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.
I was raised around oil wells. My father was a production foreman for Sun Oil Company for over twenty five years, I grew up in an oil company house located on an oil lease, and I worked in the oil fields as a roustabout during summers while I was in college. I have a good perspective of how wells are drilled, how they function, and what oil smells and tastes like. This background doesn’t qualify me as an expert…but it makes my perspective better than many.
My first observation is that this entire affair has become politicized…as are most things of any importance these days. That is unfortunate because political motives cloud judgment, slow decision making, and create unnecessary discord.
To me, the entire problem should be approached logically on a step-by-step basis. These steps should include:
1. Elimination of the Bureaucracy Factor – This can only be accomplished at the direction of the President. He should execute executive orders which give absolute authority over decisions on the oil spill to one overall director. This director should be able to override the interference from all bureaucracies….including the all powerful, all knowing…EPA.
2. Stopping the leak as quickly as possible – This process must be left to the judgment and execution by the oil industry experts. Drilling relief wells seems to be the only real solution, so we should be sure they have all the assistance they need, and do anything possible to expedite the creation of these wells.
3. Reducing the flow and capturing the outflow at the wellhead- Again, these processes involve industry technology, and should be controlled and executed by experts from the petroleum industry.
4. Recovering or capturing oil at the well site on the ocean surface – When the oil first surfaces it is concentrated in one general area. It is here that it would appear that giant skimmers, tankers, and clean up technology should come into play. We should assure utilization of as many resources as possible from outside sources. All of these processes should be under the direction of a person qualified in these actions.
5. Recovering and capturing oil as it disperses away from the well site – As the oil flows away from the well site it becomes scattered and dispersed in streams of surface contamination. It is here that the boats with the skimmers, burning, and chemical treatment options come into use. All of these activities should be controlled and coordinated under the direction of an expert in these processes.
6. Containment at the shore line - As the oil nears the marsh lands and the beaches, use of sand barriers, containment booms, absorbent materials, beach cleaning crews, and all other reasonable approaches to hold the impact of these contaminants to a minimum should be implemented under the direction of a capable manager.
7. Determining the blame – Once the situation is under control, a complete investigation to determine the exact cause of the well blow out should be conducted. The goal of this investigation should be to determine if British Petroleum took any inappropriate risks, procedures, or actions which contributed to the incident. If they did take short cuts and did not follow all prescribed safeguards for deep water drilling, then they should be held responsible to the ultimate degree. However, if this was merely an unfortunate accident, and they
did follow all prescribed measures, then their degree of responsibility is greatly reduced in the affair.
8. Administering recovery payments for damages- Again, a single specialist should be appointed to assure proper administration of this process. Claims should be broken down into classifications by type, ie,, fishermen, oystermen, shrimpers, restaurants, vendors, lodging, etc. A formula for payment of verified, legitimate claims should be developed for each claim classification grouping. The creation of the slush fund by BP is a good demonstration of their willingness to recognize responsibility in this matter, and to do the morally correct thing. The main effort should be to assure that these funds get to people whose businesses have actually been injured by what has transpired.
9. Improving drilling technology – It is important to learn from your mistakes in life. This blowout demonstrates that additional safeguards are needed in the well drilling technology, especially at these depths. As a final part of this process steps must be taken to carefully review all aspects of the event, and to then implement all possible additional safeguards in order to prevent a reoccurrence.
If they will follow all of these steps…….they will be “Getting It Right”!
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –
● This oil spill and the inability of industry, government, or individuals to properly react to it is a vivid demonstration of how the bureaucracy impedes progress, creates inappropriate delays, adds unnecessary costs, and generally makes everything difficult. This is the terrible situation which businesses encounter every day as they struggle for existence. This over regulation, over involvement of government, is part of what must be corrected in our economy if our nation is to ever again prosper.
● (Always say at least one nice thing…) The crepe myrtles all over Marianna are beautiful right now. They really make the city look nicer….their beauty is almost enough to make up for the ugly court house and the billboards.
● When I went into the Dept. of Revenue office on West Lafayette last week to pay our monthly sales taxes the realization hit me as to how efficiently they had designed their offices. The tax payers go in the right hand door to drop in their tax payments, while over in the waiting area on the front left part of the facility is the waiting area for the welfare recipients. They only have to take the money in on one side and dish it out on the other.
● If things continue on the street projects in Marianna, the City will soon have as many miles of dirt roads as the county does. …I hope this company doing the work does really own a paving machine!
● Several people have asked why gasoline prices are over fifteen cents per gallon higher in Jackson County than they are in Tallahassee. Normally we are lower than they are. People want to know if it is possible our local distributors might be gouging us a little.
● I find it peculiar that the commission used AJAX Builders to analyze the cost of renovation of the old Wal Mart building instead of the local M&W Construction who has renovated many buildings for the school system. Could it be because some in county administration were seeking the highest quote possible in order to steer the commission away from the purchase?
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
It is Time To Lead From the Pulpit
All concerned preachers should get involved in the defense of our values.
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.
I challenge all preachers and clerical leaders who profess to cherish basic Christian values to use their position of leadership and begin to take an active role in promoting those values and the candidates who demonstrate a suitable corresponding belief system. This is a critical time in the destiny of our nation.
Over the past five decades the advocates of the secular progressive philosophy have steadily eroded the Christian ethic of our society. Because of their growing influence, the role of religion as defined and expressed by our founding fathers in our Constitution have been distorted and redefined to reshape our society. Through these actions they have fostered a situation where the word Christmas is being excluded from that wonderful December holiday. They have caused the removal of all religious statues and plaques from public buildings, including the ten commandments.
Their influence has removed all prayer from schools. Prayers can no longer be said before school events, including ball games. Benediction is no longer a part of the graduation process. Students can not even say a blessing out loud before they eat. Our forefathers would be outraged and ashamed of our desecration of their original grand design for our nation.
The nation is almost evenly split on the issue of legalization of abortions. I blame our religious establishment for the fact that half of our citizens accept this practice. If they were actively and regularly dealing with this issue from their pulpits, many of those with positive or neutral attitudes on this subject would be following Christian guidance. They must share in the blame because of their fearful silence.
A strong family structure has always been one of the foundation blocks for our society. We have allowed that critical element to be eroded and almost destroyed during the past fifty years of progressive influence. We have reached a disgraceful point in our disintegration to where over 50% of our new babies are born without a named father. Even the most religious elements have become so brainwashed that they quietly condone “living together”, babies out of wedlock, co-ed dorms in college, shared apartments, open sexual behavior in movies and on television, vulgar music, beautiful young girls with tattooed bodies, sloppy, inappropriate dress, and a lowering of standards in our school systems. All of these are issues which our clergy should be shouting about every Sunday, Wednesday, and the days in between. Instead, too many church leaders meekly sing old religious standards, quote from the bible, and conduct weddings and funerals.
I believe they have a social obligation to
become activists. The real venue for fighting and changing these negatives within our society is through changing the composition of government at all levels. Church leaders should demand that all candidates be given a social litmus test to determine their core values and beliefs. Once the worthwhile are sorted from the worthless, those candidates should be given as much support as possible from the pulpit. If the churches really feel the anti-Christian direction of our nation is a serious problem…then they must become part of the political process. They must become activist.
Many preachers are afraid to speak out. They fear their church might lose its “tax free” status if it becomes politically active. Meanwhile Reverend Wright, the czar of the secular progressive church movement yells out “God Damn America!!” from his pulpit to a throng of excited, chanting, followers.
Congregations should encourage their religious leadership to be proactive during this time of trial and tribulation for our weakening Christian nation. If we idly sit back, we may be enabling these negative elements to shape the beliefs of our children, grandchildren and the generations to follow. We have a responsibility to our heritage to insure necessary values are part of our legacy within our families and within our society.
It was the inactivity of the moral, good elements of the German society that allowed Hitler’s “National Socialist German Worker’s Party” to take control of their government and their society. Inactivity repeated by the Christian elements within our society will enable the progressive philosophy to also misdirect and destroy our America. I challenge all church leadership to rise up, to become leaders from the pulpit, and perform their intended and expected role within our society. They need to become “do-ers” instead of merely being “say-ers”. If they will accept this challenge and begin to identify and defy all negatives within our society….they will be “Getting It Right”.
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
● The terrible oil spill in the Gulf could impact us here in Jackson County. If the black, smelly oil reaches the beautiful sugar beaches of Panama City, and tourist no longer flocked to the area from cities north of here there would be a local effect. If the constant string of vehicles running our speed trap gauntlets on Highway 231 was reduced, the city budgets in Campbellton, Cottondale, and Alford would suffer serious shortfalls.
● (Always say something nice requirement) The 144th is coming home! Let’s all band together to make these heroes feel special when they get here. Help the Chamber in its fund drive for this purpose, and be a face in the crowd when they arrive.
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.
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.
I challenge all preachers and clerical leaders who profess to cherish basic Christian values to use their position of leadership and begin to take an active role in promoting those values and the candidates who demonstrate a suitable corresponding belief system. This is a critical time in the destiny of our nation.
Over the past five decades the advocates of the secular progressive philosophy have steadily eroded the Christian ethic of our society. Because of their growing influence, the role of religion as defined and expressed by our founding fathers in our Constitution have been distorted and redefined to reshape our society. Through these actions they have fostered a situation where the word Christmas is being excluded from that wonderful December holiday. They have caused the removal of all religious statues and plaques from public buildings, including the ten commandments.
Their influence has removed all prayer from schools. Prayers can no longer be said before school events, including ball games. Benediction is no longer a part of the graduation process. Students can not even say a blessing out loud before they eat. Our forefathers would be outraged and ashamed of our desecration of their original grand design for our nation.
The nation is almost evenly split on the issue of legalization of abortions. I blame our religious establishment for the fact that half of our citizens accept this practice. If they were actively and regularly dealing with this issue from their pulpits, many of those with positive or neutral attitudes on this subject would be following Christian guidance. They must share in the blame because of their fearful silence.
A strong family structure has always been one of the foundation blocks for our society. We have allowed that critical element to be eroded and almost destroyed during the past fifty years of progressive influence. We have reached a disgraceful point in our disintegration to where over 50% of our new babies are born without a named father. Even the most religious elements have become so brainwashed that they quietly condone “living together”, babies out of wedlock, co-ed dorms in college, shared apartments, open sexual behavior in movies and on television, vulgar music, beautiful young girls with tattooed bodies, sloppy, inappropriate dress, and a lowering of standards in our school systems. All of these are issues which our clergy should be shouting about every Sunday, Wednesday, and the days in between. Instead, too many church leaders meekly sing old religious standards, quote from the bible, and conduct weddings and funerals.
I believe they have a social obligation to
become activists. The real venue for fighting and changing these negatives within our society is through changing the composition of government at all levels. Church leaders should demand that all candidates be given a social litmus test to determine their core values and beliefs. Once the worthwhile are sorted from the worthless, those candidates should be given as much support as possible from the pulpit. If the churches really feel the anti-Christian direction of our nation is a serious problem…then they must become part of the political process. They must become activist.
Many preachers are afraid to speak out. They fear their church might lose its “tax free” status if it becomes politically active. Meanwhile Reverend Wright, the czar of the secular progressive church movement yells out “God Damn America!!” from his pulpit to a throng of excited, chanting, followers.
Congregations should encourage their religious leadership to be proactive during this time of trial and tribulation for our weakening Christian nation. If we idly sit back, we may be enabling these negative elements to shape the beliefs of our children, grandchildren and the generations to follow. We have a responsibility to our heritage to insure necessary values are part of our legacy within our families and within our society.
It was the inactivity of the moral, good elements of the German society that allowed Hitler’s “National Socialist German Worker’s Party” to take control of their government and their society. Inactivity repeated by the Christian elements within our society will enable the progressive philosophy to also misdirect and destroy our America. I challenge all church leadership to rise up, to become leaders from the pulpit, and perform their intended and expected role within our society. They need to become “do-ers” instead of merely being “say-ers”. If they will accept this challenge and begin to identify and defy all negatives within our society….they will be “Getting It Right”.
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
● The terrible oil spill in the Gulf could impact us here in Jackson County. If the black, smelly oil reaches the beautiful sugar beaches of Panama City, and tourist no longer flocked to the area from cities north of here there would be a local effect. If the constant string of vehicles running our speed trap gauntlets on Highway 231 was reduced, the city budgets in Campbellton, Cottondale, and Alford would suffer serious shortfalls.
● (Always say something nice requirement) The 144th is coming home! Let’s all band together to make these heroes feel special when they get here. Help the Chamber in its fund drive for this purpose, and be a face in the crowd when they arrive.
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.
Friday, June 11, 2010
“How I Became So Conservative, Opinionated, and Anti-Government”
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.
I thought some of our readers might be interested in how I evolved into an ultra conservative, government hating, activist who spews venom at the bureaucracy and political elite at every opportunity. People with attitudes like mine are not born that way….they are formed after decades of pain and suffering at the hands of the SYSTEM.
I am not a product of my home and childhood political environment. My father was a staunch Roosevelt Democrat. He and mom had struggled through the depression, and never forgot their experiences of that era. While my sister was a baby, they lived in a tent with a dirt floor in the back yard of a friend’s house. Dad finally got a job with Sun Oil Company, became a district foreman, and later enjoyed a typical middle class lifestyle.
Dad always wanted me to be an engineer, so I ended up going to college at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. I chose Industrial Engineering as a field of study. After all, there would always be “industry” which needed those skills. (Today I can see that I should have instead taken City Planning, or Government Management, or at least Civil Engineering.)
After college I entered the Air Force, did my duty, tried to become an air force pilot, had a slight vision defect and never qualified, so I finally separated from the service. I then went to work for a small consulting engineering firm near Atlanta. The year was 1965, and my starting salary was an astounding $8500 per year…my wife Judy and I were suddenly rich.
Up to this point I had little or no interest in politics, government activities, or anything else which was going on. The Viet Nam War had the country split into hawks and doves, the “hippies” were a weird group of dope smoking young tramps, and I was totally focused on family, career, and getting ahead.
During this era I do remember that I was a hawk, favoring an aggressive approach in Viet Nam…until the end neared and it became obvious that the entire affair was political, and our leadership was not really serious about the effort.
Also during this time, my work frequently caused me to deal with industrial unions in client plants. I was sickened by the level of corruption, arrogance, and incompetence of their leaders, which caused me to begin to develop a disdain for what they were doing as they pretended to be looking out for their members, while in reality they were really only interested in sucking monthly dues out of their pay checks. I also remember my fears of the impact on companies from the unions and their “bought” politicians as they pushed the minimum wage to $ .90 / hr., $1.25/ hr., $3.35 / hr., and upward. I could see that it caused all prices to go up correspondingly and the workers really were no better off. It was about the unions fooling their members into thinking they were helping them, and the politicians going along in order to get union member votes and union campaign donations. We had protective tariffs, so prices went up and the businesses were not really hurt by the increased cost of labor.
By the time 1972 arrived I was the #2 man in the consulting company, and had a posh corner office on the 23rd floor of a downtown Atlanta skyscraper, looking down on Peachtree Street. For some reason I had always had a strong entrepreneurial drive, so when an opportunity came along to put together a financial package with a couple of partners and start an apparel factory somewhere in the Southeast, I decided to take the chance. I was 32 years old, and I felt that if the venture failed, I could still put a meaningful career together somewhere. The economy was booming and opportunities were plentiful.
I visited numerous towns in Georgia and Florida seeking a suitable building, a good labor force, and the best deal I could find. I finally visited Jackson County, at the request of a young, aggressive chamber executive in Marianna, Bill Stanton. That visit resulted in me deciding to start a small, 100 employee factory in the old Liddon Mercantile building in Sneads. (A couple of years later we acquired the Warnaco factory in Marianna which had announced its closure, and began operating two plants.) At that time factories were already in operation in Marianna, Cottondale, Graceville, Donalsonville, Chipley, Bonifay, Quincy, Havana, Malone, and Cottonwood, Alabama….thus leaving only the Sneads-Chattahoochee area as a possibility. (Remember all of those plants, all of those jobs and payrolls?)
It was at this time I began to encounter government for the first time. Codes, “inspectorcrats”, bureaucratic generated delays, government forms, government reports, state licenses, city license, permit fees, monthly reports, quarterly reports, annual reports, weekly tax deposits, audits, property taxes, intangible taxes, unemployment compensation taxes, more audits, and on…and on….and on. All of this because you were willing to risk your life’s savings to create two factories which produced products, put three hundred people to work and create a local payroll of over $40,000 per week (In 1970 dollars).
After ten years or so of this unnecessary government intrusion into our business, I was ready to sell to a larger company when the opportunity came along.
I next resumed my engineering consulting work, and teamed up with an old college roommate and we formed an international consulting company. We worked with hundreds of other manufacturing companies as they struggled to survive amidst a hostile industrial climate. At one point I was President of a national manufacturing association, the American Apparel Manufacturers Association. I was in this position when debates were raging about NAFTA, GATT, and Favored Nation Trade Status for China. Clinton was President, but both political parties were in favor of these trade deals and the concept of “free trade” and “global markets”. The legislation passed, and by just a few signatures being signed, the industrial future of our nation was doomed.
Over the next ten years, 1995 to 2005, I watched helplessly as the huge apparel, textile, and other labor intensive industries which employed over two million people and included almost 20,000 factories across our nation packed up and moved to other parts of the world. I saw fine, well managed, professional, humanitarian, businesses forced into closure as a flood of imports conquered our market. I saw China capture a major portion of these lost jobs and factories and read of the tremendous growth as their new industrial revolution began.
Today I see our economy in near depression, with no real hope of ever creating enough jobs to employ our actual labor force. I find myself an Industrial Engineer in a nation with no Industry. It was by accident I happened to become involved with the TIMES.
The income here is certainly no match for what I experienced when we had a need for Industrial Engineers in America…but the TIMES does give me a chance to vent my anger, frustration, and the wisdom I acquired by seeing all of this occur. My perspective helps me “Get It Right”. I have seen thirty years of mismanagement of our nation, and I want to hold those who were involved accountable for the results. “I’m Mad As Hell…And I’m Not Going To Take It Any More!!”
Some of the lessons I learned include:
● No matter how smart or professional you are in running your business…you are never in full control of your affairs. A bureaucrat or a politician somewhere afar can enact new rules, requirements, or conditions which will forever destroy what you have built.
● Always be careful when you jump on a “bandwagon” and become part of some new movement…..it may be driving towards a cliff.
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
● (Something Nice) I want to express my sympathy to the Superintendent of Schools, Lee Miller and his family for the loss of his Father, Dr. Frank Miller last week. The death occurred while Lee was handling the Sneads commencement, then he had visitation the afternoon before the Graceville and Cottondale evening commencement exercises, then the funeral was the afternoon before the Marianna graduation exercises. I can imagine the strain as he dealt with the trauma of his family situation while looking after the needs of all of the graduates in the county and his busiest work week of the year. Lee said he lost eleven pounds during the week.
“As government at any level grows….liberties, rights and freedoms are diminished.”
(It was announced this week that 20% of the labor U.S. force now is comprised of government employees.)
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.
I thought some of our readers might be interested in how I evolved into an ultra conservative, government hating, activist who spews venom at the bureaucracy and political elite at every opportunity. People with attitudes like mine are not born that way….they are formed after decades of pain and suffering at the hands of the SYSTEM.
I am not a product of my home and childhood political environment. My father was a staunch Roosevelt Democrat. He and mom had struggled through the depression, and never forgot their experiences of that era. While my sister was a baby, they lived in a tent with a dirt floor in the back yard of a friend’s house. Dad finally got a job with Sun Oil Company, became a district foreman, and later enjoyed a typical middle class lifestyle.
Dad always wanted me to be an engineer, so I ended up going to college at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. I chose Industrial Engineering as a field of study. After all, there would always be “industry” which needed those skills. (Today I can see that I should have instead taken City Planning, or Government Management, or at least Civil Engineering.)
After college I entered the Air Force, did my duty, tried to become an air force pilot, had a slight vision defect and never qualified, so I finally separated from the service. I then went to work for a small consulting engineering firm near Atlanta. The year was 1965, and my starting salary was an astounding $8500 per year…my wife Judy and I were suddenly rich.
Up to this point I had little or no interest in politics, government activities, or anything else which was going on. The Viet Nam War had the country split into hawks and doves, the “hippies” were a weird group of dope smoking young tramps, and I was totally focused on family, career, and getting ahead.
During this era I do remember that I was a hawk, favoring an aggressive approach in Viet Nam…until the end neared and it became obvious that the entire affair was political, and our leadership was not really serious about the effort.
Also during this time, my work frequently caused me to deal with industrial unions in client plants. I was sickened by the level of corruption, arrogance, and incompetence of their leaders, which caused me to begin to develop a disdain for what they were doing as they pretended to be looking out for their members, while in reality they were really only interested in sucking monthly dues out of their pay checks. I also remember my fears of the impact on companies from the unions and their “bought” politicians as they pushed the minimum wage to $ .90 / hr., $1.25/ hr., $3.35 / hr., and upward. I could see that it caused all prices to go up correspondingly and the workers really were no better off. It was about the unions fooling their members into thinking they were helping them, and the politicians going along in order to get union member votes and union campaign donations. We had protective tariffs, so prices went up and the businesses were not really hurt by the increased cost of labor.
By the time 1972 arrived I was the #2 man in the consulting company, and had a posh corner office on the 23rd floor of a downtown Atlanta skyscraper, looking down on Peachtree Street. For some reason I had always had a strong entrepreneurial drive, so when an opportunity came along to put together a financial package with a couple of partners and start an apparel factory somewhere in the Southeast, I decided to take the chance. I was 32 years old, and I felt that if the venture failed, I could still put a meaningful career together somewhere. The economy was booming and opportunities were plentiful.
I visited numerous towns in Georgia and Florida seeking a suitable building, a good labor force, and the best deal I could find. I finally visited Jackson County, at the request of a young, aggressive chamber executive in Marianna, Bill Stanton. That visit resulted in me deciding to start a small, 100 employee factory in the old Liddon Mercantile building in Sneads. (A couple of years later we acquired the Warnaco factory in Marianna which had announced its closure, and began operating two plants.) At that time factories were already in operation in Marianna, Cottondale, Graceville, Donalsonville, Chipley, Bonifay, Quincy, Havana, Malone, and Cottonwood, Alabama….thus leaving only the Sneads-Chattahoochee area as a possibility. (Remember all of those plants, all of those jobs and payrolls?)
It was at this time I began to encounter government for the first time. Codes, “inspectorcrats”, bureaucratic generated delays, government forms, government reports, state licenses, city license, permit fees, monthly reports, quarterly reports, annual reports, weekly tax deposits, audits, property taxes, intangible taxes, unemployment compensation taxes, more audits, and on…and on….and on. All of this because you were willing to risk your life’s savings to create two factories which produced products, put three hundred people to work and create a local payroll of over $40,000 per week (In 1970 dollars).
After ten years or so of this unnecessary government intrusion into our business, I was ready to sell to a larger company when the opportunity came along.
I next resumed my engineering consulting work, and teamed up with an old college roommate and we formed an international consulting company. We worked with hundreds of other manufacturing companies as they struggled to survive amidst a hostile industrial climate. At one point I was President of a national manufacturing association, the American Apparel Manufacturers Association. I was in this position when debates were raging about NAFTA, GATT, and Favored Nation Trade Status for China. Clinton was President, but both political parties were in favor of these trade deals and the concept of “free trade” and “global markets”. The legislation passed, and by just a few signatures being signed, the industrial future of our nation was doomed.
Over the next ten years, 1995 to 2005, I watched helplessly as the huge apparel, textile, and other labor intensive industries which employed over two million people and included almost 20,000 factories across our nation packed up and moved to other parts of the world. I saw fine, well managed, professional, humanitarian, businesses forced into closure as a flood of imports conquered our market. I saw China capture a major portion of these lost jobs and factories and read of the tremendous growth as their new industrial revolution began.
Today I see our economy in near depression, with no real hope of ever creating enough jobs to employ our actual labor force. I find myself an Industrial Engineer in a nation with no Industry. It was by accident I happened to become involved with the TIMES.
The income here is certainly no match for what I experienced when we had a need for Industrial Engineers in America…but the TIMES does give me a chance to vent my anger, frustration, and the wisdom I acquired by seeing all of this occur. My perspective helps me “Get It Right”. I have seen thirty years of mismanagement of our nation, and I want to hold those who were involved accountable for the results. “I’m Mad As Hell…And I’m Not Going To Take It Any More!!”
Some of the lessons I learned include:
● No matter how smart or professional you are in running your business…you are never in full control of your affairs. A bureaucrat or a politician somewhere afar can enact new rules, requirements, or conditions which will forever destroy what you have built.
● Always be careful when you jump on a “bandwagon” and become part of some new movement…..it may be driving towards a cliff.
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
● (Something Nice) I want to express my sympathy to the Superintendent of Schools, Lee Miller and his family for the loss of his Father, Dr. Frank Miller last week. The death occurred while Lee was handling the Sneads commencement, then he had visitation the afternoon before the Graceville and Cottondale evening commencement exercises, then the funeral was the afternoon before the Marianna graduation exercises. I can imagine the strain as he dealt with the trauma of his family situation while looking after the needs of all of the graduates in the county and his busiest work week of the year. Lee said he lost eleven pounds during the week.
“As government at any level grows….liberties, rights and freedoms are diminished.”
(It was announced this week that 20% of the labor U.S. force now is comprised of government employees.)
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.
Friday, June 4, 2010
“Much Ado About Anything & Everything
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.
“Much ado about nothing”…that famous line from Shakespeare aptly describes the ridiculous reaction from the liberal left elements of our society and some over-defensive Hispanics in regards to the Arizona border enforcement law. The level of clamor, incited by a politically motivated administration in Washington, has risen to a ridiculous level,….while the majority of American citizens agree with the need and intent of the law.
I commend Arizona Governor Jan Brewer for having the nerve and resolve to openly reveal the lack of action and caring of the Federal Government in relation to the enforcement of our immigration laws. She has exposed their intent to allow as many illegal entrants as possible to enter our country, with a plan to eventually grant them all citizenship and thus voting rights. With this new group of voting supporters, the liberal left can then permanently tilt the balance of voting in their favor, and thus retain power over our government. It is all about politics…not human rights!
Governor Brewer took a brave stand, looking out for the needs of the citizens of Arizona, at least the legal citizens. Since enacting the law which will allow police to check citizenship as they perform their duties, Brewer has been subjected to demonstrations, outrage, and protests from the liberal left, the massed illegal element, and even the President of Mexico. She has bravely stood her ground against this assault, and thus deserves our respect and support.
How can our government, our law officials, and our citizens condone and even encourage selective enforcement of our laws? A law as serious as violating our borders and illegally sneaking into our country must be enforced….. It is a sad but true statement that under our system of law enforcement you can illegally cross our border, as long as you have your seat belt fastened while you do it! That is a terrible situation!
The degree of uproar and the amount of support from the left are indicators of the tremendous split which exists within the American society at this moment in history. While we engage in our daily routines here in our sheltered, largely conservative environment, we tend to believe that the rest of our nation basically has the same beliefs and values. These types of demonstrations vividly show we may not be the majority.
We must all remain active and involved as we approach mid term elections. If we do not regain control of our government now…… I fear our nation faces a dark and sinister future. We must “Get it Right”!
Rudiments:
Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
●The Marianna Business Community and the Marianna City Commission had a great workshop on the city sign ordinance last week. During that meeting there was a good, open dialogue in which the businesses expressed their problems with the existing restrictions. Hopefully, the results of this communication will be positive, and will begin to heal the wounds and conflicts of the past between the city government and the business community.
●Many of the problems presented in the sign ordinance workshop could and should be resolved through the variance process instead of through modification of the codes. However, the existing commission is controlled by a voting block which has traditionally refused to ever grant variances….justified or not. That creates a rigid, inflexible body of law which thus leads to conflict and discord. This condition can be remedied by change of practice by the Commission….or by change of commissioners by the public.
●This disaster in the Gulf will ultimately result in improved safeguards to prevent reoccurrence of the technological problem which allowed the blowout to occur. Additionally, standby booms and fire towers along the shorelines will be enforced by inspectors. However, it is worth noting that this leak would have been easy to seal if the well had been located in 200 ft. of water instead of waters a mile deep. It is located in the deep water because of environmentalist caused restrictions….so they are indirectly complicit in the cause of the problem.
●(Saying something nice) The Memorial Day ceremony was very well organized and presented. A large crowd of patriots turned out for the event, and all came away with a good feeling about America. May God bless the souls of all of those brave citizens who died defending our beliefs.
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.
“Much ado about nothing”…that famous line from Shakespeare aptly describes the ridiculous reaction from the liberal left elements of our society and some over-defensive Hispanics in regards to the Arizona border enforcement law. The level of clamor, incited by a politically motivated administration in Washington, has risen to a ridiculous level,….while the majority of American citizens agree with the need and intent of the law.
I commend Arizona Governor Jan Brewer for having the nerve and resolve to openly reveal the lack of action and caring of the Federal Government in relation to the enforcement of our immigration laws. She has exposed their intent to allow as many illegal entrants as possible to enter our country, with a plan to eventually grant them all citizenship and thus voting rights. With this new group of voting supporters, the liberal left can then permanently tilt the balance of voting in their favor, and thus retain power over our government. It is all about politics…not human rights!
Governor Brewer took a brave stand, looking out for the needs of the citizens of Arizona, at least the legal citizens. Since enacting the law which will allow police to check citizenship as they perform their duties, Brewer has been subjected to demonstrations, outrage, and protests from the liberal left, the massed illegal element, and even the President of Mexico. She has bravely stood her ground against this assault, and thus deserves our respect and support.
How can our government, our law officials, and our citizens condone and even encourage selective enforcement of our laws? A law as serious as violating our borders and illegally sneaking into our country must be enforced….. It is a sad but true statement that under our system of law enforcement you can illegally cross our border, as long as you have your seat belt fastened while you do it! That is a terrible situation!
The degree of uproar and the amount of support from the left are indicators of the tremendous split which exists within the American society at this moment in history. While we engage in our daily routines here in our sheltered, largely conservative environment, we tend to believe that the rest of our nation basically has the same beliefs and values. These types of demonstrations vividly show we may not be the majority.
We must all remain active and involved as we approach mid term elections. If we do not regain control of our government now…… I fear our nation faces a dark and sinister future. We must “Get it Right”!
Rudiments:
Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
●The Marianna Business Community and the Marianna City Commission had a great workshop on the city sign ordinance last week. During that meeting there was a good, open dialogue in which the businesses expressed their problems with the existing restrictions. Hopefully, the results of this communication will be positive, and will begin to heal the wounds and conflicts of the past between the city government and the business community.
●Many of the problems presented in the sign ordinance workshop could and should be resolved through the variance process instead of through modification of the codes. However, the existing commission is controlled by a voting block which has traditionally refused to ever grant variances….justified or not. That creates a rigid, inflexible body of law which thus leads to conflict and discord. This condition can be remedied by change of practice by the Commission….or by change of commissioners by the public.
●This disaster in the Gulf will ultimately result in improved safeguards to prevent reoccurrence of the technological problem which allowed the blowout to occur. Additionally, standby booms and fire towers along the shorelines will be enforced by inspectors. However, it is worth noting that this leak would have been easy to seal if the well had been located in 200 ft. of water instead of waters a mile deep. It is located in the deep water because of environmentalist caused restrictions….so they are indirectly complicit in the cause of the problem.
●(Saying something nice) The Memorial Day ceremony was very well organized and presented. A large crowd of patriots turned out for the event, and all came away with a good feeling about America. May God bless the souls of all of those brave citizens who died defending our beliefs.
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.
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