IT'S A MATTER OF BALANCE

Ever since apes were artificially inseminated by ancient aliens and modern humans got brains, there has been a proliferation of new weapons to claim territory or just kick ass for no good reason. So our ancestors all had to take sides. Usually there was a good side where those humans wanted to live in peaceful coexistence and a rather bad side where those humans just wanted to kill other humans for whatever reason. From that point forward, weapons were introduced to keep the peace or break the peace.

So enough of the history lesson. You get the point.  Rocks, sharp rocks, knives, bow and arrows, flint-locks, revolvers, semi-automatics and automatics; someone was always coming up with something that turned the balance of power on to their side until someone else topped that and the balance would go the other way. As long as there are good guys and bad guys, it will always be that way.  It is a balance that has kept bad guys in check for, well, forever. If you take it further to nuclear weapons, at least to this point, we are not speaking Japanese or German because the good guys got the bomb first.  This is a logic that I would dare say a 5th grader can easily understand. Balance of power.

OK - Now, here is the problem. We now have a very large group of humans in our country and throughout the world who simply don’t think that maintaining that balance really makes a difference in the scheme of things. They simply do not like guns and they especially do not like humans to have guns.  So they want to deprive all humans except their governments from having guns. Now, of course, 5th grade logic will tell you that it is only possible to take away guns from one side of the good guy/bad guy equation.  Problem is, it’s the good guy side. “No matter”, they say. Take their guns anyway.  Well . . . where’s the balance in that?  Without the balance, the power shifts entirely onto the bad side and those humans who were keeping the peaceful coexistence as peaceful as possible, are rendered impotent.  I’m sure you get my drift.  This is what we call Liberal Logic.  

Consider though, the fact that a balance has always been obtained after, of course, many humans died and one side or the other accomplished the shift back in their favor.  I have no doubt that we will see that here in America again.  Gun-grabbing will not be a healthy thing for Liberals to do over the next few years.  We already see gun sales at an all-time high.  Many shooting ranges boast more woman signing up for lessons than men.  In other words, the ill-fated logic of taking away guns from law-abiding citizens has created a nation growing in unprecedented gun ownership.

And there you have it.  The natural balance of power shifting once again.  No doubt there will soon come a time when you will not hear much from the gun-grabbers because they will have become the impotent ones.  

God Bless America!

CHANCES ARE

There is so much bad press from the mainstream media, liberal mudslingers and even old-time conservatives about the Tea Party that I began to wonder.  What would happen, based on their core beliefs, if a Tea Party candidate were sworn in January 2009 instead of  . . . well, you know.

If a Tea Party Conservative were elected President in 2008 and he had a cooperative Congress, chances are this is where we would be today:

There would be no Edward Snowden spilling espionage secrets to our enemies because there would be no invasion of privacy of innocent Americans.

Our boarders would be shut tight and any illegal aliens would be treated fairly but legally in decisions whether they must return to their own country or not.

Gun ownership would be considered a sacred honor and a Constitutional right and there would be no need for the government to fear its own citizens.

The enormous size of our federal government would be drastically reduced.

Personal income taxes along with all other taxes would be slashed.

Deficit spending would end.

Our military would be fundamentally strengthened to deter and deny any emboldened countries and religious terrorists from attacking us at home or abroad.

All government agencies from Federal down to Local would be put on notice that any voting irregularities will be met with swift investigations and prosecutions.

The Constitution of the United States would be followed to the letter as interpreted only by the Judicial Branch of the United States Government.

Private health insurance would be available to everyone at greatly lowered premiums and to those who still cannot afford it, through the use of private pools.  Premiums would drop like a rock due to the lifting of government regulations and tort reform.                             

Corporations would have the freedoms they are afforded in the Rule of Law and would not be bullied by the federal government to adhere to vote-garnering demands and undue taxation. Also, when those undue corporate taxes drop, the cost of goods and services would drop significantly right along with it.

A fair and equitable income tax would be in place that does not favor one political group over another.

The IRS and other Federal Agencies would NEVER have the ability or the directive from the Executive Branch to illegally punish Americans by denying tax exemptions set forth by our laws.

NO American, whether a government worker or regular citizen would ever be left behind to die in a foreign land without all possible efforts to save them being deployed.

These are the things I can think of that are pretty much “no-brainers” but I’m sure there’s more.  If you think of one put it in the comments below.

Now, I know what some will say. “How do you know that is what would happened if a Tea Party candidate had won the election?” After pondering on that for at least 2.5 seconds, I have an answer, “I Don’t!!”  I merely said “Chances Are”.  Even if only 50% of those things happened in the past 6 years, what a better country this would be.

. . . and as you well know by now,  I’m Just Sayin’

THE PALM SUNDAY TORNADOES

Today marks the 49^th anniversary since, what became known as the Palm Sunday Tornadoes, occurred in my home town.  I rarely talk about this but my local hometown newspaper has asked that people who experienced the tornadoes share some memories. The following is my account of that day.

It was a beautifully warm day.  I had dared to put on shorts that early in spring in Northern Indiana.  I was still outside late in the afternoon playing some basketball with friends as we did nearly every chance we had from the time we could walk.  I was sixteen, happy, carefree and ready for whatever life had to offer.

Our neighbor came to the fence and told us to go inside because he saw on TV that strong storms were on the way.  It seemed odd since there was not a cloud in the sky.  But, we all went our separate ways to go home and watch TV.  My dad and I had just settled down on the couch to check the weather when, once again, our neighbor came over.  He was out of breath and seemed oddly excited.  He had just heard on his police radio that a tornado had gone through a section of town just south of the city.  He said they needed station wagons to help transport people to the hospital.  I know how odd that sounds but that was a different time.

We had a large station wagon and my dad and I were ready to go.  Looking back, I know for sure that we never considered the drama we were so ready to involve ourselves in.  He wanted me to drive.  I was surprised since I had only gotten my license six months before.  But off we went.  We drove East and then South toward the area we thought would take us close. But about halfway there the weather turned into an angry, raging torrent. It was pitch black with frighteningly loud rain.  I could see nothing so I pulled off on the side of the road and waited.  Shortly, it became eerily calm.  We assumed it was just another storm.  So off we went to see if we could locate where that tornado came through.  As we drove a little further, we came up on an area of unspeakable devastation.  There were no ambulances, no police cars and no fire trucks.  Nothing.  Only silence.  I pulled off the road and glanced up a slowly rising hill to view nothing but wood planks everywhere.  Dad jumped out of the car and ran over to a man he saw sitting on the ground with his arms wrapped around a telephone pole.  I walked over to him too and he was gasping for air.  We realized that he was so covered in mud that his skin could not breathe.  We brushed heaps of wet muck off him.  That seemed to help.  I could hear some faint voices up the hill.  They were calls for help and children crying. That’s when I realized that we were the first people to arrive in the area.  I told dad that there must have been a second tornado because this had just happened.  Emergency vehicles began arriving and dad stayed with the man we had helped when they took him to an ambulance.  I was asked by a young fireman to help him search for victims.  We searched house-to-house which were nothing but rubble.  We were looking, listening and pulling out people from their hiding places. Suffice to say, the next couple of hours were terrifying, gratifying and life altering for me.  I would climb down into basements open to the sky but so strewn with lumber and furniture that you would never think anyone could be down there . . . and alive.  But they were.  Most of my time walking up the street with the fireman, climbing over the rubble and training flashlights through the slightest cracks were fruitless ventures.  But then we would find someone.  Tears would well up in our eyes as we screamed for emergency people and threw lumber out of the way.  

My dad found me later sitting on a stump, no longer able to help.  My brain just shut down.  I couldn't look for or look at any more people, dead or alive. We put our arms around each other and walked slowly back to the car. We just got in our car and drove home in a peaceful quietness that we both needed badly.

As it turned out, we had driven up on the secondary access road to what is called The Sunnyside Edition. A massive “double” category 4 tornado had passed directly over that
area.  Apparently when I had to pull off the road and wait for the storm, the big one hit.  So, all-in-all, the same general area of my hometown was hit by four tornadoes that night.  I would guess we arrived no more than 5 minutes after it had passed. 

So . . .that’s it.  For a few days after, I had trouble sleeping.  But as a teenager, I was pretty resilient. However, I carry many visions with me of that night that are mine and mine alone.  The stories that came out of the Palm Sunday Tornadoes have been told through the years in my hometown.  Now you know my story. 

This famous picture shows the two tornadoes forming out of one massive cloud.  

This is an aerial view of the Sunnyside Subdivision where I was involved in search and rescue. 

This is typical of what they found when the sun came up the next morning.

Here is a link to information on The Palm Sunday Tornadoes: http://www.elkharttruth.com/living/Community-Blogs/Elkhart-County-History/2014/04/11/This-Day-In-History-The-Palm-Sunday-Tornadoes.html