If I were the king of the world

If I was the king of the world, I tell you what I'd do.

When in the course of message board events you reach a critical mass of things that need fixing, you must make a paradigm shift. Today's shift will be in fundamentally readjusting our nation back a notch or two. As the momentary king of the world, I will make these changes and then abdicate the throne with the understanding that it may all come back to the way it is today. But, for now, just doing a soft reset should suffice.

Big Change number one: The sixteenth amendment is hearby removed and relegated to the dust bins of history. The income tax is the single largest destroyer of personal liberty and abuse of power in this nation. Where else are your required to provide your full name, ssn, address and other contact information? You must also disclose what you earn, what you do, how you invest, what or how much you give to charity, who your mortgage is with and how much interest your paid. This information readily tells anyone how much your home is worth, and all of the above information is required on every member of your household as well. Additionally, the IRS is able to enforce this abomination using tactics not authorised anywhere else. This is not personal liberty, it is Big Brother, and only a step away from the Gestapo. I will place the Fairtax into operation for a period of four years so as to collect the data to prove or disprove its' value.


Big Change number two: The seventeenth amendment is gone, history, dust, archives, fuggetaboutit. Our founders intended the voices heard at the National level were to represent the states and the people. While there is no longer a possibility of open revolt or secession, that doesn't mean the state voices are redundant. Each state is a separate entity in and of itself and is able to provide a unique perspective to every issue. How the states select Senators is thier call. They may elect them via the citizenry, they may appoint them via the legislature or the Governor, they can make it a hereditary office for all I care. But without the seventeenth the states are no longer required to hold a vote of the citizenry unless that is the choice of the state. The House will speak for the people, and the Senate will speak for the States with the Govenors voice.

Big Change number three: From now on Congress will be in session all year long just like the US Military. Each Congressman will earn 2.5 days of paid vacation each month for a total of thirty days per year. Just like the .mil congress will work M-F taking weekends and holidays off when the workload permits. Additionally, Congress will draw no pension until the member in question has a minimum of twenty years service at which point they can draw fifty percent of thier base pay.

Big Change number four: All legislation generated by Congress must meet the following criteria: Every bill must clearly and openly reference the specific passage of the US Constitution that authorises the Federal Government to take this action. Additionally every amendment to the bill must also reference the Constitution and justify why it is not a separate bill in its' own right. For example. A bill to appropriate monies for national defense must explain the authorising article, and cannot have abortion or immigration provisions included therein.

Big Change number five: All legislation introduced must be voted on in the order it was introduced notwithstanding emergency bills which at the discretion of the Speaker or the President and will be voted on immediately. No more bills being passed over because the dominant party doesn't wish to discuss them.

Big Change number six: All presidential appointments requiring congressional advice and consent will receive an up or down vote within thirty days.

Big Change number seven: All agencies within the US Government will be screened for constitutional relevance and thier continued existence justified using that criteria. For example, if there is no provision for the Department of Education constitutionally speaking, then it will be drawn down over a period of time until it is gone.

Big Change number eight: The rules and codes of ethical conduct shall be removed from the control of congress and vested with the people. Immediately a national debate over what constitutes "ethics" within the body of the .gov will convene. The citizens will vote upon a "Code of Conduct" and it will be ratified by the states using the process in place for ratification of Constitutional Amendments. Further all cases of ethical questions will be decided by a panel of citizens drafted by lottery for that purpose. They will serve a four year term and hold exclusive authority to take action with respect to questions of ethics in regard to Congress.

Big Change number nine: No member of Congress shall depart from the United States, or its' territories without the advice and consent of the President of the United States.

Big Change number ten: Congress shall no longer be authorised to craft legislation which exempts itself as a body from being subject to the same.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

NCAA Playoffs.....

I love Football. IF you are reading from outside the USA I am talking about American Football of course. But, I hate the NCAA division I bubbas. I mean, when are these bozos going to figure out that they need a structured playoff leading to a national title? It's a joke, it's a farce. It's the one election in America that needs to be scrapped.

The pros have two seasons. The regular season where you vie for a playoff berth, and then the playoffs that lead to the Superbowl. Here in Texas, each High School team belongs to a district based on school size. Districts lead to Regions which go to Areas and then to a state championship. It is structured so that there isn't any ambiguity.

Today, my daughters HS (the undisputed district champion) faced another district champ for the regional title. We lost unfortunately. But, we don't have to wait till Monday to have a bloody election among the coaches and (of all things) sports writers to pick one.

I find it amazing that the NCAA still cannot get the picture and improve it's program. This year the ranked teams were upset at a rate of at least one a week. I am watching OU whip up on Mizzou right now. Mizzou is ranked number 1, yet OU is favored to win the Big12. But, a national title? The commentators are arguing now over who might get a BCS berth.

Just say no, to elections and software.

Demand a playoff system.

Your country needs you, right now.

BCS Oklahoma Mizzou Champion Bowl+Championship+Series National+Champion Big+12+Champion Football NCAA+College+Football

Tis The Season

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season is on us. It's amazing how in no time flat we went from zero to shopping. Stores opened on Black Friday as early as 0400 local time and my seventeen year old kid had to be at work at 0630. She personally made over 13K at the register of the little specialty store she works at. She personally saw the lines of people who literally camped out at WalMart (across the street) in freezing weather to catch the 0500 sale. And all the while, the background music was playing "Here comes Santa Clause". Oh what a world we live in.

I'm not complaining mind you. It's been that way longer than I have been alive. But, every year I react differently. This year I am leaning more toward trying to demonstrate that Christmas can be about peace, love, family, and celebration without going into debt.

I seriously would like for everyone who reads this to please contact your local Marine Corps Reserve Unit and ask how you can help with the Toy's for Tots program. In a nutshell, T4T is a program designed to help kids. It doesn't matter your views on poor folks/welfare/poverty or Republican/Democrat. It doesn't matter if you believe that folks make thier own situation or not. Not one kid I've ever met chose to be poor enough that Mom and Dad could not buy a toy for Christmas.

There are going to be some readers who will say that any charity program is a scam. I tend to agree in a lot of cases. But, during my career in the Marines, I personally worked on Toy drives a total of six times. As the Active Duty personnel assigned to keep the reserve center moving and grooving, it was one of our highlights. In this case the work was tough, but the reward came when we actually handed out the toys. So, even if the program has or had issues at the national level, I can personally vouch for it at the local level.

So, here is your mission...... Locate, Close With, and Acquire as many new, unwrapped, unopened toys as you can and get with the Marines in your area to help make Christmas a brighter time one kid at a time.

Semper Fi,
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Marines Marine+Corps+Reserve Toys+For+Tots Christmas

Fifteen Minutes on Veterans Day

Andy Warhol I think is the one who said that everyone would be famous for about fifteen minutes. I think I am up to minute two.

Shameless Plug........... And I got a letter of commendation from a city council member for it as well. As today is Veterans Day I thought it would be appropriate.

Salutes to all. If you served then you get my thanks because you paved the way for my success. Life is sometimes hard and you physically took the brunt of it when I was a little kid.

IF you are the family member of one who served then you get my thanks for tolerating the unique stresses that accompany being in that position. I know that I could not have done what had to be done without my wife, parents, and kids being as strong as they were.

It is tough in these days to observe and no longer be a participant. Guess I need classes on aging gracefully.

Awesome Weekend

Last Weekend was awesome...... So awesome that I just haven't been able to blog it until now.

For starters, a two day weekend is a rarity for me. I had two whole days and so we drove six hours to the Texas State Fair in Dallas. I always like fairs for the food and the displays. I am not big on rides that get put up and taken down a lot. For rides I will hit DizzyLand or SixFlags etc.

I love checking out the vendors. You get to see the weirdest gadgets. The venerable super chamois is still selling on the fair. The Oklahoma State Fair (1983) is where I got the Ginzu knives still in use. This year we saw the incredible home sushi maker, the rubber broom, t-shirts galore, three different types of miracle car wax, and let's not forget there was also the wear-ever cook wear.

No fair is complete without exhibitions of every type. There is the midway exhibitions of the two headed croc, the seven foot tall amazon, the dwarf bearded female etc. Then of course there was livestock, art, music, etc.

We missed performances by the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps by one day. But, we saw the North Texas Caledonian Pipes & Drums. Awesome.

After a full day at the fair we needed a place to stay. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas. This is a great hotel. Even greater was we followed William Shatners advice and named our price. The deal was so sweet that I am afraid to tell it. Oh hell. We got the room for seventy bux and normally goes for between one and two hundred a night depending on specific days.

Capping it off was visiting with my wife's brother and seeing nieces and nephews that we haven't seen in years. We drank some beer, ate dinners at Mimis, and caught up on current events. The Jambalaya was awesome and the bread was in my daughters words "to die for".

Now I have to find something this weekend to top all that. Stay tuned.

weekend texas+state+fair mimis+cafe