I recently came across this cartoon which was made in 1948. It is still pertinent today.
1948 Political Cartoon
Monday, October 12, 2009
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Modern Biblical Style Prophecy
And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land called America , having lost their morals, their initiative, and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that person known as: "The One."
He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you. My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evildoers are of no consequence. I shall save you with Hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who proceeded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed."
And the people rejoiced, for even though they knew not what "The One" would do, he had promised that it was good; and they believed.
And "The One" said, "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!"
And the people said, "Hallelujah! Change is good!"
Then He said, "We are going to tax the rich fat-cats."
And the people said, "Sock it to them!" "And redistribute their wealth." And the people said, "Show us the money!"
And then he said, "redistribution of wealth is good for everybody."
And "Joe the Plumber" asked, "Are you kidding me? You're going to steal my money and give it to the deadbeats?"
And "The One" ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe's personal records were hacked and publicized.
One lone reporter asked, "Isn't that a Marxist policy?" And she was banished from the kingdom!
Then a citizen asked, "With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with radical terrorists?"
And "The One" said, "Simple. I shall sit with them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!"
And the people said, "Hallelujah! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!"
Then "The One" said, "I will give 95% of you lower taxes."
And one, lone voice said, "But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes."
So "The One" said, "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!"
And the people said, "Hallelujah! Show us the money!"
Then "The One" said, "I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!"
And the people yawned and the slumping housing market collapsed.
And He said. "I shall mandate employer-funded health care for every worker and raise the minimum wage. And I shall give every person unlimited health care and medicine and transportation to the clinics."
And the people said, "Give me some of that!"
Then he said, "I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas.."
And the people said, "Where's my rebate check?"
Then "The One" said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!"
And the people said, "Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don't care for that part about higher electric rates."
So "The One" said, Not to worry. If your rebate isn't enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over!"
Then He said, "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing."
And the people said, "Hallelujah!" and they made him king!
And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff.
The bank banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.
Then "The One" said, "I am the "The One" --
The Messiah -- and I'm here to save you!
We shall just print more money so everyone will have enough!"
But our foreign trading partners said unto Him: "Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have to pay more."
And "The One" said, "Wait a minute. That is unfair!" And the world said, "Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!"
And the people cried out, "Alas, alas! What have we done?"
But yea verily, it was too late. The people set upon "The One" and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung.
And the once mighty nation was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope.
And the Change "The One" had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed them and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built. And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish, "Give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!"
But it was too late, and their homeland was no more.
He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you. My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evildoers are of no consequence. I shall save you with Hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who proceeded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed."
And the people rejoiced, for even though they knew not what "The One" would do, he had promised that it was good; and they believed.
And "The One" said, "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!"
And the people said, "Hallelujah! Change is good!"
Then He said, "We are going to tax the rich fat-cats."
And the people said, "Sock it to them!" "And redistribute their wealth." And the people said, "Show us the money!"
And then he said, "redistribution of wealth is good for everybody."
And "Joe the Plumber" asked, "Are you kidding me? You're going to steal my money and give it to the deadbeats?"
And "The One" ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe's personal records were hacked and publicized.
One lone reporter asked, "Isn't that a Marxist policy?" And she was banished from the kingdom!
Then a citizen asked, "With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with radical terrorists?"
And "The One" said, "Simple. I shall sit with them and talk with them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!"
And the people said, "Hallelujah! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!"
Then "The One" said, "I will give 95% of you lower taxes."
And one, lone voice said, "But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes."
So "The One" said, "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!"
And the people said, "Hallelujah! Show us the money!"
Then "The One" said, "I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!"
And the people yawned and the slumping housing market collapsed.
And He said. "I shall mandate employer-funded health care for every worker and raise the minimum wage. And I shall give every person unlimited health care and medicine and transportation to the clinics."
And the people said, "Give me some of that!"
Then he said, "I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas.."
And the people said, "Where's my rebate check?"
Then "The One" said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!"
And the people said, "Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don't care for that part about higher electric rates."
So "The One" said, Not to worry. If your rebate isn't enough to cover your expenses, we shall bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over!"
Then He said, "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing."
And the people said, "Hallelujah!" and they made him king!
And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff.
The bank banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.
Then "The One" said, "I am the "The One" --
The Messiah -- and I'm here to save you!
We shall just print more money so everyone will have enough!"
But our foreign trading partners said unto Him: "Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung! You will have to pay more."
And "The One" said, "Wait a minute. That is unfair!" And the world said, "Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you shall play by our rules!"
And the people cried out, "Alas, alas! What have we done?"
But yea verily, it was too late. The people set upon "The One" and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung.
And the once mighty nation was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope.
And the Change "The One" had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed them and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built. And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish, "Give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!"
But it was too late, and their homeland was no more.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Day Eight - Life does flip-flops
Actually yesterdays post was for July 26th as I have been riding a roller coaster for a little while.
Today I will relate happenings after arrival at Chuck and Susan's RV.
Sunday evening sitting around the campfire Chuck started tempting me. He has a friend with a motorcycle (I could see it from the campfire) who offered it to Chuck if we wanted to spend a day riding around more of Colorado together. Chuck pointed out that home was only about 1100 miles away. I had planned on three days getting back home. IF I stayed and rode a day, I could make that 1100 miles back in two days. He suggested that I think about it overnight. I did.
The more I got to thinking about it I thought that wife was missing me and I really should just take off in the morning and ride home in two days and relieve her mind a little earlier. I think she worries about me when I am on the road. It must be the 42+ years we have been married.
Morning came and I sat around the campfire drinking coffee at dawn. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is on a clear Colorado morning. We took the dogs for a walk in a mountain meadow, came back and talked more and enjoyed the morning.
Around 11:00 we packed the dogs in the car and headed up into the San Juan Mountains (dirt road) to let the dogs roam in a much higher area, about 10,200 foot elevation.
After returning, Susan fixed us a light lunch. About 1:30 Susan decided to run into town to do a little shopping. I remembered about 3:00 that I had not taken my pills that morning so took them at that time. Decided to take a shower and get into clean clothes.
Sat down to watch the end of a National Geographic program that Chuck was watching and while watching it took stuff out of the dirty pants pockets and put into the clean ones I was wearing.
Program ended and time showed as 3:58; I was trying to fold my dirty pants up to put back in my bag and could not get them straight, so tried to stand up to shake them straight and fell to my knees.
Chuck had just stepped out the door of RV and was right there and told me to stay still. We waited several minutes and then got me back up and sitting on the couch. Told me to sit still and he would be right back. He went to another RV and got a retired physicians assistant to come look at me. She did a few simple tests and guessed that I had had a TIA. Transient Ischemic Attack; a mini-stroke. She suggested that I rest and not try leaving that day.
While talking with her and Chuck, I had another one and she told Chuck to get her husband and the car as they were taking me to an emergency room.
To shorten this considerably, I ended up having 13 TIA's between 3:58 in the afternoon and midnight. They admitted me to the hospital and put me in the Intensive Care Unit.
The next afternoon the doctor came by to release me around 3-3:30 and while he was there I had two more TIA's. I ended up staying four days in ICU before being released.
I figure looking back, that God did not want me having those while riding the motorcycle so provided a way for me to be with friends and close to medical help.
Today I will relate happenings after arrival at Chuck and Susan's RV.
Sunday evening sitting around the campfire Chuck started tempting me. He has a friend with a motorcycle (I could see it from the campfire) who offered it to Chuck if we wanted to spend a day riding around more of Colorado together. Chuck pointed out that home was only about 1100 miles away. I had planned on three days getting back home. IF I stayed and rode a day, I could make that 1100 miles back in two days. He suggested that I think about it overnight. I did.
The more I got to thinking about it I thought that wife was missing me and I really should just take off in the morning and ride home in two days and relieve her mind a little earlier. I think she worries about me when I am on the road. It must be the 42+ years we have been married.
Morning came and I sat around the campfire drinking coffee at dawn. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is on a clear Colorado morning. We took the dogs for a walk in a mountain meadow, came back and talked more and enjoyed the morning.
Around 11:00 we packed the dogs in the car and headed up into the San Juan Mountains (dirt road) to let the dogs roam in a much higher area, about 10,200 foot elevation.
After returning, Susan fixed us a light lunch. About 1:30 Susan decided to run into town to do a little shopping. I remembered about 3:00 that I had not taken my pills that morning so took them at that time. Decided to take a shower and get into clean clothes.
Sat down to watch the end of a National Geographic program that Chuck was watching and while watching it took stuff out of the dirty pants pockets and put into the clean ones I was wearing.
Program ended and time showed as 3:58; I was trying to fold my dirty pants up to put back in my bag and could not get them straight, so tried to stand up to shake them straight and fell to my knees.
Chuck had just stepped out the door of RV and was right there and told me to stay still. We waited several minutes and then got me back up and sitting on the couch. Told me to sit still and he would be right back. He went to another RV and got a retired physicians assistant to come look at me. She did a few simple tests and guessed that I had had a TIA. Transient Ischemic Attack; a mini-stroke. She suggested that I rest and not try leaving that day.
While talking with her and Chuck, I had another one and she told Chuck to get her husband and the car as they were taking me to an emergency room.
To shorten this considerably, I ended up having 13 TIA's between 3:58 in the afternoon and midnight. They admitted me to the hospital and put me in the Intensive Care Unit.
The next afternoon the doctor came by to release me around 3-3:30 and while he was there I had two more TIA's. I ended up staying four days in ICU before being released.
I figure looking back, that God did not want me having those while riding the motorcycle so provided a way for me to be with friends and close to medical help.
Day Seven - Inzane is over
Starting Mileage: 72228
Ending Mileage: 72709
Mileage for day: 481
"This is the start of catching up on my blog posts. Life got interesting from this point forward"
Great and typical day for riding in Colorado. Started out cool and clear. Day got warmer. Day got cooler. Day brought rain and fog (clouds) in the upper mountains. Scenery was beautiful when you could see it. High mountain fog and rain restricted visibility in what was probably some of the prettier areas.
Difficult riding at times with the weather conditions and roads that had been recently repaved and still had loose gravel in spots making life interesting.
Wish that I could have seen more of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison but weather did not cooperate in that area.
Arrived in Mancos, Colorado and was met by 'Santa' Chuck at the intersection into town. Fueled up and he led me out to where he and Susan had their RV camped for the summer at Echo Basin. Beautiful area. They fed me a steak and corn on the cob and had a beautiful campfire setup.
Life is good. So nice to find friends and hospitality so far away from home. Makes you glad to be alive.
Ending Mileage: 72709
Mileage for day: 481
"This is the start of catching up on my blog posts. Life got interesting from this point forward"
Great and typical day for riding in Colorado. Started out cool and clear. Day got warmer. Day got cooler. Day brought rain and fog (clouds) in the upper mountains. Scenery was beautiful when you could see it. High mountain fog and rain restricted visibility in what was probably some of the prettier areas.
Difficult riding at times with the weather conditions and roads that had been recently repaved and still had loose gravel in spots making life interesting.
Wish that I could have seen more of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison but weather did not cooperate in that area.
Arrived in Mancos, Colorado and was met by 'Santa' Chuck at the intersection into town. Fueled up and he led me out to where he and Susan had their RV camped for the summer at Echo Basin. Beautiful area. They fed me a steak and corn on the cob and had a beautiful campfire setup.
Life is good. So nice to find friends and hospitality so far away from home. Makes you glad to be alive.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Day Six -Inzane Nine is over
Well, the Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club (VRCC) annual rally is officially over. I have not posted for the past several days as I did not think most of you would be that interested in our activities.
Suffice it to say we had 300-350 folks registered and tonight we raised over $5000 for our charity we supported this year, the Starlight Charities.
Have done minimal mileage while actually here probably not over 20 miles for the three days, but tomorrow will be much different.
Heading out through Colorado, hopefully without too much rain over and through some beautiful country.
Suffice it to say we had 300-350 folks registered and tonight we raised over $5000 for our charity we supported this year, the Starlight Charities.
Have done minimal mileage while actually here probably not over 20 miles for the three days, but tomorrow will be much different.
Heading out through Colorado, hopefully without too much rain over and through some beautiful country.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Day Three - We are here
Starting Mileage: 72083
Ending Mileage: 72228
Total miles for the day: 145
Left Colorado Springs at 5:30 to meet a cousin for breakfast in Denver and wanted to miss rush hour traffic. Even early I did not enjoy the traffic. Temperature was about 54 degrees. A little cooler than Houston.
Met Bill and had a great visit. Left about 9:00 and headed on to Frisco. Climbed over 11,200 foot elevation and passed through the Eisenhower Tunnel,couple miles long and very impressive. Great highway and beautiful scenery.
Bike pulled very strongly on some pretty steep grades. Did not ever have to downshift. So, bike runs great at high altitude. Love this bike.
Met a lot of old friends and met some new ones. Spent about half of the day working as security for the vendor lot. Lot of activity all ready.
Time for this boy to get some sleep.
Ending Mileage: 72228
Total miles for the day: 145
Left Colorado Springs at 5:30 to meet a cousin for breakfast in Denver and wanted to miss rush hour traffic. Even early I did not enjoy the traffic. Temperature was about 54 degrees. A little cooler than Houston.
Met Bill and had a great visit. Left about 9:00 and headed on to Frisco. Climbed over 11,200 foot elevation and passed through the Eisenhower Tunnel,couple miles long and very impressive. Great highway and beautiful scenery.
Bike pulled very strongly on some pretty steep grades. Did not ever have to downshift. So, bike runs great at high altitude. Love this bike.
Met a lot of old friends and met some new ones. Spent about half of the day working as security for the vendor lot. Lot of activity all ready.
Time for this boy to get some sleep.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Day Two - Amarillo, Texas to Colorado Springs
Starting mileage: 71704
Ending mileage: 72083
Total miles for the day: 379
Beautiful sunrise. Finally got on the road about 8:30. Temperature about 72 degrees. Started out wearing my leather jacket and kept it on almost all day. Most of morning stayed in the mid-70's.
We did fine until we crossed over into New Mexico. Fred's Tourer has a smaller gas tank than my Interstate. We were planning on topping off his tank when we reached Clayton, New Mexico. Could not get gas. It seems the entire town had no electricity. NONE!!!
He figured he could make about 50-60 miles on what he had left but it was over 80 miles. As I did not have any faith in finding gas between Clayton and Raton, we decided to cut speed down to 55-60 and see if we could stretch the gas out. We had been running around 75.
After running slow speeds for about 50-60 miles we spotted a lone Sinclair station and managed to fill him up. After the slow riding decided to take off the jackets. Was still a little cool but felt good. After leaving Raton found I-25 shut down and we had to detour through Walsenburg.
Nice quiet little town with a long history. Temperature was getting up to mid-80's by then. So headed on.
Fred and Chantalle left me at US-24 heading up over the mountains to Frisco and I headed on into Colorado Springs to spend the night with my sister. It sure was looking like they were going to get rained on and trust they made it safely.Day
Ending mileage: 72083
Total miles for the day: 379
Beautiful sunrise. Finally got on the road about 8:30. Temperature about 72 degrees. Started out wearing my leather jacket and kept it on almost all day. Most of morning stayed in the mid-70's.
We did fine until we crossed over into New Mexico. Fred's Tourer has a smaller gas tank than my Interstate. We were planning on topping off his tank when we reached Clayton, New Mexico. Could not get gas. It seems the entire town had no electricity. NONE!!!
He figured he could make about 50-60 miles on what he had left but it was over 80 miles. As I did not have any faith in finding gas between Clayton and Raton, we decided to cut speed down to 55-60 and see if we could stretch the gas out. We had been running around 75.
After running slow speeds for about 50-60 miles we spotted a lone Sinclair station and managed to fill him up. After the slow riding decided to take off the jackets. Was still a little cool but felt good. After leaving Raton found I-25 shut down and we had to detour through Walsenburg.
Nice quiet little town with a long history. Temperature was getting up to mid-80's by then. So headed on.
Fred and Chantalle left me at US-24 heading up over the mountains to Frisco and I headed on into Colorado Springs to spend the night with my sister. It sure was looking like they were going to get rained on and trust they made it safely.Day
Monday, July 20, 2009
On the road in Amarillo, Texas
Starting mileage: 71092
Ending mileage: 71704
Total miles for the day: 712
Met up at 6:00 this morning with Franco6 (Fred) and his wife Chantall. We topped off our tanks and hit the road at 6:30. Light traffic getting out of Houston and temperature was 82 degrees. Lots of clouds and we thought we might get rained on but the rains held off for a long time. They finally hit us just north of Waco, Texas and we ran through rain for about 150 miles. Temperature dropped down to 72 and by the time we got into the rain suits we were already wet, but the suits sure felt good with the temperature dropping that much.
We finally got out of the rain about Wichita Falls and the temperature immediately jumped up to 95 and continued to climb. Most of the afternoon we suffered with Texas heat mostly running between 98 and 104, with several hours sitting on 102. Finally arrived in Amarillo about 6:00, got a room and hit the pool. Boy did it feel good. Then we went looking for food. Ended up at a Cracker Barrel. I had a wonderful Grilled Chicken and Pineapple salad. Topped the day off great.
Now back at the motel and headed for bed shortly and is now 10:00.
Overall a very good day, we only had two situations that were hazardous. One was an impatient fellow who insisted on passing on the right when coming up on construction and diving in front of me. After the construction we ended up in front of him again and we were doing about 75 and he passed us on the left, dove in front of me and hit his brakes. I shut it down and swerved into the left lane and he swerved back into the left lane. I just hit the brakes and let him go. Life is too short to deal with irrational cage drivers.
The second occurance was while looking for a restaurant and Franco6 was leading and a car came about 4-6 feet into his lane before waking up (or whatever) and getting back where he belonged. Just glad all resolved safely.
Tomorrow, I am heading into Colorado Springs to spend the night with my sister and Fred and Chantall are splitting off there and heading on into Frisco.
Hopefully, more tomorrow.
Ending mileage: 71704
Total miles for the day: 712
Met up at 6:00 this morning with Franco6 (Fred) and his wife Chantall. We topped off our tanks and hit the road at 6:30. Light traffic getting out of Houston and temperature was 82 degrees. Lots of clouds and we thought we might get rained on but the rains held off for a long time. They finally hit us just north of Waco, Texas and we ran through rain for about 150 miles. Temperature dropped down to 72 and by the time we got into the rain suits we were already wet, but the suits sure felt good with the temperature dropping that much.
We finally got out of the rain about Wichita Falls and the temperature immediately jumped up to 95 and continued to climb. Most of the afternoon we suffered with Texas heat mostly running between 98 and 104, with several hours sitting on 102. Finally arrived in Amarillo about 6:00, got a room and hit the pool. Boy did it feel good. Then we went looking for food. Ended up at a Cracker Barrel. I had a wonderful Grilled Chicken and Pineapple salad. Topped the day off great.
Now back at the motel and headed for bed shortly and is now 10:00.
Overall a very good day, we only had two situations that were hazardous. One was an impatient fellow who insisted on passing on the right when coming up on construction and diving in front of me. After the construction we ended up in front of him again and we were doing about 75 and he passed us on the left, dove in front of me and hit his brakes. I shut it down and swerved into the left lane and he swerved back into the left lane. I just hit the brakes and let him go. Life is too short to deal with irrational cage drivers.
The second occurance was while looking for a restaurant and Franco6 was leading and a car came about 4-6 feet into his lane before waking up (or whatever) and getting back where he belonged. Just glad all resolved safely.
Tomorrow, I am heading into Colorado Springs to spend the night with my sister and Fred and Chantall are splitting off there and heading on into Frisco.
Hopefully, more tomorrow.
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