SOME HAVE LOST THEIR MORAL COMPASS

As March 2010 comes to a close, I ran across a shocking article in USA Today. In the Nationline column the following information was disclosed:

“Cash for good behavior: Mixed results

"An experimental program that paid out $14 million to poor New Yorkers for good choices, such as getting health insurance and attending parent-teacher conferences, reported mixed results for its first two years. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said more people saw the dentist, established bank accounts and stopped using costly check-cashing services because of Opportunity NYC Family Rewards.

The rewards had no effect on school attendance for young children or low-performing high schoolers. The program, financed by private donations, paid about $3,000 a year per participating family.”

I know that your Commander is getting old. I recognize, too, that I am considered quite conservative, but this kind of a welfare program is simply nuts. If money is the only factor that will motivate proper behavior and life choices, then the recipients have totally lost their compass.

Fortunately public dollars were not used to pay these poor dysfunctional families, but isn’t this another program brought forth by the welfare entitlement policies long promoted by big government? Based upon Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s comments, he apparently endorses this program, and I say shame on you for participating in another “pay for play” vote buying welfare program. Apparently all the crazy people are not in the mental institutions, but I already knew that prior to reading this article.

COMMANDER GRANGER

OBAMA/KARZAI - ONE FRUSTRATED MAN'S OPINION

Much has already been written about President Barack Hussein Obama’s recent secret trip to Afghanistan. In my opinion most of the stories have been extremely favorable to the President, but I beg to differ.

While our President basks in the glory of his recent signing of the Health Care legislation, secured with one of the most brazen examples of political manipulation, Obama quickly jumped on his personal toy, Air Force One, in the dark of night to deflect the growing criticism of his administration. Let no one be mistaken, I strongly believe that this trip was a carefully orchestrated diversion to place Obama in a favorable light with the support of a biased world-wide press.

I believe that Obama’s handlers must have been up nights carefully crafting this super-secret trip as a way to divert attention from the growing discontent to the signing of his Health Care Bill. Just consider for a moment that Candidate Obama promised CHANGE and TRANSPARENCY along with strict adherence to fiscal conservation, and all those promises have clearly been abrogated. The public is increasingly up in arms and their discontent grows by the day, which is supported by many nationwide polls.

As a cunning ploy of TRANSFERENCE, not to be confused with TRANSPARENCY, Obama’s henchmen hatched a plan to secretly fly him on Air Force One for a 13 hour flight each way to one of the most dangerous places in the world so he could give a tongue-lashing to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. History will prove at some date in the distant future that this meeting was really a joke with two of the most corrupt leaders on the planet posturing for television cameras.

For just one minute consider the millions of dollars spent on this charade from our already depleted treasury. How much carbon did Air Force One place into Al Gore’s globally warmed unfriendly skies? Consider just how many individuals and air planes were dispatched in the effort to cover Obama’s safety? Imagine just what the consequences would have been had Obama’s plane been shot out of the skies and Vice-President Joe (prince of the four letter word) Biden became our President. Additionally, consider the hypocrisy of Obama admonishing Karzai about corruption while Karzai is laughing all the way to the hidden stash of American taxpayer dollars sitting in his vault.

We are now told that President Karzai will be visiting Washington in mid-May. So, why couldn’t that trip have been moved forward saving the American taxpayers one hell of a lot of money, not to mention less polluted skies since Karzai’s entourage is likely much smaller than Obama’s. With the United States fighting and dying in a War to save the Afghanis and their puppet government, we certainly have the right and clout to tell Karzai to come see Obama in Washington.

This whole thing makes me sick when I see the fawning liberal leaning main-stream media falling all over themselves praising Obama for going “into harm’s way” to salute and support our brave fighting women and men. One must wonder just what our very brave young warriors are really saying about the Hollywood production they were subjected to just before he stepped back on Air Force One to fly safely home to his elite enclave in the White House.

That trip was one of the slickest examples of TRANSFERENCE I have ever seen and it would make a New York City Madison Avenue advertising executive smile with satisfaction for having pulled off another great scam.

I hope you enjoyed it, because we paid for what was nothing more than a public relations stunt.

COMMANDER GRANGER

ANOTHER I WISH I SAID THAT

Recently I received an email from a good friend in Chicago and he sent this wonderful quote from an unknown author. If I knew who said the following I certainly would be proud to give that individual the proper credit. The best I can do without that knowledge is to praise and endorse the author’s work.

“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.” - Author Unknown

Well said.

COMMANDER GRANGER

FOOD FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

We are told that “Spring Has Sprung”, but the current temperatures in northern Indiana certainly do not support that fact. Thus a nice warm bowl of soup would surely hit the spot. Each year my wife and I venture to the Low Country of South Carolina, and have become big fans of their marvelous Southern cooking. Taking that into consideration I want to suggest a recipe for your enjoyment throughout the year.

Source: Sea Island Seasons – A Collection of Favorite Recipes by the Beaufort County Open Land Trust.

SHE-CRAB SOUP

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 quart rich milk
2 cups crabmeat plus roe
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Salt, to taste
½ teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon mace
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup or more, sherry
1 cup cream, whipped
Parsley, garnish

Melt butter in a bain de marie or double boiler and blend with flour until smooth. Add milk and whisk until smooth. Next add crab, roe, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, mace, onion powder and garlic powder. Cook over very low heat for 30 minutes. Add sherry. Serve in bowls topped with unsweetened whipped cream and parsley. Serves 4-6.

Now that is one fine bowl of soup, and there are several variations, such as great ones served at the Spring Island Golf House; or at the Crazy Crab, Old Fort Pub, or Charlie’s Crab on Hilton Head Island; also at the Dockside Restaurant in Port Royal.

Another She-Crab Soup recipe came to my attention from my daughter, who is a big fan of famous Savannah cook Paula Deen, but I personally have a problem suggesting a recipe that starts with one 2-pound Fish head (preferably Grouper), eyes, gills, and scales removed. Paula’s great recipe is far more complicated than the one listed above, but it is mighty tasty, too. Paula’s recipe can be found in her “Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook.”

While on the subject of food, let me suggest one more offering that comes from my Spring Island Low Country cousin Tom Gasparini’s personal recipe book. He calls it Fettuccini Gasparini, and it is a quick tummy warming specialty of his. This was a big hit when his son was young.

FETTUCCINI GASPARINI

1 box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, prepared
4 frankfurters boiled and cut into small pieces
Mix and serve piping hot

From time to time I will share some of my personal favorite recipes for your consideration and enjoyment. Happy eating, because it is one of the great joys of life while on Earth assuming you do it with some sane degree of restraint. I have no firm data about the consumption of food in the Hereafter, so enjoy it while you can.

COMMANDER GRANGER

MY FAILED INITIATIVE

Well I have supported another failed initiative and today the Health Care Bill has been signed into law. There is absolutely nothing to be accomplished by my crying over spilled milk, but I continue to be totally concerned about the sad state of our mounting fiscal responsibilities.

Only time will tell the full details of the Health Care legislation that surely included yet unreported special insider deals that brought in the few required votes to assure passage. Corruption rules in Washington, and the American people should be ashamed of our reputation world-wide for the disgraceful state of our governance. How can we tell other people how to run their governments when we cannot run our own?

Now we learn that the President, after signing the Health Care Bill, will take off tomorrow on Air Force One to the Midwest (Iowa, I believe) to bask in the glow of his accomplishment. I once thought that candidate Obama had promised fiscal responsibility as the core of his administration, but again we have all been misled because he keeps finding ways to waste and spend our precious tax dollars. Just why can he not stay in Washington to brag about his blatant management style and not spend unnecessary revenue to fly all over country to flaunt his position?

Be prepared for this administration to have not learned a lesson from this last close vote and to now proceed quickly to jam immigration reform down our throats. It is coming and you are not going to like it one bit, but if Obama is successful again, it will be another action to buy votes and assure the expansion of Big Government and his deceitful policies of One World Governance and his role as the savior of that World.

For your Commander, November cannot come fast enough. Winning an increased number of seats in the House and Senate away from the Democrat Party will not come easily. While I have verbally supported the Tea Party movement in the past, I am now committed to becoming far more active in my support, because that may be the only way to save any remnants of our Constitution. Today the Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves, because the all-knowing lecturer of Constitutional Law from the University of Chicago has again disregarded and trampled on our Constitution.

May God save the United States of America along with the previous silent majority! It is still not too late to save our country, but we cannot afford to keep losing many more battles to the bad guys. One Republican Congresswomen said today, “Whenever we increase the beauracracy we are losing a little freedom.” Your Commander says, “Whenever we are increasing beaurocracy we are losing a LOT of freedom.”

COMMANDER GRANGER

EQUITABLE TREATMENT BY CONGRESS

Back in October of 2009 I was viewing television when then host of ABC World News, Charles Gibson, asked President Barack Hussein Obama, “Mr. President, will you and your family give up your current health insurance and join the new ‘Universal Health Care Program’ that the rest of us will receive?” There was stoney silence as Obama ignored the question.

That response has lead to dramatically growing concern about the fairness of the proposed coverage under the president’s long promoted Health Care Legislation. Passage of the Bill is anticipated within the next few days and 61% of my fellow citizens do not like what they hear. I believe that a majority of the American voting public would prefer to scrap the Bill and start over including some specific language addressing Tort Reform, and eliminating the PORK and special Pay for Play deals, i.e., the so called “Louisiana Purchase.”

This has all lead to growing suggestions that a proposed amendment be made to our Constitution, and I have seen emails urging passage of a 28th Amendment that says:

“Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.”

Were that amendment to pass, the entire tenor of a Health Care Bill would change dramatically, and would certainly have a substantially easier road to acceptance. As has been said time and time again in recent weeks…”The American people are mad as hell and they do not want to take it anymore.” Thomas Jefferson said, “When the people fear their government there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” I agree completely and it is far past the time for the government to begin fearing the electorate.

Here are a few more appropriate quotes that have met the test of time:

“If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?” – Thomas
Jefferson.

“The American republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” – Alexis de Tocqueville

“We have the right as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money.” – Davy Crockett

“Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.” – Mark Twain

“There is no distinctly American criminal class – except Congress.” – Mark Twain

“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” – Abraham Lincoln

“This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.” – Will Rogers

“The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” – Will Rogers

“You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think.” – Milton Berle

“Being elected to Congress is regarded as being sent on a looting raid for one’s friends.” – George Will

The actions of our Congress in the next few days will be a pivotal point in the history of our Republic. The people made this country great, and only the people can save it. Act accordingly to assure your future.

COMMANDER GRANGER

SOCIAL SECURITY AND GOVERNMENT DEBT

Dishonest and deceptive practices are nothing new in the Halls of Congress, because for the past twenty years our elected representatives have been raiding the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for their pet political projects. Congress has borrowed $2.5 trillion dollars from the once positive balance of the Fund, and placed IOU’s in an obscure Parkersburg, W.V. office of the Bureau of Public Debt. These borrowed funds are secured by Treasury Bonds and with a projected $29 million dollar short-fall this year alone, it is past the time to pay the piper.

Our elected officials have long known that the Social Security Fund will definitely run out of money to meet the retirement projections by 2037 so definitive action is required. Our representatives have been kicking the can down the road for years, because this Social Security under-funding problem is a political hot potato.

As our government continues to operate without any regard for fiscal responsibility, our national debt continues to climb to unsustainable levels that generations to come will be required to repay. It is thus apparent that it we must elect officials that will step forward and address the hard realities of the day. Congress must find a way to live within its means, because we the American taxpayers will be left holding the bag with the only way to pay for the irresponsible fiscal actions will be to raise taxes. Be assured Congress will not personally pay for their mismanagement.

Your Commander suggests that we start by cleaning house in Washington, and get leadership that will face the hard realities of responsible, logical financial action. This action should begin with the elimination of the many special perks Congress has voted for themselves, but do not hold your breath on that happening with the current leadership. We cannot live on the theory of deficit spending, and our government cannot either. Aggressive action against fraud and corruption is necessary. Wasteful spending can and must be cut to the bone, and it should start with the elimination of massive pork appropriations. Any candidate that will not sign a NO PORK commitment should not be elected or re-elected.

Social Security preservation will not come easy, but corrective action is necessary now, and not at some future date. This is essential to address our national debt obligations. This is not an issue to pass to future administrations. We taxpayers cannot afford to continue supporting legislation that’s only real purpose is to buy votes to preserve the terms of members of Congress or the Administration. Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and Geithner are all proponents of the Theory of Deficit Spending. STOP ALL UNNECESSARY SPENDING NOW. Spending what you do not have is pure suicide.

COMMANDER GRANGER

CONGRESSIONAL VOTING RECORDS

I cannot remember a time during by 78 years on earth when there was so much tension and anger being voiced by the electorate here in the United States of America. It appears to me that our government no longer serves the best interests of the people, but the best interests of the elected officials. From the time our Founding Fathers wrote and enacted the Constitution until today, our government has shifted the focal point from the people to those serving in Washington and their corporate supporters.

A recent Letter to the Editor in my local newspaper captured the attention of your Commander when he learned that his Congressman Joe Donnelly says one thing and does another when it is time to vote on legislation. It is reported by Citizens Against Government Waste that Donnelly has a voting record that is inconsistent with his pronouncements. Donnelly has a 2009 rating of 16%, and a lifetime rating of 19% voting on legislation that is in the interest of taxpayers. This information comes from the fall 2009 issue of Waste Watch, which was published by the Citizens Against Government Waste.

Rep. Donnelly (D-IN) frequently talks about his fiscal responsibility, but his voting record certainly does not support his utterances. As the writer of the letter indicated, the ratings determine which members of Congress are voting in the interest of the taxpayers, and which are wasting America’s hard earned money…your tax dollars. The analysis also indicates which members of Congress are protecting tax dollars, and cutting spending versus those who prefer big government programs and are using public funds for pet projects. The rating categories: 0%-19% hostile; 20%-39% unfriendly; 40%-59% lukewarm; 60%-79% friendly; 80%-99% taxpayer friendly; 100%, superhero.

Looking at some other elected officials by comparison, Sen. Evan Bayh 35%; Sen. Richard Lugar 66%; Rep. Mike Pence 98%; Senate majority leader Harry Reid 10%; Sen. Barbara Boxer 0%; Sen. Dianne Feinstein 0%; President Obama when a senator from Illinois 5%. To my way of thinking this is a clear reason why we have major fiscal problems confronting our country.

Thanks to the author of the letter I became curious, and went to Google to learn more about Citizens Against Government Waste, which I strongly suggest you do too.

http://www.cagw.org

The reports relative to pork expenditures are sufficient to make your blood boil, and I am certain you will have a similar visceral reaction. Here are four very interesting articles that you can read, as I did, and they are;

1. Stimulating…or Just Plain Depressing? By Erica Gordon.
2. Don’t Count on an Efficient Census Bureau by David Williams.
3. Pulling the Plug on Yucca Mountain – A New Mountain of Waste by Leslie Paige.
4. The Ongoing Tanker Saga by Sean Kennedy.

There are literally hundreds of devastating articles revealing the massive extent of the waste being perpetrated upon the American taxpayers, and I am shocked that our major media outlets do not bring this information to our attention through their nightly news programs. Why are the legendary New York Times and Washington Post not reporting these stories of massive waste of our tax dollars?

If these disclosures do not motivate you into action, nothing will. Not surprising, this organization urges us to contact our Congressional Representatives and Senators to vote against the Obama Health Care Bill. A few days ago we learned that Speaker Nancy Pelosi might consider passage of that legislation without a normal voting procedure. Audacity rules throughout the Halls of Congress where corruption and contemptible behavior goes on daily. Tragically, our current governance is more like single party rule than a representative form of government, because the will of the people seems to no longer prevail.

Have you finally had enough to prompt you to act, and do so aggressively because it is almost too late? Total subjection and fiscal enslavement appears to be on our horizon, so what are you going to do about it?

COMMANDER GRANGER

BACK HOME IN INDIANA

After five wonderful weeks on Spring Island in the Low Country of South Carolina it is good to be Back Home in Indiana. As we drove across the border from Kentucky into Indiana I could almost hear Jim Nabors singing “Back Home Again in Indiana” as he does at the beginning of the Indy 500 each year.

As reported earlier, we were dog and cat sitting for my cousin while he and his family were in Costa Rica building a home for Habit for Humanity. We fell in love with their two affectionate and well trained dogs and two friendly and curious cats.

Although our recent trip provided only a few warm days, and even delivered the first snowfall to that part of the country in twenty some years, we still enjoyed our visit. (Al Gore must have been crazed with the risk presented to his personally profitable global weather con-job.) We have been visiting this part of South Carolina for the last eight years or so and enjoy the lifestyle, change of seasons, and architecture, among other things that the area has to offer. In fact, we are seriously considering a move to that beautiful part of the country.

As we drove each way through South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and all the way up the full length of Indiana, we frequently observed blue signs proudly proclaiming the road work taking place was a result of the Stimulus Plan, but absolutely no road construction was being done. Enough said about all those shovel ready programs and the jobs the federal expenditure was to provide. Up to this point the only jobs that were impacted were for the guys who painted those signs, and I doubt they were newly employed. I suspect they were painted by some well connected company with one of those earmarks that obligate loyalty to Obama.

The other morning I heard on a local radio station that for the first time in the history of Indiana more people are working for the government than in manufacturing. With the automotive industry in the tank, the recreational vehicle business almost destroyed by the high price of gasoline and the recession, this development is not surprising. Additionally, many small manufacturing jobs in the auto parts business have vanished overseas and may never return.

This development makes all those people working in government jobs (federal and state) dependent upon big government for their livelihood. I think that status directly impacts the workers judgments when they enter the voting booth, and your Commander suggests that the Obama administration wants that obligation to be increased significantly in the future.

When it comes time to vote next November I would hope that you do not fail to remember that Obama promised us total unemployment would not grow above 8%. With his full emphasis on the passage of the pork laden Health Care legislation that 61% of the American public doesn’t want, and his apparent disregard for his pledge to create jobs, it is now past the time for us to send him a demanding signal. Our president’s agenda is not helping the average American, just his obligated inner-circle gang of elitists and the entitlement slaves.

Indiana is not alone with the problems facing America today. We are experiencing a nation-wide political and economic crisis with a government that wants to keep us under its thumb, and is running amok. Yes, we (the electorate) took Obama’s campaign bait, but it is not too late to stand up for the Constitution our Founding Fathers wrote to guarantee a lasting “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.”

We must join together to assure that we do not become “The land of the oppressed and the home of the fiscally destroyed.” We owe it to our forefathers, our children, and generations to come to assure this wondrous thing called The United States of America is perpetuated.

COMMANDER GRANGER

LOOKING FOR THE ANSWER

Did you ever hear something that made an impression on you, but you could not find any further specific information about it. Recently I was doing some work in another room and I overheard a comment that was made on a cable news channel, “A person who doesn’t find love is a stranger to himself.”

Unfortunately, I did not hear the details as to who this specific comment was attributed. Do you know who said this? I have spent more than enough time trying to find the exact source and cannot come up with the answer.

COMMANDER GRANGER

FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE

Anyone who reads my blogs knows that I love to read, and I find that it keeps the old brain active and inquisitive. Sadly, far too many parents neglect the development of their children by ignoring the joy of reading at an early age, but let me assure you that it is never too late to get to your local library and find a book that you will love and one your kids might, also.

While on my recent vacation I had the opportunity to delve into several fine works. The four that follow today all happen to fall into the history or military genre. I have often heard that some individuals love the thrill of war, but one who has had that experience would likely tell you that those few creatures should be in severe need of significant care and attention.

Over the years I have read a great deal about history and military experiences. That has proven to me that the expression “War is hell” is a total understatement. Individuals like General George Patton were hugely successful, but outlooks like his were a bit scary. Yet, men such as him are necessary when the intent is to win. Enough for now! Let’s get on to the point of this commentary.

In Joseph Cummins’ TURN AROUND AND RUN LIKE HELL you quickly learn that from the beginning of time war has been a brutal and savage business that results in the suffering and death of literally millions. This is an excellent historical presentation of conflicts past and present.

Beautifully written by Elizabeth M. Norman and Michael Norman, TEARS IN THE DARKNESS is the story of the Bataan Death March and its aftermath occurring in 1942. This well researched story is important to know and understand, because the majority of our current population fails to know or recognize the sacrifices many young women and men endured to assure the American way of life.

I now appreciate the Bataan saga in a much clearer light. I have read a great deal about that death march. The resolve of the veterans that survived is amazing.

Your Commander is one who gets sea sick in a row boat. When I watch the cable program "Deadliest Catch," I love it, but nausea is ever present. I recommend a very revealing book titled HALSEY’S TYPHOON, the true story of a fighting Admiral, an epic storm, and an untold story. This read made me very happy to have served in the Air Force and not the Navy.

Here is another wonderful and revealing book, especially for Navy veterans, SHIP OF GHOSTS. Written by James D. Hornfischer, the story is of the USS Houston, FDR’s legendary lost cruiser. It is an epic saga of her survivors. Hornfischer also wrote THE LAST STAND OF THE TIN CAN SAILORS.

I do not want to tell you too much about each of the books, because I wouldn’t want to spoil your reading experience. It is enough to say that there is much to appreciate from the service, experiences, and dedication rendered by millions of brave women and men who have so valiantly served our country and made our world a better place.

Certainly life has not always been fair, or even just in many cases. Individuals who endured or gave the most had little or nothing to say about how the conflicts were fought or had the ability to determine the efficacy of the action.

It is pretty evident to your Commander that if the foot soldier in the trenches, the navy gobs at sea, or the airmen fighting in the skies had anything to do with reaching a decision to go to war, we would have peace on earth forever. Men of good will do not fight a war. They find ways to reach acceptable compromises. Tragically, individuals who determine wars are not the people who fight them. Politicians, especially the party in power,are the people who do so for political or economic self-interests. Just how long will it take the public to understand that simple fact?

Education and understanding through reading will surely go a very long way to make this beautiful world a better place for one and all. We are all responsible and can act against violence and brutality. Don’t you find it interesting that old people make the decisions to go to war, but they don’t fight in those wars? They send our finest young people to do their bidding. If we reversed that policy, we could make a giant leap toward preventing deadly conflicts.

COMMANDER GRANGER

ADRIAN ROGERS ON FREE LUNCHES

Like you, I receive a substantial number of e-mails daily, and frequently I check their authenticity on Snopes.com, which I did with one containing the name Adrian Rogers. This inquiry lead me to several very interesting articles about the late Adrian Rogers (1931-2005), who was one of several iconic former pastors of the Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis.

Art Carden, who along with his wife were members of that church, stated that Rogers had a wonderful ability to state complex principles in clear, concise, vivid language. Following is one of Rogers’ statements addressing the fact that there is no free lunch.

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend is the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

Here is another quote from one of Rogers’ books, Ten Secrets for a Successful Family: A Perfect 10 for Homes that Win, “Let me say a word here that may sound political. I hope not, because I believe it’s moral and biblical. You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the industrious out of it. You don’t multiply wealth by dividing it. Government cannot give anything to anybody that it doesn’t first take from somebody else.”

“Whenever somebody receives something without working for it, somebody else has to work for it without receiving. The worst thing that can happen to a nation is for half of the people to get the idea they don’t have to work because somebody else will work for them, and the other half to get the idea that it does no good to work because they don’t get to enjoy the fruit of their labor.”

All of this was verified on The Independent Institute’s blog site titled The Beacon.
One wonders if our President Barack Hussein Obama with his vast educational background ever read or even heard of Pastor Adrian Rogers. Obviously the guys who write Obama’s speeches do not buy the Pastor’s theories either, but I believe the vast majority of the American voters support Rogers’ logic.

COMMANDER GRANGER

GET LOGICAL WITH THE POSTAL SERVICE

The Washington shell game is back in action with the U.S. Postal Service’s latest scare tactic announcing the possible elimination of Saturday mail delivery. It is your Commander’s opinion that the arguments being generated by government leadership are nothing but a smoke screen to keep feeding our taxpayer dollars into a dysfunctional and outmoded business model.

It certainly should not take a Harvard Business School case study to recognize that the foundation of the Postal Service’s revenue base has dissipated with the advent of the internet. If your household is anything like mine we receive and pay most of our bills on-line and depend upon the Post Office less and less. That fact is supported by the reality that the USPS lost $3.8 billion dollars last year as mail volume fell by nearly 26 billion pieces to 177 billion in 2009 from 203 billion the year before. Future revenue numbers will only continue to decrease as more and more companies bill on-line.

It does not take a genius to realize that with the business model changing at such a dramatic pace, there must be significant changes in the way the USPS operates. Unfortunately the federal government does not have a good track record in operating a profitable business, because they become so compromised trying to satisfy every possible voter.

It is your Commander’s opinion that the USPS should be taken away from the federal government’s oversight and placed into the hands of a privately owned or stockholder controlled business model. UPS or FedEx could certainly operate a more efficient business, and the American taxpayer would not be holding the bag with ever increasing debt obligations.

Would a private postal service be everything we desire? Probably not, but how long can the American taxpayer be required to bail out unsustainable business models such as this. It is obvious that we all must adapt or perish. The USPS is certainly no exception.

Washington obviously likes to keep the USPS under its thumb, because it thus holds all those postal workers beholding to them for their lucrative pensions and attractive benefit pay packages. The government is buying votes when it keeps propping up a dysfunctional business model. It is time to get honest and real in making decisions about our postal service and our government efficiencies.

COMMANDER GRANGER