Political, but worth the read.

[Blazin]

I'm tired and I am 63....
 

Worth the read!
 
By Robert A. Hall   
 
 
 
I'm 63.  Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.   
 
I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.   
 
I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes."  Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.   
 
I'm tired of being told how bad   America  is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities   America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of   Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of   China , the crime and violence of   Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela  .
 
I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.   
 
I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois.   
 
I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.   
 
I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News?  Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.   
 
I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let   Saudi Arabia  use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in   America , while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in   Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.   
 
I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.   
 
I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I dang sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.   
 
I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next?  Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"?  And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion.  I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.   
 
I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war?  You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave?  Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are?  Not even close.  So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.   
 
I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in   Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.   
 
I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.   
 
Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.   
 
I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.   
 
Yes, I'm dang tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.   
 
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.   
 
There is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on! This is your chance to make a difference.
 
 

[VileZambonie]

Or he might be tired from writing that long letter

[Grover 1]

One of the best letters I've ever read.  I can't add or subtract anything.

[Lt.Del]

it's on Senator Hall's blog The Old Jarhead  http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/02/robert.html

If you like that, look through his other blog entries. http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=50


He also has a book http://www.amazon.com/Good-Bits-Massachusetts-Managing-Associations/dp/1420888943/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271616130&sr=1-1

People who know me know that I'm pretty vocal about the gloomy political and economic forecast of this soon-to-be  once-great country. Because 40 cents of every dollar our great representatives and sentators in D.C., who know more than us, spend, is borrowed money, because we have none left, the road has been paved for the complete selling of our country--the carpet is being pulled right out from under our children's future.  We cannot continue this spending. If you don't work, don't expect handouts.  Think back 400 years ago, Captain John Smith at Jamestown, Va in 1607 proclaimed "Those that don't work, don't eat".  Over time this spurred on creativity, inventions, Industrial Revolution, efficiency, and riches. This became the greatest country because people were rewarded for being productive citizens.  Now those same people are penalized and those who don't graduate high school and have 8 children are rewarded.  This is backwards.  This is no longer capitalism.  

There are fears that if we don't give to those in need (and who are capable of working), then the crime rate will increase, simply because they do not have the true work ethics that made this country great.  I say, let the crime rate go up.  Build more jails and prisons and put them in economically starved areas to increase jobs.  I'd rather warehouse criminals and lazy idiots than give them a free check and take from those of us who break our backs everyday earning a paycheck.  

[choptop]

Well put, and well worth reading...all of it

[KY..Rob]

I'm with Choptop on this one! Word for Word, the truest letter I have ever read.

Rob..

[Blazin]

Let the crime rate go up, and don't prosecute a hard working citizen when the off a dirt bag that truly deserved it! See how long it takes for the other dirt bags, and would be dirt bags to get the hint! I bet the crime rate wouldn't stay high for long!

[Grover 1]

"Build more jails and prisons and put them in economically starved areas to increase jobs.  I'd rather warehouse criminals and lazy idiots than give them a free check and take from those of us who break our backs everyday earning a paycheck".  Well put Sgt.  I have the answer to a lot of these lower end criminals.  If you get caught a second time selling dope, home invasion robbery, car jacking etc, you get a hand cut off, I'll bet we wouldn't have to cut off very many before crime went down.  A bit radical?  Perhaps, but nothing that's being done now is working.  Or maybe caning, seems to work well in some countries. 

[Lt.Del]

But Grover, they are victims, don't you understand?  Society made them that way.  We should have compassion and give them 15 tries to prove him/her self.  Yes, they had to rob to get the money to buy the drugs.  Someone twisted their arm to use drugs and get them hooked.  They are victims.  We can't be too harsh on them, they will feel bad.
We should pass laws that gives businesses incentives (AKA: our tax money) to hire drug addicts.  That is the right thing to do.  You cut off their hand, and then yet another avenue to get our tax money---disability.  In fact, we should give them drugs.  Yes, that's it.  Why should they have to pay for them (well, it's our money anyway).  We should give them a daily alotment of drugs to feed their habit, I mean addiction.  
Now, we surely can't ask them to take on self-reliance, and responsibility.  No, that is why we have a government.  The government has this obligation to take care of everyone in tough times --it may take me a while to dig up that amendment to our constitution, surely it is there, it has to be since they have entrusted themselelves, since they know more than anyone else, to take care of everything.
This is true heaven.  No worries.  the Gov't takes care of everyone.  Don't you just feel the love?

I just hope China takes a while to send us the bill.  When they do, the nukes better be ready--it won't really matter anyway, after WWIII we are all dead.

[zieg85]

One of the best letters I've ever read.  I can't add or subtract anything.

Amen

[Grover 1]

Sgt, I'm glad you showed me the light.  Please forgive my cruel, cold, heartless thoughts.  I'm going out right now and open my garage door and leave it open all night.  Perhaps someone needs some of my stuff for crack - what's the going rate, .10 on the $1.00?  Hey, can I write this off as a deduction?