Do You Want Me To Punch You In The Nose?........ Yes or No

That is NOT a rhetorical question….I really want to know if you want me to punch you in the nose. While I’m asking……here are some other questions….

2) Do you want me to burn down your house?........Yes     No

3) Do you want me to take your children away from you? (If you have teenagers, please don’t answer this one)........Yes     No  

4) Do you want me to get you fired from your job?........Yes       No

5) Do you want me to see that you never get another job…after you get fired from the one that you have?........Yes      No

6) Do you want me to kick your dog? (first of all I would NEVER kick your dog….honestly, I would be far more inclined to punch you in the nose than kick your dog).......Yes     No

Ok…..assuming that you have read and answered all of these questions…I would ask that most of you continue reading. However for those of you who by chance are “blond”…..please go get a bottle of alcohol and a rag….and clean the Sharpie marks off of your computer screen…where you circled the correct answer….(Then of course, come back and finish reading with the rest of us)

If you answered “No” to all of the above questions…..then you are a “No” person. You are very negative and your problem is that you just don’t want me to do anything….It’s all YOUR fault…because you always say “No”. It doesn’t matter that all of the things that I had asked if you wanted were either bad ideas….stupid ideas….could cause you harm….or all of the above. The real problem is YOU….You said “No”, so that means that you’re just not trying to get along with me. I am clearly not the problem, because all I want to do is to physically abuse you, harm your family, take away your home and job and destroy your future…..and if you don’t want those things that I am offering….then YOU are the problem, because you are a “No” person.(I was trying to make that come out like a 3rd grader....but alas...it sounded more like Harry Reid....my apologies to 3rd graders everywhere)

Of course one would believe that after reading an incredible example such as the one that I just gave…...most people could clearly see that saying “No” is not always bad….But then “one” would be wrong. It seems that recently it has become very popular for Democrats and liberals to classify Republicans as the “party of no”. Even Governor Ahhhnold, a Republican himself…(well there is an “R” after his name) has declared that the Republican party (or pahty) has become the “pahty of no”. Is it because Republicans are evil? Is it because they are all stupid? Is it because they hate this country? Is it because they are unpatriotic?.....The answer to all of those is a resounding “NO”.  (no pun intended...well maybe a little pun intended) The Republicans, for the most part, are saying “No” because they don’t want to see the government get bigger….they want to see it get smaller. They are saying "No" because they don’t want the government spending trillions of dollars that we don’t have….(technically you cant do that anywhere other than the government. Don’t believe me? Go right now and write a check for an amount that is larger than what you have in your bank account….and then get back to me on how that works out for you…..go ahead…I’ll wait here) They are saying "No" because they don’t want to see the government take over private industry (especially since they cant do anything within a budget....[see deficit spending])….They are saying "No" because they don’t want the government making medical decisions for you and your family…..They are saying "No"
because they don’t want the government to turn this Republic into a Socialist nation……These so-called "nay-sayers" also don’t want to see the Constitution of the greatest nation that has ever existed, be thrown aside like yesterdays garbage……So tell me this, my liberal friends….How do you tell someone that you don’t want those things to happen…without saying “No”? You can't....I believe that saying “No” to all of those things is saying “Yes” to getting our country back on the path that the founding fathers set forth in the Constitution. (yes I just said “set forth”) To me the solution is very simple…..the only way to say “Yes” to what is right….is to say “No” to what is wrong. Then Again….That’s Just Me

Seriously Joe?.........

Back when Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois accepted the Democratic presidential nomination…..he made the following statement….“Tonight, more Americans are out of work, and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes, and even more are watching your home values plummet”…..He then went on to say that the blame lay squarely with “the broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.”….How many times have we heard this administration use that phrase since then?.....(that’s a rhetorical question…you don’t really have to come up with a number) It seems that any time there is a problem in the world….there is only one solution from the Obama administration…Blame It On Bush.

Later, during the presidential campaign, Obama said this about his opponent…."On issue after issue, John McCain is offering more of the same policies that have failed for the last eight years. That's the agenda that he and the president are raising money to support later today."….That “agenda” that Obama spoke of…was specifically the surge in Iraq. Obama opposed the surge strategy in Iraq, saying it would increase violence. More specifically he said…”Given the deteriorating situation, it is clear at this point that we cannot, through putting in more troops or maintaining the presence that we have, expect that somehow the situation is going to improve, and we have to do something significant to break the pattern that we've been in right now."…..He went on to say that he did not believe that a surge of 15000 to 20000 additional troops in Iraq…."Is going to make a significant dent in the sectarian violence that’s taking place there”

Not only did Obama say that the surge wouldn’t work (after all he is a seasoned military man and HE should know)….on 01/10/07, he also said the following in a response to President Bush’s speech on the war in Iraq….."I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse. I think it takes pressure off the Iraqis to arrive at the sort of political accommodation that every observer believes is the ultimate solution to the problems we face there. So I am going to actively oppose the president's proposal. … I think he is wrong, and I think the American people believe he's wrong."…… In other words…not only will the surge NOT work….it will do exactly the opposite….So…..(pay close attention here all of you nay-sayers....those of you who are saying "nay" to what I am saying)…..So….He said that he would “ACTIVELY OPPOSE THE PRESIDENT’S PROPOSAL” for the surge…..And he did just that. (for my liberal, Obama supporting friends…that means Obama didn’t like it and felt that it was another bad idea from that idiot George Bush)

In fact not only did he oppose it at the time it was proposed…..even as the surge was underway…. Obama said that the surge was not working in Iraq. (more of those failed policies of the Bush-Cheney administration, I guess)….Here's what he said at the time on NBC’s “The Today Show” on 07/18/07…."Well, actually, I think there was a very serious debate, and it's based on some fundamental differences. I think reasonable people can differ on this issue because there are no good options in Iraq. We should not have gone. At this point we have bad options and worse options. But we are facing a choice. My assessment is that the surge has not worked and we will not see a different report eight weeks from now". That means that Obama said that the surge in Iraq WILL not work….ISN’T working…..and it WON’T work in the future.

As a citizen of the United States….Senator Obama certainly had the right to oppose something that he felt was not right….BUT…he didn’t even stop there….he was SO sure of the failure of “the President’s plan” (Obama’s words not mine)….that he sought to stop the policy that he felt was a wrong direction for the country. (keep in mind, at the time, the surge in Iraq was ALWAYS referred to as Bush’s plan)…..Here’s what he said in regard to stopping another wrong move by Bush…… “I feel that we should take a look at what mechanisms we have available to prevent the president from pursuing a wrongheaded strategy, ... He's commander in chief; he has a lot of discretion; but at some point our democracy is structured in such a way when a president takes a wrong course that there is an ability to correct it."……So to sum it up….Bush’s surge policy in Iraq wouldn’t work when it was proposed….Wasn’t working after it was put into place….Wouldn’t work in the future….and he needs to be stopped somehow even though he (Bush) is commander in chief.


Then you have then Senator Joe “open mouth insert foot” Biden…..Back when Joe was the incoming Senate Foreign Relations Chairman…….he too said that he “would oppose any effort by President Bush to increase U.S troops in Iraq as part of a new war strategy”. In fact, Biden was one of the chief architects of a resolution to oppose any troop surge in Iraq. He said….”We’ve tried the military surge option before and it failed. ... If we try it again, it will fail again." ….Biden even went as far as to say that he would summon (then) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to testify before his committee to discuss Bush’s new plan for Iraq. The reason that he gave for the hearings was that he was hoping the hearings would “generate bipartisan consensus in Congress that will pressure the president to abandon talk of increasing troop levels in Iraq”. (liberal translation...."we will make this idiot Bush, stop this ridiculous idea of a surge, by hammering away at the Secretary of State") Wow…nothing like politicizing a war….huh Joe? Let’s have some of those really meaningful Senate hearings to see if we can stop this troop surge that we don’t like…..right? Among some other really silly proposals…..rather than a surge…Biden proposed a “drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq”… To sum up Joe Biden’s view of Bush’s troop surge….he said “President Bush seems to be leaning toward a so-called "surge" of perhaps 30,000 more troops”……adding…"I just think it's the absolute wrong strategy"……At the time of these statements…Biden also delivered another message to President Bush during a meeting at the White House….(you’re gonna’ love this one…seriously you will)….He told Bush…."Mr. President, this is your war".

Anyone see where I’m going with this?....................First let me say that it is widely accepted by both Democrats and Republicans.....liberals and conservatives....pro-war and anti-war......those who put the toilet paper on the roll so that it pulls from the top and those who put the toilet paper on the roll so that it pulls from underneath.....and then of course by military people who actually have a clue what they are talking about....that the surge in Iraq was the turning point in that war...and also the reason that conditions there have progressed to where they are today.

With all of that being said……Joe Biden went on “The Larry King Show” last week, and said the following…….”I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer.” (emphasis added by author)…..


So Joe....you and Barack said it was a "gonna' fail"..."did fail"...and "always will fail" policy of George Bush....But now that it has decidedly worked out….you and your buddy get to take credit for it? Seriously Joe?.....I didn’t think that you or Obama had the (insert your own word here) to do something that brazen…..but obviously I was wrong. So let me see if I have it right….bear with me Joe because I’m not nearly as smart as you and Barack…..If something doesn’t work, then it’s a “failed policy of the Bush administration”….but if something DOES work….then, even though it was Bush’s policy….and you and Barack fought tooth and nail against it…..it now becomes (in your words) “one of the great achievements of this administration”. Wow, that's unbelievable….but then I guess you might as well take credit for someone else’s policies….since it doesn’t seem as if any of your own policies are working out very well so far…..Then Again….That’s Just Me

Crabgrass Redux.......

The following is a re-post of a blog from several months ago. I only bring it back because I don't think that I could have communicated the overall message in this blog…had I have written it myself…(oh wait…I DID write it)….Really it's just that I told someone earlier today that I was in a mood that made me just want to “write something to p*** off a liberal somewhere”……This might not be it….but it IS relevant to what is going on in Washington right now. The ultra-left wingers like Nancy “face too tight” Pelosi….are determined to push some version of a health care bill through Congress in spite of what the people of the country...or the Republicans in Congress...say or do. Forget the fact that when the Democrats had a “super majority”, they couldn’t agree among themselves enough to reconcile the House and Senate bills. Don’t be fooled into thinking that what they are doing is really about helping anyone……instead it’s simply an attempt to get the Government’s big giant foot into the door of health care. It might be a smaller bill now…..but watch out, once they have their foot in the door of health care…..it’s only a matter of time before they will completely own it…..This will be done by over-regulating the existing health care industry as we know it out of business. As with many government projects…..this one might start out small……but eventually it will grow into a huge bureaucratic monster that bleeds tax dollars. Government does not know how to run ANYTHING (big or small) within a given budget. (PLEASE prove me wrong on that one if you can) Whether it’s the Post Office….Amtrack….or the congressional coffee shops and restaurants…operating within a budget is as unfamiliar to those in Washington as fidelity is to Tiger Woods. With that said……here we go again for the first time…..


If you live in Florida, and have a yard…..then you are probably familiar with crabgrass. It’s official name is “Digitaria” and it is a genus of about 300 species of grass (family Poaceae) native to tropical and warm temperate regions. First let me say that I truly believe that crabgrass is evil. Here is why I say that………

I really take pride in my yard….I actually have the regional manager’s phone number for TruGreen (my lawn service for fertilizing and weed control, etc.) on the speed dial of my phone. (that’s not a joke…that’s for real). I see my yard for approximately 5 minutes every day…..as I am walking to my car in the morning and then again as I round the corner on my street, see my house and yard, park my car, get the mail and walk into the house in the evening. (ok, maybe 7 minutes)…But here’s my point….when I do see it….I want to see grass…beautiful green grass. However from time to time when I actually walk through my yard, I will look down and see this “grassy looking” growth that while it is green, it’s not like the rest of the grass. It is (play creepy, evil sounding music here) CRABGRASS. (sorry, that was the spookiest font I could find). While crabgrass is green and resembles “real” grass….it is not. What’s more, if you just look at it, leave it there, and say….”oh it’s just a little patch”….you are in for serious trouble. If you don’t yank it out by the roots, right then and there, when you come back tomorrow it will have spread. If for some reason you don’t come back tomorrow, and it’s next week when you finally come back….it could have spread over a large portion of your yard. If you look at it as it has spread over a large portion of your yard and say….”well at least it’s green…and it’s just too much trouble to pull it ALL up by the roots….so I’ll just leave it”….Let me tell you that is a BAD IDEA….The reason this is a bad idea is when you come back in a month….you will find that you no longer have “real” grass…..just CRABGRASS. (any better…as far as evil looking fonts go?)….What has happened at this point is that the evil crabgrass has taken over and destroyed the “good” grass….and any lawn care person will tell you that the only way to get your “real” grass back….is to kill (Roundup® kind of kill) the entire yard and start over. That is a real pain and VERY expensive….but if you want your yard back….it is necessary. So they come in and spray the yard with poison….wait for it to die….bring in a sod-cutter to remove the dead grass and then put down brand new healthy sod. That is great and now your yard is perfect……BUT……pay close attention to the BUT…..If you don’t keep an eye on this brand new yard….that evil crabgrass will creep right back in and destroy this yard as well…..so you watch this brand new yard every day…and if something doesn’t look right, you do something about it…..it’s the proverbial “nipping it in the bud”

Right about now….some of you (if you are still awake….or still reading) are saying…..”Wow….I had no idea that he knew so much about grass”……or “I wonder if it’s really all that bad to officially recognize Pluto as a planet….since we’ve done it for all of these years?”……or MAYBE there are a very few that are saying “What does this have to do with government involvement in business?”….While I would love to address the first two observations….I will only address the last one.

The government is like crabgrass…..it’s bad enough in small quantities….but in large quantities….it is just evil. (Maybe I should have my Senator and Congressperson’s phone numbers on my speed dial just like the TruGreen guy) It would be great if we could just go through our daily lives walking around and living our lives……and thinking that all the while our society and the rest of the world around us would go on with no problems. You know, just ignoring all of the little things that are annoying. That’s is no more realistic than looking at your yard for 5 (or 7) minutes a day and expecting it to remain perfect…..Just not gonna’ happen. Here’s why that doesn’t work………One day we happen to see something in our government where they have stepped into private business and forced this business to do business in a way that is unconstitutional….but it’s just a little thing, or it doesn’t involve us personally….so we say…”oh it’s no big deal”….and we let it go…..BUT…..pay attention to the BUT…..if we ignore it for a short while, it gets bigger and maybe affects us, (maybe not directly…maybe just our neighbor or someone at church…but not US directly)….so we say….”Oh its not that big of a deal….my life is still ok”…..BUT….then all of the sudden it starts to affect us a little and we say…”well I don’t like this but now it’s gotten kind of big…so there isn’t anything I can do without a LOT of work”……so we let it go…..Here’s where it gets VERY serious…..if we ignore it for an extended period, we look around and see that the government has taken over everything and there is no such thing as “privately run” companies any more…..the government has slipped in just like crabgrass….a little at a time and taken over.

Recently I was involved in an online discussion with a friend. In the course of the discussion he made the following statement………”those who claim to be independent thinkers but have voted straight ticket have chimed in today not realizing their candidates and conservative heroes of choice have played a large role in American Keynesian economic policy”…….. (Author’s Note: Let me insert a definition here….Keynesian (pronounced /keinziən/) economics advocates a mixed economy—predominantly private sector, but with a large role of government and public sector) …… He went on to say……”Keynesian economic theory……..is the belief that a mixed economy is optimum. I believe it has been the driving force and paradigm our nation has used since WW2 - from Roosevelt to Reagan to Bush to Obama. The cries of communism and socialism are a rouge. The argument is about the mix not replacing capitalism.”……..Here’s my problem with that type of thinking…..It would be the same line of thinking that a little bit of crabgrass is good because it helps identify the “real” grass….Yes I believe that there has to be a certain amount of regulation….but not to a point to where the government gets involved in the same business as you….and becomes your competition….(read article from 10-15-09 for more information on that)…..and then destroys your business…since they don’t have to operate on a “for-profit” basis. Once that happens….free enterprise is GONE….The government has no sense of business….If they did how could they make a claim that providing health care for somewhere between 10 and 40 million (another fine example of government accuracy in accounting….or really in this case…counting) “won't raise the deficit one dime”…..Seriously?....You can say that with a straight face…and then get pissed when someone calls you a liar?....Really?……The only thing the government will do is destroy the Health Insurance industry and then once they “own” it all….the pricing will go out of control…..That’s because the government has no control over itself….once it steps in…it destroys what it tried to “fix”. In the little town where I have my business….I have seen the city government literally drive businesses….out of business. I have seen this enough to where I now refer to the “Code Enforcement” people as the “Department of Business Prevention”. They just DON’T know where to stop. So yeah…maybe a “mix” is good….but why is it that the mix doesn’t stay balanced when the government gets involved?

It’s about health insurance now…..but what’s next? Maybe groceries? After all everyone has to eat….so let’s control the food industry….grocery stores, fast food places, Mom and Pop restaurants? Why don’t we take them ALL over...tell them how much they can charge for a product....and then tell them how much profit they can make….Because after all, profit is a four-letter word….right? (actually it’s a six letter word) If right about now you are saying….”well that sounds good to me”….let me remind you of this….(pay attention anyone who might work for a local, large privately owned supermarket chain)…..if the government regulates groceries…in the way they want to regulate health insurance….YES, the price of groceries will go down…but in the process, so will profits…then in order to stay in business there HAS to be cuts in expenses. As a business owner I can tell you that the best way to cut your expenses…is to cut people out of jobs…So if you’re ok with that for the evil health care insurance companies (that they ALL lose their jobs)…just hang on….they will get to you eventually. Once the government starts taking over ANY industry….it’s only a matter of time until they take over the one you’re working for. (Yes…I’m talking about YOU) First  its just health insurance….because EVERYONE needs it and deserves it…..Then its controls on gasoline pricing….because EVERYONE needs it and deserves it…..THEN it will be the food industry….WHY?......because the same logic would follow that EVERYONE needs it and deserves it…….then you wake up one day….unemployed and say…”what happened?.....You really want to know?......you didn’t stop the crabgrass when you had a chance……Then Again…..That’s Just Me.


Note from the author: As you probably know..."Redux" is an adjective meaning "brought back or restored" (from the Latin reducere - bring back) that is used in literature and film titles.....I obviously have used the term quite loosely, since by including it in the title of this article....it would (based strictly on the definition of redux) include the preceding article under the umbrella of "literature". My apologies to writers of literature everywhere.