The Next Step Towards Socialism

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It was inevitable. The Obamanation has fired the first shot across the bow of capitalism. The full war is coming.

GM is firmly entrenched under government control and the first big automaker has been put on life-support. GM will be propped up in this dying industry (Obama has to prop it up because the socialist unions helped elect him). Government management will be far worse than private management as government cannot run the most basic of programs efficiently, much less a for profit enterprise. Yet, the American taxpayer (whom the Obamanation sees as his own personal ATM) will continue to pump money into keeping GM on life-support with no hope of recovery. 

There is more to come.

Amerika, we are getting exactly what we voted for...a socialist president and we've been too ignorant to even see it coming. Gone are the days of personal liberty. Gone are the days of hope. Gone are the days of personal responsibility. It's a sad, sad time...and it's a short step from socialism to communism. I miss America.

How A Garage Sale Ruined My Saturday

At 8:45 AM this past Saturday, I meandered out to my truck to leave for a meeting at the church that was scheduled to start at 9. To my surprise, the neighbor across the street was hosting a garage sale and the cul de sac was packed with cars. No problem, right? Well, one manners-challenged person decided it would be fine to just block a strangers driveway and parked covering 3/4 of our drive.

So, I politely wandered over to the neighbors yard and asked her to have the owner of the offending vehicle move it so I could attend my meeting. She complied and started to ask people if it was their truck, and so I headed over to my vehicle, started it, and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, I'd lost all patience (which, granted doesn't take much for me sometimes when it comes to people starring in their own personal soap operas) and backed out with 1/2 my truck in my lawn. I was about 6" away from the bumper of the car blocking my drive...not really all that close. 

At any rate, I backed out and then had to go down to the end of the cul de sac to turn around and exit the neighborhood. As I was coming back towards my house, I noticed a lady in the street pointing at the offending truck (funny how she didn't profess ownership when asked by the neighbor huh?). So, I rolled the window down and shouted to the lady "Yeah, move your truck! What are you thinking blocking someone's driveway?" Then, I left and headed for the church. Well, a few minutes later Rachael called my cell and told me "this is a much bigger deal than you think...she is claiming you hit her truck." At this point, I was beyond irritated...I was mad. So, I turned around and headed back home.

As soon as I got home, I approached the lady sitting in her truck and asked her to get out. I told her I did not hit her truck in any way...to which she pointed at her back BUMPER and muttered something in Spanish. This went on a few times and it was clear she either did not speak English or didn't want to speak English at that time (a remarkable phenomenon here in Texico). At this point, I was beyond mad...I was irate...so I called the police because I could see the dollar signs sparkling in her evil eyes. 

After a long wait, the police, and the ladies husband/boyfriend/brother/life coach (or some combination thereof), showed up. I told the story to the police officer while the lady and the husband/boyfriend/brother/life coach conferred in the street. When the police officer approached them, the husband/boyfriend/brother/life coach informed him that I didn't really hit the bumper, but I'd hit the back fender in front of the wheel. In addition, they pointed out that I had a white mark on my front bumper. An amazing switch of story, huh? Well, I inspected the area he was claiming I hit, then headed into the house to get a tape measure. Now, I don't claim to be too brilliant, but immediately I could see that the area he pointed to was much lower than the mark on my truck that had been there for years. So, I whipped out the tape measure and showed that their mark was at 18" and my mark was at 25". How could that be? The police officer thought that was pretty funny. 

In the meantime, the officer had talked to two eyewitnesses that confirmed I had not even come close to their truck. He told the idiot couple of this fact and they still continued to claim I hit the car...but, they then decided that I really had not hit in front of the wheel, but behind the wheel. At this point, I could see the full scam press was on and they already had plans for the money they intended on collecting from my insurance company. So, I pointed out to them that their car was TAN while the marks on my truck are WHITE. Got the same reaction from the idiot couple, but did get an acknowledgement from the police officer. Then, the police officer pointed out that if I had hit them, the black rubber from my bumper would have rubbed off on their vehicle...not their paint rubbing off on my vehicle. Same stupid grin on the idiot couple's faces. At this point, the husband/boyfriend/brother/pimp/life coach thought it would lend more credence to his argument if he pointed out the truck had a "custom paint job, man." To which I said..."doesn't matter to me, I'm fully prepared to see you in court because you nor your lying wife will get a penny from me and I fully intend on recuperating every cent I spend defending myself if you pursue your lie." The police officer sent me to my driveway at this point. :-) So, I took lots of pictures of where they parked, the scratches, the tape measure held up next to the scratches, etc.

The police officer told me he had to issue an incident report because the idiot couple continued to insist I hit their truck.

So, let's take inventory:

- Their story changed three times

- The paint doesn't match

- The height of the scratches do not match

- I have picture proof

- I have two eye witnesses

Yet, most likely I will be getting a call from my insurance company any day telling me a claim has been submitted. Welcome to Texico. And we wonder why our insurance premiums are so high. 

More Problems With Socialism

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/16/iowa-senator-says-aig-executives-resign-commit-suicide/

A few disjointed thoughts on socialism.

Whatever happened to the shared dream Americans had of personal freedom? Liberty? Personal responsiblity? Hope? Have we so soon forsaken what made us a nation in the first place and what brought our great nation so many immigrants wishing to share in the dream? Apparently so.

It's been a long time coming really. Perhaps the start of it was the "New Deal", but regardless, the process has certainly been sped up in recent times under the Obamanation. We continue to add social programs that have been proven time and again to do little good and much bad (like causing dependency). They become entitlements (and if you don't believe me, just read or watch a little news and you'll see story after story of individuals looking to the government for a handout). Personally, I find it offensive that many among us can't see past the title of "government" and realize their entitlements are coming from taxpayers like me! Or, worse yet, they do understand that and just don't care.

The conundrum, for me, is that I do believe in helping people in need...I just don't want it to come from entitlement programs from our government. I want it to come from charitable organizations. I want it to come from "the church." One theory says that if taxes were cut then people would be more willing to give to charities. Maybe so. But, I also think that basic greed gets in the way of people giving to charitable organizations and the church has to step up efforts of meeting the needs of the "fatherless and the widow" (James 1:27). This is not an indictment of any local church or organization, but rather the entire "church world." I'm just as guilty as the next person, no doubt.

Then, there's the issue of the bailouts. Since when has failure not been an option in America? It's a staple of our economic system. The strongest survive. It's called competition and it has a long track record of producing results. Nobody likes to see companies go under and nobody likes to see jobs lost. But, let me ask, is the artifiical propping up of companies using taxpayers money only delaying the inevitable? If not, it's putting lipstick on a REALLY ugly pig (i.e. Detroit). The problem with propping these companies up is that the government now holds a stake in these corporations and have (see link above - notice it's a Republican this time) begun to exert control over those that have accepted the bailout money. And, we all know how great the governement is at efficiently managing programs don't we? Thank God for Ford and their refusal to take tainted bailout money. I hope when it all clears they are the one auto manufacturer still standing.

Margaret Thatcher supposedly once said "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other peoples' money." Truer words have ever been spoken. Socialism is a downward spiral toward the abyss that removes personal choice, personal responsiblity, and freedom as we know it. We're well down that staircase and picking up steam under the Obamanation we elected to bring us into the depths of hopelessness. God save us.