I just dusted off some old Cds from Puerto Rico, and a song brought back memories in this Day of Grace. The song is an old Puerto Rican prayer. As you know, everything changes, and customs and traditions “evolve”. I used quotation marks because I believe that after a while, society ceases to actually evolve, and tends to go back on it’s values and beliefs. That fact brought ruin to countless civilizations. And if you listen to most songs now days, the messages are shallow, there is no feeling other than the wants and animal instincts that bring us closer to the animal kingdom and farther from the exalted humans that we are intended to be.

See, our old trovadores (singers) had a limited scope of themes for their songs. The typical romantic songs, no, they did not call women the b word, nor do they wanted to prostitute their women. They revered motherhood and the Christian values that our women held dear. A mother is one to be cherished and loved. They used to keep God in their thoughts and obviously, the story of Jesus becoming human and dying for our sins was also present specially in Puerto Rican Christmas songs. The love for the land, for our Nation, is also present. As with any good conversation, the weather and our usual hurricanes in the Island are ideas for some funny lyrics. And of course, GRATITUDE.

In this particular song, Danny Rivera expresses his wishes to remain closer to God, and recognizes that there is a higher power that gives us life. And in this prayer, he wishes that our children do not get to know war, or hunger. That we do not forget where we come from. That our values remain strong.

In these days where we see greedy politicians, crooked wannabe leaders, and violence is rampant, doesn’t hurt to raise our thoughts to the All Mighty; and ask not only for His blessings, but also for guidance.

The old Puerto Rican traditions of God, Family, Patria (our Land, to be protected and not to be sold) are more relevant today than ever before in history.

Instead of my usual rants against corruption, and my calls to action, to get the crooks out of the Halls of Government, I wanted to share that beautiful prayer:

“that our children meet not war,
That there be peace in the world,
That our children do not know hunger,
And that we be open to God’s guidance.”

May God bless you my friends, brothers and sisters, that God bless my brothers and sisters in arms that selflessly give the best years of their life to protect our Nation, and those who cannot defend themselves, and this includes our first responders, and our military; and that we make it a point to dedicate a moment everyday to give thanks to our God for the many blessings that we receive. Also remember, that actions speak louder than words. Remember to share our blessings with those less fortunate; and no we do not need the Government for us to do just that.

One of my favorite TV advertisements of all times is probably the cell phone commercial where a bunch of Fire Fighters take over the Halls of Congress and the ad goes something like this:

The Leader: “A bunch of paper to tell us that we need clean water. Do we need clean water fellers…?”

The rest of the Fire Fighters: “Aye”

Leader: “Done. This is the easiest job I’ve ever done, Adjourn.”

Today, I look at the Halls of Congress and the Senate, and see that these venerable institutions have become a joke. Those charged with our trust, have created a worthless self perpetuating system; and we are to blame for that.

We have the capacity to elect Public Officials, and also to vote them out; and we are doing a lousy job.

I read the news, and cannot believe the stupidity of our electorate. I already know the problem with our politicians; I think that you do too. Let’s see:

1. They are greedy.

2. They have no scruples.

2. They are hungry for power.

Greediness is not a bad quality to have, provided you keep it in check. There is nothing wrong with making money, as long as you do it legally.

A bunch of these crooks that we have elected to the Halls of Government, for the most part are just that: crooks, who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Examples:

1. Our President Elected: he won his first elections by finding out their opponents weaknesses, and somehow, forcing them out of the ballot. (Chicago style politics, as usual).

2. Barney Frank: got his live in boyfriend a job at one of the embattled housing giants, either Freddie or Fannie, I really can care less.

3. Charles Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has properties in the Dominican Republic, made money from them, and did not know that he had to report it to the IRS. He is one of the people that writes the IRS codes… if he doesn’t know the system that he help create over decades of “service“, why in the world are we expected to comply with it?

4. Too many more examples to be able to list them here, so…

Lets go to the final trait exhibited by our politicians, shall we?

They are hungry for power. Absolute Power corrupts absolutely. These crooks will do anything to obtain and maintain their power base. It is no wonder that they cheat, lie, and steal their way to glory.

Once they achieve their base, whether in the Senate or Congress, they will want to hold on to it for life; and unless they are offered a Seniority position somewhere else, or a position as a Vice President, or God forbids, President, they will stay there until they are either forced out, or grow old, senile, and ill.

The problem is that by allowing them to stay there for life, they also perpetuate, not only their power, but the same old and useless ideas and thinking process. Look at Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Rangel, etc…

They cannot come up with new ideas, they are simply incapable of new rational thinking. And, when they try, whatever they come up with is usually something on the lines of increasing government, increase taxes, create more entitlement programs, because those kind of programs bring votes; thus perpetuating the system, keeping the poor in poverty, eliminating the incentive to work, and keeping them in power.

We had about 70% of the population clamoring for oil exploration, and the old politicians, and the new one too (don’t forget Obama) had to be strong armed to say that they would consider drilling; and we all know that they were stalling  for time until they won the elections. Obama said that he “…was not opposed to look at oil exploration…” Translation? I will look at it, and do nothing about it.

The Democrats accuse the Republicans of being on “Big Oil” payroll; but they cannot see that they themselves are on the George Soros and the environmental movement pockets. In order to survive as politicians, they have to keep their power base happy, their power base is not their constituents who elected them to office in the first place, but those who finance their campaign, and allow them to continue spewing nonsensical ideology and stand in the way of real progress.

We need new blood in politics. People thought that they were voting for change when they voted for Obama, but it looks like he is recycling the Clinton Administration, he is positioning those with the Clinton IN-titlement Mantality (CIM) in his cabinet. I can understand naming Hillary to be Secretary of State, since that will keep her fairly quiet in 2010, and most likely, will present a problem for her if she wants to run for President; but might present her with the opportunity to run for Vice President if Biden gets out of her way, so far it looks like he is staying out of everybody’s way.

Too many pundits have spewed their opinion of the course the Republican Party shall follow. As a Conservative, I believe that they should stick to their ideals, principles, and values. They are called values because they are important, not because they are negotiable. I heard a talk show host early this morning that most of our issues were solving themselves and that is good. Gas is coming down, illegal immigration is slowing down, criminality could be worst, terrorist threats were not in the minds of the people… it was the economy that was primarily front and center as the main issue on this elections…

People really did not care who was in control of Congress and the Senate, they associate the President with Government, and, since we did such a lousy Public Relations and Marketing job on the war, and in everything else for that matter, the majority of the electorate just wanted to get rid of the party in power, never mind that the Republicans were lame ducks, and the real power behind the Halls of Government is the Democrats.

Now, we have an opportunity. Reagan showed us the way, and Obama fine-tuned the marketing portion of it.

What are we going to do? Lets get busy…

Loonacy County Grand Jury, ooops, Willacy County Grand Jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzalez, along with a bunch of other prominent politicians, including Senator Eddie Lucio.

This jokers are connecting the Vice President with abuses of power allegedly perpetrated by the private company that manages the jail system over there.

The loonies are running the asylum, the worst part? This is only the beginning.

Ohio.com exposes how the local government agencies, about half a dozen, violated Joe the Plumber’s Constitutional Rights as expressed by the Constitution in the 4th Amendment.

And, just in case we were sleeping during Social Studies, here is what the 4th Amendment of the Constitution states:

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

It looks like our Democrat “friends” only believe in the Constitution when their own rights are being threatened; but when the rest of the population of the United States (namely the Conservatives, or anyone who do not belief like them) is about loose their rights (freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to bear arms, etc.) they feel free to violate everybody else’s.

Three days ago, the Supreme Court sided with the U. S. Navy in what I would call “Whales versus National Security” case.

What could be considered a victory for the Navy is another example of the direction that our country is taking. The decision was 5 against and 4 in favor of the Navy; so the victory was definitely by a narrow margin, with the usual party lines clearly identified by their vote. All four liberal judges voted in favor of stopping the Navy from using their radars on maritime exercises, while the five conservative judges voted against it.

Yes it was a victory, but this case clearly accentuates the lack of vision of extreme interest groups, and the judges that side with them. The environmentalist community, while well intentioned, often fails to consider the reason the military needs to conduct their exercises, and if they do, they choose to put the needs of animals in front of the needs of humans.

I consider myself an environmentalist, and go out of my way to protect our planet, because I believe that it is the only one we have, and as such, we should be good stewards, but I also understand that there is a fine line between fanaticism, and reasonable behavior.

The military is attempting to preserve the environment, but they also need to maintain their skills in order to preserve our Nation’s national security; and our national security concerns supersedes many other trivial concerns.

Now, my concern here is multiple. I could go on and start wondering what the outcome of cases like these would be once President Elect Obama has the opportunity to offset the balance of the Supreme Court by appointing liberal judges. Or, I could go on to speculate the validity of the arguments against the military. But truth to be told, my concern is of a more esoteric nature.

Our founding fathers, in their immensurable wisdom, divided the seat of power in three branches of government. The Executive Branch, Congress, and the Senate. The Courts being nothing but an over glorified dictionary to interpret the laws, passed by Congress and the States, but it so happens, that our society has grown used to getting their way to the point of believing that if you do accept the laws, the Constitution, and the pacts agreed upon, you are labeled a patsy.

A mundane example happened to me this week with one of my children. He was given two months to do a school project. Now, I understand that he works hard, yes, he has a job, in addition to be a full time student. As it so often happens, he procrastinated until the last week, and Murphy, of the famous Murphy’s law, intervened by having his computer crash the last night before he had to turn in the project. The teacher had a written rule, that if you turn in the project one day late, you receive a minus 25%, and the second day that you are late turning the project in, you have another 5% deducted from your grade. He was complaining that the teacher was unfair, because he would have finished the project, if the computer would not have crashed. Neither the teacher, nor my wife nor me had any sympathy for his plea, since he had two full months to complete the project. That is not being unfair, it is being just, and realizing that for every action, there is a reaction, a consequence.

He was trying to see if he could go over the teacher’s head, and talk to the principal, we told him that he should take the point deduction, since he had two full months to do the project, and did not get it done.

That is the mentality of our society. Our people are so used to getting away with their behavior, without facing the consequences of their actions, that it does not matter what the law says, or the Constitution, or even common sense, they see everything in terms of fair or unfair, or what is best for them and only them. By thinking in those terms, they do fail to realize that what is fair for some, is unfair for others. There is no reason to change that Constitution, like the President Elect suggested a few years back, when he said that the fatal flaw of our Constitution was that it did not go far enough to address redistribution of wealth; and his words, when he said that his criteria for Supreme Court Justices would be whether they knew what being an African American, or a woman, or a child meant or was. When you deviate from the letter of the law, or the Constitution, and start to use race, gender, age, or national origin, color, sexual orientation, or religion to do your ruling, you are thus in fact discriminating against a particular group.

Our Civil Rights figures have fought long and hard to eliminate unlawful discrimination, and now we have those who would use the courts system to enforce different sorts of discrimination in the name of fairness. We have people who would use the power of the courts to reduce the power of the Executive Branch of our Government, and would use the same system to make a particular branch of the government more powerful than others; thus in fact offsetting the checks and balances system implemented by our Constitution.

It is up to the People of the United States, “We the People” as stated in the Declaration of Independence, to maintain due vigilance, and identify those who would corrupt our government and use the courts systems to degrade and eliminate the checks and balances needed to maintain a just government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” of the United States. Today, in 2008, it does seems that our government is more from the people, by the legislators and for the legislators, since they refuse to listen to the will of the Nation, and go do what they believe would benefit them.

As always, my call is to keep vigilance. Keep an eye open, and voice our opinions. Identify corruption in our public officials, and point it out in loud and clear voices. Do not allow these individuals to continue trashing our Constitution. We do have the power. We have our voices, and we have the power of the internet. As they try to silence our voices with the “Fairness Doctrine”, or try to play the system to take our right to bear arms, or attempt to take our right to practice and or profess the religion of our choice, we cannot remain silent.

Like modern day Paul Revere’s, we shall raise our voices, and peacefully, let our representatives and elected officials know that they work for us and not the other way around.

Eternal Vigilance is part of the price of freedom.

Two pieces in the news within the same week have made me angry. The first one, describers how an irresponsible individual created a fictional character, created a blog under the name of the fictional character, called it a McCain campaign insider, and spread rumors about Sara Palin, thus slandering the Governor, and feeding irresponsible wannabe journalists with regular bits of information about the McCain campaign that probably cost it some votes. The irresponsible wannabe journalists belong to MSNBC, as reported by AP.

What false bits are they responsible for? At the least the one about her not knowing that Africa was a continent, and who knows how many others. MSNBC acknowledged not vetting the information before running with it.

The second bit of information that made me angry was the one about the Dallas Independent School District providing false social security cards to immigrants in order to expedite their employment process, while they got a real social security number.

Lets see. First of all, if you do not have a social security number (SSN), or a tax payer identification number (TPIN), you are not allow to work, and if you hire someone without a TPIN, you are violating Federal Laws. Second, by providing an immigrant a false SSN or TPIN, you are contributing to fraud and misrepresentation at the least, and identity theft at the most.

This went on for several years, even after they were caught, and supposedly, was brought to an end this summer.

In another example of blatant stupidity, the Texas Education Agency director of investigations and fingerprinting, Mr. Doug Phillips, stated that he didn’t know what laws forbid the issuing of fake social security numbers.

How many laws were violated? Federal employment laws, immigration laws, fraud laws, … How many more?

Tell me what you think…

As a child, growing up in Puerto Rico, one of my heroes was Robin Hood. I couldn’t wait to get home, and watch the old black and white TV, with no remote, and only four TV channels available. I was awe struck of the leadership abilities, the courage, and the values exhibited by Robin and his people. I was too young to contemplate the moral dilemma presented by him ambushing the tax collectors and taking the money that the government required of the peasants. Then again, the person asking for those exorbitant taxes was King Richard’s brother, who took over while Richard was leading the Army to war.

Fast forward to the present. To the moment when a father was tossing the football to his son on the street, the candidate for President come strolling down the street, and the man had the audacity of asking a perfectly valid question: will you raise my taxes?

The candidate, now President elected, Obama answered candidly, and said that he wanted to redistribute wealth.

Because of this answer, Joe Wurzelbacher , a normal citizen, was catapulted to fame, ridicule, scrutiny, and ridicule. Even Jay Leno called it “his 15 minutes of LAME”. But, are the 15 minutes of lame rightfully belong to Joe, or to his detractors, since his detractors are attacking a guy who was minding his own business, when approached by the Obama campaign?

Let’s see… the President along with Congress can legally raise your taxes. But, they should be able to represent the people of the United States, and try to make it better for our Nation. At least, that is how I view it. It was when Great Britain attempted to increase and collect taxes from the colonies without allowing them the adequate representation, that the colonies revolted; because taxation without representation is tyranny.

But the Democrat Party was elected to power and they control the Executive Branch, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Yes, they do. But their job is to fix our economy, provide security to our Nation, and get out of our way so we can realize the American Dream.

Some compared Obama’s plan of wealth redistribution akin to Robin Hood stealing from the rich to give to the poor. The problem is that Robin did not steal from the rich. He stole from the Government. Just like El Zorro, he did not steal from the Caballeros, or the rich, he stole from the Government, from the tyrants, to return their earnings to their rightful owners, the peasants, the workers, to those who really earned the money in the first place.

It so happens that the United States charges the higher percentage of taxes to top ten percent of wage earners. This inconvenient bit of information comes from the Tax Foundation and from a liberal outfit in Paris, France.

Over 40% of our population do not pay taxes. So, when President elect Obama and his court jesters in the Democrat Party call for increased taxes on the rich, the irony is, that those increased taxes will hurt the poor.

I don’t know how else to say it: higher taxes create unemployment. Higher capital gains taxes send jobs overseas. Higher taxes to the oil industry increase prices at the pump, higher prices at the pump increase food prices, higher food prices hurt the poor. It is very simple. When you reduce capital gains taxes, more jobs are created here in the United States.

The United States has the second higher rate of capital gains in the planet.

Our Nation is “tax crazy”. our politicians tax you even after you die. Your children have to pay close to 50% of their inheritance. You already paid taxes on those assets. That is ridiculous.

You work hard, and the government wants the money you make. Someone even complaint about your 401k being tax differed stating that the government is loosing money when you do not pay taxes on your retirement account. That assertion is ludicrous; since you do not pay taxes right away, but when you retire, you will be taxed when you start drawing that money. How can they loose money that does not belong to them in the first place?

 It is like the pack of thieves who believe that they have the right to mug you because you live in their turf. Or the mafia strong arm capo that believes that you owe them protection money or a percentage of your salary because they allow you to work, oh wait, those are the LABOR unions. That my friends is akin to RACKETEERING.

So, those who compared Obama to Robin Hood, were wrong. Congress and Obama are more akin to the tyrants in Great Britain, and King Richard’s brother, who wanted to become rich since he was the “ruler of the land”.

The romantic notion of taking from the rich to give to the poor is not so. The government is taking from you, and giving to themselves, and to those who refuse to work and want a hand out. I am not against helping those who cannot help themselves, but I am against helping the drunk and the drug addict who cannot hold a job because of their addiction or their laziness.

If you are working, I believe in helping you. If you are lazy and refuse to work, or refuse to work more hours because your welfare will be cut, you do not deserve the government’s help, and we should not have to pay for it.

Higher taxes stifle the economy. Government: take your hand off our pockets.

Chris Mathews, when interviewed this past week, stated that his job was to make the Obama Administration successful.

I do not disagree with him. Even though I opposed President Elected Obama’s views in almost every possible item,  do believe that is every American’s duty to help the President be successful, even if that includes, voicing your opinion and presenting dissenting arguments; after all, this is the greatest Democracy in the planet. When the President is successful, so is the Nation, and making our Nation successful should be every American’s duty.

Now, it would not be me, if I did not play devil’s advocate. So, let’s make Mr. Mathews life interesting with the following questions:

1. Does he believe that it is his duty to make the Obama Administration successful because Obama is the President Elected of the United States, or because President
Obama is a Democrat?

2. Was it his job also to make the Bush Administration successful (after all, President Bush was and still is the President of the United States) or because the Bush Administration is Republican is o.k. to bash it, trash it, and put it down?

3. Has he defended the Bush Administration as strongly as he will defend the Obama Administration?

4. Will he be willing to speak against all of those who attempt to trash and sabotage the Obama Administration? If so: would he be willing to defend the future Republican Administration as well?

See… I am a Conservative… for a while I thought of myself as a Republican, but earlier in this political campaign, I had to redefine my positions. I studied the Democrat’s positions (all of them), and the Republicans (yeap, all of them too); because there was no way to figure out who would be the best man or woman for the job, without first figuring out each candidate’s past, political record, civilian record of achievements, world views, economics knowledge, and world views.

As much as I admire Senator McCain and clearly respect him as a hero, an American, and as a class act, I know that he has his faults. I can think of a few positions he has taken as a Senator that I do not agree with. However, he was called a side kick by the Obama ticket, and that cannot be farther from the truth; since he lead the charge to attempt to regulate the housing industry, while Democrats, as stated by former President Clinton,  derailed every attempt at regulation.

So, Mr. Mathews, where were you when Senator McCain was trying to stop Freddie and Fannie abuses?

Also, when Senator McCain was butting heads with the Republican administration in matters of war, where were you?

When it was time to find out who the future President of the United States would be, did you ask who the people who molded our Presidential candidates were?

Did you, or did you not, help figure out if there were any hidden skeletons in any of the candidates closet? I know that the media did an excellent job attempting to figure out if there were any in the McCain Palin camp, to the point of finding out what kind of underwear was purchased for Sarah and Todd Palin (no it is not an exaggeration, someone reported that there were silk briefs for Mr. Palin, and lacy panties for Sarah). But, who was Frank, a man who undoubtedly help mold the Obama philosophy? Who is Rashid Khalidy, what does he predicates, and what is the nature of the relationship with Senator Obama and his family; I understand that Mr. Khalidy babysat for the Obama. Why did Tony Rezko’s wife purchased the piece of land adjacent to the Obama’s and sold it back to the Obama’s at a loss? What is the nature of the relationship between Senator Obama and Rhaila Odinga, and why was Senator Obama speaking on his behalf in Kenya? Did Obama called Odinga and ask him to try to stop the violence in Kenya when said Odinga proclaimed that the violence would continue until he became President?

There are a few other inconvenient questions to ask of Mr. Obama, like the few million dollars of untraceable donations to his campaign, and his illegal aunt, (he stated that the law needed to be followed, does that mean that he supports deportation for hi Aunt and the millions of illegal immigrant in this country?).

So, again, Mr. Mathews, why were you not helping find the answers to these questions? Yes, I know, you are a political commentator and you are entitled to your own opinion and biases, so am I. But, if you are going to be intellectually honest, and you say that your job was to make the Obama Administration successful, it was also your job to make the Bush administration successful, and to make sure that the best candidates in both political Parties were elected. Because it is when we have the best of both Parties competing to lead our Nation, that we, as a Nation, win.

I have heard almost all conservative radio talk show hosts saying that they pray that Senator Obama becomes a successful President, since it is his success that will ensure our Nation’s success. I agree, and I add my prayers for our Nation.

But, another pesky question, how come, when the Republicans win, most Democrats do not wish our President success?

Oh well… such is the nature of the beast.