Misplaced Aid

There are a lot of misplaced good intentions around the world. We have Bono and his African aid. The man uses that to feel less guilty about being wealthy. If he wants to rid himself of that guilt, he should give away that wealth. There is no amount of charity which will solve many of the problem in Africa.

Then you have guilty nations. The United States is in the same category as Bono. The leaders and the left feel guilty because this is a prosperous nation. We are supposed to feel guilty for nations like Mexico, and continents like Africa.

I ask, how long have we been pouring money into these problems? The answer is decades. You might ask, what else is there to do? We could invade them, but that wouldn’t work either. People need the desire to improve themselves.

Flashlight Scam

You have seen them advertised on television for only $19.95. You can, of course, find them in flea markets for much less. I am not sure what brand I have. I’ll look up the information later. The point is, they are a scam. After getting poor results, no apparent charging, I disassembled two of them.

First, let me point out I have over 30 years in the electronic industry. I was dubious of the type of energy storage the light used. My mind told me this couldn’t work as advertised. I was right. Their claims are not just outrageous, but they are down right lies.

After having problems with the flashlight not charging, I finally took time to disassemble one. To my surprise, I found two button type batteries. Maybe I wasn’t that surprised. I had expected wafer capacitors or something similar.

Child Abuse or Religious Rights?

We sometimes forget that the world is made up of customs and religions different from our own region. Every once in a while someone comes along and reminds you there are differences, sometimes, huge differences.

The other night I met some people that reminded me of one of those differences. At first it was mild amusement, and then shock. I happened across two girls that were raised in Catholic schools. The scandals of the church has reached every one of us. We know of the wide spread abuse of boys in the church, but what of the girls?

The church, it seems, has a different idea for the punishment of girls and boys. Boys are often whipped or expelled, while girls seem to have only one punishment, kneeling. You might think kneeling is a light punishment. One example of which I know, a girl was forced to kneel for three days in front of the Virgin Mary statue. A day in this instance was from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, with only the usual school breaks, dinner etc…

Attack On Mainland America

From the heading you might think this is going to be about terrorism. On the contrary, it’s about an invasion, the invasion of America, not only by Mexican immigrants, but also by the Mexican army. Are you aware our border guards are having shootouts with the Mexican army?

Just this week there were uniformed Mexican soldiers that were trying to smuggle drugs into the United States. They were confronted by US border guards, and the border patrol was fired on. The Mexican army used 60 caliber machine guns to fend off our border patrol. Eventually, the Mexican soldiers fled back across the border and out of jurisdiction of the border guards.

I doubt anyone believes the Mexican soldiers were authorized by their government to cross the border. That does not excuse the Mexican government from liability. These incursions into our country are just as illegal as are the millions of immigrants pouring across the border. There have been several hundred of these incursions, so it’s not an isolated incident.

Mad Mother

In Washington DC a mother has risen to power and she leads an interesting group of protesters. You can see the mad mother, Cindy Sheehan, along side Jesse Jackson who never fails to find a camera. At first I pretty much ignored this protest and then some names being mentioned caused me to take notice.

This rag tag group is a mixed bag of extreme leftist, the ones that really scare me. There is the group known as ANIMAL, what ever that's to mean, which supports Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavaz. These people want to take away the right to own land in the United States, one of the founding principles of the country.

This alone might be enough for me to take notice, but there is a buzzword I listen for in any speech, demonstration, or debate. That would be “progressive”. The more times that word is used, the farther left the speaker.

Hero or Nero

In the days following hurricane Katrina there were few rational minds. From all aspects of life in the devastated areas they were calling on the federal government to help them. The news people were slamming President Bush for not doing enough. Could these reporters have been hunting for people, or even prodding people, to say vicious things about Bush? Even FOX news, which has been purported to be a right wing news agency, was shouting the loudest.

Along comes the mayor shouting profanities at Bush and the federal government. I am sure he was caught up in the heat of the moment while having to face his own failures. Earlier I had talked about the blame game. This may just be a continuation, except with added facts.

The Blame Game

In the aftermath of the worst disaster in the history of our country, you at first have tears in your eyes for the victims. Then comes the blame game, namely, finger pointing at President Bush. I have somewhat been involved in disaster preparedness and from my point of view; the state of Louisiana let these people down. The mayor who should have seen to it they had some type of disaster plan played the blame game when he himself is to blame.

Let's look at all the blame. Let's start at the top where most say all the blame lies. Bush may have waited longer to act than I would have. Yet, how do we know when he acted? Could he have sent in federal troops sooner, maybe, but at what cost? I heard reporters screaming for troops to come in and restore order. If Bush had done that he would have been arrested for one of the most horrendous acts a president can make. He would have violated the Posse Comitatus Act. No federal soldier in this country can act as police force without martial law being initiated. I doubt anyone wanted that to happen in New Orleans.