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What's New

2010-10-01 10:11:00

My rants

Answer: Lots of things are new. I’m always glad to be asked. This month, you get to read (unless you don’t) about a list of things I am sick and tired of. I call them my “rants.” Maybe some of mine match yours. Maybe they do not. If you have a different opinion, or these things don’t bother you, let me know. I’ll try not to do a lot of complaining. People have their own problems and they don’t need to hear about mine. But I really don’t have too many personal problems that I haven’t been able to manage…somehow. That may seem a bit prideful, but what I mean by “managing” is that I do lots of things wrong…know I must ask for forgiveness…try to do so in as humble of a way as possible…make a firm resolution to do better…and then I get on down the road. Unfortunately, I don’t have the “management” of the kinds of things detailed below worked out at all. They just make me sick…and tired. 1. I am sick and tired of hearing about people being racist and that racism caused such and such. I travel in lots of circles. Enough circles that if there were as many racists out there as those that are called racists…or blatant racism…I would know about it…hear about it or experience it. It seems like I have always been out…where if it existed…I would know it. Whenever I did see it or experience it I would say to myself, “This is my chance…do something.” And I would. But as a rule, I don’t hear it. I don’t see it. I came to Wichita in the late ‘60s, off the family farm in Barber County. Back then, there were probably two or three families of African Americans in Medicine Lodge, the largest town in the county, and several Hispanic families in Kiowa, the second largest town in the county. That was it. I played baseball since I was 5 years old. I played with and against boys from these families. I can’t remember one of them that wasn’t a neat kid…and an excellent athlete. I didn’t see color. The kids I ran around with didn’t see color. We saw them as kids that loved the game as much as we did. Later at WSU, in 1968, I was in the midst of every race, creed and color there was. I didn’t see it. I saw them as kids that wanted an education as much as I did…and this was the ‘60s for crying out loud…in the midst of tremendous racial unrest…but not as much as there is today. While going to college, I worked at the Coleman Company. I was in scheduling for awhile then supervision. We had every race, creed and color there. I never saw it. I saw as great of a group of people as I have ever worked with or for in my life. They worked hard. They followed instructions. Their work was high quality. If someone was lazy or failed to do the job that was required, that person could have been any race, color or creed. Following Coleman’s, I have spent the last 40 years in media, mostly in Wichita but also I have done work in most every major market in the country. I have not witnessed racism. I am sick and tired of hearing about it. The reason why President Obama’s approval ratings are in the tank are because of his policies and his way of handling things, not because he’s black. The reason why Charlie Rangel is in trouble is because he has allegedly broken 13 laws, not because he’s black. The reason why Maxine Waters is in trouble is because she allegedly broke three separate and different rules of Congress, not because she is black. All of this reminds me of the old story of the patient visiting his doctor. The patient says, “Doc, when I do this it hurts.” The Doctor says, “Then don’t do that.” Can we not do this anymore? 2. I am sick and tired of hearing that the current administration inherited a terrible problem. Oh really? I was alive in the Fall of 2006 as both houses of Congress went Democrat, which just happens to be the party of affiliation of President Obama. Just a few days ago, the Washington Post babbled on again about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough, a lot of people swallow this nonsense. So once more, let’s have a short civics lesson. Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress, and the party that has controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. They controlled the budget process for fiscal year 2008 and fiscal year 2009, as well as fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 2011, you know the one that is already projected to be a $1.47 Trillion deficit. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases. For fiscal year 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the fiscal year 2009 budgets. And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete fiscal year 2009. If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the fiscal year 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell, what President Obama is saying is, “I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th, 2009, when I took over.” By the way Mr. President, didn’t you campaign and ask for people to vote for you because you were going to fix everything? I can just see me using this excuse back in the days of when I took over a department at the Coleman Company, where the previous Foreman had been fired. They may have let me say one time, in the first few days of taking over, how much of a mess things were…but that would have been it. If I would have ever mentioned it after that, I would never be given the chance to bring it up again. I would be the “recently fired Foreman.” They already knew it was a mess. They had already removed the reason why it was a mess. I was the solution to clean up the mess. I was expected to do it and that was that! 3. I am sick and tired of President Obama, Gibbs, Gettner, Pelosi and Reid telling me that this recovery is going great. We have 1 out of every 10 Americans that could work, looking for work. There is another 1 out of 10 Americans that have quit looking for work and are not counted among the unemployed. Really? We are losing an average of 100,000 jobs or more each month. The only reason why unemployment continues to hover at around 10% is because the number of folks that are losing their jobs and going on first time unemployment equal the number of folks who have stopped looking for work but are not counted as unemployed. The GNP of the country is running at half of what it is supposed to be. Guys…let me handle the math on this one. I don’t need your “chin boogey.” 4. I am sick and tired of hearing how many jobs have been saved. That’s like saying had I not missed the bus that one morning in 1958 because I was late getting dressed for school, I would have been President. You can’t prove it and you can’t refute it. You just somehow know it’s not the way it is. 5. I am sick and tired of seeing President Obama on TV nearly every day and evening, reading from his teleprompters as though he is delivering his last speech prior to an election. Whatever happened to someone just talking to us, instead of continually trying to sell us some kind of “Dr. Obama Ointment” that will cure everything it comes in contact with? He seems so angry. I would just like him to talk to us and not be running someone down when he does, or putting that monotonous, up and down, “preacher” inflection in everything he says. 6. I am sick and tired of every politician thinking of politics before he or she acts or speaks. I am convinced that one of only a handful who is telling it like it is in America today is Senator Byh from Indiana, and I feel that is because he’s a good enough man that he wants to tell it like it is before he finally “hangs it up.” He’s interested in leaving a legacy. So if you think I only praise the “right,” you’re wrong. Senator Byh and his entire family have been Democrats for years. 7. I am sick and tired of Bill O’Reilly’s arrogance and prideful demeanor. He is a con artist. He’s a hot-headed Irishman who is most of the time, ill-prepared to talk about things he talks about. He’s looking out for you and the rest of the “folks” about as much as lion looks out for the safety of a baby fawn. 8. I am sick and tired of Dick Morris who doesn’t know how to provide information without plugging a new book of his or his website. 9. I am sick and tired of Keith Olbermann who literally cannot open his mouth and have anything come out but hate about the “right”. 10. I am sick and tired of Rachel Maddow, who is much prettier than Olbermann, but literally cannot open her mouth and have anything come out but hate about the “right.” 11. I am sick and tired of Alan Colmes because he continues to demonstrate his lack of intelligence…on any subject…to any target…each time he is on TV. 12. I am sick and tired of Sean Hannity because no one can be as bad as he makes out the “left” and the Democrats to be. 13. I am sick and tired of the people who passed the health care bill tell me how much better off I am and am going to be because of it. I just received my notice of renewal for my company’s health insurance. The rate for employee only went from $588.80 per month to $929.62 per month. My company pays half of the rate for the employee. That’s $2,000 more per year per employee...from my company AND the employee! Also included in this wonderful health care law is that every business will now have to submit a 1099 for every vendor that it does $600 or more in business with a year, as opposed to the special situations now that must be sent one. I am not sure how much longer this small business wants to “play this game.” 14. I am sick and tired of people, in all walks of life, who make commitments and then do not keep them. Have you ever thought how great society would be if we went back to the time when “a deal is a deal?” Okay, I feel better now.