wants to defund Planned Parenthood. Therefore the question would be something like, "What steps are you going to take while working with Congress, to defund Planned Parenthood?"

Now I like Jake Tapper. He is not a rookie. That being said, he did a crappy job last night. He made our team at times look like school kids. Some candidates did rise above the fray - others did not. In fact one even reverted to grade school name calling.

I love to listen to men and women of vision. And not just vision, but how to put that vision into play. What I don't want to hear is "gotcha" questions, squabbling, or needless infighting. Seriously - out of the 3 or 4 hours of both debates last night, I saw very little visioning. And I don't give a rat's butt if someone smoked a joint 40 years ago. Or what happened at Lucent Technologies or HP twenty years ago. Or if one of the candidate's casinos went belly up in Florida. I don't bleeping care!

So before debate number 3, can we please show the other side as well as the undecided voters we have our poop in a group and not just a bunch of infighters? Vision people, vision! That will win the day!   

Drama Queens

"The last thing we need is a bloodbath at the OK Corral." 

Oh boy. I think there is going to be drama on the old TV tonight. Start of the new season? Not quite yet. Soon however. No, the drama tonight will take place in the Republican debate. Why do I think so? The powers that be, the "big cigars", the power brokers, have had just about enough of this enigma, Donald Trump. I believe the word has gone out across the board to come out with guns blazing.

And why do I refer to Mr. Trump as an enigma? Simply put, in all my days I have never seen a politician like him. Some would refer to Ronald Reagan as the "Teflon President". Well compared to Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan was like the "Stickum President". Trump has in the past, and continues today, to say the most outlandish things. And his popularity just keeps rising.

This has been very frustrating to a dozen or so other candidates. Many thought they would be in a much different place by now. Some are still stuck in the single digits. So it is time to break out the big guns. Prepare for a major battle. Yes, and some of the gunfire might be aimed at Dr. Carson also. 

Why are people fascinated by Donald Trump? Many reasons really. One is his unlimited guts. He knows he is going to be gang tackled tonight. Is he scared? Not a bit. "Bring it on", he would say. "Hit me and I will hit back harder". Dr. Carson on the other hand, is much nicer, much less of a fighter. Punches might hurt him. He might not want to fire back.

I will be watching it with one of my long time friends and "politics coach". I think both of us will be looking past the Drama Queens to see who emerges as the statesman (or stateswoman). After six plus years of watching the clown car load and unload, we really need to have the adults back in charge. Tonight we may start to see which adult that might be.

Global whatever...

"It was October of 1973 that my wife and I fell in love on the North Shore. Yesterday was a day exactly like that day 42 years ago. And climate change in those 4 decades? Nada."

Yesterday we ventured up to our favorite city - Duluth. The sky was an azure blue, the temp was in the mid 70's, and there was a gentle breeze coming off the lake. It reminded me of a day almost 42 years ago when I brought a young lady up to Duluth for a day trip. We had been seeing each other for a while, and I had become smitten with her. After that day trip in Duluth, it was all over but the proposal. The rest is history.

Even though our Panic Merchant in Chief went up to Alaska to scare the hell out of the natives, climate change seems to be missing in action up in Duluth. The lake level is about the same; the temperature is almost exactly the same; and the air quality is even better.

In fact everything is better than it was 42 years ago. Our cars put our less pollution. I remember a while ago the state of Minnesota started a mandatory annual pollution check on all cars. After a few years they scrapped it. Why? It was a waste of money for the state. The manufacturing technology on the new cars had become so good, the vast majority were passing the test first time around. And every year that number got higher.

Our power plants are burning cleaner these days. More have converted to natural gas. Many of those which have not and are still using coal, have installed state of the art scrubbers. Not many developing counties can say the same - they are still putting out copious amounts of pollutants. And truthfully, we are not yet were we should be, but much better than 42 years ago.

So where are we on global warming in 2015? The lakes still look good and there are fish to be caught. The farmers are getting ready to harvest yet another record crop. And by doing so, we are able to send much needed good to millions of poor people overseas. The air is cleaner and the temperatures still feel like Minnesota. 

So please - no more fear mongering in global warming or climate change. Our climate is always changing. Glaciers have come and go for millenniums. As for me an my wife, we are going to continue to enjoy this wonderful weather. Skol!      

The crime of light rail

"This is so neat! We are becoming so European! So Trendy!"

Oh boy, oh boy. Is this thing ever start to get out of hand. Our "friends" at the Metropolitan Council are going to spend our money on this boondoggle, come hell or high water. And which boondoggle is that one might ask? The grand daddy of them all - light rail.

This group of pretenders (Met Council) has already drawn up plans for a web of trains to be coming into the city from all points. Under what authority? Zip. None of these clowns are elected - only appointed. And many are political appointees. Many could not find their way down a one way street. And yet they are going to spend billions upon billions building trains to bring people into a downtown that fewer and fewer want to work in.

Crime at many of the light rail stations have been through the roof. Two local television stations reported last week the number of infractions at the stations in the Mall of America and by Lake Street number in the hundreds during a six month reporting period. True, some of the infractions were for not paying a fare (surprised?), but others were for assault, robbery and so on. Many of our city yuppies may like to ride these trendy things, but for thugs, crime on the light rail is like picking low fruit off a tree. 

During my working career, I spent some time working in both downtown location as well as the suburbs. I hated working downtown. Between the panhandling, the expense, the crowds, the crime, the hassle of just getting there, I hated it. And despite what Wonder Woman (the Mayor of Minneapolis) says, crime in the evening is becoming a huge problem. There was an article today about how nervous many of the downtown business owners are becoming. They don't believe the local police yet have a handle on this problem - and maybe never will.

But who cares if more and more people of good sense don't want to work downtown? That is tough toodles says the political hacks on the Met Council. Companies are going to relocate downtown even if it will cost them an arm and a leg. People are going to work downtown even if they hate it. And more and more people are going to live vertically downtown, even if they prefer the open spaces of the 'burbs.

Once our current Euphoria based Governor is gone (three + years and counting), HOPEFULLY we will get a real Governor who can come in and clean out the Met Council. If the next Governor does not have the legislative support to trash this unelected group, then at least he or she can neuter them.

It really is hard to believe in America today we can have this amount of taxation without representation. It is very, very hard to believe. Thank you Democrats.

The Switch

"This question or mystery of a 'switch' inside us has fascinated me for years. I don't think anyone really understands it..."



A classmate of mine from high school suffered a family tragedy back in December 1974. She did not live at home when it happened. The story goes that her younger brother was having some mental health issues. The father, a medical doctor, wanted to send him someplace to get some help. The boy did not want to. So on December 10, 1974, this young man took out a gun and shot everyone in the house, including himself.

This past week there was another family tragedy that happened out by Lake Minnetonka. A man took out a shotgun, and in the middle of the night, shot each one of his three children, his wife, and then turned the gun on himself. The man, who for years had been a protector, a defender, a provider, all of a sudden became his family's executioner. He killed the four people he loved most in the world. In other words, his "switch" had been flipped. And why? I doubt if anyone of this side of Heaven knows.

Also this past week, there was also a story about a 90 year old man that called the police about a murder. The geriatric man, took out a handgun and shot his 65 year old son. Regardless of the age of the father or the age of the son, it was a father taking his own son's life. A time long ago, this 65 year old son was a newborn, an infant, a toddler, a young boy to play catch with. He and his father might have been best buddies for years. And yet for some reason, the "switch" was tripped, and this man killed his son. A son for many years he might have loved more than life itself.

In all my years on this planet, this is one of the greatest mysteries I know of. I have never understood it, nor will I. I don't think there is one person alive who understands it. In reality, most of us would have a hard time killing someone we don't even know. I have read many police who have had to use deadly force are haunted by it for years. Some for the rest of their lives. Why? I believe it is because killing someone is a very unnatural act. And killing those we hold the most dear is even more unnatural.

I have no conclusions to make in this article. And trust me, I did not want this to sound like I was rambling on. But this is a subject I have pondered for years. Other than my classmate who lost her family in 1974, none of these tragedies have hit close to home. And I am thankful for that. 

That being said, I am drawn to stories like this. Not because I am morbid or a "sicko", it is because I wonder it this truly is the age old battle of good versus evil. The principalities of darkness attacking humanity.  So maybe the "switch" is really nothing more than evil overtaking and then overwhelming the good in our souls.

I suppose one day we will understand. But not on this side of Heaven. Until then, all we can do is wonder and question why.