SLACKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE
Since my "Little Red Hen" article on April 19, I have been wanting to write about socialism in the modern world and how it would apply to Americans if it were to ever become the norm here. Now that our economy has been "bent over the fuel tank" (an old truck driver saying) for the past few weeks, I've noticed a recurring theme in some of the blogs I frequent. That theme is the idea that maybe the free market isn't all it's cracked up to be and that maybe we should give this socialism thing a try for a while. If you are reading this and fall into that category, this blog's for you.
There are really only a few things you need to know about socialism in order to understand it's negative effect on the human condition. Socialism is based on a few concepts. One, everyone is equal. Two, everyone is equally entitled. Three, government knows best. Four, the government has the ultimate power over the individual.
The kingpin of socialism is the idea that everyone has the right to the things that others have, especially wealth, and to a lesser extent homes, and health care. This is not true. We have the right to pursue wealth, homes and health care. We have the right to work as hard as we want to achieve our goals.
In a free market system, the individual is empowered to achieve his goals on his own terms and the sky is the limit according to how hard that individual is willing to work for it and how savvy his decision making skills are. Under socialism, the individual is reduced to being a slave to the state. First by depending on the government to meet his needs, and then by squelching his ambition to improve his situation. After all, why go the extra mile to secure your stability in life if you know your government is going to wipe your butt for you if you exhaust your supply of government issued toilet paper?
One of the most popular justifications for socialism seems to be "fairness". Pro socialism people seem to be operating on the notion that it is not fair that some people are wealthy, while others are poor. This makes no sense to me. Unless we are talking about people who swindled or robbed their way into wealth, fairness does not apply.
Take Steven Spielberg for example. He is what any reasonable person would call "rich". According to socialism, his wealth should be taken by a third party (government) and re-distributed to the poor. Is this "fair"? No. Did the poor guy schlep his way through film school and bust his hump trying to get his first film produced? Did the poor guy take the risks and make the sacrifices, decisions and investments required to parley an education in cinema into a multi-million dollar enterprise? No. Or did the poor guy go through life playing X-box and smoking weed? Did the "poor" guy sit around and blame others for his lot in life, or did he make the changes necessary to get out of his situation? Why is the "poor" guy entitled to any of Spielberg's money?
This is the problem with socialism. It rewards the slacker and villainizes the ambitious. On a very much smaller scale, as a truck driver, I make a pretty good living. I make enough money to support my family and keep the lights on. Occasionally, I will hear a comment from someone about how unfair it is that I make the wage that I do, yet they make so much less. My reply is always the same. I tell them that there is nothing stopping them from getting their commercial driver's licence and working their way up the ranks as I did for so many years. It is usually at this point that the conversation comes to a halt.
It is the same in the blogs that I read today. People lamenting the fact that "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer". Is there something stopping you from developing the next computer operating system or inventing the next Pocket Fisherman? Or do you think you deserve a piece of someone else's pie just because you woke up this morning and said so. Would that be fair?
If you want a house, quality health care, or a gold plated hubcap for your Hyundai, it is your responsibility to work for it...earn it. Stop looking to others to pay your way through life. Stop looking at wealth as if it were a sin, while at the same time complaining about not being wealthy.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
ROADHOUSE TO THE RESCUE
First, I would like to apologize to the nation for waiting so long to fix our current economic "crises". You see, I've been busy working for a living as well as caring for our new baby. So now I will take a few minutes out of my schedule to submit my plan for economic recovery. Not so much because I think I am so scary smart, but because no one else seems to be doing it, much less our government.
I'm only going to do this once, so pay attention.
My plan consists of two parts.
Part one: Creating Incentive
1. Return the 750 billion dollars to the people and rescind the "bailout plan".
2. Lower all tax rates at all levels 3-5% for the foreseeable future.
3. Temporarily lower interest rates 1/4 point across the board.
4. Suspend capital gains taxes for a period of time not exceed one year, re-instate them at 30% less than the current rate.
5. Offer and aggressively promote government bonds to the public.
6. Permanently suspend all non-essential government spending, including all loans, grants and subsidies that are not expected to result in a reasonable return.
7. Stop illegal immigration and prosecute those who hire illegals.
8. Rescind all previous legislation that requires lenders to loan money to those who have questionable credit.
Part two: Instilling Confidence in the Market
1. File charges on anyone who is guilty of illegal lending practices.
2. In a very loud, public way, name those who are responsible for strong-arming the lending community into giving money to deadbeats. You know, the Clinton era Democrats.
3. Censure all those in Congress who supported such legislation.
4. Allow all delinquent loans to be foreclosed on and require those who applied for those loans to take an economics coarse before they can ever borrow again.
5. Draft legislation that requires all members of Congress to pass a basic economics coarse before they can participate in any legislation that involves money.
6. Fire Henry Paulson and replace him with Thomas Sowell.
Was that so difficult? Now, if there are no other pressing matters, I have to change a diaper.
First, I would like to apologize to the nation for waiting so long to fix our current economic "crises". You see, I've been busy working for a living as well as caring for our new baby. So now I will take a few minutes out of my schedule to submit my plan for economic recovery. Not so much because I think I am so scary smart, but because no one else seems to be doing it, much less our government.
I'm only going to do this once, so pay attention.
My plan consists of two parts.
Part one: Creating Incentive
1. Return the 750 billion dollars to the people and rescind the "bailout plan".
2. Lower all tax rates at all levels 3-5% for the foreseeable future.
3. Temporarily lower interest rates 1/4 point across the board.
4. Suspend capital gains taxes for a period of time not exceed one year, re-instate them at 30% less than the current rate.
5. Offer and aggressively promote government bonds to the public.
6. Permanently suspend all non-essential government spending, including all loans, grants and subsidies that are not expected to result in a reasonable return.
7. Stop illegal immigration and prosecute those who hire illegals.
8. Rescind all previous legislation that requires lenders to loan money to those who have questionable credit.
Part two: Instilling Confidence in the Market
1. File charges on anyone who is guilty of illegal lending practices.
2. In a very loud, public way, name those who are responsible for strong-arming the lending community into giving money to deadbeats. You know, the Clinton era Democrats.
3. Censure all those in Congress who supported such legislation.
4. Allow all delinquent loans to be foreclosed on and require those who applied for those loans to take an economics coarse before they can ever borrow again.
5. Draft legislation that requires all members of Congress to pass a basic economics coarse before they can participate in any legislation that involves money.
6. Fire Henry Paulson and replace him with Thomas Sowell.
Was that so difficult? Now, if there are no other pressing matters, I have to change a diaper.
Monday, September 29, 2008
IT'S A BOY !
On Saturday morning at 10:04 AM, I had the honor of welcoming our second child into the world. Our 7 lb, 1 oz. bundle of joy came out screaming and ready to take on the challenge of his first breath of air. Ten fingers and as many toes were stretching and grasping for their first touch.
After the nurses cleaned him up and checked his vital statistics, we were able to spend our first moments of quality time with our new son. As we were sitting there taking this all in, an annoying thought kept creeping into my mind.
On one of the happiest days of my life, I couldn't help thinking about Barak Obama's voting record. I mean, here we were, actually experiencing the miracle of life first hand, yet somehow Obama's face kept popping into my head. Why?
Then it dawned on me. I'm watching my son take his first breaths and worrying about the next vital minutes of his life, when I realized that this is actually the same point in my son's life where Barak Obama would support my wife and I if we decided to kill our son.
Luckily, my new boy turned around and opened his eyes for the first time, at which point all thoughts of legislatively approved baby killing faded from my mind.
I'm hoping to be able to get back into the swing of things regarding my blog over the next few days and weeks, but for now I'm going to be concentrating on raising the next great conservative thinker.
On Saturday morning at 10:04 AM, I had the honor of welcoming our second child into the world. Our 7 lb, 1 oz. bundle of joy came out screaming and ready to take on the challenge of his first breath of air. Ten fingers and as many toes were stretching and grasping for their first touch.
After the nurses cleaned him up and checked his vital statistics, we were able to spend our first moments of quality time with our new son. As we were sitting there taking this all in, an annoying thought kept creeping into my mind.
On one of the happiest days of my life, I couldn't help thinking about Barak Obama's voting record. I mean, here we were, actually experiencing the miracle of life first hand, yet somehow Obama's face kept popping into my head. Why?
Then it dawned on me. I'm watching my son take his first breaths and worrying about the next vital minutes of his life, when I realized that this is actually the same point in my son's life where Barak Obama would support my wife and I if we decided to kill our son.
Luckily, my new boy turned around and opened his eyes for the first time, at which point all thoughts of legislatively approved baby killing faded from my mind.
I'm hoping to be able to get back into the swing of things regarding my blog over the next few days and weeks, but for now I'm going to be concentrating on raising the next great conservative thinker.
Friday, September 19, 2008
OBAMA-NOMICS, PART TWO
The following article is for the lemmings who plan to follow Barak Obama over the cliff of economic depression while taking the rest of us with them. Regardless of how boring or difficult you might have found math or basic economics to be in high school, there are really only a few things you actually need to know in order to understand how the economy works. Consider this article to be your tutorial.
If you comprehend nothing else from this lesson, let it be this: stuff costs money! Once you grasp that concept, it's pretty much all gravy from there.
It's really a very simple formula: PEOPLE - MONEY = NO STUFF
Now that you understand that, we can move on to the rest of our class on economic dynamics 101. There are two main factors that control how the free market operates. One is arithmetic, the other is human nature. Arithmetic comes into play by virtue of the fact that numbers do not lie. They are constant and undeniable. 2+2 either equals four, or it doesn't.
Human nature comes into play by virtue of the way man has historically spent his/her money. This is based on two things; wants and needs. The human factor is not as etched in stone as the arithmetic factor, but it is still a pretty predictable set of circumstances.
We need food, clothing and shelter. We want food, clothing and shelter that we actually like. Liberals like Obama and Biden seem to think that it is this difference that dictates whether a person is morally fit or not. If you want only the amount of food, clothing or shelter that you need, then you are a Saint. But if you desire a higher quality, then you are a scoundrel worthy of scorn by the masses. The fact that you might work harder than the masses is of no consequence to a true liberal. But we're getting a bit off track.
According to the Obama economic doctrine, raising taxes on the rich is good for the economy. Really? First of all, the "rich" are the ones who hire the rest of us who are not rich. The "rich" are also the ones who by the most stuff, and when they do, it's usually the biggest and most expensive stuff. Be it a 150 foot yacht, or a fleet of new trucks for a budding freight company, it is the stuff the "rich" buy that puts food on the table of the American worker.
You see, what Obama's followers don't realize is, the stuff the rich buys does not grow on trees or appear out of the mist on a cool autumn morn. It needs to be manufactured. By people. So when you take the money from the "rich", they buy less stuff (see the previously mentioned formula).
If you are a highly taxed "rich" person, you will in all likelihood spend less money. That means that the small business man who builds yachts for living will have less orders to fill. That means that he may need to lay-off someone. That someone will now have to re-consider that new pick-up he was hoping to buy this fall. That means that the pick-up manufacturer will have one less order to fill. And so on, and so on.
Conversely, a lower taxed "rich" person is more likely to spend his extra dough. Mainly because he will actually have extra dough to spend. Be it a new Gulf Stream Five, or a new locomotive to move train cars at his mill yard, what the rich guy spends will mean jobs and financial security to everyone involved with the manufacture, transportation, warehousing, sales and distribution of of whatever the "rich" guy happens to buy.
The other dirty little secret that Obama doesn't want you to know about, is that taxes are nothing more than another cost of doing business. As such, it is simply passed right on down to the consumer...you know, you and me. Like the cost of cheese at a pizza shop, printer ink at an office, or fuel at a trucking company, when businesses are taxed more, it is simply added to the price of their product or service. Raise taxes high enough, then doing business is no longer profitable, resulting in bankruptcy, sell-out or relocation to countries that are less tax-oppressive.
So remember this little lesson in economics my little Kool-Aid swilling comrades. When you are shouting through that bull-horn about how evil the rich are, somewhere there's a "fat-cat" bull-horn manufacturer that appreciates your purchase.
The following article is for the lemmings who plan to follow Barak Obama over the cliff of economic depression while taking the rest of us with them. Regardless of how boring or difficult you might have found math or basic economics to be in high school, there are really only a few things you actually need to know in order to understand how the economy works. Consider this article to be your tutorial.
If you comprehend nothing else from this lesson, let it be this: stuff costs money! Once you grasp that concept, it's pretty much all gravy from there.
It's really a very simple formula: PEOPLE - MONEY = NO STUFF
Now that you understand that, we can move on to the rest of our class on economic dynamics 101. There are two main factors that control how the free market operates. One is arithmetic, the other is human nature. Arithmetic comes into play by virtue of the fact that numbers do not lie. They are constant and undeniable. 2+2 either equals four, or it doesn't.
Human nature comes into play by virtue of the way man has historically spent his/her money. This is based on two things; wants and needs. The human factor is not as etched in stone as the arithmetic factor, but it is still a pretty predictable set of circumstances.
We need food, clothing and shelter. We want food, clothing and shelter that we actually like. Liberals like Obama and Biden seem to think that it is this difference that dictates whether a person is morally fit or not. If you want only the amount of food, clothing or shelter that you need, then you are a Saint. But if you desire a higher quality, then you are a scoundrel worthy of scorn by the masses. The fact that you might work harder than the masses is of no consequence to a true liberal. But we're getting a bit off track.
According to the Obama economic doctrine, raising taxes on the rich is good for the economy. Really? First of all, the "rich" are the ones who hire the rest of us who are not rich. The "rich" are also the ones who by the most stuff, and when they do, it's usually the biggest and most expensive stuff. Be it a 150 foot yacht, or a fleet of new trucks for a budding freight company, it is the stuff the "rich" buy that puts food on the table of the American worker.
You see, what Obama's followers don't realize is, the stuff the rich buys does not grow on trees or appear out of the mist on a cool autumn morn. It needs to be manufactured. By people. So when you take the money from the "rich", they buy less stuff (see the previously mentioned formula).
If you are a highly taxed "rich" person, you will in all likelihood spend less money. That means that the small business man who builds yachts for living will have less orders to fill. That means that he may need to lay-off someone. That someone will now have to re-consider that new pick-up he was hoping to buy this fall. That means that the pick-up manufacturer will have one less order to fill. And so on, and so on.
Conversely, a lower taxed "rich" person is more likely to spend his extra dough. Mainly because he will actually have extra dough to spend. Be it a new Gulf Stream Five, or a new locomotive to move train cars at his mill yard, what the rich guy spends will mean jobs and financial security to everyone involved with the manufacture, transportation, warehousing, sales and distribution of of whatever the "rich" guy happens to buy.
The other dirty little secret that Obama doesn't want you to know about, is that taxes are nothing more than another cost of doing business. As such, it is simply passed right on down to the consumer...you know, you and me. Like the cost of cheese at a pizza shop, printer ink at an office, or fuel at a trucking company, when businesses are taxed more, it is simply added to the price of their product or service. Raise taxes high enough, then doing business is no longer profitable, resulting in bankruptcy, sell-out or relocation to countries that are less tax-oppressive.
So remember this little lesson in economics my little Kool-Aid swilling comrades. When you are shouting through that bull-horn about how evil the rich are, somewhere there's a "fat-cat" bull-horn manufacturer that appreciates your purchase.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
OBAMA-NOMICS, PART ONE
If there is any silver lining to the mess that is this week's bail-a-thon, it is the fact that we are getting a little glimpse of what a liberal-led government will look like. Let me first remind the readers of this post that I generally try to keep my articles to a liberalism vs. conservatism paradigm (I would never use that word in real life). This is necessary because here in the real world, even Republicans have fell victim to the "government can cure what ails ya' " mantra lately.
First, there's the obvious questions. Who's next? Who is going to be the next to come knocking at the tax payer's door, expecting to be saved from the consequences that should rightfully happen to them? What will be the next industry the liberal government decides to meddle with? Now that the mortgage, automobile, health care, and energy industry have been royally screwed by government intervention, what's next?
Then, there are the secondary questions. What's happened to the educators in this country? Have they stopped teaching children to not borrow more money than they can afford to pay back? Did they forget to teach about responsible budgeting?
Keep in mind that this is the same entity (government bureaucracy) that Barak Obama wants you to put your family's health care in charge of. Since the people have voted against socialized heath care more than once already, I can consult my crystal ball and see the liberal majority regulating and taxing "big health" into un-profitability. Then declaring them "too big to fail", just prior to taking them over.
This could be followed by "big cheeseburger", "big shoe", and "big lawn mower". Before you know it, VIOLA! You have the People's Republic of the Former United States. I just can't wait to see how people react to standing in the bread lines for the first time.
If there is any silver lining to the mess that is this week's bail-a-thon, it is the fact that we are getting a little glimpse of what a liberal-led government will look like. Let me first remind the readers of this post that I generally try to keep my articles to a liberalism vs. conservatism paradigm (I would never use that word in real life). This is necessary because here in the real world, even Republicans have fell victim to the "government can cure what ails ya' " mantra lately.
First, there's the obvious questions. Who's next? Who is going to be the next to come knocking at the tax payer's door, expecting to be saved from the consequences that should rightfully happen to them? What will be the next industry the liberal government decides to meddle with? Now that the mortgage, automobile, health care, and energy industry have been royally screwed by government intervention, what's next?
Then, there are the secondary questions. What's happened to the educators in this country? Have they stopped teaching children to not borrow more money than they can afford to pay back? Did they forget to teach about responsible budgeting?
Keep in mind that this is the same entity (government bureaucracy) that Barak Obama wants you to put your family's health care in charge of. Since the people have voted against socialized heath care more than once already, I can consult my crystal ball and see the liberal majority regulating and taxing "big health" into un-profitability. Then declaring them "too big to fail", just prior to taking them over.
This could be followed by "big cheeseburger", "big shoe", and "big lawn mower". Before you know it, VIOLA! You have the People's Republic of the Former United States. I just can't wait to see how people react to standing in the bread lines for the first time.
Friday, September 12, 2008
THE DAY AFTER
September 11th, 2008 has come and gone once again. Each year we seem to get a little more distant in our remembrances of that day. I felt that the best way to express my feelings about that day is to offer an excerpt from my book that chronicles MY September 11th, 2001.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sound asleep when my girlfriend (now wife) woke me up. She said something about a plane crash. I wasn’t planning to wake up for at least another hour or two, so I only processed about half of what she was saying. I asked her what she was talking about. She told me that an air plane had hit a building in New York.
In my half conscious state of mind, I rationalized it this way: This was bound to happen. I assumed that a plane had gone off coarse in a fog bank, and hit a building. I new I would see the news footage when I got up, so I mumbled my theory to my better half, and fell back asleep.
A few minutes later, she came back into the bedroom and demanded that I come out to the living room and see what was going on. By the tone in her voice, I new something wasn’t quite right. I sat down in front of the TV, and...as someone who is not a professional writer, I must admit, it’s hard to put into words what I saw and what I thought about it, but this is what I’ve come up with.
I sat down in front of the TV, and tried to compute the images that my eyes were relaying to my brain. I remember thinking; That looks like the World Trade Center, but it’s on fire. That can’t be real. I double checked the channel indicator, and started changing stations. She said she had already done that and it was on every channel. I asked her what happened. She said that she was watching her morning show, when they broke in with this bulletin about an air plane that had hit the World Trade Center.
She said "that’s when I tried to get you up the first time. Then a few minutes later, while they had the cameras on, another airplane hit the other tower."
I asked her if she was sure that there were two separate airplanes. Before she could answer me, they ran footage of the second airplane hitting the other tower. At this point, I rubbed my eyes, and looked around. I wasn’t totally sure that I was awake. I have always had extremely realistic dreams, so I wanted to be sure I was really seeing this. I was.
Darlene asked me how this could happen. I didn’t exactly know what to say, but I was sure it wasn’t an accident. Even though I had just woke up, I could see that the sky was crystal clear. I knew that the odds of two planes, running out of fuel at the same time, and hitting the same set of buildings were probably impossible to calculate. I told her that I had a feeling that someone did this on purpose. She asked me why someone would do that. The only thing I could think of was "religious wackos". Then, I thought back to the first attack on the Trade Center, those guys were members of a crazy Muslim outfit. I thought we took care of those guys a few years ago. Apparently not.
The question she asked me next, still replays in my head from time to time. She asked me what was going to happen to the people in the buildings. As I mentioned earlier in this book, I have a kind of knack for mechanics and engineering basics. On this day, I considered this to be a curse. I didn’t want to upset her, but I didn’t want to sugar coat it either. We were both adults.
On the TV screen, I pointed to the sections of the buildings under where the fire was visible. I said, "Everyone under this point should be OK for the most part, as long as they can get out of the buildings before the fire spreads to the lower floors." Then she asked, "What about the people above those points?". It took me a second, but I said, "They’re gone."
She suggested that we pray for them. I’m not a very religious man, but I didn’t know what else to do. My wife is a great person, and she knows that I am very private about my religious beliefs, she respected that and went back to bathroom to get ready for work. I did as she suggested.
My brother works for my Dad, and they don’t have a TV at the garage, they rarely listen to the radio either, (my Dad doesn’t want to offend his Mennonite customers). I knew they would want to hear about this, so I called the garage. I told my Dad everything I was seeing and hearing on TV. He said that he would run up to his house and check it out. He only lived two blocks away at the time.
After hanging up with Dad, my wife came out of the bathroom, it was time for her to go to work. I didn’t feel too comfortable about her going to work, but I didn’t want to scare her. Still, I wanted her to be careful and stay alert. I explained to her that things were going to change in America from this day on.
I told her to go strait to work, and come strait home. I told her not to stop for anything, or anyone. I reminded her that she worked for a large financial institution, and I told her to pay attention to her surroundings at work and to follow whatever security procedures that they use. She started to cry.
I didn’t know what to do, I knew that I would be going to work in a few hours, and I didn’t want her to get in trouble for not going to work. I had to assume that the Trade Center was the end of the attack. I couldn’t imagine that anything else could happen after something this major. I assumed that she would be OK at work. After trying to calm her down, I suggested that she go to work. I kissed her goodbye, and she left.
As I heard her get into her car, I called my Mom. I knew that she would be at work and most likely she was listening to her Christian music CD collection. So I thought that she might not know what was going on. I was right.
I told her to turn on her radio and tune in a news channel. I tried to describe to her what I was seeing on TV. "Both towers of The World Trade Center are on fire", I told her. I explained to her how it had happened. I was describing the massive amounts of smoke and debris coming from the upper sections of the buildings. As I was talking, they were shooting footage from a helicopter, that’s when the first tower fell. All I remember saying as this happened was "no, no, no,...Mom, one of the towers just fell down!" I never even considered this as a possibility. Somehow, I pictured them slowly burning to the ground.
I figured that there would be a long battle with the fire, but it would eventually burn itself out. After all, once the jet fuel burns off, the firemen could get closer to the fire. I never thought the tower would fall. After the tower fell, I was still trying to give a play by play to my Mom. I described the giant cloud of dust that was covering the city. The more I talked, the harder it got to find words.
Finally, I told Mom that I was going to hang up and watch the news. A few minutes later a different picture came on the screen. It was the Pentagon. It was on fire! I called my Dad again. I said "They just took out the Pentagon, I think were being attacked!" As always, he sounded skeptical, but he humored me. He told me that this was bound to happen, and to keep my eyes open at work tonight. The conversation was very short. Talking to my Dad takes patience and skill. This subject was so serious and unusual to both of us, that discussing it was not an option. I said goodbye.
I called my Mom back, and told her that the Pentagon had been attacked too. She told me that she had heard on the news that a plane went down somewhere near Pittsburgh and that one might be headed for Camp David. Now, I was starting to get scared. What do you do when your country comes under surprise attack? They forgot to mention this in grade school, or maybe I was out that day. My Mom was in no position to offer any advice either.
She did offer me and my wife a space at her and my stepfather’s mountain retreat in the event that this was going to be a full scale war. At first, I thought she was overreacting, then I looked at the TV screen again.
My Mom is prone to overreacting, we usually just make fun of her. Today I wasn’t laughing. I actually considered her offer. I thought back to the previous year when her and my stepfather were so concerned about the "Y2K bug", that they fortified his hunting cabin with months of supplies and ammunition, just in case anarchy ensued. We ripped on her for a long time after that...now it was looking like a viable option.
Having no idea when this was going to stop, who was going to get hit next, or what other methods of attack were going to be implemented, I did the only thing that a Pennsylvania good ol’ boy could think of. I got out my .45 semi automatic and started cleaning it. I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t worried so much about meeting up with a terrorist, I was more concerned with how we would react.
Would there be panic in the streets? Would there be looting? Would I be able to get to my wife again if this all got out of hand? Looking back now, reaching for my gun as a first impulse may have been a little presumptuous, but think about it. Unless you were around on Dec. 7, 1941, you had never been in this situation before.
What did you do on that day? Did you just blow it off as something that didn’t concern you? Did you hide in the closet? Maybe you pretended that you were watching a movie, and smoked another bowl. Did you consider your family and how to defend them if necessary? Whatever you did, you did not know for a fact that you were safe, I don’t care how detached from reality you are.
On that day, the most productive and practical idea I could come up with was to clean my gun. For you city folk, understanding someone’s desire to carry a firearm may seem a little foreign, but in the country it’s not much more unusual than carrying a Palm Pilot. We’ll get into that later though.
As I was sitting on the couch, cleaning my gun and watching the news, I watched the second tower fall. I just couldn’t believe that this was happening. I started feeling something inside of my chest, it was anger. Someone was attacking my country, the only home that I have ever known. A spark of liberalism shot through my mind, I tried to imagine how other countries felt as they saw a US tank coming over the hill in their homeland. I almost considered the idea that maybe we have been asking for this. That concept faded into oblivion as soon as I looked at the screen again.
We didn’t deserve this. Those people jumping from the top of the building, just to get one last gasp of fresh air never asked for this. They just went to work one day. I remembered that America is the good guy. We don’t invade countries for no reason. If you see a US tank coming at you, it means that we are trying to free somebody. It means that we are trying to help. I tried to think of a country that we invaded and claimed as our own in the last couple of hundred years, I couldn’t think of one. Pilgrims invading the new world doesn’t count because we were fleeing an oppressive country and we would have shared with the Indians, but they weren’t the sharing type.
As I watched our country come under attack, I new that things would never be the
same. I knew that our enemies would be exposed and our allies would help us. I knew that our attitudes would have to change.
I had big ideas about how our nation would join together and rise up to fight the evil bastards that did this to us. I assumed that there would be lines around the block at the recruiting offices. I just knew that everyone would be on the same page from now on. I thought back to all the times I said, "War is never the answer." After today, it was clear that pacifism was not an option. How could anyone disagree with that now?
Looking back, I know that I was being too idealistic. I don’t think I was being naive, I truly believe that was how it should have happened. Of coarse I was wrong, but one thing was for sure, September 11, 2001, was the day I woke up. From here on I was a different person. Those terrorist killed more than thousands of people that day, they killed the liberalism in me.
The day went on. I went to work just like every other day, except this day every one was different. Usually I get to work early to socialize with the other drivers before we head out on our runs. We joke around, and talk about the latest company gossip or current events.
On this day, everyone was very subdued. There was no joking around. We all had the same look on our face. To this day, it’s hard to describe that look. I imagine it’s the same look you might have if your doctor just told you that you have cancer. A look of disbelief, helplessness, shame, and anger, all rolled into one. We talked about what happened that morning, and how it was going to effect traffic in Washington DC, as well as the effects it would have on our job in general. We kept the conversation simple. We didn’t plan it that way, I think we just didn’t know what to say or how to say it. We all just wanted to be home with our families, but we had jobs to do.
My run was to be a "back-haul". A back-haul is when you are dispatched to a warehouse or factory to bring a certain product back to your distribution center. As I was walking out the door with my paperwork, another driver was coming in from his run to DC. His face was lit up like a Christmas tree. He was talking as fast as he could, and you could tell he was shook up. He had been on the road all day and was only able to hear about the attacks on the radio. He told us how he was sitting on the DC beltway, when a group of jet fighters buzzed his truck. He said the sound of the jets coming up on him without warning scared him to death. He said that he could see the smoke from the Pentagon from the highway. The more he talked, the more animated he became. I went on out the door to get my assigned truck.
For me, the safest place in the world is behind the wheel of an 18 wheeler. This is where I am the most comfortable, but that day I just wanted to be home with my wife. I was worried about her and hoping that she was doing OK at work. I didn’t feel safe at all. I still had no reason to believe that the attacks were over. I still hadn’t found out about the rumor of the plane going down at Camp David. I only live 30 miles from there. DC isn’t that far away either. If I was allowed to carry my gun in the truck, I may have felt a little better.
My destination was also no real comfort to me either. I was to pick up a load of detergents in Camp Hill PA, which is right next to Harrisburg PA. There is an international airport there, not to mention Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. Would a nuclear power plant be considered a target? I tried not to think about it too much.
As I made my run that day, my ears were glued to the radio. Again, AM stations were proving to be the most informative. You could definitely tell that the press was also shook up. The reports were many. No fluff pieces, no commercials. Some of the FM stations were still playing their boxes of records. I found out later that most of them didn’t even activate the Emergency Broadcast System. I guess they felt that an attack on our country didn’t justify cutting into a Motley Crue tune for a news break.
I got to my destination ahead of schedule. I had to wait for a while until a forklift operator was available. I went to the driver’s break room to get a soda. In the break room was a television with a crowd of truck drivers around it. Again, the images of destruction were in vivid color. It was unusual to see big, surly, truck drivers with such a sobering look about them. I got a soda out of the machine and watched for a while. It seemed as though the attacks were over, but no one on the news would risk saying that yet. By this time, more footage was coming into the news rooms and making it’s way onto the TV screen. None of it was pretty.
Eventually, a forklift operator was available, I was loaded, and then I returned to the distribution center...I was glad to be going home.
My wife was there when I got home, we were both relieved to see each other. That night we held each other a little tighter.
September 11th, 2008 has come and gone once again. Each year we seem to get a little more distant in our remembrances of that day. I felt that the best way to express my feelings about that day is to offer an excerpt from my book that chronicles MY September 11th, 2001.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sound asleep when my girlfriend (now wife) woke me up. She said something about a plane crash. I wasn’t planning to wake up for at least another hour or two, so I only processed about half of what she was saying. I asked her what she was talking about. She told me that an air plane had hit a building in New York.
In my half conscious state of mind, I rationalized it this way: This was bound to happen. I assumed that a plane had gone off coarse in a fog bank, and hit a building. I new I would see the news footage when I got up, so I mumbled my theory to my better half, and fell back asleep.
A few minutes later, she came back into the bedroom and demanded that I come out to the living room and see what was going on. By the tone in her voice, I new something wasn’t quite right. I sat down in front of the TV, and...as someone who is not a professional writer, I must admit, it’s hard to put into words what I saw and what I thought about it, but this is what I’ve come up with.
I sat down in front of the TV, and tried to compute the images that my eyes were relaying to my brain. I remember thinking; That looks like the World Trade Center, but it’s on fire. That can’t be real. I double checked the channel indicator, and started changing stations. She said she had already done that and it was on every channel. I asked her what happened. She said that she was watching her morning show, when they broke in with this bulletin about an air plane that had hit the World Trade Center.
She said "that’s when I tried to get you up the first time. Then a few minutes later, while they had the cameras on, another airplane hit the other tower."
I asked her if she was sure that there were two separate airplanes. Before she could answer me, they ran footage of the second airplane hitting the other tower. At this point, I rubbed my eyes, and looked around. I wasn’t totally sure that I was awake. I have always had extremely realistic dreams, so I wanted to be sure I was really seeing this. I was.
Darlene asked me how this could happen. I didn’t exactly know what to say, but I was sure it wasn’t an accident. Even though I had just woke up, I could see that the sky was crystal clear. I knew that the odds of two planes, running out of fuel at the same time, and hitting the same set of buildings were probably impossible to calculate. I told her that I had a feeling that someone did this on purpose. She asked me why someone would do that. The only thing I could think of was "religious wackos". Then, I thought back to the first attack on the Trade Center, those guys were members of a crazy Muslim outfit. I thought we took care of those guys a few years ago. Apparently not.
The question she asked me next, still replays in my head from time to time. She asked me what was going to happen to the people in the buildings. As I mentioned earlier in this book, I have a kind of knack for mechanics and engineering basics. On this day, I considered this to be a curse. I didn’t want to upset her, but I didn’t want to sugar coat it either. We were both adults.
On the TV screen, I pointed to the sections of the buildings under where the fire was visible. I said, "Everyone under this point should be OK for the most part, as long as they can get out of the buildings before the fire spreads to the lower floors." Then she asked, "What about the people above those points?". It took me a second, but I said, "They’re gone."
She suggested that we pray for them. I’m not a very religious man, but I didn’t know what else to do. My wife is a great person, and she knows that I am very private about my religious beliefs, she respected that and went back to bathroom to get ready for work. I did as she suggested.
My brother works for my Dad, and they don’t have a TV at the garage, they rarely listen to the radio either, (my Dad doesn’t want to offend his Mennonite customers). I knew they would want to hear about this, so I called the garage. I told my Dad everything I was seeing and hearing on TV. He said that he would run up to his house and check it out. He only lived two blocks away at the time.
After hanging up with Dad, my wife came out of the bathroom, it was time for her to go to work. I didn’t feel too comfortable about her going to work, but I didn’t want to scare her. Still, I wanted her to be careful and stay alert. I explained to her that things were going to change in America from this day on.
I told her to go strait to work, and come strait home. I told her not to stop for anything, or anyone. I reminded her that she worked for a large financial institution, and I told her to pay attention to her surroundings at work and to follow whatever security procedures that they use. She started to cry.
I didn’t know what to do, I knew that I would be going to work in a few hours, and I didn’t want her to get in trouble for not going to work. I had to assume that the Trade Center was the end of the attack. I couldn’t imagine that anything else could happen after something this major. I assumed that she would be OK at work. After trying to calm her down, I suggested that she go to work. I kissed her goodbye, and she left.
As I heard her get into her car, I called my Mom. I knew that she would be at work and most likely she was listening to her Christian music CD collection. So I thought that she might not know what was going on. I was right.
I told her to turn on her radio and tune in a news channel. I tried to describe to her what I was seeing on TV. "Both towers of The World Trade Center are on fire", I told her. I explained to her how it had happened. I was describing the massive amounts of smoke and debris coming from the upper sections of the buildings. As I was talking, they were shooting footage from a helicopter, that’s when the first tower fell. All I remember saying as this happened was "no, no, no,...Mom, one of the towers just fell down!" I never even considered this as a possibility. Somehow, I pictured them slowly burning to the ground.
I figured that there would be a long battle with the fire, but it would eventually burn itself out. After all, once the jet fuel burns off, the firemen could get closer to the fire. I never thought the tower would fall. After the tower fell, I was still trying to give a play by play to my Mom. I described the giant cloud of dust that was covering the city. The more I talked, the harder it got to find words.
Finally, I told Mom that I was going to hang up and watch the news. A few minutes later a different picture came on the screen. It was the Pentagon. It was on fire! I called my Dad again. I said "They just took out the Pentagon, I think were being attacked!" As always, he sounded skeptical, but he humored me. He told me that this was bound to happen, and to keep my eyes open at work tonight. The conversation was very short. Talking to my Dad takes patience and skill. This subject was so serious and unusual to both of us, that discussing it was not an option. I said goodbye.
I called my Mom back, and told her that the Pentagon had been attacked too. She told me that she had heard on the news that a plane went down somewhere near Pittsburgh and that one might be headed for Camp David. Now, I was starting to get scared. What do you do when your country comes under surprise attack? They forgot to mention this in grade school, or maybe I was out that day. My Mom was in no position to offer any advice either.
She did offer me and my wife a space at her and my stepfather’s mountain retreat in the event that this was going to be a full scale war. At first, I thought she was overreacting, then I looked at the TV screen again.
My Mom is prone to overreacting, we usually just make fun of her. Today I wasn’t laughing. I actually considered her offer. I thought back to the previous year when her and my stepfather were so concerned about the "Y2K bug", that they fortified his hunting cabin with months of supplies and ammunition, just in case anarchy ensued. We ripped on her for a long time after that...now it was looking like a viable option.
Having no idea when this was going to stop, who was going to get hit next, or what other methods of attack were going to be implemented, I did the only thing that a Pennsylvania good ol’ boy could think of. I got out my .45 semi automatic and started cleaning it. I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t worried so much about meeting up with a terrorist, I was more concerned with how we would react.
Would there be panic in the streets? Would there be looting? Would I be able to get to my wife again if this all got out of hand? Looking back now, reaching for my gun as a first impulse may have been a little presumptuous, but think about it. Unless you were around on Dec. 7, 1941, you had never been in this situation before.
What did you do on that day? Did you just blow it off as something that didn’t concern you? Did you hide in the closet? Maybe you pretended that you were watching a movie, and smoked another bowl. Did you consider your family and how to defend them if necessary? Whatever you did, you did not know for a fact that you were safe, I don’t care how detached from reality you are.
On that day, the most productive and practical idea I could come up with was to clean my gun. For you city folk, understanding someone’s desire to carry a firearm may seem a little foreign, but in the country it’s not much more unusual than carrying a Palm Pilot. We’ll get into that later though.
As I was sitting on the couch, cleaning my gun and watching the news, I watched the second tower fall. I just couldn’t believe that this was happening. I started feeling something inside of my chest, it was anger. Someone was attacking my country, the only home that I have ever known. A spark of liberalism shot through my mind, I tried to imagine how other countries felt as they saw a US tank coming over the hill in their homeland. I almost considered the idea that maybe we have been asking for this. That concept faded into oblivion as soon as I looked at the screen again.
We didn’t deserve this. Those people jumping from the top of the building, just to get one last gasp of fresh air never asked for this. They just went to work one day. I remembered that America is the good guy. We don’t invade countries for no reason. If you see a US tank coming at you, it means that we are trying to free somebody. It means that we are trying to help. I tried to think of a country that we invaded and claimed as our own in the last couple of hundred years, I couldn’t think of one. Pilgrims invading the new world doesn’t count because we were fleeing an oppressive country and we would have shared with the Indians, but they weren’t the sharing type.
As I watched our country come under attack, I new that things would never be the
same. I knew that our enemies would be exposed and our allies would help us. I knew that our attitudes would have to change.
I had big ideas about how our nation would join together and rise up to fight the evil bastards that did this to us. I assumed that there would be lines around the block at the recruiting offices. I just knew that everyone would be on the same page from now on. I thought back to all the times I said, "War is never the answer." After today, it was clear that pacifism was not an option. How could anyone disagree with that now?
Looking back, I know that I was being too idealistic. I don’t think I was being naive, I truly believe that was how it should have happened. Of coarse I was wrong, but one thing was for sure, September 11, 2001, was the day I woke up. From here on I was a different person. Those terrorist killed more than thousands of people that day, they killed the liberalism in me.
The day went on. I went to work just like every other day, except this day every one was different. Usually I get to work early to socialize with the other drivers before we head out on our runs. We joke around, and talk about the latest company gossip or current events.
On this day, everyone was very subdued. There was no joking around. We all had the same look on our face. To this day, it’s hard to describe that look. I imagine it’s the same look you might have if your doctor just told you that you have cancer. A look of disbelief, helplessness, shame, and anger, all rolled into one. We talked about what happened that morning, and how it was going to effect traffic in Washington DC, as well as the effects it would have on our job in general. We kept the conversation simple. We didn’t plan it that way, I think we just didn’t know what to say or how to say it. We all just wanted to be home with our families, but we had jobs to do.
My run was to be a "back-haul". A back-haul is when you are dispatched to a warehouse or factory to bring a certain product back to your distribution center. As I was walking out the door with my paperwork, another driver was coming in from his run to DC. His face was lit up like a Christmas tree. He was talking as fast as he could, and you could tell he was shook up. He had been on the road all day and was only able to hear about the attacks on the radio. He told us how he was sitting on the DC beltway, when a group of jet fighters buzzed his truck. He said the sound of the jets coming up on him without warning scared him to death. He said that he could see the smoke from the Pentagon from the highway. The more he talked, the more animated he became. I went on out the door to get my assigned truck.
For me, the safest place in the world is behind the wheel of an 18 wheeler. This is where I am the most comfortable, but that day I just wanted to be home with my wife. I was worried about her and hoping that she was doing OK at work. I didn’t feel safe at all. I still had no reason to believe that the attacks were over. I still hadn’t found out about the rumor of the plane going down at Camp David. I only live 30 miles from there. DC isn’t that far away either. If I was allowed to carry my gun in the truck, I may have felt a little better.
My destination was also no real comfort to me either. I was to pick up a load of detergents in Camp Hill PA, which is right next to Harrisburg PA. There is an international airport there, not to mention Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. Would a nuclear power plant be considered a target? I tried not to think about it too much.
As I made my run that day, my ears were glued to the radio. Again, AM stations were proving to be the most informative. You could definitely tell that the press was also shook up. The reports were many. No fluff pieces, no commercials. Some of the FM stations were still playing their boxes of records. I found out later that most of them didn’t even activate the Emergency Broadcast System. I guess they felt that an attack on our country didn’t justify cutting into a Motley Crue tune for a news break.
I got to my destination ahead of schedule. I had to wait for a while until a forklift operator was available. I went to the driver’s break room to get a soda. In the break room was a television with a crowd of truck drivers around it. Again, the images of destruction were in vivid color. It was unusual to see big, surly, truck drivers with such a sobering look about them. I got a soda out of the machine and watched for a while. It seemed as though the attacks were over, but no one on the news would risk saying that yet. By this time, more footage was coming into the news rooms and making it’s way onto the TV screen. None of it was pretty.
Eventually, a forklift operator was available, I was loaded, and then I returned to the distribution center...I was glad to be going home.
My wife was there when I got home, we were both relieved to see each other. That night we held each other a little tighter.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
SEXISM 08'
Due to recent event's, I thought it would be a good time to write about an old school political topic. Before there were swiftboat veterans, hanging chads, or even the Watergate Hotel, there were men and women. Since the creation of the male and female form, there have been differences between the two. Aside from the obvious, there are differences that we tend to joke about, but not always take seriously.
Let's be honest, men and women think differently. Does this mean that one thinks better, or more effectively than the other? No. Besides, it almost always depends on circumstances. For instance, my wife can't understand my fascination with what most mothers refer to as "potty humor". But just as sure as a fart is funny, she can find total enchantment with most "chick flicks". Are one of us wrong? No. Just different.
I can look at most any kind of machine and probably figure out it's basic mechanical function dynamics within a matter of minutes, where as my wife would only see a "bunch of metal thingies". On the other hand, my wife can muti-task like a freaking robot. Are one of us wrong? No. Just different.
I accept these differences in thinking because there is no real reason not to. Yet there are some differences that need to be acknowledged and accepted regardless of social popularity. For instance, men are generally more able to handle physically demanding jobs such as firefighting or Alaska king crab fishing. Not because women are a lesser being, but because they are physically different.
When we ignore these difference for the sake of political correctness or liberal dogma, we end up with firefighters who can't carry a 250lb. man out of a burning building while wearing an oxygen tank and turn-out gear. Or you end up with a pregnant soldier who should be on the battlefield helping protect her fellow man, instead of taking up bed space and doctor time at a military hospital for the sake of her childbirth.
As Sarah Palin makes her first steps toward Vice President of the United States, there are a few things that we should remember. Presidents are usually not required to carry people out of burning buildings or storm enemy strongholds. They are usually not required to wrestle steel crab pots onto the bow of a moving crab boat while being thrown around by the Bering Sea. They are usually not required to tear down and re-assemble a 454 big block either.
They are required to understand the Constitution and make the decisions that are required to protect it. If my wife is any indication of the decision making abilities of a typical woman, I think we have nothing to fear from a conservative VP that happens to be a woman. My wife's decision making skills are usually "spot on". After all, she married me.
Due to recent event's, I thought it would be a good time to write about an old school political topic. Before there were swiftboat veterans, hanging chads, or even the Watergate Hotel, there were men and women. Since the creation of the male and female form, there have been differences between the two. Aside from the obvious, there are differences that we tend to joke about, but not always take seriously.
Let's be honest, men and women think differently. Does this mean that one thinks better, or more effectively than the other? No. Besides, it almost always depends on circumstances. For instance, my wife can't understand my fascination with what most mothers refer to as "potty humor". But just as sure as a fart is funny, she can find total enchantment with most "chick flicks". Are one of us wrong? No. Just different.
I can look at most any kind of machine and probably figure out it's basic mechanical function dynamics within a matter of minutes, where as my wife would only see a "bunch of metal thingies". On the other hand, my wife can muti-task like a freaking robot. Are one of us wrong? No. Just different.
I accept these differences in thinking because there is no real reason not to. Yet there are some differences that need to be acknowledged and accepted regardless of social popularity. For instance, men are generally more able to handle physically demanding jobs such as firefighting or Alaska king crab fishing. Not because women are a lesser being, but because they are physically different.
When we ignore these difference for the sake of political correctness or liberal dogma, we end up with firefighters who can't carry a 250lb. man out of a burning building while wearing an oxygen tank and turn-out gear. Or you end up with a pregnant soldier who should be on the battlefield helping protect her fellow man, instead of taking up bed space and doctor time at a military hospital for the sake of her childbirth.
As Sarah Palin makes her first steps toward Vice President of the United States, there are a few things that we should remember. Presidents are usually not required to carry people out of burning buildings or storm enemy strongholds. They are usually not required to wrestle steel crab pots onto the bow of a moving crab boat while being thrown around by the Bering Sea. They are usually not required to tear down and re-assemble a 454 big block either.
They are required to understand the Constitution and make the decisions that are required to protect it. If my wife is any indication of the decision making abilities of a typical woman, I think we have nothing to fear from a conservative VP that happens to be a woman. My wife's decision making skills are usually "spot on". After all, she married me.
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