I Know You Are But What Am I?!!

 The latest post for my column in The Weekly Telegram. It's been a rough week as far as being attacked for what I believe is right for the country. You can read the comments on a post here on my blog from a post a few weeks ago, then I was told on LinkedIn that the article you are about to read lacked sincerity because I did not use examples on how folks on the right attack people on the left. I welcome the comments from either side with positive or negative feedback. All I ask is keep it civil. Thanks!!







                             Truth Be Told: I know You Are, But What Am I?!!

 

 I feel like I'm shouting at a wall sometimes when I write these posts or appear on the "Pros & Con's" segment each week on The Weekly Telegram.  Here's my short and sweet points in the column this week, then I will expound. If we the people, the politicians and the media would operate our dialogues from points of truth with no name calling, the country could get back on the right track. This is what Will Roberts, myself and others are trying to accomplish here at The Weekly Telegram. I urge as many people as possible to join us in this endeavor.  It's very simple, if you have to change or edit a sound bite to fit your point of view, then your point of view is a LIE! This has been done by several media outlets on very big news stories and they've been caught red handed. Now, the people who want these stories slanted to suit their ideology stood by and defended these media outlets. They should be ashamed. They care more for their mindset than they do this country. This is a big problem which keeps us divided.

 

 Here's a perfect example of why there's so much hate and bickering out there. I went to the Face Book page for my radio station, Kinetic Hi Fi, that is where my radio program The BTS Radio Show originates from and you can hear Will Roberts' Weekly Telegram on there as well. I was going to put up a promotional post about my show when my eye caught something on the page. Another show on Kinetic, The Right Wing Dixie Chicks, had posted a promo for their show and someone had left a comment on their post. Here's what it read and this is the exact post  "Yeah great I want to listen to a bunch of right wing crackpots talk their ignorant racist crap. That's just what I wanted this Thursday afternoon.". I was livid as I had been on their show several times and they are two of the nicest people you could ever meet. They also have had people as guests on their show who happen to be black and gave these people a platform to promote their products, services or shows for FREE! This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say truth and name calling. This guy does not know these ladies and calls them RACIST just because they have the words "Right Wing" in the title of their show. This kind of crap has got to stop, and yes I mean on both sides of the fence, if we are going to have a meaningful dialogue in this country. Do not comment on this post with examples of how people from the right did this as well, I know this to be true, if this is your first reaction then your missing the point and you're part of the problem, look at the title for this post again.

 

Here's where my frustration really reaches all new heights. When I'm trying to talk with someone about all the bickering going on in politics and they start the dialogue out by saying "Well the TEA BAGGERS, blah, blah, blah......". I say "blah, blah, blah," because that's all I hear after the insult. What sense does it make to begin a conversation about how bad the dialogue concerning politics and ideologies has gotten in this country with name calling  just to make sure you get your hate out there?

 

 Finally, I would challenge those of you who may be of a different ideology than mine to examine you inner most thoughts and plans. Do you really desire for the USA to be the best it can be and a global leader or do you think we should just be another country on the earth who's at the same level as everyone else. I believe we should strive the be the best in the world because when we are, we help make the world a better place. The USA has helped many of those less fortunate around the globe and we can help more when we get back to our top, peak condition. If you believe we should be average and on equal footing with other nations then I would ask you to leave, we don't need you. Go some where else where excellence is not expected and mediocrity is king.

 

Truth Be Told: If we look at each other as fellow citizens and strive to make this country the best it can be for EVERYONE, we ALL will prosper in the process.

 

The Crackdown On The Shutdown!

 Here's the latest "Truth Be Told" for The Weekly Telegram. I'm in the middle writing the next one and I feel like I'm going in circles. When will our "Leaders" in Washington quit bickering and get their act together? No time soon it looks like.


                                Truth Be Told: The Crackdown on The Shutdown!

 

 Like so many of the subjects covered by the schizophrenic media we have here in the USA, you can't pinpoint who's on the wrong side of what. Most reports show the Republicans as being controlled by the "Evil" Tea Party and they won't budge an inch on opening the Government back up. How people who just want their taxes lowered and a smaller federal government be called all sorts of insults is a mystery to me. Well, not really a mystery, just another example of intolerance by people who put their ideology above their fellow American citizens. This is exactly what's going on with the shutdown and it's starting to spread overseas.

 

 China and Japan are starting to get nervous about the whole debacle. You see they both hold over a TRILLION dollars in Treasury bonds and are  in no mood to see us, the U.S., default. They've dropped disputes they are having over small islands just to weigh in on our political and economical mess. How the hell did we get here? I'll answer after I lay out where we're at.

 

Here's the facts, you see who you think should bare the blame: This guy named Snowden leaks info about how the NSA is spying on American citizens and the folks in Washington say, "Nah, it's not that bad", then we find out it's really not that bad, it's far worse. Then Snowden runs to Russia, gets to stay and no one in our government does a damn thing, except talk about how bad the situation is. Then Syria uses chemical weapons, steps over somebody's Red Line and Russia brokers a deal to get the weapons out of Syria, rather than a military strike that would have been limited an ineffective to begin with. Now Obamacare is being implemented, a very unpopular bill no matter what you believe and the Republicans are trying to de fund part of it, but the Democrats say "No". Now the government is in a partial shut down because Republicans can't find another way to get around a law that already passed and The White House will not negotiate with their own countrymen. Meanwhile, here comes the default with Japan and China telling us we better raise the debt ceiling. Oh, and they mean NOW, by the way. Not in week, not in four days, not in  two hours and thirty seven minutes, NOW!!!

 

I don't who you blame, but as I said in my last article, I blame us voters. We don't vote according to what's best for our country anymore. We let these politicians divide us up and we vote for what we can get from them, to hell with everyone else. This is what you get, no true leadership, a bunch of useless bickering and foreign governments controlling our future. I have never been a fan of term limits, we have them, I always thought, it's called "The Vote". I've changed my mind, there's to many selfish, lazy, ignorant people voting for style above substance. ALL elected officials should have term limits. People don't think there should be voter ids, meanwhile we have tax evaders in the highest levels of the government! Use your damn brain and common sense for once, don't give me this racism crap!  Truth Be Told, if we don't come together, use common sense and stop bickering, the Government won't be the last or the biggest thing shut down!

Anger Management! The USA Needs A TIME OUT!!

 I am very concerned about the future of the U.S. The discourse between ideologies has gotten...., well there is no discourse. If you do not agree with some one's point of view, they just yell and scream and call you names. This is the latest post for "Truth Be Told" in The Weekly Telegram and I may be making a big announcement in the coming weeks about a project that has a lot to do with this subject, that is the anger issue in America today. Hopefully we can help facilitate a national dialogue about doing what's right for our nation as a whole and not just certain factions. Political Correctness needs to be done away with and the "somebody owes me " mentality has to be defeated. Here's the post:

                 Truth Be Told: Anger Management! The USA Needs A TIME OUT!


Obamacare, Syria, The Government Shut Down, The Zimmerman Case, Russia, Snowden, The IRS, The NSA, Egypt, Iran, Unemployment….whew, I’m pissed off, what about you? Even though I write or have written about most of these subjects, I’m dreading looking at or hearing the latest new reports on anything. There’s a lot of anger and finger pointing going around these days. What scares me is I may have contributed to some of that anger with this column and I apologize, it was not my intention. I do not apologize for writing what I believe is true, just the way it may have come off.
I recently read an article that stated “for every negative thought we have, it take 5 positive thoughts to counter act the negative thought”. The human condition seems to always lean negative to begin with. I know I have a hard time staying positive, a very hard time. Then I spend time with family and any positive vibes I’ve built up are quickly done away with, sad but true. I think we all go through that, but we need family, they do support us in their own special ways.
Then there’s the outside world. YUCK!! If we were to base reality strictly on what we heard on the news and talk shows we would find that: this is the worst place on earth to live, no one ever gets along, people are routinely killed because of their skin color, man is entirely to blame for climate change, your whole existence is based on what you believe on one subject i.e. gay marriage, any amendment to the constitution, abortion, gun control and if you’re white and disagree with anything Obama says you’re a racist!  Still thinking positive?
I’m not going into my personal life, I’ll just say I’m blessed to be able to get on stage, make people laugh and host my own radio show. I also enjoy writing this column and my time with Will Roberts and Johnny Hotshot on The Weekly Telegram’s “Pros & Cons” is time well spent. The fact is that these are the things that make me happy so I try to focus on them as much as possible. I’m still learning how to keep myself on the bright side of life, not easy, it take a lot of introspection.
Helping others, I’ve learned, is also another way to keep the positive juices flowing. If we focus solely on ourselves, we will never achieve true happiness. The real good feelings come with sharing and giving, sounds cliche, but it’s true. What does all this have to do with the bad news we keep being fed everyday? Simple, we only look at these headlines as in how they affect us and our families, that’s not very generous. If we stepped back and thought about our country as a whole we would not tear each other apart. The Zimmerman Case is the best example of this. People drew lines based on race and the truth did not matter.
We’re letting the media and our elected officials divide us up like we are sheep. Here’s a novel idea for all you special interest groups, religious zealots and self-proclaimed community leaders. If someone does not agree with your point of view, instead of calling them a racist, a homophobe or an heretic, why not say ” We may not agree on this now, but let’s see if there’s a common ground we can meet on.” I’m not talking about compromising on your beliefs, I’m talking about understanding each others point of view. Also, if the facts point to you being wrong, so what. Admit you were wrong and let’s move on together.
The Federal Government should give all the working family’s and individuals a couple of grand each for all the spying, lying, reckless spending and just plain aggravation. There’s a good start to some positive reinforcement! Truth Be Told: We do need change! A change in elected officials, a change in our government and a change of the American attitude!

If The Government Breaks, We'll Have No Place To Stay!

The government meltdown......, I mean shutdown looms over us like a huge "Who Cares" sign. Anything that disrupts our over sized, overspending, inefficient Big Brother is fine with me. We MUST start putting The USA first, as whole, over our political ideologies and parties. Truth and common sense should be our barometer, not political correctness! Here's my latest from "Truth be Told" for The Weekly Telegram!


         Truth Be Told: If The Government Breaks, We'll Have No Place To Stay!

 

Watching our esteemed elected officials argue about the pending government shut down reminds me of children on a playground. "He hit me first!", "They won't let me play!", or "I know you are, what am I?" are phases these people could say and fit right in with the way they are acting on this and many issues. I see all this and I'm struck by a simple truth, they are a reflection of the people who voted for them. WE are really the problem, WE have put ourselves and our country in the situation!

 

If you do not vote, then none of this is your fault, you are excused. As a matter of fact, go somewhere else, we really don't need you.  Now, on to the voters, the people who caused all this. WE have put ideologies, political parties, or race above the well being of the USA as a whole for way to long now. Here's the most recent, easiest example of this on a national level that is based on facts. If you can't accept this example, then you are practicing exactly what is causing the stupidity we see in Washington. Here we go.

 

 A majority, that's around 90%, of black voters voted for President Obama. You can say " Well. white people voted republican,blah, blah,blah", but the fact is that  a good many white people voted for Obama, that's a part of why he got elected. That's not the debate here anyway, this is an example of a segment of society that did not care about the country as a whole, just themselves. That they may be justified is not up for debate here either, this is just an easy example of the problem. We have to vote for people who care about ALL people! We are voting for  what I call "Segmentists". These are folks who put people in segments, i.e. blacks, gays, Christians, Pro-choice, etc. and pander to these segments separately. Then they get their votes by hitting the key issues of each segment and keep themselves in power by pitting the segments against each other when necessary. They actually paint certain segments of the USA as evil or bad to keep their hold on that power, that's where the EVIL is.

 

There are some simple ways, in my opinion, to fix the voting public and ultimately The US Government as a whole.

 

1) Put the good of the country first in the functions it was meant to serve. That's, protecting our nation, making sure our economy is vibrant, our environment is clean and the infrastructure is up to date. NONE of these should be subject to ideologies, ALL should be subject to COMMON SENSE!

 

2) Get rid of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, replace with COMMON SENSE and GOOD MANNERS!

 

3) Try to solve problems in the community at a local level first, don't rely on Washington to solve all the problems. As a matter of fact, don't rely on the government to solve any of your problems or take care of you at all. Be an adult!

 

4) Immediately decrease the size and scope of the Federal Government, there's way to many people wasting our money who need to get out of our pockets and get a REAL JOB!

 

5) WE all have a causes we feel are important and there is discrimination in this country, in this world as a matter of fact. Some of these problems can be solved without the government being involved, we have to quit thinking that Washington is the only solution.

 

 Example: Gay marriage. Marriage itself should have never been the government's business. Marriage is between a man, a woman and God, as I believe. Some people believe differently, that's exactly why the government should stay out of it. If two men can find a church to marry them, oh well, what can I do about it. I may not agree with it, but that's between them and God. All we have done is given the politicians another issue to divide and conquer us with. If we, gay, straight, indifferent, were to look at a candidate and say, as a whole, "We don't care about Gay marriage, we want you to cut government waste, get rid of useless programs and do not pass any more laws. Can you do that? There's things we can handle on our on as a matter of fact, we'll let you know when we need you.".  Then the politicians would realize that we know where the power is at and the veil has been lifted.

 

Truth be told: WE are the government, let's start acting like it!

 

The Struggle Against Evil Never Ends!

This post was written after the Naval Yard shootings in Washington and before the shootings in Chicago. The circumstances were different, the results the same, innocent people gunned down. We can stop what happened in Chicago, I know it sounds harsh, but if we outlaw gangs and their members, problem solved. Gangs serve no good purpose, let's deport their asses and let them be "Bad" in the Middle East somewhere. The case in Washington is a much harder to respond to. This will take a national and ultimately worldwide change in the way we behave as humans. My prayers go out the victims and their families in these trying times!





                                         Truth Be Told: The Struggle Against Evil Never Ends!

 

 

  My heart hurts seeing the footage of the Naval Shipyard Shootings. I could barely watch the reports on TV or listen to the updates on the radio. Then comes the pundits and politicians pushing their agendas behind this terrible incident before the first funeral for any of the victims. The people on both sides of the equation as far as gun control goes, make me sick. If they really cared they would shut up and give the families and the nation as a whole time to heal. But hell no,can't let a tragedy go to waste! I started to read a new story about Obama's reaction and it just made me ill. He started talking about how HE had personally done all HE could do and it was now up to Congress to push Gun Legislation through and BLAH, BLAH,BLAH. 

 

I lost someone close to me because of a gun and I've also lost work in my career because of having a gun in my car glove compartment to protect  myself. I've seen both sides of the issue, up close and personal. When are people going to realize that there is EVIL in this world and you have to fight that! If Assad's troops killed thousands of unarmed civilians, with or without chemical weapons, that's EVIL!! If a sect of a religion teaches it's people to strap bombs to themselves and kill as many people who don't agree with them as they can, THAT'S EVIL! If someone walks into a workplace and carries out what just happened Monday, that's EVIL. We have to fight against this and always have. We have history books filled with examples of these things and we never learn from them.

 

 It's part of human nature to react and embrace, if you will, the negative. This is where it starts, I believe. People get depressed and isolated. They shut themselves off and live in their own little world. We are an isolated society now, we don't know our neighbors like we used to. We don't help strangers anymore and the news reports are mostly of negative events. WE are the biggest problem! We feed the machine that incubates Evil, turn away God, or for non-believers, goodness and ask "Why did this happen?".

 

The problem is easy to identify, the solution has eluded us for ages. I'm putting this all in a nutshell because this column has to be a certain length. Why do we have Police Officers? Because there's humans out there that will not follow the law. There's the problem, people who can't stop being thieves, rapists and murders. People who are Evil! I'm not talking about people who steal because they're starving or who kill in self defense or for revenge. I'm not going to debate mental illness either, how do we know that some mental illnesses are not a manifestation of just being a huge piece of human garbage?  Let's use common sense, that would be a huge giant leap forward in itself.

 

 I pray for those family members of Monday's shootings in their intense pain. Their loss is heavy. It's just as heavy as the pain of families that have loved ones taken away that the news does not report.

 

 Until we really change fundamentally as humans, Evil will always be among us. The type of change needed should be a start of the discussion. Truth be told, Evil has always been here since man has been here and it seems it always will be.

Putin Punts The Ball, Obama Sits The Bench!

The latest post for my column "Truth Be Told" for Will Roberts' Weekly Telegram. Here's a little inside info for you folks to chew on. Will thanked Johnny Hotshot and myself for our posts this week as we were doing our segment "Pros & Cons" for his radio broadcast, very nice I thought. Then I saw on twitter where Will tweeted my column (the one you're about to read) and remarked that "Truth Be Told Throws a Ball Below the Belt". Oh well, that's showbiz folks!

 

        

                              Putin Punts The Ball, Obama Sits The Bench!

 

There are moments in time that can define or at least give us a glimpse into the soul of our elected officials. These are moments where all the politics, semantics and personality are pushed to the side and the REAL person shines through. I know there are Bush haters out there and even though I voted for the man twice, I was very disappointed with some of the things his administration did. I will say though, that what president Bush said as he stood near the rubble of the world trade center nearly twelve years ago, made me proud to be an American and glad I voted for the man. It may sound cliche, but it’s the truth and since the word “Truth” is in the title of this column, that’s what we’ll deal with here.

 

 Someone shouted out to President Bush as he was making his remarks about the cowardly terrorists who brought down those towers. Bush responded ” I hear you, the world hears you, and (as a fevered pitch arose in the crowd) the folks who brought down these towers will hear from all of us soon!”  The crowd erupted. No Bush hater will ever take that moment away from me, they can’t lie about it and they can’t decrease the effect it had and continues to have on my soul. It bonded all of America together and made us one in the blink of and eye. For that moment, and many times during the healing period from this tragedy, we were Americans. No color, sexual orientation, ideology or class mattered. We were AMERICANS. Bush rallied us as a nation! Since then, we have fallen into war with ourselves!

 

The only time Obama has shown passion and gotten a crowd excited, is when he is pitting us against each other! Doesn’t anyone, even blind Obama followers see the difference? Obama likes to quote Reagan and Lincoln. Did not Lincoln say “A house divided cannot stand”? It just struck me the other day during all the 9/11 remembrances, now to include Benghazi, that Obama has not shown himself to be a worthy International leader at any point during his two terms. He has apologized for this country, he has complained about what he has been called in this country to other nations and now he has been made to look like a fool by his adversary in Russia. “We’ve got Snowden, Na,na,na,na,na! OK, I’ll broker a deal to get those bad old weapons for you from Syria, you just sit right there and tell your congress to hold on a minute.”

 

We have not heard any kind of update about what happened in Benghazi and when I hear what he said now about finding the people who KILLED 4 Americans, frankly it sounds uninspired. No passion or sense of urgency in the least. Obama sounded like he was aggravated that he had to talk about it, like the deaths of these men was more of a nuisance. Now, the latest foreign policy gaffe with Syria has convinced me this President is in way over his head. No matter how this comes out, his “leadership” has been weakened and not just to those of us who did not vote for him. People who really look at TRUTH, must see how weak this “Nobel Prize Recipient” is . This is his moment in time that no one can take away. No spin doctor, no progressive lawyer speak, no blinded Obama follower who refuses to look at facts, can take the truth of this moment away from me, the disgrace I feel for having this man in office. He pointed at the world and said ” This is your RED line, not mine”. He threw the world under the bus to protect his legacy, how sick is that?!

 

Truth Be Told, we don’t have  a quarter back for a leader, we have a water boy!

Syria Crosses The RED Line, The World Holds It's Breath!

This is the latest post for The Weekly Telegram in my column "Truth Be Told". I know this situation in Syria is not an easy fix and there are so many different opinions on this. My debate on Will Roberts' broadcast this week on this subject was more heated between myself and Will, than the roving radical himself, Johnny Hotshot and I. As I've said before, these posts are anywhere between 300-500 words and that is not enough to fully vet any deep subject such as I have tried to tackle with this column. I try to hit it quick, get my point across and hope I make some sense. We'll see how this works out and I may be proved wrong, but I do stand behind my gut instinct on this one.

 First off, who drew the RED line? Do you draw it? I didn’t. Did Congress, or America at large? How about the International community or The UN, or some guy in France? One thing’s for sure, Obama, our esteemed “Leader” did not draw it. He has nothing to do with any of this. Hey man, it’s not his legacy on the line, it’s everyone else in the world’s problem. It’s the American people’s fault, we give lip service to this “humanity” stuff. Why should he care, over here he gets called names he can’t say in Sweden out in public.

 

 This guy doesn’t just stick his head in the sand, he digs a hole and jumps right in, smiling and sticking his tongue out! He’s not the only one showing huge ineptness in this bizarre, theatre of foreign policy suicide. Nancy Pelosi sounds like Porky Pig during one interview trying to speak to why we should bomb Syria. The next interview “Mimi” tell us about a conversation she had with her 5 year old grandson about this situation that would raise the eyebrows of Henry Kissinger! John McCain does not think the proposed response is not broad enough, and The President, the guy who has his hands covering his ears and is yelling “La,la,la I can’t hear you” should have more options. John Kerry looked like a prisoner being interrogated at the latest hearing and could barely look Rand Paul in the eye during Rand’s questions. Kerry wants to “Slam the door” on the option of having boots on the ground, but wait, it turns out he wants that door left cracked a little, just in case. Lindsay Graham, well, never mind. I live in Chas.,SC, by the way, I heard a sound bite from my Graham on this subject and I had no idea what he was talking about, it really was convoluted.

 

We should have had a plan in place to deal with this a year ago. It’s simple, he crosses the line, a predetermined response is swiftly carried out by a broad coalition of countries who agree with the action. This is a disaster and it’s getting worse with the passage of time. Assad is now hiding the offending weapons among the public. Obama and Congress looks like a bunch of idiots who can’t get their story straight. Nancy’s grandson made better points than she did, make him minority leader immediately! I say minority leader until he get’s about a week of experience, then it’s Speaker of The House for him! People who were against invading Iraq, now show their hypocrisy, and the same goes for the folks on the other side of the fence.

 

What’s the end game in this? If we’re not removing Assad, what is the “punishment’? Kerry said Assad would definitely use the weapons again if we did not strike. I think he’ll use them again even if we do. This is a horrible situation for the innocents in Syria and the bumbling way this is being handled will make it worse. This just shows very poor leadership across the board in Washington on foreign policy. These idiots should be swept out of office and a new bunch given a chance. They just can’t seem govern effectively when all they are worried about is holding on to their power. Truth be told, a strike on Syria now would just make things worse, bebebebeb That’s all folks!!!!