My dad was Archie Bunker

He didn't play the lovable bigot on TV but, he was everything Archie stood for and believed in. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that my dad was used as the blueprint for the show.

Long before 'All In The Family' aired, my dad was the flag waving, anti-everything. He never called a race or nationality by their politically correct terms, so you can imagine the things I heard coming out of his mouth. Only the fact that such language isn't socially acceptable by today's standards prevent me from repeating his words.

He was a member of both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, having seen action in Guam, Luzon and the Philippine Islands. He worked hard as well. He labored as a deck hand on Ohio River barges, laid rails for the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and was a mold maker in an iron foundry. In his younger days he also tried his hand at boxing and professional style wrestling. Word has it he was pretty good at both.

He had his chair and no one sat in it. The words "Get outta my chair" were heard on pretty much a daily basis. As was "Get a damn haircut". This was his country and he loved her right or wrong and if you didn't like it he'd invite you to join one of those "commie" countries or just kick your butt. That is, up until 1970.

I remember sitting and watching the evening news with Walter Cronkite or Huntley and Brinkley each evening and listening to him berate all "those damned hippies" protesting in the streets.

On the evening of May 4, 1970 the news was about one single incident. At a little known school in Ohio, National Guardsmen opened fire on a group of unarmed students, killing four. Nothing as terrible as this had happened in recent memory. I watched in horror myself. These people were only 3 to five years older than myself. I turned to look at my dad, waiting for what he was going to say. To my surprise it was "Those sons-of-bitches! They're killing kids! I'll never have anything to do with it again. Bob, you remember what the hell happened here".

I do, Dad. I do.

Hey! Did you see American Idol?

Have you noticed how wrapped up we get in national and international affairs?

Obama, Pelosi, Russia, terrorism, Mexican immigrants, France, Haiti, Venezuela.

I came up with a saying a few years ago while engaged in a heated and lengthy verbal war with the then mayor of my hometown...the federal government may make rules, laws and regulations which may or may not affect my life but, my local government makes rules which affect my life on a daily basis.

We get so caught up in Fox, CNN, MSNBC and others that we forget to read the hometown newspaper or listen to the local radio station and therefore have no idea of what is happening right under our collective noses. This is a larger danger to our freedoms than any amount of terrorism or national politics, as bad as they may be.

I am friends with a lot of young people in my current town of residence from their late teens through late 20's. I think of them affectionately as "my kids". I love them but sometimes am dis-heartened by how little they know.

They know all about Obama and Iraq and Terrorists, yet don't know who the mayor or council members of this small town of 2000 are.

You might think this to be a condemnation of the educational system. Oh, no, it isn't. It's a revelation of the designs put upon our land from the "powers-that-be".

It's more of that governing "from the top down" I spoke about previously. Get them so wrapped up in the big picture that they don't see the small things happening within the picture.

I've seen rate increases in things like trash removal and water and property taxes and no one bothered to fight it, because they were more concerned if Obama is sending 20 or 30 thousand troops to Afghanistan and it got slid right under their noses before they could do anything about it.

Or maybe it was American Idol, after all.

You Say You Want A Revolution?

The Beatles "White Album" contained both a hit and a prophecy song. Revolution. There was one line in that song which always seemed to stand out to me. It says "...if you go 'round with pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone, anyhow". And this year on the Obama Christmas Tree was an ornament with a picture of...Mao! Wow!

This administration, as has been noted by a large number of pundits on the airwaves, doesn't hold to the ideals of the founding fathers nor The Constitution of the United States. It is following a Populist and Marxist political theology of hatred, cover-ups and outright deception at the very least. At its' worst, it seeks the overthrow of The Republic. Every single one of the Obama administration moves is a step in that direction.

Today, one day after the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts, Obama and Harry Reid directed the democratic party to scale back and not try to rush passage of the democratics health care bill. There is no doubt that the voters last night, whose state has such a health program as Obama proposes, sent the message that it isn't wanted, needed or even desired. They sent the message that they are tired of closed-door meetings in the "so-called" age of transparency, hidden taxes and government handouts. It just doesn't add up.

In the past two days we find that two of our largest banking firms, Citigroup and Bancorp, have lost over $12 billion in the 4th quarter of 2009, in spite of the bailout money they received. The only motor company who came close to making a profit was Ford. And they didn't take any of the bailout funds.

People are just plain old sick...and tired...of this ridiculous spending and governing from the top that has been happening. And in all fairness, it isn't just the democrats at fault. They are all to blame. The system is broken from within because the government and the powers that be which they act on behalf of have broken it.

There is a way out and a way back. We must, if we are to survive as a nation that us baby-boomers grew up with, return to the principles upon which this country was founded in the first place. Nothing less will do.

And one last note. Could we all, please, regardless of our racial heritage, stop referring to Barack Hussein Obama as our nations first black president (which used to be what they called Bill Clinton) when he is clearly, as indicated by his name, uncertain parentage and other traits clearly a Muslim.

The Retrospective Point of View

It seems that there are certain times in life when we become more retrospective in our views and musings. Or perhaps it would be best to call it introspective. You know those moments such as birthdays and holidays that cause us to look back at similar anniversary events.

The late fall and winter months seem to always do that for me. So, many of the important threshold events for have occured from November through January. My birthday occurs in November as well as the anniversary of the death of my mother. Then there is Christmas which is stressful in it's own right. My father died in the month of January. I was married in the month of September and again that is a known stresser.

And as a consequence I usually and inevitably go through a seasonal depression at this time of year and this is on top of my "nomal" panic/anxiety disorder. Life can be a pain in the botukis during these dark short days, but soon enough the robins will be building nests and the cats will be howling on the back fence again and we'll be reminded what we're really here for. Taxes in April!!!

Just A Start

Well here I am again, hoping to leave a footprint that Al Gore doesn't want to tax me for. I don't have an agenda or cause I'm fighting for, just my opinions or point of view on a number of topics. I'm hoping that a few people who know me will stop by and say 'hi'. I'd really like to reconnect with a few old friends...hell, maybe even a few enemies.