"There Seems To Be A Loon On Every Limb"

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

"Craziness seems to be the theme of the moment. Since the election, it seems the loons have come out of the woods!"

Extreme environmentalism is no longer acceptable:

In my opinion it is time for our politicians, federal and state, to quit playing the environmental "green card" game in order to appeal to a block of single purposed voters. At this week’s meeting of the County Commission the County Engineer informed the shocked Commissioners that the state DEP had set up procedures for cleaning up the old Jackson East landfill site which would cost the county an estimated $35,000,000! They apparently want the county to fill up the old land fill with tax money.

At a time when the county officials are struggling with massive declines in revenues, trying to maintain an acceptable level of services, and trying to protect the jobs of the county work force, it is also time for the DEP to BACK OFF! I recall last year when a pompous "Environ-crat" from the DEP stomped up to the podium at a Commission meeting and ordered the commission to immediately remove a drain pipe at Compass Lake. The pipe had been installed many years earlier by the county to keep runoff from the roadway from flooding some houses. The obedient commissioners quickly removed the pipe rather than incur the "wrath of the mighty DEP". ….Well, in this current situation I would recommend the DEP be told to "Take An Environmental Hike!"

When I look at the storm retention pond fiasco at our Kindel Lanes Amusement Project, caused by the DEP regulations, the acres and acres of mosquito ponds occupying valuable properties, and listen every night to the hum of the air pumps foolishly blowing air into the land in front of our beautiful Russ House, I am sickened by the amount of unnecessary, foolish waste this uncontrolled agency is causing. If Governor Crist and our state politicians really want to save some budget money they could save millions by cutting out most of these autocratic "goons" which work for the DEP, and concurrently save the county governments, industries, and citizens of our state Billions of dollars by no longer forcing them to spend on unnecessary, mostly foolish requirements their goons dream up.

Hiding evil intentions behind nice sounding words:

This is another tried and proven technique which skilled politicians and bureaucrats often use to dupe the common citizen. A great example of this political ruse is the current legislation which the labor unions are trying to push through the existing political framework they paid for with huge political campaign donations. For years the union organizers have hated the concept of a fair, secret ballot for union election campaigns when they are trying to organize a new labor group. They want to know exactly which employees voted against unionization so they can engage in intimidation, illegal acts, and reprisals against these non supporters. They need to know which arms to break and which houses to burn with their union thugs.

Thus, they are currently sponsoring a misnamed bill called "The Employee Free Choice Act", which would do away with the secret ballot in union organizing elections. Can you believe they have the nerve to include the words "FREE CHOICE" in such a bill? This is political verbal hypocrisy at its best!

Another great example of this political sham system is using the title "Fairness Doctrine" to describe the attempt the liberals are making to change the laws so that the freedom of speech of the conservative talk shows on radio and television would be forced to provide an equal amount of air time for opposing liberal presentations. There is nothing to prevent liberal individuals, commentators (and the Lord knows there are enough liberal commentators and writers) and political figures from launching their own offerings of television and radio shows for the public to enjoy. We do have freedom of speech and freedom of choice in these matters.

However, it seems these types of shows do not entertain and capture large enough of an audience for them to be commercially viable. Just the opposite has proven to be true for the widely acclaimed conservative programming.

In order to overcome this choice which has been made by the listening public, the liberals want to enact laws which would force these conservative programs to include a proportionate amount of liberal bull crap….even though the audience doesn’t want it! And they call this law, "The Fairness Doctrine!"

These examples are about as misleading as those famous Presidential words, "It depends on what your definition of ‘is’…is".

The "Law of the Sea Treaty":
Have you ever heard anything about "The United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty"? This is a treaty sponsored by the U.N.’s inept bureaucracy as an attempt to take over all rights of the surface and bottom of the seas over international waters. An attempt was made to get the U. S. to sign this agreement while Ronald Reagan was president, but he in his wisdom refused to yield to their pressures. That might not be the case with the administration of today.

A vote is nearing in the Senate on this treaty, and it appears Obama’s peers are favoring passage. This would give the United Nations bureaucracy total rights for creating a "UN Seabed Authority which would control all commercial activities above and below the surface of international waters. They would control all shipping lanes, including permission of passage for U.S. military vessels, they would control all international fishing rights, (thus introducing licensing and favoritism on an international scale), and they would gain rights to all mining and oil exploration in these vast areas.

The real purpose is a form of international socialism which would redistribute wealth and technology from the U.S. to third world countries. I encourage you to seek out and sign the petition to "Sink the Law of the Sea Treaty". This petition is being sponsored by Freedom Alliance under the direction of Senator Mitch McConnell.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

· Have you ever wondered why some groups are pushing so hard for amnesty and full citizenship for the twelve million illegal aliens which our inept government has allowed to sneak into our struggling country? Well, it has nothing to do with what is right or wrong, human rights, or jobs that no one else would be willing to do. The only real reason is votes. In a nation where the liberals, union promoters, and social welfare advocates are equal to those who oppose those movements, the addition of another 12,000,000 voters to their side would assure they can remain in power. That is the only reason this group of politicians promote amnesty and citizenship for illegal aliens.

· When our unemployment rates approach 25% as it did during the Great Depression, our attitudes about those jobs which are now taken by the illegal aliens which no "American Worker" would ever want to do….may start to look pretty enticing. Our nation had grown too soft, too spoiled, too aloof in our approach to work by a huge percentage of our population. Before this ordeal is over, many soft hands may have their first calluses.

· I feel we are moving towards a pacifistic, appeasement approach to our relations with known areas of refuge for violent, murderous Islamic extremists who will eventually again attack our citizens and kill thousands or even hundreds of thousands. At first opportunity our investments in our military resources and strengths will be cut, cut and whittled to a minimum force……Then they will come.

· It is my understanding that several construction contractors who were bidding on stimulus funded road and bridge projects were forced to remove their low bids and recalculate them with higher bid quotations, because they were forced to use prevailing union labor rates for the work instead of what they were currently paying their non-union employees. Who will pay this extra cost designed to help the union workers?......You and Me, our Children, and our Grandchildren.

· I recently heard of an area in Oregon which has lost their livelihood, the lumber industry, because of legislation pushed by extreme environmentalists who were concerned about the spotted owl. The loss of jobs from these foolish regulations combined with the current economic downturn has pushed their unemployment rate up to over 24%! A ray of sunshine appeared through this gloom when a large wind farm project wanted to locate in the region. This would bring hundreds of new jobs for construction and then for operation of this project. However, the foolish environmentalists are again using their political clout against this new project, claiming the blades on the wind mills have been known to kill birds!

I THINK IT IS TIME FOR US ALL TO TELL OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS "IT IS TIME TO PUT A HALT TO ALL OF THIS FOOLISH THINKING AND WASTING OF NEEDED MONEY!! Do this and you will surly be "Getting It Right".

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.